Free Barking Detective 04 - The Chihuahua Always Sniffs Twice by Waverly Curtis Page A

his grave, if he had known Lucille was going to leave all his hard-earned money to her dogs. He hated those dogs.”
    “So your father is?”
    “Charles Carpenter.” Kevin studied him. “Shouldn’t you know this already?”
    “Best to start from the beginning,” said Jimmy G.
    Kevin sighed.
    “And what were your feelings about your mother?”
    “My mother?” Kevin seemed puzzled. “My mother died when I was twelve.”
    “The lady who left her money to the dogs was not your mother?”
    “No, Lucille was my stepmother.” Kevin’s voice got louder. “She married my father when I was sixteen and sent me and my sister away to boarding schools.” The door opened and Lionel appeared, whisked away the empty plate, gave Kevin a disapproving look, and disappeared again.
    “So you probably feel the money should belong to you,” Jimmy G said.
    Kevin shrugged. “We get by with the income from our business.”
    “Business?”
    “Floral Fantasy,” said Kevin. “Our bed-and-breakfast. We’re usually completely booked from May through September. Then there’s another busy period around the holidays.”
    Jimmy G scribbled that down, though he wasn’t sure that was relevant.
    “It’s really my sister I worry about.”
    “Sister?”
    “Colleen. She runs the farm: Lost Lakes Lavender. She’s got a bit of a chip on her shoulder. My dad didn’t think girls could be farmers. So she’s always trying to prove herself. She would be OK if it wasn’t for the constant fighting.”
    “Fighting with her stepmother?”
    “No, the other lavender farmers! They’re ruthless—each one trying to compete for the attention of the tourists. Poor Colleen! I don’t think she’s going to make it. She’s just not cut out for that kind of conflict.”
    Jimmy G wrote that down, too, though he didn’t see how it was relevant. He tried to think of something else to ask.
    “So who do you think killed Bickerstaff?”
    “If I had to guess, I’d say Boswell,” Kevin replied quickly. “They hated each other.”
    “But the police questioned Boswell and let him go.”
    Kevin raised his eyebrows. “You know how they do that. They can’t make an arrest until they get enough evidence. But I’ll bet they’re closing in on him even as we speak.”
    Jimmy G gulped, thinking of his late-night visit. Maybe he had been alone with a murderer. He was lucky to be alive.
    “Well, thanks for talking to Jimmy G,” he said, crumpling the napkin and putting it back into his pocket. Then he remembered the missing document, the one he had lifted from Boswell’s desk. “I left something in my room. I’ll just head up to collect it.”
    “The maid just finished cleaning your room,” Kevin said. “Let me ask her if she found anything. What was it?”
    “Some legal papers,” Jimmy G said quickly. “Relating to the case.”
    Out in the hall, Kevin approached a dark-haired young woman who was putting towels into a closet. “Helen, did you find any papers in the Lavender Room?”
    Helen shook her head.
    “Are you sure?’ Jimmy G asked.
    “Positive.”
    Jimmy G swallowed hard. The judge was not going to like this at all.

Chapter 16
    As I opened the door to my car, Pepe turned his attention to the chain-link fence that ran along the driveway that led up to the Carpenter mansion.
    “Let’s go!” I said. I was eager to get back to Seattle.
    “I would, but I have something more important to do,” was his reply. He moved along the base of the fence, sniffing furiously.
    “Are you finding clues?” I asked, curious. I didn’t see how anyone could get over that fence to get into the yard. It ran down the whole length of the driveway out to the road, a good half mile.
    “No, I am investigating,” he said. “Something that no one else is doing.”
    “What do you expect me to do?” I asked.
    “We should question Colleen Carpenter,” he said. “After all, the intruder ran over here. Perhaps he lives on the property.”
    “Hmmm,” I