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

“We met yesterday at the rec center opening,” I tell Jim. “I was the one who found Abby Delgado.”

“Oh, yes, I heard about that. Poor woman. Terrible accident. Finding her must have been awful for you.”

Travis observes my expression carefully. He still thinks I’m hiding something. Which I am. I have to give him credit. He’s more than just a broad set of shoulders and a firm chin.

“It was really hard on her little dog. Or rather, her brother’s dog. Abby was dog sitting for him.”

Poor Paco spent the night having nightmares. I know this because I let him sleep at the end of my bed (hence, the reason I had to take the Benadryl) and he kept twitching and making all kinds of noises. I hated leaving him alone this morning.

“Where is the dog, by the way?” Travis asks.

“He’s with me.”

“I was finally able to get ahold of Derrick Delgado yesterday evening. To tell him about his sister’s death.”

“How’s he doing?” The words are no soo

ner out than I flinch. This is a horribly dumb question. If something ever happened to Sebastian, I’d be comatose with grief.

“He’s handling it the way you’d expect. Under the circumstances.”

Which doesn’t tell me anything.

“Is he back in town?” I don’t know Derrick, but I’d like to pay him a visit to tell him how sorry I am about his sister. And to give him his dog back, of course.

“According to him he never left town. He’s been in Mexico Beach this whole time.”

“I don’t understand. Abby told me her brother was away and that’s why she was dog sitting.”

Travis looks me square in the eye and says, “Derrick Delgado swears he doesn’t own a dog.”

I’m confused. Why on earth would Abby lie about her brother owning Paco? And just as importantly, why didn’t I pick up on that lie?

Probably because it was mixed in with the other lie about the dog’s name and that’s the lie I focused on. All I know is that if Paco doesn’t belong to Derrick, then who does he belong to?

I swing by my place to pick up the dog, and we go to the Whispering Bay Animal Shelter. Lanie Miller manages the place. She’s Dr. Nate’s sister and a real hoot. She and her girlfriend, Dhara, are Bistro regulars.

I explain the Paco situation to Lanie.

“What a cute little dog. He’s definitely a Chihuahua mix, but there’s some terrier there too. You said Abby told you he belonged to her brother, but the brother denies it?”

“That’s the official story. At least, according to Officer Fontaine.”

“I met him a couple of days ago. He came in here looking for a dog. He’s pretty cute.”

“The dog?”

She snickers. “The man.”

“Not my type.”

Lanie smiles sympathetically. She’s the other person that I’ve confided in about my feelings for Will. She thinks I should tell him, but if I do that and he doesn’t feel the same way, it will ruin our friendship. And my friendship with Will means everything to me, so I can’t take that risk.

“Obviously Travis Fontaine isn’t my type either, but if I were into boys, I’d be all over all that one. You should have seen the way he was with the dogs. You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat an animal.”

“He adopted a dog?”

“Not yet. He’s looking for a specific breed. He’s going to volunteer here a few hours a week.”