But I also hadn’t looked that closely. Not much turned my stomach. I grew up in the Alaskan wilderness, where it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence to come across a half-rotted animal carcass in the woods or to see a large predator ripping into a meal.
Those sightless eyes, though…
I suppressed a shudder.
All I could hope was that the three of us and Ozzie could work a miracle and figure out how a body ended up in the wall of the old antique store.
Claire’s phone buzzed from her tote bag. She put Pebbles on the floor and got up to dig it out. Her nose scrunched as she looked at the screen. “It’s Ozzie.”
Mina chuckled. “You’re in trouble.”
“Probably.” She answered it. “Hi, honey.” As she listened, she rolled her lips in, her eyes dancing with mirth. “I’m at home,” she said after a moment.
I glanced at Mina, who watched her friend with amusement. I liked their relationship. They were very much at ease with one another. Claire seemed to have the same happy, carefree attitudewith her boyfriend, if the continued smile on her face was any indication.
Finally, she sighed, then glanced at Mina with a quick, exasperated eye roll, still amused. “Yes, she’s here.” Another short pause, then, “Fine.” After one last, quick pause, she said, “Love you too,” then hung up.
“He figured out what you’re up to, didn’t he?” Mina said.
Claire nodded, stuffing her phone back in her bag. “Yep. He told me to keep my nose out of it, then that he’s on his way home with dinner, and if I wanted to eat it, I needed to kick you out.” She grinned, softening her words, then snorted. “He ought to know better than to think that I won’t get involved. But I’ll let him think he’s won for now.”
Mina chuckled. “You’re terrible. Be nice to the man. He loves you.”
The wattage on Claire’s smile turned up. “I know. And I will be. I’ll promise not to do anything dangerous. I learned that lesson the last time.” Her amusement dimmed softly, and I couldn’t help but wonder what she was talking about.
“Anyway, we should probably end our little investigative session for now.” She walked over to the table and shut her laptop.
I knew that was the cue to leave, but I was still reluctant to get up.
My gaze dropped to Betty, who was curled up in my lap, half-asleep.
I scooped the dog into my arms and stood. “I’m tempted to distract you and make a run for it. She’s sweet.” Despite my words, I passed the sleepy puppy to her owner.
“Then you’d end up with Ozzie at your door. He’s as much in love with her as you are.”
Understandable. The little fluffball had me seriously considering getting a dog. I wasn’t sure how I’d work out lettinga puppy outside to potty during the day, but I could probably make something work. Maybe I could just bring it with me on jobsites. Lots of people had work dogs.
The sound of paper tearing snapped me out of my thoughts. Mina had ripped the page containing the list of names off the notepad.
“I’ll just take this with me.” A secretive smile flitted over Mina’s face. “He can’t accuse you of meddling if there’s no evidence.”
Claire laughed. “He still will, but he won’t be able to prove it. Can you email me that list?”
“Sure.” Mina pushed away from the table and got up.
Together, the three of us crossed to the front door. Claire had her hands full of dogs, so I opened the door, letting Mina pass through first. With a smile, I turned to Claire. “Thank you for including me in your fact-finding mission.”
“Of course. You’re as much a part of this as Mina. It affects you both.”
True. I gave a short nod. “Still, I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.”
Mina tugged on my sleeve. “Come on. Just because she kicked us out doesn’t mean I’m ready to give up searching yet.” She waved the sheet of yellow paper. “The Juneau library is open until eight.”
For a split second, I debated telling her no.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to.
I did.
But I wanted more so to spend time with her than to solve the mystery, and that was a disaster waiting to happen. She was my client. Dad’s first rule of business had always been not to mix business with pleasure. None of his workers were allowed to date our clients, and when it came to doing business withfriends, he drafted detailed contracts and made sure the other party understood the terms.
Despite that, though, I couldn’t stop the words that came out of my mouth: “Okay, sounds good.”
When she turned that wide smile on me that made her blue eyes shine, I knew I was in trouble, and that Dad’s rule was toast.
