Free A Shot in the Bark (A Dog Park Mystery) by Carol Ann Newsome

keeping the finished concrete thoroughly wet while it cures."
    "We could get some kiddie wading pools and keep them submerged."
    "That would work, but they wouldn't hold enough pavers. After we pop them from the molds, we're going to wind up stacking them at least five high. We could cover them with wet burlap and plastic, spray them down every day."
    "Put styrofoam shims between to protect them? Then we'd be able to spray in between the pavers."
    "We'd have to be careful. Don't want the stacks falling over because the shims made them unstable."
    "Good point."
    Lia rolled her shoulders to get the stiffness out. "I'm so glad she went for the random confetti background, it will make it so much easier to produce a few hundred of these. And even though there are six repeating symbols, every paver will be unique."
    Bailey nodded in agreement. "That's what I thought. So while you're getting this going, I'll go out to Catherine's with Jose and stake out the area for him to roto-till. After he does that, we can mark the path, the beds and the pond. He can dig out the path and lay down a bed of sand."
    "Will he pound it down with that funny vibrating thing?" Lia asked.
    "Funny vibrating thing? Is that a technical term or are we talking artificial appendages?" This came from Anna as she stuck her head through the doorway. "I tried to call your cell. You know your mailbox is full?"
    Lia sighed. I still haven't found my phone. But I'm not looking very hard. I'm not looking forward to clearing out those messages."
    "We could try calling it," Bailey offered, "but I suspect the battery would be dead by now."
    Anna strolled over and perused the stacked forms. "Oooh, I see lots of pizza in someone's future. Pizza and caffeine. So is Madame Butterfly paying a fast food surcharge for wrecking your diet?"
    "I'm going to move my spare juicer in here and pick up a 15 pound bag of carrots at Whole Foods. My diet won't go totally down the toilet."
    "Hear that, Bailey? Our girl not only has a juicer, she has a spare juicer. How many people do you know have spare juicers? But enough about art and food. Let's talk about sex. I ran into Catherine and Marie at the park. They tell me you were having quite the tete-a-tete with Detective Peter."
    "It was nothing. More questions about Luthor."
    "What more could he possibly want to know?"
    "A lot, apparently. Mr. I'm-Too-Broke-To-Take-You-On-A-Real-Date had twenty-five grand stuffed in his Lazy Boy."
    "No!" exclaimed Anna and Bailey in unison.
    "Where on Earth did that come from?" Anna asked.
    Lia's expression became troubled. "Anna, that's the sixty-four thousand dollar question. Or I should say, the twenty-five thousand dollar question. That's so impossible, my circuits are fried. I don't even begin to know where to go with that. Bailey, would you have thought Luthor had even spare change to drop in the cushions of his recliner?"
    "He did always dress nice," Bailey observed.
    "He said his mom sent him clothes. I never questioned it. Now I'm wondering if 'Mom' is some burly guy in Columbia with a shaved head."
    "Luthor didn't travel enough to be a mule," considered Anna.
    "He could have been picking up packages at the airport for someone," Lia said.
    "Really, Lia, you think his Corolla would make it that far?" Anna responded.
    "I don't know," Bailey frowned. "Luthor had an elastic view of the world, but drugs? I can't see it."
    "I know," replied Lia, "But what can you see that isn't worse?"
    "Oh, Lia," Anna apologized. "I've gone and gotten you all upset. I'm sorry."
    "It's okay, it was just simmering there below the surface."
    "Sweetie, we don't have all the facts. We don't know for sure what that money was doing there. It might not have even been his."
    "Yeah, he could have been holding it for the big burley guy with the shaved head. Somehow it doesn't make me feel better."
    "You don't suppose he got a book deal?"
    "And took it in cash? And didn't tell the whole world?"
     
     

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