Kept in the Bark (Happy Tails Dog Walking Mysteries Book 5) Read online

  When Olivia returned to her office, she checked her email, let Goodwin out into the backyard, and then shut the office down. She never did hear back from the other interviewee, and that annoyed Olivia just a little bit.

  When she finally got Goodwin to the dog park, he was ecstatic. A few other people were there exercising their dogs, and Goodwin happily bounded after the other potential playmates, settling down to the serious business of sniffing, circling, bouncing, and chasing.

  Settling on one of the benches, Olivia pulled out a small notebook from her purse and opened it to a new page.

  Hattie—missing person or out of town?

  She made two columns and started jotting down the arguments for both. The missing-person column was much longer. Hattie didn’t like to leave home. Her groceries were still out. She’d left without making arrangements for the cat. Her back door was unlocked and open.

  The out-of-town column had only one item. Hattie had sent an email to Andrew saying that she was dealing with a family emergency.

  The email might have carried more weight if Andrew hadn’t found it so suspicious. Furthermore, it had been sent right before Olivia could have opened a case with Nick citing Hattie as a missing person.

  She’d ask Andrew to forward some of Hattie’s earlier emails along with the two new ones so she could compare them.

  Flipping to a new page, she started a new list. Who were her suspects? Hattie didn’t deal with too many people. So far, her list of connections were Jackie, Andrew, and Bethany. Only Bethany had a motive. Olivia would call Dr. Roberts, the vet, tomorrow and see if she could get more information on the dog incident.

  Next, she’d have to get a better look at Hattie’s house and see if there were any clues there. Nick would be pissed if he found out, but luckily, she had an excuse.

  GigaByte might need something.

  “Sometimes, you have to look deeper.â€�

  Olivia looked up at the familiar voice and smiled to see Lady Celeste. The older woman was dressed in one of her famous brightly printed dresses, this one in turquoise with fuchsia and orange flowers, and a matching scarf. The woman’s fingers were laden with rings that flashed as she waved her hands in the air and sat down.

  “I don’t suppose you can be more specific than that,â€� Olivia joked.

  “Things aren’t always the way they appear.â€�

  It was just like Celeste. The Romanian woman was always very vague about her prophesies. The town generally considered her a fraud, although everyone in the town also loved her so no one had minded … but in Olivia’s experience, there were times when the woman was eerily correct.

  “If you’re talking about Janelle, I got that figured out already.â€�

  “Janelle?â€� Celeste frowned. “No, dear, I was talking about Natalie. I know that you interviewed her today, and I fear that you think she might be too bubbly for your taste.â€�

  “Bubbly is an understatement,â€� Olivia laughed. “Are you here to give her a good reference, Lady Celeste? I was under the impression that you just hired her.â€�

  “I did, but I can see her aura. She needs you just as much as you need her.â€� The older woman’s gaze grew more intent. “It is very important that you hire her, Olivia.â€�

  Raising an eyebrow, Olivia cocked her head as she studied the psychic. “And why is that, Lady Celeste?â€�

  Celeste patted Olivia’s knee. “All will reveal itself in time. Goodwin is much happier now that you and Andrew have patched things up, although he does not like the treats that you’ve been giving him.â€�

  “He wolfs them down like he’s starving.â€�

  “I suppose that I should say the new treats don’t like him.â€� Celeste stood and stretched, sleeves fluttering. “You’re on the right path, Olivia, but you need to trust yourself more. Self-doubt could harm you more than you know.â€� As Olivia stared, the woman waved her fingers and turned to go.

  “Thanks for the advice!â€� Olivia called after her as she walked away. Conversations with Lady Celeste were always entertaining.

  Alone with her thoughts again, she checked her schedule for tomorrow. She had no dogs scheduled for doggie daycare, which meant she could check out Hattie’s house again after her morning dog walks.

  Pulling out her phone, she texted Jackie. You work in the morning?

  Jackie texted back almost immediately—which was telling. Normally, Jackie wasn’t glued to her phone, but if she was missing Brett, then she might be texting him … or waiting for him to text her.

  I’m working from noon until close. Why? What’s up?

  Andrew thinks that there’s something going on with Hattie. He asked me to look into it.

  What? NO WAY!??

  Olivia laughed. Jackie knew all too well how Andrew could be. I’m going to look at the house after my morning walks. Meet me there at 10?

  Heck yeah!

  Jackie always liked a little mischief.

  Olivia debated telling Jackie that Janelle was pregnant, but she decided against it. That was Janelle’s story to tell.

  Whistling to Goodwin, she leashed him and headed back home.

  Her dinner consisted of a warmed-up frozen pizza with a little spinach thrown on top to pretend to be healthy. The melted cheese would at least disguise the taste. She took the pizza out of the oven, slid a couple of pieces onto a plate, opened a bottle of beer, and sat down at her desk. Ignoring Goodwin and Fender, who were both giving her starving puppy-dog eyes, she opened up her laptop and settled back, staring unseeingly at the screen as it booted up.

  She was going to be an aunt.

