“How about we change the subject?” I suggest, because this conversation is heading in a direction that’s going to end with me explaining why murder investigations sometimes require strip club attendance.
“Fine,” Jasper agrees, although he’s still grinning. “Let’s talk about your suspects. Did your evening at the book club yield any useful information?”
I settle onto the couch next to him, grateful for the subject change. “Actually, yes. Bea Van Buren is broke, bitter, and has had multiple confrontations with Tessa about money and something I couldn’t quite get a grasp on. Charlotte doesn’t know her family lost their fortune. Meanwhile, Piers is marrying Charlotte for her bank account, and everyone except Charlotte seems to know that everyone else is lying about something.”
“That’s a lot of someones lying about somethings,” Leo says while blowing out a breath.
“It’s a wedding,” Emmie points out. “Everyone lies at some point in the chaos of the wedding. The question is, who lied and committed murder?”
“What about the physical evidence?” I ask Jasper. “Any updates on the knife?”
“There were prints on it,” Jasper says, his expression growing more serious. “They’re just not discernible yet. The lab is working on enhancement techniques, but it’s going to take time we don’t have.”
“Time we don’t have because the wedding is tomorrow,” I muse.
“Yup. The wedding is tomorrow,” Leo confirms. “Which means if our killer is planning anything else, they might just make their move before Charlotte and Piers actually tie the knot.”
“Or during the ceremony,” Emmie adds cheerfully. “Nothingsays speak now or forever hold your peace like a public confession—or a public slaying.”
The hoomans are talking about the wedding again,Fish mewls to the pooches surrounding her.They always get anxious when they talk about weddings and murder together. Although for some reason, I thought they went hand in hand?
She’s not entirely off base, at least not when Cider Cove is involved. Or me.
Leo barks out a laugh before I can defend the thought.
“You know that’s not what I meant,” I say, tossing a pillow at him.
Weddings and murder don’t usually go together,Sherlock points out with a soft woof.But that’s the exact kind of thing that seems to happen on the regular right here in Cider Cove.
Now look who’s the mind reader. I shoot him a look.
Truffle yips with wide-eyed amazement at both Fish and Sherlock.Wait, you guys have done this BEFORE? Like multiple murders? And weddings? That’s SO COOL! I thought this was my first adventure, but apparently, you’re all like PROFESSIONAL crime-fighting pets! Can I be part of the team? I promise I’m really good at barking at suspicious people, and I have excellent hearing, and OH MY GOSH, this is like being in a movie!
Leo nods my way. “A horror movie.”
“So,” I say, leaning back against Jasper’s shoulder and inhaling the lingering scents of pizza and Chinese food that fill our cottage, “tomorrow we get to watch Charlotte marry a gold-digging groom while his bitter ex-girlfriend, predatory best man, and financially desperate future mother-in-law all pretend to be happy about it.”
“You forgot Conrad’s boundary issues with the bride—and every other woman here and Kiki’s plan to dig her claws back into the groom,” Emmie adds helpfully.
“Right,” I say. “Can’t forget the playboy and the potential objection drama.”
“When you put it like that,” Leo says, reaching for what appears to be the last egg roll, “it sounds like the perfect setup for another murder.”
“Don’t jinx us with another murder,” Jasper warns. “One per wedding is quite enough.”
Emmie chuckles. “I still think Bizzy manifests the murders.”
“I don’t manifest murders,” I protest. “Murders manifest around me. There’s a difference.”
“Is there, though?” Emmie asks with a laugh. “Because your track record suggests otherwise.”
“My track record suggests I’m very good at solving murders that would happen anyway,” I correct with a wince because I’m just hoping I’m right. “I like to think of myself as a murder-solving service dog. I don’t create the problems, I just detect them.”
Oh, Bizzy, we all know you definitely create some of the problems,Fish chitters with a laugh.Remember the time you decided to investigate the supposedly haunted lighthouse and accidentally locked yourself in with a killer?
Or the time she followed that suspicious florist into the woods and nearly became fertilizer,Sherlock adds with the tone of a dog who’s witnessed too many of his human’s questionable decisions.
At least tomorrow’s wedding is on the beach,Truffle yips with boundless optimism.It’s harder to get trapped on a beach! Lots of escape routes and SAND which is fun to dig in and also you can see people coming from like REALLY far away, and there’s water for drinking and splashing, and OH MY GOSH, maybe there will be seagulls to chase! Plus, beaches have snacks sometimes that people drop, and I bet wedding cake tastes even better with a little sand on it!
