Page 15 of The Accidental Detectives

He came into view, a dog under each arm.

“Buddy!” I hopped up to give him a hug and thank him for helping Tater Tot—but the frown on his round face worried me.

I squeezed him and took a dog, one that looked just like Benji. “Who are you, snookums?”

He licked my face in response, pressing his wet nose to my cheek.

“That’s Linus, and this lil’ lady here,” Darnell held up a tiny little thing that couldn’t weigh more than a coupla pounds, with a tuft of hair on top of its head, “is Peppermint Patty. She’s a nice girl, ain’t ya, sugar?”

As though to seal her nice girl label, she wagged her scruffy tail and bonked her head against Darnell’s chest.

Marty wiggled her fingers in Darnell’s direction. “Gimme that baby,” she demanded, scooping up Peppermint Patty and snuggling the dog under her chin. She sighed contentedly. “Ahh, puppies.”

“Wait. Where’s Doug the iguana?” I asked, cradling Linus under my own chin.

“He’s with me, Miss Statleon,” Tottington called out, sounding oddly shaky, his footsteps awkward as he came down the stairs.

When he came into view, I cackled out loud. “Hah! Looks like someone’s found a new buddy.” Doug was wrapped around Tottington’s stiff neck, his tongue darting in and out, slashing Tater’s cheek.

Poor Tots looked a little green around the gills. “Indeed, Dark Lord. When Doug saw us, he scurried up my leg as though he’d seen a ghost and now it doesn’t appear he wants to let go. If I’m not being too forward, from the feel of him and his hot breath on my neck. I’d venture to guess he’s no worse for the wear after missing a few meals.”

Chuckling, I scratched Doug under the chin. “Are you tryin’ to steal my man, Doug? How rude.” He curled his floppy feet around my finger, his round eyes staring intently at me as he attempted to climb from Tottington’s shoulder to mine.

Wanda chuckled as she relieved me of Linus. “I swear, there isn’t an animal on the planet you can’t charm.”

I stood closer to Tottington, letting Doug transfer to me. He slithered over, wrapping himself across my shoulders, letting his long tail drape across my arm.

Tottington cleared his throat, brushing the arms of his formal suit jacket. “Thank you, Miss.”

“Anything for you, Tater Tot.” I gave him a wink, turning to Darnell. “So why the frown, buddy? Bad news?”

Darnell drove his beefy fists into the pockets of his jeans. “Well, if the cops showin’ up at Brenda’s with a search warrant, and findin’ a lamp cord hidden in her closet they think is the murder weapon qualifies as bad, then yeah. It’s bad.”

Tottington swallowed hard, his gray eyes meeting mine. “So awfully bad, Miss.

I stomped over to the spiral staircase and hollered up, “Brenda! Get your vampire ass down here right now. You’ve got some explaining to do!”

Chapter

Five

Wherein Brenda denies, denies, denies…

“I swear to you, Nina, I don’t know how that got there! I had nothing to do with Owen’s death. I didn’t even know where he lived, let alone strangle him with a lamp cord!” Brenda cried, holding on tight to Peppermint Patty while Linus snuggled near the fireplace, and Doug happily sat on my desk near my desk lamp, where it was warm.

I braced my hands on the arms of her chair as I glowered at her, sticking my face in hers. “Then why the fuck did I find your press-on nail at Owen’s, the same ones you have on your little piggies? Either you fucking whacked the dude or someone’s trying to frame you for murder. Why’s that, Brenda?”

Darnell and Tottington had gotten the animals out just in time for the cops to arrive. Thanks to Darnell’s exceptional demonic hearing, he was able to hide in the backyard of Brenda’s big, fancy house when they busted her door down and listen to what they were saying.

The guy he heard talking sure sounded like the cop I heard at Owen’s. Darnell even heard him call someone Dunst. So it wasn’t a stretch to assume it was the same dude.

What I wondered was how they’d gotten a search warrant on so little evidence, unless her fingernail had her DNA? I didn’t know how the fuck that was possible, since I’d only found it this afternoon. That’d be a pretty quick turnaround, and even then, how would they haveherDNA on file?

Wasn’t that how it worked? Wasn’t that how they busted criminals, because the perp had fingerprints and DNA on file in some big computer for bad guys?

Wanda pulled me from Brenda, who once again had the stench of fear all over her. “Nina! Ease up, would you. Let her explain before you crawl down her throat.”

I shook off my anger with her, rolling my head on my neck to ease the tension at the base of my skull. There was nothing I despised more than a liar, and I couldn’t be sure if Brenda was lying to us, but it wasn’t looking good.

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