their house,” I said, knowing that that was exactly what she had planned.
“Whatever,” Max said, walking toward the parking lot.
I grabbed her arm. “Promise me.”
“You don’t have to break in anywhere. I’ll do it.”
“Max, I’m serious.”
“‘I’m serious,’” she mimicked. “Well, I am, too. How do you expect to find Ray’s killer if we don’t do a little sleuthing?”
“Breaking in is not sleuthing,” I said. “It’s a felony.”
She continued to walk toward the car with purpose. I ran to keep up with her, turning around every few seconds to see if Terri or Jackson had spotted us. They continued to roll around on their own blanket, seemingly oblivious to everything and everyone around them, so I figured we were safe.
We reached the car and put everything into the Beetle’s miniscule trunk and started for home. She drove along Route 9D and came to the turnoff that would take us across Garrison and back toward the road that would take us to my house. “So, the Terri thing this morning was a giant setup.”
I was looking out the window and didn’t really hear her. “What?”
“Terri. It was a setup. She’s got something to hide.”
Of course, she was right. I had been had. And now, we had to figure out why.
Even though a steady rain had begun to fall, and lightning crossed the dusky sky, we made it home in record time. Max pulled into my driveway and turned off the car. She turned to look at me, her mouth set in a thin line of determination. “Are you in or out?”
I got that queasy feeling in my stomach that signals the onset of intestinal distress. “What do you think you’re going to find? A bloody chain saw? A diary entry with ‘Dear Diary, today I killed Ray…get saw blade re-sharpened’?” I sighed. “Remember the last time we broke in somewhere? We almost got arrested!”
“Well, I guess I’ve got your answer,” she said, and got out of the car. She shimmied between the hedgerow and strode across their backyard with purpose. I didn’t know whether to be in awe of or terrified by her force of will and lack of judgment.
It was in that instant that I remembered to tell her about Trixie, the massive golden retriever who, at ninety pounds, weighed nearly as much as Max. It was too late. By the time I reached the hedge, she was already on the ground, Trixie on top of her covering her with wet, sloppy kisses. As watchdogs go, Trixie sucks. But as a lovable family pet, she’s clearly the tops. Max struggled beneath the weight of the dog, her white T-shirt covered with muddy paw prints, the back of her pants wet and soggy.
“A little help here?!” she gasped, her hands on the dog’s belly in an attempt to liberate herself from Trixie’s underside.
I plowed through the hedge. “Trixie! Here, girl!” I called and Trixie bounded toward me, freeing Max from her canine clutches. She tackled me, which left Max free to find access to the house. I wondered if Terri and Jackson ever let this poor animal in the house; every time I came home, she was outside and tonight was no different.
It was not unusual to find doors unlocked, even open, in our town. Nobody is too cautious about locking things up, especially when they’ve gone out for a short period of time. I, myself, had been guilty of this lax attitude toward security, so I wasn’t surprised when Max opened up the sliding glass door on the patio and slithered inside the house. I guess it wasn’t breaking in, technically, if the door is unlocked. I suspected, however, that Crawford might beg to disagree.
I sat with Trixie in the backyard, in the rain, and waited for what seemed like an eternity for Max to emerge from the house. As we sat and watched the back door for activity, my ears perked up to the sound of a car driving slowly up the driveway. The intestinal distress kicked up a notch as it dawned on me that the car belonged to Terri and Jackson. With the rain now coming down in a steady downpour, it was obvious that they had fled Boscobel rather than sit under the leaky tent where the play would be performed.
“Come up with a story,” I muttered to myself, stroking the dog. I looked deep into Trixie’s eyes, hoping to figure out what to say when they got out of the car. I didn’t know how I