A Candidate For Murder (Old Maids of Mercer Island Mysteries Book 2) (5 page)

And just as if we had been watching a rerun of the
Wizard of Oz
, the Wicked Witch of the West blew into my kitchen.

“Julia, I want an explanation!”

The dogs streaked across the room, barking and yapping at a pair of stubby feet encased in heavy boots. It was Dana Finkle in all her amphibian splendor. I say that because she’s not much taller than me, is built like a box, has thick folds at her neck and large, fleshy lips. To me, she looks like a toad. And right now the dogs had her backed up against the wall, her eyes bulging.

“Call them off!” she screamed.

The girls and I looked at each other in surprise. Miniature Dachshunds only weigh about nine to ten pounds.

“Mickey! Minnie!” I commanded. I clapped my hands, and they stopped and turned to me. “Go lie down,” I said, snapping my fingers. I pointed to their dog bed.

Mickey threw a final bark over his shoulder at Dana, and then the two scuttled over to the corner, their little nails clicking on the hardwood floor.

“Sorry about that,” I said.

Dana slid off the wall, her muscles relaxing, but her eyes never left the dogs, who were watching her with interest from the dog bed.

“Now, what do you mean?” I said, taking in her outfit with a quick sweep of my eyes.

She was dressed in bright red wool slacks and a purple and white checked sweater, with a yellow scarf tied around her thick neck. Over all of that, she was wearing a peacock blue wool coat. I had no idea where she got her fashion sense, but the entire image made me a little nauseous.

“It’s your fault, isn’t it?” she said, turning her attention away from the dogs. “I mean, Trudy has been murdered, and it was your note that drew her to the library.”

“No, Dana,” I said, glaring at her. “
You
sent her to the library. The note was meant for
you
!” I said, realizing too late that it sounded as if I really had sent the email.

“So you admit that you sent the message?” she spat, pointing a short, dark lacquered fingernail at me.

Good God! She painted her fingernails black.

“No, of course not,” I said, bringing my attention back to the conversation.

Just then, Crystal came in from the front desk. “Julia, there’s a phone call for you.”

I reached for my cell phone, and then remembered that David had taken it. So I followed Crystal to the front desk. I picked up the land line. It was David. “Hello, David,” I said tentatively.

“You’re off the hook,” he said. “Our tech guys said your email was hacked.”

“Thank God,” I said with a deep sigh. “Can they tell who did it?”

“Not yet. They’re backtracking through the system now. But we’ve been assured that it wasn’t you. I’ll let you know when I have more information, and I’ll get everything back to you this afternoon.”

“Thanks. I know you were just doing your job. Sorry if I was short with you this morning.”

“Hey, no problem,” he said quietly. I’ll talk to you soon.”

I hung up. I returned to the kitchen where four sets of eyes were staring at me.

“Well?” Dana croaked.

“They’ve cleared me,” I said with relief. “Someone hacked my email account.”

“I knew it!” Rudy said, slapping the table.

“That’s great,” Doe said.

“But too bad for you,” Blair said to Dana as she took a sip of wine.

“Why do you say that?” Dana asked, glaring at Blair.

“Because now you don’t know
who’s
trying to kill you,” she replied, allowing a hint of triumph to seep into her voice.

Dana turned back to me. “Then you need to help me. Someone is still out there. And they want me dead.”

“Needle in a haystack,” Rudy murmured, studying her fingernails.

I shot Rudy an exasperated glance. “Dana, it’s in the hands of the police. They’ll find out who did it.”

“No,” she said, stomping her foot and jiggling the flab around her neck. “You owe me.”

“Why does Julia owe you anything?” Rudy said, as she stood and came around the table with her fists clenched. “Why should any of us help you?”

Rudy had been an athlete in college and still played on the senior fast pitch team. Even with a titanium knee, she was fit as a fiddle. And her brusque manner could be intimidating. Dana backed up a step.

“Because everyone knows you all hate me,” she said, dialing back the previous demand in her voice. “You have tremendous influence on this island. Especially you, Julia,” she said, turning to me. “Clearly someone is following
your
lead.”

“What?” Doe and Blair said, both rising from their chairs.

Dana backed up another step.

“Wait,” I said with a raised hand. “Maybe she’s right.”

“Oh, c’mon, Julia,” Doe exclaimed. “You don’t owe her anything.”

But I was staring at Dana, my mind racing. “I’ll make you a deal,” I said.

Those double-lidded eyes blinked warily. “What deal?”

“If we help you, you’ll agree to drop out of the mayor’s race.”

“I knew it!” she exclaimed again. “This is all about the race. You just want to win.”

“No,” I said, raising a hand to stop her. “If you drop out of the race…then so will I.”

She paused. I heard a few intakes of breath around the room.

“But Julia…” Doe said quietly from behind me.

I put up my hand again to shush everyone.

“And then what?” Dana asked suspiciously. “Who will run for mayor?”

“Tony Morales,” I replied.

“What? He can’t be mayor! He’s a…he’s a…”

“A what? An amputee?” I said.

Tony Morales was our City Administrator and an Afghanistan vet who had lost his left leg and left forearm to an IED. He wore prosthetics and got around in life just fine. But to someone with Dana’s underdeveloped sense of compassion, his injuries seemed to always make her uncomfortable. I’d seen her on more than one occasion just ignore him, even though he was right in front of her.

“Why can’t he be mayor?” Doe said, suddenly taking the lead. “He has more experience than you do.”

“Right,” Rudy said, moving in close. “He has a degree in business and has already been in his position for three years.”

“Besides,” Blair said with a flip of her head. “People actually
lik
e him.”