  Humming to herself, she took a bite of her pizza, brought up the browser, and started scrolling through baby items. Janelle and Patrick would be starting from scratch. Baby crib. Car seat. High chair. Breast pump. Olivia cringed at that one. Clothes. Blankets. Diapers. Medications.

  Babies were expensive!

  Checking the social media pages for Lexingburg, she started looking through the classifieds. There was no reason that they couldn’t find some gently used items to help Janelle and Patrick save some money.

  It boggled her mind to see how many things were for sale that had never been used. Duplicate baby gifts. Clothes that a baby had outgrown before they could be worn. Parents who were very brand specific and didn’t like the gifts they were given.

  The more she clicked, the more engrossed Olivia got. She’d had no idea that there were so many different items available on the classifieds. Clothes. Books. Toys. Purses. Clothes. Electronics.

  Want ads for dates.

  “Listen to this, guys,â€� she joked. “Female searching for male, late forties to early sixties, retired or close to retired, loves to play bridge.â€�

  Goodwin gave a low woof, but it was probably just a polite request for the crust of her pizza.

  Olivia shook her head at him and went back to reading. “Male searching for female. Early twenties to late twenties. Must love older men.â€� Fender whined, and Olivia looked at him and said, “If Brett wasn’t already taken, I’d be highly suspicious that he placed that one.â€�

  Scrolling through more ads, she suddenly leaned forward, pizza suspended halfway to her mouth, and both dogs came to quivering attention in anticipation. “This one is really specific. Male searching for female. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Thirty-six years old. Freelance computer expert. Enjoys cooking and old classic movies. Has a gray tabby.â€� It hit her in the gut, somehow.

  Biting her lower lip, she opened up a new tab on her computer and typed in Hattie Dominick. At first, she found social media pages for different women with the same name, but she eventually found an article about the dating app. There was a picture of Andrew and Hattie with several
of the other developers, some that Olivia remembered vaguely from the launch party, and some that Olivia didn’t recognize. There were biography links for each person, and while the write-ups for the others were very specific, Hattie’s was brief. Just her picture with a tiny paragraph listing her work history and her personal interests.

  Likes cooking, classic movies, and cuddling with my gray tabby.

  Her age was also listed. Everything that someone had needed to post that advertisement.

  Her eyes zeroed in on Hattie’s work history.

  MegaStore.

  “Holy smokes!â€� Olivia gasped. “Looking for a woman. Really good with computers! Do you suppose that guy from MegaStore was looking for Hattie? What was his name?â€� She looked at the dogs, their hopeful eyes still fixed on her, and asked them, “What was his name?â€� They had no more clue than she did, of course.

  Try as she might, she couldn’t recall, but one thing was certain. If Hattie had been working for MegaStore, anyone who had accessed this website would know.

  Her suspect list had just grown a lot bigger.

  7

  The next morning, Olivia woke up to a slew of emails, text messages, and phone calls. Andrew had apparently gotten up early and wanted to say hello. He’d left a voicemail answering her question from last night. He had not known that Hattie was also working for MegaStore, but she was a freelancer. She could work on more than one project as long as one contract didn’t affect another.

  He also expressed disbelief that someone would cause Hattie harm just because she’d helped out MegaStore. The town was upset, but they couldn’t be upset enough to harm Hattie—right?

  Olivia needed to stay focused on proving that something had happened to Hattie before she tried to figure out who might be responsible.

  There were a few text messages from Jackie confirming that she was still meeting Olivia in the morning. It appeared that Jackie had been up late for some reason. And finally, there were two emails from a client trying to squeeze some dog walks in at the end of next week.

  Checking the clock and her schedule, she called Phillip Lee back. He picked up on the second ring. “Hi, Mr. Lee, it’s Olivia from Wagging Tails. I just received your emails about needing to add Ginger to the Thursday and Friday rotation for next week?â€�

  “Yes.â€� Phillip sounded less that pleased. “I know that we’re supposed to schedule things a month in advance, but something unexpected has come up. I was selected to be on a jury trial starting on Thursday, and I feel like I should throw Friday in there, just in case. Would that be a problem?â€�

  “No, not at all. Morning and afternoon?â€�

  Phillip sighed. “Yes. I think I’m going to be there all day. It’s going to be a nightmare. I know this town doesn’t want MegaStore there, but they have the best lawyers behind them, and we’re just a small town.â€�

  Olivia paused. “Lexingburg is taking MegaStore to court?â€�

  “Yeah. Suing them over falsified records. I’m not allowed to talk about the specifics, but they published an article about the court case yesterday. You didn’t see it?â€�

  “No.â€� Olivia didn’t want to admit that she’d spent the evening looking at baby stuff instead of checking the news. She’d have to dig up the article later. “It shouldn’t be a problem to fit Ginger in, Mr. Lee.â€�

  “Thanks, Olivia. That’s one less thing that I have to worry about. Now I need to figure out how I’m going to get all my work down and still go to court.â€� He was still grumbling as he hung up.

  Olivia immediately looked up the article. It looked like Lexingburg had evidence showing that MegaStore had falsified some of their data in order to obtain the permits to build in the town. MegaStore, of course, was denying the allegations, and now they were going to court.

  Strange. What kind of evidence could Lexingburg have?

