“You work with the horses?”
“Yes. That and odd errands here and there.”
“Do you work with the dogs?”
Lyndsey laughed. “No. I’d like to, but no one is allowed to touch the dogs except Mr. Miller, Mina and the groomer.”
Really… Charlotte rolled the earring in her pocket between her fingers.
“Mr. Miller took in the nieces when his sister died, too, didn’t he? He must have been a nice guy to have taken care of you all.”
Lyndsey nodded. “Yes. He was a generous man.” She took the horses reins in hand. “I’m going to head back to the barn. Nice to meet you.”
“You too.”
Charlotte headed back to the house, where it seemed everyone had gathered on the great covered porch. Mina the maid, the two sheriffs, and both twins stood talking. She leaned against Frank’s cruiser, close enough to overhear.
“But I don’t understand why you’re here,” she heard Payne say as she approached. The other twin, Gemma, stood quietly with her hands folded in front of her, seemingly uninterested in the proceedings.
“You don’t think it’s a coincidence that Mr. Miller died the same night a litter of puppies went missing?” asked Carter.
“It is weird,” mumbled Gemma, glaring at Mina.
Mina seemed flustered and looked away.
“He was just old.” Payne smacked her sister’s arm. “All this fuss is your fault for mentioning the puppies.”
Gemma flinched. “Ow. Cut it out.”
Payne threw her head back and stared at the porch’s ceiling. “Can we go now? It’s hot.”
Sheriff Carter nodded. Mina looked at him with the same apologetic expression Lyndsey had offered Charlotte. Clearly, apologizing for Payne’s bad behavior was a common occurrence around the Miller household.
Payne turned on her heel and stalked into the house and Gemma trailed after her.
“She’s upset about Kimber’s death,” mumbled Mina.
Charlotte’s ears perked. Kimber. Strange for the maid to call Miller by his first name.
Carter handed Mina a card. “If you have any questions give me a call.”
Mina nodded and took the card. Instantly. Without hesitation.
Charlotte scowled.
Mina turned for the door and left them on the porch.
“Whaddya think?” asked Carter as he and Frank walked to where Charlotte had stationed herself by the car.
“No sign of a struggle. Guess the old man fell, unless the coroner tells us otherwise. Maybe he heard someone stealing the dogs and got flustered. It’s weird Mina never mentioned the dogs were missing, though. It took Gemma asking about them for us to realize they were gone.”
“Did you ask her why she left that part out?” asked Frank.
Carter shrugged. “She said she just didn’t notice. She was too upset, there was too much going on…the usual.”
Frank looked at Charlotte. “Who was that you were talking to in the horse ring?”
“Her name’s Lyndsey. She works with the horses, but she’s been here since she was young. Said Miller took her in as a girl.”
“Adopted her? Like the nieces?”
Charlotte shook her head. “She didn’t say adopted. Called herself a worker bee accepted into the hive.”
Carter grunted. “So you don’t think she’d be up for anything in the will? Lots of money in play here.”
Charlotte shrugged. “I don’t know. But—”
Frank cocked an eyebrow. “What? You’ve got that look on your face like you’re on to something.”
Charlotte fished the earring from her pocket.
“One of the dogs had this in its stool.”
Frank had been about to take the earring from her and he retracted his hand.
Charlotte huffed. “It’s okay. I washed it.”
Carter held out a palm and she dropped it into it.
“An earring?”
“A matching earring. Lyndsey was only wearing one just now. One that looks just like this.”
“You don’t say. So she’s been around the puppies recently.”
“Seems like it. She also thanked me for finding the puppies, but never asked me where I found them or if we caught who stole them.”
Carter looked at the house. “Mina did. The girls didn’t. Aren’t little girls supposed to love puppies?”
Charlotte considered this. “The girls might be too old for puppies now. They might be all about boys and their phones at this point. Payne seems to be in a classic teenage petulant funk.”
“Other one’s quiet,” observed Frank.
“Lyndsey said that’s how they are. Said Payne lives up to her name.”
Frank chuckled. “Probably all teenagers should be named Payne.”
Carter returned his hat to his head. “Well, we’ll see what the coroner thinks of everything. Thanks for bringing the puppies around, Frank, and nice to meet you, Charlotte. Keep up the good work.”
He shook Charlotte’s hand, pairing the shake with a grin-wink combo she could only describe as cheesy. She couldn’t tell if he was flirting, condescending, or just one of those guys who thought women found winking charming. Carter didn’t seem like a bad guy, but he was definitely pretty impressed with himself.
Carter headed toward the barn. “Think I’ll go talk to that horse lady before I go.”
Charlotte glanced at Carter’s hand. No wedding ring.
Heads up, Lyndsey. She wondered if the horse trainer liked a man in uniform.
Charlotte and Frank returned to his cruiser and headed back to Pineapple Port.
“So what do you think?” asked Frank as they strolled down the long drive.
Charlotte shrugged. “I don’t know. Somebody took the dogs, that much we know. I didn’t see the crime scene. Anything there?”
Frank shook his head. “No. The body was already gone, of course, but from what I understand it looks like he might have tried to get out of bed and fallen, clipped his head on the nightstand there. Lot of blood though.”
“Head wounds.”
“Mm hm. They bleed.”
“Maybe he did hear someone taking the dogs.”
Frank shrugged. “Maybe. I’m not sure that makes it a murder, though.”
Charlotte’s phone rang and she glanced at the caller I.D. to see it was the vet’s office.
