Page 39 of Promise Keeper

I hung up and told them what happened.

Soapy's face dropped. "I can't believe it. Fiona and Jim hiding bones? In my dumpster?"

"It looks that way," I said, coming to terms with what this meant for him. His friends and neighbors tried to frame him, or they didn't think of the consequences if the bones were found in his dumpster. Or they just didn't care.

Poor Soapy. This outcome wasn't as bad as being arrested, but it wasn't the good news I'd originally thought it was.

17

The next day I couldn't stand still. Ben was supposed to get a good look at the ring that was found on the index finger. He promised he'd call and describe it to me and if there was any way he could take a picture he would.

It spoke volumes that he'd trust me with information that only the police were privy to. I figured since he helped me take the journal from the train depot he'd realized there was no turning back. I'd only hound him until he gave in now that I knew he would.

I tossed a load of laundry in the washing machine and cleaned the bathroom hoping to expel some nervous energy, but no luck. I missed my big dogs and their wild rumpus. Liam moped around looking in every room for Ellsworth. The little guy probably couldn't figure out why all of his friends were leaving him.

"Liam! Come on, let's go outside and talk to the bees!"

Liam had no interest in bees, but getting him outside might brighten his spirits. I picked him up and carried him out the front door.

The bees buzzed in their box. I stood a few feet away, not wanting to get too close. They wouldn't sting me unless I threatened them, but it was best to give them some space.

"Say hello, Liam." I waved his paw toward the box. He whined.

"Liam misses his friend Ellsworth," I told the bees. "The big dogs are at training this week. It's been a crazy winter."

Some people would think I was insane for talking to the bees, but once I got going I couldn't stop. I let Liam sniff around in the flower bed and told them about the winter festival and how two of our neighbors were murdered in a love triangle gone bad. I told them about Roy adopting Ginger the Chow Chow, and Metamora Mike going missing only to turn up in Roy's trailer wearing one of Johnna's tea cozies.

Finally, I caught them up on the current predicament in town. "So if you know who the bones belong to, it would be great to let me know. Spell it out in honey on the porch or something, okay?"

Liam scratched at the front door eager to get back inside. His mood hadn't gotten better. "I'll ask Grandma Irene if Ellsworth can come visit."

He barked and scratched the door some more, so I left the bees until next time and climbed the porch steps to go back inside. I needed to put the laundry in the dryer anyway.

Liam scampered down the hall and crawled under the sofa in the living room. It broke my heart to see him so sad. When Mia got home I'd have to tell her what was going on. She'd snuggle him up and make him feel better.

I flipped the top of the washer open and started transferring clothes over to the dryer. I pulled out my jeans from the night before and noticed the reddish pink stain on the leg.

It was from that darn tissue with the red gunk on it that got on my thumb. I'd wiped it on my jeans and it stained.

I rubbed the stain. It was dry and the fabric hardened where the color had seeped in. Please, I said to whoever might be listening to desperate women doing laundry, don’t let this be blood. I sprayed it with stain removed and tossed the jeans back in the washer. I didn't have very many pairs that fit without pinching or becoming stretched out after an hour and inching down. If worse came to worse, I'd have to wear them with the red stain on the leg. At least it was only a small spot.

While I waited for the dryer or Ben, whichever rang first, I grabbed a few cookies from the pantry for me and a new kind of Dog Diggity treat for Liam.

"Liam, want a cookie?" I padded down the hallway in my slippers and knelt beside the couch in the family room. "Liam, I have Aunt Monica's newest creation, Carrot Cake Canine Cookies."

I held the little round cookie under the couch. I felt him nudge it with his nose, then carefully take it between his teeth. If that didn't get him out from under there for another one, then I'd have to move the couch and fish him out.

Maybe Irene would let us keep Ellsworth for the week after all. She had to be reeling with the discovery of a finger bone in Fiona's backyard. Come to think of it, if anyone had insider information it would be Irene. If Fiona had even two-seconds to call her, she knew everything.

Perhaps she'd be up for a visit under the pretense of a distressed little dog. "Liam! We're going for a ride!"

* * *

Liam snuffledand sniffed double time all the way up the sidewalk at Irene's house. His little legs scampered as fast as I'd let him go on the leash. "You aren't strong enough to pull me," I told him. "Not like your big brothers, thankfully." With any luck they'd come back and be good walkers when leashed and not drag me into the canal anymore.

I pressed the doorbell and waited, unsure of what I should expect. On one hand Irene could be anxious and overcome by concern for her friend. On the other hand, she could be spitting mad at me over the tribunal. It was a roll of the dice.

The door breezed open and there she stood in her pink twinset and tan slacks, not a hair in her platinum bob out of place. "Hello, Cameron. Come to rub my nose in it?"

---