Doggone Dead - Dane McCaslin The 2 Sisters Pet Valet Mysteries

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not?” Nora gave a nonchalant shrug. “Besides, I thought we could make a list of my stepchildren, in case the rest of them decide to pop in for a visit.” She shot me a wicked smile. “You know they’re all chomping at the bit to see me six feet under.”

      “Oh, that reminds me.”

      We both turned to face Brent, watching as he pulled a long white envelope from his pocket.

      “That lady downstairs, the one who answers questions? She gave this to me and told me to give it to you right away.” He smiled sheepishly as he handed it to Nora. “Guess I kinda forgot.”

      “Patsy Reilly,” I murmured to myself, leaning over to see what it said on the envelope’s front.

      And stared in dismay at two words: You’re next. Underneath them was drawn a crude skull and crossbones, almost cartoonish in style.

      Nora and I looked at one another, eyes wide with shock.

      “You’d better open it.” My hands began to shake. “Or I can do it, if you don’t want to.”

      “Want me to get it?” Brent thrust the wriggling puppy in my direction. “Here, you take her, Miss F.”

      “I told you I’m allergic to dogs.” I waved the dog away. “And no, Mrs. Goldstein doesn’t need you to open anything for her.”

      We watched silently as Nora slid a shaking finger underneath the gummed flap.

      “Hold on!” I reached for the envelope. “Don’t touch anything else, Nora. They can get DNA from saliva, where someone licked that.”

      “It’s a press-n-seal.” Her tone was dry, and I was glad to see she was recovering from the initial scare. “And who knows who’s already handled this, including Ace Ventura over there.” She nodded at Brent.

      He grinned proudly at her words, petting the puppy’s soft fur with a hand big enough to cover it in one swipe.

      “That wasn’t a compliment,” Nora added, and I watched his face fall.

      “It means you do a great job at taking care of animals.” I spoke hurriedly, giving him a warm smile to counterbalance Nora’s sarcasm.

      “I know.” He gave us both a vigorous nod. “Animals like me.” He lifted the small dog and rubbed it against his cheek lovingly.

      I wanted to sneeze just watching him.

      “And it’s a good thing they do. Don’t forget you’ve got a four-hour pet sitting assignment at eleven.” Nora slid a folded paper out of the envelope and smoothed it out on her lap.

      This time her reaction was enough to make me jump. The puppy gave a small yelp as Brent squeezed it to him, his eyes wide as he stared from me to Nora.

      “Nora? What does it say?” I tried to keep my voice even, not wanting to add to the tension.

      Without a word she thrust it at me and then covered her face with trembling hands. I quickly scanned the paper, my heart starting to hammer as loudly as I read aloud what was written there.

      “‘Nora GOLD DIGGER. You took my money and I want it back. All of it.’” There was another drawing, a hangman’s noose looped around her name in a tight embrace.

      I turned to stare at my best friend. I’d been right. Someone wanted her dead.

      Chapter 5

      We sat staring at one another, Nora’s face drained of all color while my own felt clammy from the cold sweat that had broken out. This was definitely not a joke, any more than Linda Fletcher’s dead body had been.

      “I thought your last name was Goldstein.” Brent stood there watching us. “Sorry, Mrs. Gold digger.”

      “Brent!” We shouted his name in concert and he hurriedly backed toward the door.

      “What did I say?”

      The puppy reached out and licked his nose.

      “I only said that I didn’t…”

      “Brent, go away. Just go, all right?” I pointed to the door, a sudden weariness causing my shoulders to sag. This retirement gig was taking more out of me than teaching a classroom full of teenagers ever did. “We’ll call you when it’s time for the next job, okay?”

      “You don’t need to yell at me.” He edged through the doorway. “I only wanted to help.” His eyes were round as he poked his head back inside.

      “Out. Now.” I pointed to the hallway, using my loudest teacher voice.

      He skedaddled without another peep.

      Nora and I sat there in silence. I slid closer to her and put one arm around her shoulders. She was shaking, and it made me angry. How dare someone threaten my best friend like that? She was anything but a gold digger. In fact, she should’ve been awarded a purple heart for everything she’d put up with in her various marriages. All right, maybe she hadn’t chosen wisely when it came to men. A lot of women didn’t, right? Still, to call her a gold digger when all she’d done was take what was rightfully hers was absurd.

      “Hey, girl.” I said the words softly, giving her shoulders a small shake. “Let’s have some more of that brandy, okay? Then we’ll get the list made.” And then we’ll call the police, I added silently.

      She didn’t answer. Instead, she shook off my arm and slowly got to her feet, shuffling dejectedly toward her bedroom. “I’m going to lie down. Come and get me when the cleaning people get here.”

      “Oh, no, you don’t.” I jumped to my feet and went after her, firmly turning her around and guiding her back to the sofa. “You’re not going to leave me to handle this on my own. No way, no how.”

      “There’s nothing to handle.” Nora dropped back down on the sofa, her limp form enough to make anyone worry.

      Anyone but me, that was. This was one great acting job, in my opinion. I’d seen enough in my years as a high school teacher to know the signs. She’d either snap out of it or I’d snap it for her.

      A sharp rap on the door made me jump. Giving Nora’s floppy arm a non-too-gentle tug, I pulled her to her feet and pushed her toward the door.

      “Answer it, Nora. It’s probably the cleaning service.”

      It was. Karen, a tiny woman who was smaller even than the Timorous Twosome, smiled at us as she marched into the apartment. She carried a large metal bucket filled with cleaning supplies and had a plastic bag of rags hooked around her wrist. She looked from me to Nora and back, one thin eyebrow lifted in question. “You called about a deep kitchen clean?”

      I almost laughed aloud. That was one way to put it. How Nora would explain the blood spatter and the fingerprint dust, I had no idea, but I could hardly wait to hear her try.

      “Right this way, please. I guess I was expecting an entire crew, not just one person.” Nora was still in her woe-is-me mode, her shoulders drooping as she walked to the kitchen, but I let her carry on.

      Trust me, if she truly needed me, I’d be there in a heartbeat.

      “Unfortunately, there was a slight accident in here yesterday. If you could get the stains off the floor, I’d sure appreciate it.”

      “What sort of stains?” Karen sounded suspicious, but she followed Nora into the kitchen anyway.

      I silently counted to three, waiting for her reaction.

      “Oh, my God! Is that blood?”

      There was the sound of crashing metal and a loud screech as she dropped her cleaning bucket. I cautiously peeked around the corner and saw Nora hopping around like an angry stork, holding on to one foot and cursing up a blue streak. Karen was doing some sort of dance, both hands covering her eyes as the cleaning supplies rolled around the floor.

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