  “Focus, Olivia,â€� she muttered. She’d overslept, she’d spent too much time online, and now she was going to have to skip breakfast if she wanted to get to the dogs in time.

  She switched out her blue dog-printed pajamas for her yoga pants and a green t-shirt that read Boyfriend said it was him or the dog. Free boyfriend to good home. After she let Fender and Goodwin out in the backyard, she made herself a quick cup of coffee and poured it into her to-go mug. It was going to be tricky carrying the mug and walking four dogs at the same time, but it was already dangerous that she’d be going without breakfast.

  Going without coffee would be homicidal.

  Getting Fender settled into his bed in the office, she leashed Goodwin and headed out to pick up the three other dogs.

  Snowball. Dressed in a sparkly green skirt today. He looked so lovely.

  Tucker. Super energetic and very bouncy.

  Tammy. A young German Shepherd who wanted to show the big boys how to play.

  Even with their Easy Walk harnesses, they were difficult to control. Olivia used her teeth to open the snap on her coffee top and take a sip. Because she was at the same time being jerked every which way, coffee splashed out of the small hole and splattered on her jacket.

  “Tammy, we’re walking straight. Straight. Tammy! No, Tucker, don’t pull. Come on, baby, you know that pulling is bad. Snowball, wait. Wait!â€� Without warning, the Rottweiler jerked them all off the sidewalk and dragged them over to a tree, where he immediately lifted his leg.

  The German Shepherd immediately stuck her head under the big dog’s leg to sniff, and suddenly, Olivia had to add a bath to her list of things to do.

  It was going to be a long day.

  The dogs were moving so fast that they did their route in almost half the time. Olivia took them back to the office so they could play and get more energy out while she bathed Tammy. Shooting Jackie a text and letting her know that she would be a little late, she scrubbed down the German Shepherd, getting drenched in the process, and then dropped the pups back off at their respective houses.

  Jackie was waiting outside Hattie’s house, a brown bag in her hand. Olivia’s mouth started to salivate as she got closer.

  “Is that from Bonnie’s Diner?â€� she asked, and her fingers started to wiggle in anticipation.

  “Yeah, I hope you don’t mind. I didn’t feel like cooking this morning, so I stopped and grabbed a sandwich. I just got back.â€�

  Moaning, Olivia lifted her gaze to her friend. “You just got one?â€� she whimpered.

  “Oh.â€� Jackie opened her mouth, only to shut it before pulling out her phone. “Did you tell me that you were hungry? Did I miss that text?â€�

  “No.â€� Sniffling, Olivia dropped her shoulders. “I didn’t text you that I was hungry. It’s fine. You don’t have to worry about it.â€�

  Jackie broke out in a big smile. “You forget how well I know you. I could tell from your text that you were cranky. That usually means that you skipped breakfast.â€� She tossed the bag Olivia’s way.

  “Oh, I love you so much! You are my hero. My savior. The love of my life. My soulmate!â€�

  “Easy, girl,â€� Jackie laughed. “It’s just a breakfast sandwich. Someone might get the impression that you’re easy.â€�

  Ignoring her, Olivia fished out the sandwich and took a bite into the cheesy, eggy, bacon-y goodness. “So good,â€� she moaned with her mouth full.

  “Chew before you choke.â€�

  Obeying, as soon as she’d chewed and swallowed that mouthful, Olivia shoved the rest of the sandwich in her mouth, balled up the brown bag, and pushed it into her purse. “Gloves,â€� she mumbled through the mouthful as she pulled out two pairs of gloves. “I know that we were in there before, but if this becomes a cri
me scene, we don’t want to mess it up too much.�

  “We should have done this at night. With black gloves,â€� Jackie complained as she pulled on the gloves and snapped them at her wrists. “It would have been a lot more exciting.â€�

  Olivia snorted. “We’re not breaking and entering, Jackie. We’re looking for cat food. And cat toys. And cat treats.â€�

  “But we have those things.â€�

  Olivia gave Jackie a knowing look.

  Jackie’s eyes widened, and the bookstore owner said hastily, “Oh, and cat medication. Because, you know, GigaByte was acting a little weird last night, and I just want to be sure.â€�

  “That’s the spirit!â€� Laughing, Olivia swallowed the remains of the biscuit and headed to the backyard.

  The door was locked.

  “Uh, Jackie?â€� Olivia rattled the knob. “You have a key, right?â€�

  “I do. It’s at the house. Why?â€�

  “Did you lock this?â€�

  “No.â€� Jackie shifted uneasily from foot to foot. “Maybe I should have.â€�

  “I don’t think it would have done any good,â€� Olivia murmured as she narrowed her eyes to scrutinize the door. “I don’t see any scratches on the lock, so whoever did lock it probably had a key. I’m going to head back to the front to ring the doorbell. Go home and grab your key, just in case.â€�

  Jackie nodded, and Olivia headed back to the front. She tried to peer through the windows she passed to see if she could see Hattie inside, but the house still looked vacant. She rang the doorbell and waited.

  “Got it.â€� Jackie returned and held up the key. “You still want to do this?â€�

  “Yeah. Something doesn’t feel right. Is the key to the front or the back?â€