Frank chuckled. “If you say so. You can tag along. See you in ten.”
Charlotte hung up.
“We can start knocking on doors when I get back. Frank’s going to the crime scene and I’m going with him. It isn’t often I get to check out actual police crime scenes.”
Mariska balled her fists and, holding one on either side of her chin, shook them. “This is so exciting!”
Charlotte said her goodbyes and gathered the puppy box, grateful she’d driven her own golf cart to the pool and didn’t have to borrow Mariska’s and leave the ladies stranded. They’d need a way to get away if another fight broke out. Or maybe Mariska would need a vehicle to drag Darla away from the fight.
On the way back to her house she called the local vet and asked them to be on the lookout for the sixth puppy. Whoever found it might decide it’s a good idea to get it checked out.
Charlotte screeched to a stop in her driveway, burst into her home, set the puppies on the ground and changed out of her bathing suit. Abby sat in the doorway scowling as best she could. Not only had her mommy returned with those darn puppies, but she could tell she was rushing to leave again. A double insult.
Ten minutes later, Charlotte was dressed and sitting in the passenger seat of Frank’s cruiser. Abby watched them pull away from the window she could reach by hopping on the bed.
“Any leads on the sixth dog?”
Charlotte shook her head. “Not yet. I can tell you I practically had to wrestle the fifth one out of Janice Rocco’s hands. If whoever has the sixth dog hears the other women had to turn in their puppies, we’ll have to worry about them going into hiding.”
“If I see a puppy wearing fake mustache, I’ll let you know.”
Charlotte laughed. “How about Alice? Any new leads there?”
“No. It’s an accidental death for now.”
“Hm.” Charlotte considered telling Frank about how she’d discussed searching Alice’s pantry with Mariska and Darla, but decided against it. At the time, she’d considered the conversation about breaking in tongue-in-cheek, but the fact she didn’t want to share the joke with Frank meant she was seriously considering it.
Why do I do these things to myself?
She pushed the idea into the back of her mind.
For now.
Frank pulled onto the long driveway of the Miller Estate and crunched down the gravel drive toward a large two-story brick home nestled in the center of fenced horse pastures. Horses picked up their heads and pricked their ears to investigate their arrival before returning to their grass-munching.
“Beautiful property,” said Charlotte.
Frank nodded as he rolled to a stop behind several other police vehicles parked in the large stone driveway at the front of the house. “Yep. From what I understand, it should all go to the nieces now. That’s probably them. Twins. He took them in when his brother and his wife were killed by a drunk driver.”
He pointed in the direction of a young lady trotting around an exercise ring on the back of a fine-boned chestnut gelding. The horse’s mane lined its curved neck in neat braided bunches. Behind her, at the far end of the ring, another girl stood with another horse. It was similar in color and equally as gorgeous as the first, but with a star of white in the center of its forehead. The girl held a long lead, at the end of which her horse circled, spurred by the long whip in her hand that she lowered but never snapped. Apparently, just knowing the whip was long enough to reach was enough to keep the animal moving.
Charlotte exited the car and the girl riding trotted to the closest fence. Charlotte guessed her to be in her late teens.
“You’re not a cop,” said the girl.
“No, but I play one on TV.”
The space between the rider’s eyes scrunched. “What?”
“Just kidding. I have your puppies.”
“What? How?”
The girl seemed surprised but not particularly excited, which Charlotte found odd. If she’d lost a box full of puppies, she’d be over the moon to have them returned.
She wrestled the box of squirming dogs from the cruiser to show the girl, who stared down at them from her perch. Her mount gave the puppies a quick glance with its large brown eyes and then returned to playing with the bit between its teeth.
“Someone dropped them off on the doorsteps of my neighbors.”
The girl scowled. “That doesn’t make any sense. I missed a show because of all this.” She shook her head and pulled her horse away from the fence, giving the beast a kick with her black-booted heels. The horse took a few long strides and then broke into a slow canter as she steered him toward the girl Charlotte presumed to be her sister. The animal at the end of the lunge line stopped and the two girls spoke. Both sets of eyes turned to stare at Charlotte, but a moment later the starred mount returned to its circling and the rider continued practicing.
Okey-dokey.
Any dreams Charlotte had of being hailed a puppy-finding hero had galloped away into the sunset. Frank had gone ahead and was already entering the home. She jogged to catch up with him, doing her best not to jostle the pups.
The floor of the mansion’s great foyer was laid with alternating black and white squares of what looked like marble. Someone had thrown several ratty rugs on the floor just inside the door and Charlotte used one to wipe her flip flops on. She suddenly felt very underdressed in shorts and a polo. Officers milled around the foyer in their uniforms looking very official. At the top of the center staircase was
