Part 23 (2/2)

Dog in hand, we backtracked to the back door, then we walked through the rooms and managed to reach the front hall.

I peered in one of the doors leading off of it.

”This is it. McDowell's office.” By then my eyes had adjusted to the darkness. ”Nothing's the same in this room compared to the one in my vision,” I whispered. ”Except, maybe-” I used my shoe to move a big painting aside, which action called for a few more kitty treats on the dog's part, and sure enough, there was the safe. ”Those ledgers might still be in there,” I said.

”If it was the councilman you saw, he owns Goodwin's now. No need to cook the books.”

”If he embezzled from family, can Uncle Sam be far behind?”

”A cape, Mad. All you have is a cape.”

The light went on, and I whipped around to scold Eve for hitting the switch.

Werner's hand fell from the switch, his gaze locked on mine.

Thirty-four.

I like fas.h.i.+on to go down to the street, but I can't accept that it should originate there.

-COCO CHANEL ”Mad and Eve strike again,” Werner said. ”Safecracking and dognapping, this time?”

I lowered the painting. ”Sure, I always open safes with a shoe. This is McDowell's watchdog. See?” I put the little guy down and he began a growling approach until he cornered Werner. Then the dog lifted a leg and tinkled on the detective's shoe.

Werner jumped aside, making the dog growl the more, and gave me a look that I'd come to interpret as his ”I could beat you” look. ”You gonna call him off?”

I bit my lip to hold in my amus.e.m.e.nt at both the dog's antics and at Eve, bent over double, out of Werner's range of vision.

I cleared my throat. ”Here, boy.” I put the last of my kitty treats on the floor and McDowell's dog came galloping back as only a wiener dog could gallop. Oh, I'd thought a pun. Good thing I hadn't called him a wiener dog in front of the Wiener.

Werner looked me up and down and shook his head.

Because of it, I took stock of my appearance. Torn stockings, mud on my knees and, ugh, sore, muddy feet. They'd be able to track my b.l.o.o.d.y muddy footprints right through the house. Eve, too, since she wore only one shoe and one foot was as bare and bad as mine.

Werner shook his head. ”You're a blight on the pride of the fas.h.i.+on industry, Madeira. Shame on you. You look like a frostbitten flower bed.”

”I match my bag. My bag! I lost my Pucci bag!”

”You left it in the car,” Eve said.

I relaxed. ”Whew!”

Eve chuckled. ”Funny you should mention flowers, Detective. Because I was gonna make Mad lie down in a flower bed to hide in plain sight, if they-”

”They?” Werner raised his brows.

”Vinney was here,” I said. ”We were gonna call you.”

”Too bad you forgot.”

”We didn't get away from them until they left.”

”At which point, you decided to ransack the house?”

”No. Vinney robbed me, remember? And he probably put the bones he stole from my place into the playhouse fire.” I raised my arms. ”Look at me. I'm not hiding an old mailbag of anything.”

”Does anybody have a house key to show me this time? Officer,” Werner said, indicating Eve, ”take that shoe from Ms. Meyers, will you? It seems to have blood on the heel.”

Eve sighed and handed over the boot in her hand.

”Looks like,” the officer said, bagging it.

”It's Vinney's blood,” Eve explained. ”He had Maddie by the throat. I hit him in the head, exactly where he got those st.i.tches the other night.”

”The st.i.tches you took him to get?”

”Well, yes, but tonight my best friend's life was in danger. I wrote off Vinney the minute he tried to kill Mad.”

”Madeira, you said 'they.' Who else was here, besides Vinney?” Werner asked.

”Detective, did you hear Eve? I nearly died. Strangled. Literally. Could we have a moment of acknowledgment and maybe a 'so glad you're alive, Mad'?”

”Strangled, eh?” Werner nodded thoughtfully. ”For the first time, I understand the mind of a perp.”

I stamped my sore foot and regretted it.

Werner eyed me with a thimbleful of concern. ”How's your throat?”

”A little sore,” I snapped.

He took a box from his inside jacket pocket. ”Here's a cough drop. Now, who else was here?”

I was underwhelmed by his concern, but the cough drop felt good.

”Councilman McDowell,” Eve told him. ”He let us in when we brought Lolique home drunk.”

Werner shook his head in denial. ”No. The councilman is working late, tonight. He called from his office to tell us that the silent alarm on this place went off. So, here we are.”

”The rat!” I said. ”They're all rats. He probably called from his cell phone as he drove away from here.”

”Save it for the station. Put them in my car,” Werner told the officer, ”and make sure forensics goes over this place after they're finished in the guesthouse. Ms. Meyers, give your keys to the officer and tell him where to find your car.”

”In the woods off the drive. I left the keys in the ignition.”

We sat for a long time in the backseat of Werner's car waiting for him. I sighed. ”I'm so glad we stopped to pee. Too bad the doggie didn't.”

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