“Hey, Frank, glad you could come by,” said a tall sheriff in his mid-forties as he thrust out a hand to shake.
“Hey, Carter.”
Sheriff Carter’s gaze shifted to Charlotte as he and Frank shook their hellos.
“Who’s this?”
Frank turned and for a moment seemed surprised to find her standing there.
“Oh, this is Charlotte. She—” Frank stopped, seeming to search for the right words to describe her. “She’s got the puppies.”
Charlotte held out the box for Carter to see. “All but one. I’ll probably round up the spare by the end of the day.”
“You found them roaming?”
“No. Someone dropped them on the doorsteps of the Pineapple Port residents. I think someone hasn’t come forward with the sixth.”
“Huh.” Carter took the box. “Mina!”
A plump woman in a conservative black maid’s uniform appeared where the foyer turned into a living room at the back of the entrance. She wiped her hands on her white apron and looked at Carter expectantly.
“These your puppies?”
Mina moved to the box and gasped. “They are. Where did you find them?” She took the box from him as Carter nodded his head in Charlotte’s direction.
“This little lady found them down the road at Pineapple Port.”
Charlotte smiled at the woman but inside her brain growled.
Little lady. Grr.
“I don’t understand. What’s Pineapple Port?” asked Mina setting the box on the ground beside her.
“It’s a retirement community. Someone left them on my neighbors’ doorsteps.”
“Someone? Did you see who?”
“No.”
“Did you say neighbors?” asked Carter. “She your daughter, Frank?”
Frank laughed and Charlotte thought she caught him blushing. “In a way maybe,” he said, winking at Charlotte. “But no. It’s a long story.”
Mina’s attention dropped to the box. “There’s one missing.”
“There is.” Charlotte pulled a card from her pocket and handed it to Mina. “I’m a private investigator. We hope to have the missing dog soon.”
Mina reached to take her card and then recoiled. “I didn’t hire a private investigator.”
“No. The two things are mutually exclusive in this case.”
Mina looked down at the card in Charlotte’s outstretched hand as if it might bite her.
“I just wanted you to have my number in case you want to check on progress or if you need anything in the future.”
There. That was subtle, right? I didn’t actually say in case Kimber Miller was murdered.
Mina took the card. “Thank you.”
Charlotte began to feel the weight of other eyes on her, so she nodded and took a step back. She glanced at Frank. “I’ll wait outside.”
Charlotte wandered back to the cruiser.
Well, that went well. The big strapping sheriff calls me ‘little lady’ and then the maid acts as if my card is radioactive. Charlotte felt about ten years old from the beginning to the end of the whole exchange.
Outside, the girl lunging her horse had disappeared. The rider had dismounted. A new woman stood beside her horse quickly unbraiding its mane, running her fingers through the wavy hair to fluff it as she went. She spotted Charlotte and smiled.
“She brought the puppies back,” said the rider. With a toss of her hair, she strode toward the gate. “Take him to the barn when you’re done.”
The woman at the braids watched the girl leave and then turned back to Charlotte to offer a second smile, this one seemingly apologetic. Whereas the rider had every hair in place, her riding breeches spotless and her white sleeveless blouse crisp, this woman seemed frazzled. Though older than the girl by maybe ten years, she was shorter, with broken strands of dark blonde hair escaping her ponytail and encircling her head like spun sugar. As she turned, Charlotte noticed she only wore only one earring.
A small silver sphere.
Charlotte thrust a hand into her pocket and fingered the matching earring in there. She’d brought it to remind herself to tell Frank about it, and then had forgotten anyway.
“Sorry, Payne isn’t a big dog person. I’m Lyndsey. You brought the dogs back?”
Charlotte nodded, unable to shake Lyndsey’s hand through the fence without making things awkward for both of them. “I’m Charlotte. I brought back all but one, but I think we’ll have number six soon.”
“That’s amazing. Thank you so much. I was so worried about them.”
“You’re missing an earring.” Charlotte pinched her own right earlobe to indicate which ear. Lyndsey mirrored the motion.
“Oh shoot. I love these. Thanks.” Lyndsey glanced at the house and then looked around the dusty earth beneath her boots. “If it’s out here, it’s gone.”
“Do you want me to help you look?”
“No. They’re not expensive. Thanks though.”
Charlotte spotted Payne walking from the barn toward the main residence. “They’re twins, aren’t they? The girls? His nieces?”
Lyndsey nodded. “You’d never know it from their personalities though.”
“Very different?”
“Very. Payne lives up to her name and Gemma’s the quiet one.”
“It seems all the twins I meet have a more dominating one.”
“I suppose there’s naturally an alpha, like a little dog pack in the womb.” Lyndsey chuckled to herself and unbraided the last bunch of mane. “Thanks for bringing back the puppies. Mr. Miller would have been so happy to know they’re safe.”
A sadness washed over the woman’s expression and she stared at the ground as if lost in thought.
“Are you a relative?” asked Charlotte.
“Hm? Oh, no. Not exactly. I’m a worker bee they took into the hive.”
“But you’ve been here a long time?”
Lyndsey smoothed the horse’s mane. “Since I was young. He took me in when my mother—” She cut short and shrugged. “She got into some trouble. She couldn’t take care of me anymore.”
“He adopted you?”
“Not officially, but in so many
