The Scottie Barked At Midnight (25 page)

“Snow is not always soft,” Liss said through clenched teeth.

She didn't know whether to believe him or not. It would be just like a cowardly villain to try to put all the blame on a naive and infatuated young woman. On the other hand . . .

“Someone wanted to win, all right.” Liss's mind whirled as she tried to work out what had really happened. “My absence when the final results show was recorded was supposed to mean that the Great Umberto would be named champion of champions. But I don't think Mr. Eastmont knew anything about it. I can guarantee you that no one was standing by to pick me up in the middle of nowhere. I had to walk out. If it had been any colder, or if I'd gotten wet, I'd be dead of exposure by now.”

Yates opened his mouth, but no sound came out. The stricken look on his face almost made Liss feel sorry for him. Almost.

“Iris is the one who told me Liss was missing,” Eastmont interjected. “First thing this morning. She woke me up to tell me.”

The way the MC winced at the memory told Liss he'd still been recovering from his bender. She had a sneaking suspicion that Iris's thoughtlessness might have been what prompted Eastmont to declare Mo champion of champions rather than the Great Umberto.

Liss shifted her attention to Iris. She pouted, playing the little-girl card, but her act wasn't nearly as effective this time as it had been in the past.

Hotel security and Gordon's backup arrived at the same time. The innocent cast members were quickly dispersed, and Sherri was freed from her temporary duty as Iris's guard. Since Yates appeared to have said all he meant to and Iris maintained her silence, Gordon addressed Elise. She was still blocking the exit.

“If you wouldn't mind, Ms. Isley?”

But Elise did not step aside. Instead, she snarled at Iris. “Deidre trusted you. How could you
kill
her?”

Eudora, sensing her owner's agitation, lunged for the magician's assistant.

Iris shrank back against the state trooper who had hold of her arm. “It was an accident!” she shrieked.

“Deidre Amendole's death?” Liss asked before Gordon could intervene.

“Yes.”

“And Troy Barrigan?”

Iris sent a venom-filled look her way, but this time she answered the question. “That was an accident, too. He followed me when I went to Oscar's suite to pick up a prop we'd forgotten. He forced his way in after me, asking questions about the show. I shoved him out onto the balcony and locked the door. I was going to go complain about him to the management, but he must have tried to climb onto one of the other balconies to get away. He fell.”

With a little help from you,
Liss thought. She could believe the reporter had caught up with Iris as she was entering Oscar Yates's suite and tried to talk to her, but the rest of her version of events just didn't ring true.

“I bet that reporter discovered the same thing I did.” Elise stepped close to Iris once more, stroking Eudora with one hand to keep the big snake calm. “I've been asking questions. It wasn't all that hard to locate the waiter you paid to pretend to be a guest. He called in a complaint about my python. He thought it was all a big joke.”

“Did Troy Barrigan talk to that waiter?” Liss asked. “Is that why he confronted you?” It made her stomach twist to think that such a little thing could have caused the reporter's death.

“We'll take it from here, Liss,” Gordon interrupted in that firm cop voice that brooked no argument.

Without further ado, the Great Umberto and his assistant were led out. Excitement over, the crowd melted away, leaving only Sherri and Dan standing near the stairwell door with Liss.

“Iris,” Sherri murmured, shaking her head. “Talk about your least likely suspect! Didn't you tell me she risked her own life to save Dandy's?”

Liss shuddered at the memory. “Apparently, she's good at creating illusions. I should have paid more attention to her the first time I met her. Dandy refused to go near her.”

“Let me see if I've got this straight,” Dan said. “Iris has been infatuated with Oscar Yates for a long time, even though he never showed the least romantic interest in her?”

“Right. He treated her like a younger sister. It looks to me as if she decided she'd do anything to help him win, but I suspect that she also wanted him to realize that the win was due to her efforts. I suppose she thought that if he was sufficiently grateful to her, in her debt, he'd look at her differently.” He certainly had, Liss thought, but not the way she'd hoped.

