"Anytime."
As I drove away, I shook my head. "Before Christmas." No problem.
No pressure.
Then I turned the truck toward town. It was time to talk to Judd.
Before I reached the pizza place, though, which probably wasn't even open yet, my phone rang.
Andy.
I didn't bother with hello. "It's not Rooster."
"Yeah. I agree. But we have a different problem today."
A dull headache pounded behind my eyes, but I was definitely not going to try any of Tess's new collection of homespun remedies. The smell of vinegar still haunted my nightmares.
"What is it now?"
"I'm out here at Charithra's clinic. We were working on the new kennels and run for dog boarding, and we found a surprise. A canvas duffel filled with tools, all labeled Wolf Construction."
"That doesn't make any sense. What would Dave's stolen tools be doing there?"
There was a silence, and then I heard the vet say something in the background like "not possible."
"Well. I'm sad to say this, but only she and Phin have access to this run. It's locked securely and only accessible from the clinic."
"Are you saying you think Phin stole Dave's tools?" I thought back to the man I'd met. Tess's friend.
Anotherof Tess's friends accused of a crime. She was going to be devastated.
Andy sighed. "There's more. UltraShopMart actually reported Phin for trespassing last week, but then they 'benevolently'—Craven's word—declined to press charges. And the crime spree in town started not long after Phin came back to town…"
I was shaking my head before he'd finished. "No. I can't see it. What does checking out the UltraShopMart site have to do with stealing tools? PhinknowsDave. Anyway, if you want to get technical, I trespassed on the excavation site too. Am I a suspect? Something very wrong is going on here."
"All of it is very wrong! I don't understand why any of this is happening. The murder, the rash of crimes—why would Phin steal tools and then deface the clinic where he works? Why, for Pete's sake? And what does a murder have to do with any of it?"
"Have you asked Phin about it?"
"No. I can't reach him. His mom says he's in Orlando doing some last-minute shopping."
Dead End. One of the few places in the world where you ask a suspected criminal's mother about him.
"Tess is going to hate this."
"Yeah. Not that it's a real factor in the investigation, because I can't let it be, but Charithra is devastated too, when she's not denying it's even possible. Anyway, I've got to reach Phin. And I need to talk to Judd about Darryl."
"I was just headed to his pizza shop to do the same thing."
"Really? Well, I've heard from more than one person that Judd got into a couple of bitter arguments with Darryl and Craven, both about the UltraShopMart. That he has quite a temper. And that he's in a bit of financial trouble after sinking all his available cash into buying Dead End Pizza. I'm going to have a nice long chat with him and see what's what."
I considered for a moment and then decided I had to let Andy know what I'd seen and heard. I described the argument between Judd and his wife and mentioned the spots on his shoes that possibly had been blood.
"And you're just telling me this now?" Andy's voice dropped into a growl. "Shepherd, you're not exactly helping if you're keeping things to yourself."
"I know. But an overhead husband-wife argument and some maybe blood, maybe pizza sauce drops on shoes didn't seem like actual evidence."
"Fine. But I'll go talk to him. You don't need to. Maybe I've caught a killer for Christmas." He sighed. "I hate it if it's true, though. I've always thought Judd was a good guy."
