Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Chapter 15

“I’m telling you, I think she did it,” Sophie said adamantly when we were driving to the vet clinic the next day.

“Who did what?” Bee asked sleepily from her spot on my lap.

“Who killed Andrea Dottory,” I answered.

“Oh, easy. Everyone,” Bee answered, and I laughed. “I mean, I don’t disagree with you, Sophie,” I told my best friend. Sophie was now convinced that Kelly Dottory had killed her aunt for the money. “She obviously has a problem with impulse control, and she has an awesome motive. I just think that we should go check out Antonia’s alibi first. Then if it turns out she couldn’t have possibly committed the murder, we can look more closely at Kelly.”

“Fine,” Sophie replied. “We’ll go see Betty at lunch. But I’m telling you, that Kelly girl is the type that could kill, easily.”

I spent the morning diagnosing a dog with an infected tooth, scheduling the emergency removal, prescribing steroids for another dog who had summer allergies and getting puked on by a little kitten who hadn’t quite figured out how his digestive system was supposed to work yet. Finally, at 12:30, I put the “back in an hour” sign on the door, along with my cell number in case of emergencies, changed out of my scrubs, and Sophie and I went down to Betty’s for lunch while Karen went off to do some errands.

Luckily, there were two stools at the counter still available, and Sophie and I made a beeline for them. The counter was prime real estate for having a chat with Betty.

“Hi girls!” Betty greeted us. “How are you doing?”

“Good thanks, Betty,” I replied. “How about you?”

“Oh business has been booming! I’ve been rushed off my feet. All this talk about murder, I feel like this café is basically the town equivalent of the water cooler.”

I smiled. “Don’t say that too loudly, soon they’ll start suspecting you of murdering people just to bring in customers.”

Betty gave me a motherly glance that said she both disapproved of my comment, but also kind of found it funny. I was pretty sure I’d made the same joke when Tony Nyman had been killed, but luckily Betty didn’t point that out. “So what can I get for you girls?”

“A veggie BLT and a slice of apple pie, please,” I said. Lowering my voice, I added “A little birdie told me you’re adding cheesecake to the menu for the summer. Can I ask how much longer we have to wait before we get to enjoy it?”

Betty wagged the wooden spoon she was holding at me with a smile on her face.

“Someone’s been talking! Maybe I’ll be the one with some gossip to tell the others soon,” Betty teased, and I felt my face going red.

“Absolutely you will!” Sophie chimed in. “It’s only a matter of time before those two get together!”

“Oh stop it,” I scolded Sophie. “That is absolutely not in a million years going to happen.”

“Well I’m not going to lie, I care more about the answer to Angela’s cheesecake question than her love life,” Sophie replied, and we both looked at Betty expectantly, who sighed.

“Fine. You girls win. Come back a week from Friday. Strawberry, and chocolate pecan are the two flavours.”

Sophie and I looked at each other, eyes gleaming, barely able to contain our excitement. I was so going to gain like 20 pounds this summer, and it was going to be delicious.

Sophie ordered a club sandwich, then we settled in while Betty went to take the orders from a large group of Japanese tourists who had arrived and taken one of the corner tables.

“I’m going to be all over that chocolate pecan cheesecake,” Sophie told me, rubbing her hands together.

“Shh, keep your voice down,” I scolded. “No one else is supposed to know about that.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot, I wouldn’t want to get your boyfriend into trouble.”

I rolled my eyes while Sophie laughed at me.

“Oh no!” I said, keeping my eyes rolled. “I rolled my eyes at you so many times now they’re stuck! I guess my eyes are going to be like this forever. Thanks Sophie!”

This time it was her turn to roll her eyes. “You are the lamest person I have ever met, I don’t even know why I’m friends with you.”

Our bonding moment was interrupted by Bella coming back with our plates of food. I took the opportunity to ask her about Antonia.

“So I heard Antonia got taken in for questioning by the cops a second time,” I started as I picked up a fry and started munching on it. Betty leaned her arms on the counter.

“Yes, it’s unbelievable. I don’t think she could have done it. In fact, I know she couldn’t have.”

“Really? Why’s that?” Sophie asked. I couldn’t help but notice the gleam in her eye; Sophie was desperate to clear Antonia’s name so we could focus on Kelly.

“Well the police came in the other day and asked me about Antonia’s whereabouts the day of the murder. And you know, she was here! I remember it clearly, because she came in at around 10 and started telling everyone that she had it under good authority that the city was actually buying their paint to re-paint the post office from a box store in Portland instead of from the local hardware store. And I have tea with Patricia Wilson every week, and her nephew works at the hardware store, and he told her about the big order they got for the paint. So I told Antonia she was mistaken. She didn’t take too kindly to that and stormed off. I didn’t think much more of it until she came back an hour later an announced that Andrea had been killed.”

“So Antonia was definitely here when Andrea was killed. So she couldn’t have done it.”

“That’s what I told the police. Exactly.”

Betty went off to help other customers while Sophie and I ate our food. I smiled at Sophie, who was now free to explore the idea that Kelly was the murderer as much as she wanted. After all, the police’s prime suspect had been eliminated from the suspect pool.

Betty mentioning Jason reminded me of something he had said the other day, however, and I had suddenly gotten an idea of how I could figure out how exactly Andrew Powers had spent his day off. By tomorrow, I was hoping I would have either eliminated another major suspect, or confirmed that he was in Willow Bay. If I was lucky, that was.