Drool Baby (A Dog Park Mystery) (Lia Anderson Dog Park Mysteries) by Carol Ann Newsome, C.A. Newsome Read Free Book Online

Peter asked, "What is this, Mission: Impossible?"
    Jim nodded to himself, affirming his decision to talk to Peter. He placed both palms flat on the table and leaned across so he could speak quietly.
    "Remember that conversation we had a couple months ago? About a serial killer?"
    "What about it?" Peter frowned.
    "I had a visit from this fellow earlier today. He works at the hospital where Bailey is. He says she thinks someone messed with her medication and that
    made her go crazy."
    Peter snorted in disbelief as he rolled his eyes. "Seriously?"
    Jim sighed, "I was afraid you'd take it that way."
    Peter was angry. "How am I supposed to take it? She attacked Lia. You were there! I can't believe you'd buy into this. And if Bailey's responsive, I need
    to report that so she can be brought to court."
    "It's not that simple. Hear me out. He also said she was being manip . . . manipliate . . ."
    "Manipulated?"
    "Manipulated by someone online, and they pulled their posts later. I went online and saw Bailey's posts. There may be something to this. I don't know if I
    believe it. But what if it's true? Too many things happened this summer. Were you ever able to connect Bailey to Luthor or Catherine's death in any way?"
    "No, I wasn't," Peter admitted. "Officially, we left it that Catherine murdered Luthor and drowned accidentally."
    Jim shook his head. "You know how I feel about that. Catherine couldn't have staged a convincing suicide, even if she could bring herself to pull the
    trigger. You can't tell me you were happy with that decision."
    Peter rubbed his temple and made a face. He took a sip of his coffee to give himself time to think. "No," he finally admitted. "I wasn't happy. I always
    thought there was another person out there responsible for Luthor and Catherine. Bailey never felt like a good fit, but I found it hard to believe there
    might be two killers running around. I guess it might be possible that some other person targeted Bailey, too."
    "Don't forget Terry's fall."
    "Heaven forbid." Peter leaned back and considered. "I guess I can give her a little time and look into this."
    Jim took this as a promising sign and moved forward. "Frank gave me this list of people. Bailey wrote down everyone who knew where she kept the spare key
    to her back door. She figures it has to be someone connected to the park, so those names are underlined."
    "She thinks it was someone she knew?"
    "Frank says she never saw signs of a break-in. Your guys never noticed anything like that, did they?"
    "No, we never did. Not that we were looking."
    "So, if this happened, they probably used a key."
    Peter noted the underlined names. There were several in common with a list Lia created last summer, of people who could have stolen her cell phone. He'd
    deduced back then that whomever killed Luthor, had also stolen Lia's cell. "What are Jose and Charlie doing on the list?"
    "Frank says Bailey thinks they're both mechanically inclined enough to break into her house without leaving any evidence."
    "Maybe so, but they're both going to the bottom of the list."
    "Why is that?"
    "Whoever did this is sneaky and vicious. We don't know any sneaky, vicious people at the park. So that means they have to be able to hide that part of
    themselves."
    "Oh. I hadn't thought of that. You're right. Jose can't keep a secret to save his life and Charlie isn't one to hide his feelings. But that would mean a
    woman did this. You think a woman could pull all this off?"
    "We thought it was Catherine, then we thought it was Bailey. Why wouldn't it be a woman?"
    "I guess you're right. I guess I'm too old fashioned to think a woman would be a murderer."
    "I'm not convinced it was anybody, and I don't care to do Bailey any favors. I'm willing to consider the possibility, because, if someone framed Catherine
    and messed with Bailey's head, Lia could be a target. I either want to rule that out or do what I need to do to keep her safe."
    "So what do we do?"
    Peter frowned. "The first