Dana looked from Blair, to Rudy, to Doe and then to me. “So, that’s the deal?”

“Take it or leave it,” I said.

“But he hasn’t even filed for the race,” she replied stubbornly.

“The deadline isn’t for another two weeks,” I said.

“The clock is ticking,” Doe said in a threatening tone.

“And someone is out to kill you,” Blair hissed in the background.

“But how do you know he even wants to run?” Dana whined.

I could tell she knew she was between a rock and a hard place and didn’t like it. “I wouldn’t worry about it,” I told her. “You have more important things to worry about.”

“Yeah, like saving your life,” Blair said mean-spiritedly.

“Okay,” she said with a disappointed sigh. “I suppose it’s the risk that comes with being a public figure. I owe it to my supporters to stay safe, so I suppose dropping out of the race makes sense. After all, who could blame me? Someone
is
trying to kill me.”

God, I knew it!
I thought. She was going to milk this for all she could. Oh well, let her. At least she wouldn’t be mayor, and I wouldn’t have to run against her. You have to grab life’s little rewards when you can. Just then, the front door jingled again.

“By the way, why isn’t Clay helping you?” I asked. “He’s your husband. Why didn’t you turn to him instead of us?”

“He offered to hire a private detective,” she said. “But…I didn’t want…”

The kitchen door opened, and a voice rang out, “Mom, I heard about…”

Angela came in along with her large Harlequin Great Dane, Lucy. She stopped short when she saw all of us staring at her.

“Aaaargh!” Dana screamed again. She was back up against the wall, this time with the nose of a dog the size of a small horse pressed to her crotch.

“Lucy!” I yelled.

Lucy was mild-mannered and sweet by nature, but Dana didn’t know that. I reached out and grabbed the dog’s thick, leather collar, pulling her back as she looked up at Dana, drool spilling out the side of her mouth.

“Please…please, get it away from me,” Dana blubbered, barely able to breathe.

“Not much of a dog person, are you?” Rudy said with a sarcastic twist to her mouth.

I handed Lucy off to Angela. Mickey and Minnie had run over, and Minnie started bouncing up and down at Lucy’s feet as if her short little legs were equipped with tightly wound springs. For a small dog, Minnie could gain some real altitude. Dana’s chin moved up and down as she watched the Doxie get higher and higher, looking all the while as if she might pee in her pants. I nodded to Angela.

“Let’s take them out of here.”

Angela and I ushered all three dogs into the breakfast room and then let them go. They wandered into the entryway, with Mickey and Minnie running excitedly back and forth under Lucy’s belly and around her feet, while she tried in vain to catch them.

“Why aren’t you at work?” I asked my daughter.

Angela was a workaholic, just like her dad, and rarely took vacations. So I knew there was an ulterior motive for her unscheduled visit.

“I took a vacation day,” she said. “And don’t try to change the subject.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware there
was
a subject.”

“Really? What’s
she
doing here?” she said with a yank of her head in the direction of the kitchen. “You shouldn’t be talking to her.”

My back stiffened. “Why not? I just got a call from the detectives, and I’ve been cleared. Someone hacked my email.”

“I know,” she said crisply.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Since you seem to have a direct line to the Mercer Island Police Department and know everything before I do, why are
you
here?”

She slumped back against the long counter we used to set up the breakfast buffet. “I just wanted to check on you to make sure you were okay. I know how you get when you think you’re accused of something.”

“Defensive would be the word you’re looking for, don’t you think? After all, I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Then why is Dana here?
You two aren’t exactly friends.”

Angela was two inches taller than me, had beautiful high cheekbones and dimples, and lustrous long black hair. And then I noticed it.

“When did you cut your hair?”

Her eyes narrowed, and she stared at me suspiciously. “You’re doing it again. Changing the subject.”

“Sorry,” I replied without conviction. “It just suddenly dawned on me that you cut your hair.”

She had, in fact, cut her hair to chin length with bangs down to the graceful arch of her brows. It was a stunning look.

“I like it,” I said.

“Mother!” she said in her most admonishing tone.

“Okay, okay,” I said. “Dana is just here to do what she does best…harass me. She came to accuse me of sending the message that got Trudy killed. But now that I’ve been cleared, she’ll be leaving. Happy?”

I wasn’t about to tell my nosy daughter the truth, so a long pause stretched between us as she studied me carefully.

“Really, honey,” I said, breaking the silence. “Thanks for checking up on me.” I put a hand on her shoulder and began to move her in the direction of the front door. “Say hi to Detective Abrams for me.”

“Look, Mom,” she said, pulling away. “I know you. You make bad decisions when you get all riled up. Don’t get involved in anything. Let the police do this.”

“I’m sure that Detective Franks and Abrams have it all covered. Now you have a nice day off.” I pushed her toward the door where Lucy had finally settled down to allow the smaller dogs to crawl all over her.

“Mickey! Minnie!” I called them. The dogs scrambled off Lucy and over to me, while Lucy hefted herself to her feet. “I’ll give you a call later, Honey,” I said brightly.

Angela slipped past me. “Okay, but
do not
get involved.”

“Got it. Thanks, Honey,” I responded, waving goodbye.

I returned to the kitchen, where I found the air as frigid as it was outside. Doe, Rudy and Blair had returned to the table, while Dana had retreated to the center island.

“All right, then,” I said to break the ice. “If we’re going to find out who’s trying to kill you, Dana, we’re going to have to know everything we can about you – past
and
present. Are you ready for that?”

Dana’s eyes grew wide, and she drew her bulbous lips together. “Uh…sure,” she replied unconvincingly. “By everything, you mean…”

“Everything,” Blair said. “Someone’s trying to kill you.”