“I can see the reason behind the dirty tricks. Sort of,” Sherri said. “But why murder two people? Surely it wasn't necessary to go that far just to win this cockamamy competition.”

“I don't imagine she meant to kill Deidre. It was probably an accident, just as she claimed. She wanted to make Deidre sick enough to drop out and overestimated the amount of whatever drug she gave her. With Deidre dead, though, Iris was at risk to lose everything if anyone suspected what she'd done.”

“But Barrigan wasn't on to her about that, was he?” Dan asked.

“We'll never know. If he found out that she was behind one dirty trick, it's possible he had his suspicions about the rest.” She turned to Sherri. “Do they have enough on her to make the charges stick?”

“You can trust Gordon for that,” Sherri assured her. “He'll sort it out. And unless I miss my guess, Yates is going to spill his guts to prove he wasn't her willing accomplice.”

“You think he was telling the truth?” Dan asked.

“He sounded pretty convincing to me,” Liss said. “If he hadn't realized that Iris was the only one who could have stolen his disappearing cabinet, she probably wouldn't have involved him in her schemes at all.”

The risk of taking credit for their win would have been too great once murder entered the picture. Liss shuddered at the realization that the outcome of her kidnapping could have been much different if Iris had still been acting on her own. Iris would never have left Liss alive in that lonely spot in the Maine woods.

She had probably intended for Dandy to die, too. When she'd set the Scottie free out in the middle of nowhere, she could never have imagined that the little dog would be found and returned to Deidre. Of course she hadn't stuck around to make sure. Not with the lousy weather that evening. Liss had been wrong about that. Iris would have hightailed it back to the hotel as quickly as she could so she could act the part of Deidre's sympathetic friend.

Reminded of her canine partners, Liss started back toward the spot where she'd parked Dandy and Dondi in their carriers. Margaret was there ahead of her, sitting on the floor beside the empty containers. Both dogs were in her lap.

They looked natural together, and blessedly ordinary. No one was trying to kill anyone else. Liss walked faster. Ordinary was good. Ordinary was
great!
She didn't need happily ever after, but a loving environment was nothing to sneeze at.

Margaret looked up with a sappy smile on her face when Liss came to an abrupt halt beside her. “Dan tells me these little darlings need a new home.”

“You?”

“Why not?”

“Well, let me see. Number one, you live in an apartment. Number two, you work odd hours.”

“True, but my niece just happens to run the shop that's right downstairs from where I live. Do you think she might be persuaded to let them outside from time to time? I was thinking that I could fence in that grassy area at the back of the building.”

Margaret's enthusiasm was irresistible. Liss grinned back at her. “Sounds like a plan. Well behaved as they are, I might even be willing to let Dandy and Dondi keep me company in the shop while I work.”

“Watch out!” Margaret warned with mock sincerity. “Cute as they are, the next thing you know you'll be wanting to change the name of the place to Moosetookalook
Scotties
Emporium.”

A Note from the Author

Some time ago, I received an e-mail from a reader who asked if I might one day use a Scottish terrier as a character in one of Liss MacCrimmon's adventures. I thought that sounded like a fine idea, and when the time came to write this novel, I asked that reader, Carolyn Grande, if she would serve as my Scottish terrier adviser, answering questions and telling me stories about her own Scotties. I am extremely grateful for her input. Any errors in portraying Dandy and Dondi are mine.

I'd also like to thank Mo Heedles, generous high bidder at the Malice Domestic charity auction in May 2014. She won the right to name a character in this novel, although I'm the one who decided which character she would be. In my book, Mo is definitely a winner!

KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

 

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Copyright © 2015 by Kathy Lynn Emerson

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Library of Congress Card Catalogue Number: 2015944280

 

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ISBN: 978-0-7582-9287-2

ISBN-10: 0-7582-9287-2
First Kensington Hardcover Edition: November 2015

 

eISBN-13: 978-0-7582-9290-2
eISBN-10: 0-7582-9290-2
Kensington Electronic Edition: November 2015