My Brother's Keeper - By Donna Malane Page 0,36

about it bothered me. I gave up and stored the laptop in a file box labelled ‘Tax’. That should put off any likely burglars among the open homers, unless of course they were employees of Inland Revenue.

Normal people spend hours preparing their house for an open home. I made the bed, did the dishes and vacated the premises before one o’clock, as requested, with a full 30 seconds to spare.

Gemma was waiting for me at the dog zone end of Lyall Bay, as arranged. She’s my oldest and closest friend so I didn’t take the scowl personally. She always looks like that. The place was crazy with canines of every shape, size and variety. In the five hundred metres of designated free dog area there must have been at least thirty freewheeling canines and their not so freewheeling owners. Wolf adopted an aloof and superior manner befitting an elderly ex-police dog until a youthful huntaway approached and sniffed his butt optimistically. That sorted, they cantered off together towards a yappy pack of short-legged terriers, tails and expectations high. We left Wolf to sort out his own social networking while Gemma and I sauntered along the waterline, enjoying the sunshine and sea air. Being a cop, Gemma already knew about the suspicious death in Mt Victoria, but she didn’t know Karen was my client or that I had been the one who found the body.

‘How did it look to you?’ she asked.

‘Dead.’ I hid my shudder in a shrug. ‘She looked dead.’

‘I mean did it look like a homicide or an accident?’

I pictured Karen again. Still. Silent. ‘I don’t know. There was a big bruise on her neck but …’

‘But what?’

‘Well, the room showed no obvious signs of a struggle—’

Gemma interrupted ‘It’s pretty unusual to bang yourself on the neck.’

‘Yeah, I thought that, too.’

‘I’m talking about you. How did you get that bruise?’

Instinctively my hand went to my neck. I didn’t realise the bruise from the she-devil incident with Ned was visible. Robbie hadn’t mentioned it.

Gemma slid a sleazy smile in my direction. ‘You and Robbie getting a bit boisterous?’

‘It was just a misunderstanding with a guy in Auckland.’

Gemma raised an eyebrow but made no comment. We watched Wolf and the huntaway race side by side through the shallows, egging each other on. I was admiring the way Wolf’s hair caught the sunlight. Gemma was thinking about something else entirely.

‘So what is happening with you and Robbie?’

‘Nothing,’ I said way too quickly.

Gemma smiled cruelly. ‘Uh-huh.’ She always manages to get more information out of me than I intend to give. I guess that’s what makes her such a good detective.

‘He wants us to move in together.’ Luckily for me, my phone rang, so I could ignore the surprised look Gemma turned on me. It was Oliver, accountant to the stars.

‘Okay, I took your friend Justin’s accountant out for a drink. I was forced to order from the top shelf.’ No preambles with Oliver.

‘Fine. Send me the bill. What did you find out?’

‘Well, you were right about the gym not making a profit. It’s losing money like the proverbial sieve.’

I watched Gemma wander off towards where Wolf and the huntaway were disputing the ownership of a stick. They were tugging at it from either end. Wolf’s neck muscles were straining, his forelegs flat on the sand, butt high up in the air with effort. His blind eye as milky as an oyster.

‘So they’re in trouble financially?’

‘I didn’t say that,’ he replied archly.

Wolf reluctantly gave up his stick to the huntaway who then dropped it dismissively. Wolf wouldn’t like that.

‘The vitamins or health supplements business or whatever it is, seems to be doing okay. And according to Lou there’s a lot of cash floating around. Your man claims he’s lucky with the horses. If he is, he’ll be the first.’

Gemma retrieved the stick and hurled it into the water for Wolf. The young huntaway got there first. Having won the race, he didn’t even bother to claim the prize. He stepped over it and sauntered off. I thought I heard Gemma growl at the huntaway but it might just have been Oliver clearing his throat.

‘Okay, thanks, Oliver. I owe you.’

‘Yes, indeed you do. I’ll round the invoice up to the nearest hundred, shall I?’

‘Fine. Lovely to talk to you, too.’

I joined Gemma at the waterline. Wolf was walking backwards, his eyes fixed on the stick. Gemma would go to throw, but every gesture was a feint. At first Wolf lunged in the direction