Beach Blanket Homicide (Lucy McGuffin, Psychic Amateur Detective 1)

Viola patiently searches until she finds them. “Sorry! Things have been so disorganized. The one for the kitchen door has a red dot on it.”

“Thanks!”

I wheel the empty food cart into the building and make my way to the kitchen. I’m almost finished gathering the supplies we’ll need to replenish the coffee station when I hear a familiar whimpering sound. I turn and see a little tan dog huddled in the corner.

“Paco! What are you doing here?” I scoop him up and clutch him to my chest. He’s trembling. How on earth did Abby’s dog get inside the building? She wasn’t with the other members of the Sunshine Ghost Society who came by the booth, but she must be here at the festivities.

Maybe she’s avoiding me after yesterday’s brouhaha over the tuna salad sandwich.

Whatever. She’ll just have to get over it.

“Are you okay, little guy?” Paco licks my hand, but he’s still trembling. “Let’s go find your momma.”

I leave the cart inside the kitchen and walk out into the sunshine. There are even more people here now than before. Combing through the crowd, I see lots of familiar faces, but no sign of Abby.

Sarah is probably wondering what’s keeping me. I should probably take Paco back to the food booth. Maybe Sarah can watch him until Abby shows up. My eyes are itching, and my nose is running. There’s absolutely no doubt that I’m allergic to this sweet little dog.

I weave our way through the crowd. I’m almost back to the food pavilion when Paco starts struggling against me. Before I can stop him, he leaps from my arms and runs away.

Blast! What if he takes off for the beach? Or worse, the road? If anything happens to Paco, I’ll never forgive myself, so I run after him. Good thing I’m wearing tennis shoes.

r /> He’s almost back to the building when I trip over a hibiscus bush and land face first in the dirt. Luckily, the bush cushioned my weight so that I’m not hurt, but there’s blood dripping from my elbow. I straighten up and brush the dirt off my face and feel my hair for any damage. Even though I can’t see myself, I’m confident there’s not a hair out of place. Maybe all that hairspray wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Paco is waiting for me by a side door to the building. He’s panting (yeah, me too, buddy) like he’s out of breath and looking at me with those adorable eyes of his like he’s trying to tell me something.

“You want to go back inside?” A part of me feels foolish talking to him like he can understand me, but he wags his tail and barks as if he’s answering.

“I’ll take that as a yes. But this is the wrong door, sweetie.”

There must be at least eight keys on this ring. I have no idea which one will open this particular door. On a whim, I place my hand over the knob and Paco yelps in excitement, like he’s encouraging me on.

I turn the knob, and the door opens.

Huh. That’s weird. I thought Gus said all the doors were supposed to be locked.

I walk into a small room filled with boxes, which leads me to think this is a storage area. Since I’m here, I might as well head back to the kitchen to collect the coffee cart.

Except Paco takes off running. Again. Which is really annoying.

At least this time there are no bushes to trip over.

“Paco!” I yell. “Come back this instant!”

I search the kitchen but he’s not there, so I make my way into the large main room. There’s a table set up with balloons and flyers in anticipation of the tours, but there’s no sign of Paco.

Then I hear the sound of his toe nails clicking against the tile floors. “I hear you!” My voice echoes in the vast empty building.

Paco barks in response like we’re playing a game.

I follow the sound through a hallway and into an empty classroom.

“Ha! I found you!”

Paco sits there patiently like he’s been waiting for me to show up. Then he looks down at something, and it takes me a few seconds to realize what it is.

It’s Abby.

She’s lying perfectly still like she’s asleep, only…there’s a little puddle of blood on the floor next to her head.