Chapter 6
“The blood on his fingers...” I didn’t finish the sentence because I was imagining what had happened here—here at my house. “There’s no blood on the cover.” I saw him come to the keypad. The top row of buttons was now dyed brownish red. “He opened the cover, then he was hit on the head.” Sure, there were other possibilities, but this felt right.
John, standing behind me, reached over and put both of his big paws on my hands and lowered my arms before I disturbed anything. The touch had been so gentle I could have imagined it, except for the way my skin felt.
He picked up the story. “He put his hand up to his head where he was struck, then tried the keypad, but collapsed before he could gain entry.”
We had been looking each other in the eye. “We’re thinking alike,” I said. “This is just like the last case we solved.”
Chief Turner took the notepad out of his jacket pocket. “You didn’t have a case then, and you don’t have one now.” He spoke slowly, and in a singsong rhythm.
Shelby snorted a laugh that said: we’ll see about that. More than a few of the officers snickered too, then tried to turn theirs into coughs when Chief Turner swung his head around to them.
“I have someone who thought he could get into my house. He had, or at least thought he had, my passcode. Why else would he try?”
“Can you go inside through the front door?” John asked.
After seeing the blood, I had forgotten I was about to go in to take care of Abby. “Sure.”
The uniformed officer, Officer Statler, from this morning at Buckingham’s, cleared her throat. She was waiting a few feet away.
“I think she needs to talk to us,” I said, giving her a smile.
“I’m pretty sure it’s me she was waiting for,” Chief Turner said.
“Whatever,” I said.
“Whaddya got?” Chief Turner asked.
“Looks like someone ran across the front yard,” she said.
I interrupted her. “With or without a dog?” I motioned for Shelby to join us.
“Without. In this direction.” She pointed to the right. “He or she ran along that side of the house and then doubled back to the front yard.”
“As a guess, does the shoe size look like it could have been him?” I pointed back to where the ambulance had been parked.
“We’re taking photographs now,” she said. I was wondering how long Chief Turner was going to let me go on.
“Suuuuue?” I had my answer. He was standing next to me, starting a low boil.
“That’s all for now, Officer Statler,” I said.
“Sue!” He had blown. “That’s all period!”
“I’ll get Abby, then I’ll be at Buckingham’s,” I said. “If you need me.” I added that because I couldn’t help myself.
“Sue, I’ll take Bernice home and come back,” Shelby said.
Chief Turner pointed his pen at the dog. “She knows not to leave town, right?”
Whenever he joked like that I felt myself thaw—a little. Too bad they were outnumbered about a hundred to one by his harsh remarks. I walked to the front porch and let myself in. Abby had had a very confusing morning and she let me know it. She was sitting just inside the front door, staring at me and waiting for an explanation.
“You don’t lock your front door?” Chief Turner was right on my heels.
“This is Lewes,” I reminded him as I leaned over to pet Abby. I walked to the back porch with Abby following, leaving Chief Turner to check out each room—there weren’t many—for signs of something. I opened the door to the screened-in porch and Abby ran outside for her “go-out,” as we like to call it.
“Let’s get some breakfast,” I said when we were back inside.
“Thanks, but I’ve eaten.” I guess he was satisfied the premises were secure since he was standing in the family room waiting for us.
“I was talking to Abby,” I said. She had taken off and was waiting for me by her bowls.
“Sue, with that,” he said, motioning in the general direction of the garage, “I’m going to have to put in a lot of hours the next few days. Can we take a rain check on dinner tomorrow night?”
“Of course!” I said. “Wait a minute, are you canceling our dinner because the body was found here? I can’t be a suspect because I was with you!”
“Technically, that would depend on the time of death, but, of course, I don’t suspect you.”
I went back to filling Abby’s bowls.
“Well, do you want to go get some breakfast?” he asked.
“Thanks, but I need to get to Buckingham’s. I have to place a dog food order, take the mystery dog to the vet to see if he has a chip….”
“Look, I hope you don’t feel uncomfortable because of what happened on the boat,” he said.
“What happened on the boat?”
“When you tried to kiss me,” he said.
“Whaaaaat?” I yelled. “In your dreams! I didn’t try to kiss you!” I realized I was holding Abby’s bowl and she was looking at it longingly so I lowered it to the floor. “You tried to kiss me!”
I was yelling at myself. He’d gone.
Chapter 7
“Oh, no!” Dana cried when she heard my tale of the blood on the keypad of my garage door opener. We were huddled behind the reception desk at Buckingham’s.
“His fingerprints were on the top row of keys and he died or passed out or something before he could enter the last digit,” I explained.
Shelby jumped in to say, “Sue, first, make a list of everyone you’ve given that code to. Then you’ve got to change it. That guy was this close to breaking into your house.” She held her thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “Sure, he was probably trying to get away from his killer but still—”
“Wait, wait…” Dana tried again to get a word in.
“Why do I need to change it now? The person that had the passcode is dead.”
“He must have gotten it from somebody since obviously you didn’t give it to him,” Shelby answered.
“Listen to meeeeee!” Dana wailed.
Shelby and I turned to her. She was young and we had no business barreling ahead like we had been doing. “I apologize,” I said.
Dana took a deep breath. “Your passcode is 1-2-3-4, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I said and looked around. “How did you know? Is it written down somewhere?”
“No, but half the people on the planet use that as a passcode. He was guessing,” she said. “That’s why only the top row of buttons had blood on them.”
“Ooooooh,” Shelby and I said at the same time and with equal sheepishness.
We turned when we heard the front door open. Mason came in carrying the Pug. They had been to Lewes 24-Hour Pet Care to see if the little guy had a chip.
“Brrr,” he said. “I think it’s colder in here than outside.”
“I have a call in to Class Glass,” Shelby said.