Oh, Peter.
“It’s bad, though.” He shot me a plaintive look. “It’s really messing with her sense of smell.”
I grinned and slowed my quick steps as I headed back toward the door to the lawn. “Wait… like her sense of…?” I shot him a questioning look.
He nodded, brows pulled up in the middle. “She’s having trouble smelling the difference between lies and truths.”
I threw my head back and cackled. “Oh! I’m going to have fun with this!”
MR. AND MRS. HARRINGTON
Once back outside, frantic waving at the edge of the crowd caught my eye. Chief McCray held Daisy’s leash in one hand and pointed at the German shepherd, then beckoned us toward her. She beamed as Peter and I threaded through groups of wedding guests and between round tables.
McCray winked at me from behind her huge, wire-rimmed glasses. “Well, if it isn’t our resident pet psychic.” She slugged Peter’s arm, and he winced. Guess she packed a punch, despite her petite size.
“And Officer Flint!” She threw her arms in the air, and Daisy shot her a side-eye, ears flat, as the action tugged on her leash and pulled the dog to the side.
“The dream team is back together again!” She hastily shoved the leash at Peter. “She’s all yours.”
He frowned. “Did everything go okay?”
“Oh. Yeah.” McCray shoved her hands into her pockets and pursed her lips. “Definitely.” The gusty winds barely touched her short blond hair, the ends flipped around her face. That must be a strong hair potion she used.
The chief brought a hand to the side of her mouth, as if she were sharing a secret. “Things got a little dicey when Daisy decided she had to relieve herself.” She raised her blond brows. “Number two.”
Peter’s cheeks flushed, and I bit back a grin.
McCray thumbed over her shoulder, toward the dense tree line, beaming again. “No worries, though. I’ve got Bon on it.”
I gasped out a laugh. “What? Really?”
She frowned. “Yeah, course. I didn’t have any doggie bags on me, and I’m the chief! I’ve got important police business to attend to.”
I imagined Bon rooting around in the bushes in the dark looking for dog droppings. Welp, my night had been made.
Daisy hung her head, pointy ears still flat, and growled. So undignified. A leash?
I grinned—she had a point. “What’s with the leash?” I’d never seen her at the end of one before.
McCray raised her brows at Daisy and shifted to a baby voice. “We certainly didn’t want to wear a collar and leash, now did we? But we kept running after Peter, so mean Aunty Kit had to put a leash on us.” She chuckled and addressed Peter and me. “Man. She hates this thing.” She yanked her wand out of her pocket, and with a flick of her wrist, the leather strap magically disappeared.
Daisy leapt to her feet and bounded to Peter’s side, tapping her front paws and panting up at him. Peter! Don’t leave me with her again, Peter! She shot McCray an indignant look over her shoulder. She made me sit for treats—can you imagine? Me! Like a common house pet!
I let out a quiet whine. Oh, the horror!
She jerked her head in my direction, pointy ears pricked. Her dark eyes narrowed, and she growled. Oh. It’s you.
I grinned. Good to see you too, Days.
She held still, then her tail wagged a bit, and she grinned back up at Peter, her long tongue half hanging out of her mouth. She let out a happy bark. Peter’s feeling better. Did you see?
I nodded and rocked on my heels, grinning. Yeah. I’d seen.
“So…” Chief McCray clapped her hands together, and I looked up to find her watching me with a curious expression. “I’ll leave you all to your work. I look forward to hearing your insights.” She pressed her fingers to her temples before strutting off, a jovial grin on her face as if she was at a family reunion instead of the scene of a murder.
Peter watched her go for a moment, then crouched down in front of Daisy and grabbed big handfuls of the tawny fur around her neck. She licked his face as he gave her a good rub, then he straightened and dusted off his navy pants, golden hairs floating through the night sky.
I let out a low whine. I bet doing laundry with you around is a nightmare.
She looked me up and down. Judging by the state of your clothing, I’d guess doing laundry is your nightmare. She squeezed her eyes shut and pulled her lips back, revealing pointy white teeth.
Was she laughing at me?
She sneezed, then sneezed again.
Ah.
She followed that up by plunking her haunches down and scratching furiously at her face.
I raised a brow at the dog. Her eyes might be a little red, and she was currently gnawing at her back leg with a lot of enthusiasm, but other than that she seemed totally fine—full of her normal spitfire—to me.
“Shall we go have a word with the groom’s parents?”
Daisy looked up from chewing on herself and sneezed.
I swept an arm out. “Lead the way.”
The three of us threaded back through the sober wedding guests toward the castle. I had a feeling I’d spotted the groom’s parents when a blond woman, in her early forties probably, huffed as a pair of cops exited the back door with Letty’s body, draped in a tarp, magically hovering between them.
“Not the irises—watch your step!”
One of the cops glanced down as he treaded over the dark soil of a flower bed and left behind a broken green shoot. The woman flashed her eyes at him as they carried the body away. An older man, maybe in his sixties, placed his hands on her shoulders from behind. She crossed her arms and huffed. “No respect.”
I raised my brows. No respect? If I was correct that these were Chaz’s parents, then they’d just witnessed their daughter-in-law’s corpse carried out by the cops, and they were worried about their flowers? I narrowed
