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

“Not over the phone. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Lanie hands me her cell phone where she’s got her Facebook app opened to a picture of a dog that’s the spitting image of Paco. “I thought he looked familiar, but I didn’t make the connection until now. You remember I told you his owner’s name was Susan Van Dyke? Susan is, or rather was, this eccentric millionaire who lived in Destin. She claimed that Cornelius—”

“Wait. Are you telling me that Paco’s real name is Cornelius?”

Lanie grins. “Yep. Anyway, she claimed that Cornelius had special powers, so she used to hold séances in her house, that kind of stuff. She passed away last week.”

Paco looks between Lanie and me like he’s following our conversation. Which, I must admit, is kind of adorable.

“What kind of special powers?”

“She claimed he could commune with the dead.”

“As in—” I make air quotes— “I see dead people?”

Lanie giggles. “Not sure if Paco, or rather, Cornelius, is familiar with the movie The Sixth Sense, but basically, yeah.”

No wonder Phoebe was so interested in the dog. She thinks he can talk to the dead. It’s yet another motive for Phoebe to get rid of Abby. I mentally shake my head. Not gonna go there. I basically told Will that I’d leave Abby’s death to the police.

“What happened to Susan Van Dyke?” I ask.

“She had cancer. Do you think she left Cornelius to Abby?”

“It makes sense since Abby was a member of the Sunshine Ghost Society, but why did Abby lie and tell me his name is Paco? And that he belonged to her brother?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. All I can tell you is that this is Cornelius. See?” She points to the top of the phone screen. “He has his own Facebook page and everything.” Cornelius Van Dyke, Canine Ghost Whisperer.

“He’s got over a hundred thousand likes!”

“Impressive, huh?”

I bring the

phone screen down to Paco’s eye level. “Is this you, little guy? Are you Cornelius?”

Paco barks and wags his tail.

Lanie pulls a leash from her backpack. “The attorney handling Susan Van Dyke’s estate called me saying that they’d gotten my phone message. Apparently, Susan’s sister just came down from New York. I’ll call her tomorrow morning and tell her I have Cornelius. Now that Abby is gone maybe the family wants him back.”

Paco looks at the leash in Lanie’s hand, and his tail stops wagging. He runs and hides beneath a table in the restaurant.

“I’ve never had a dog run away from me before.” Lanie sounds hurt, but instinctively I know that Paco’s refusal to go with her isn’t because he doesn’t like her. It’s just that…he likes me more.

“He can stay here tonight. I’ll be happy to take him back to Susan’s family tomorrow.”

“Are you sure? What about your allergies?”

“Another night of Benadryl isn’t going to kill me.”

Lanie smiles. “Thanks, Lucy!”

“No problem.” Lanie gives me the information on Susan Elliot and we say goodbye.

I kick off my sneakers and head into the kitchen. Paco follows me. I’m too wired up to sleep, so late night baking it is. Even though I still haven’t heard back from Muffin Wars, I have to keep believing that they’ll call. The prize for winning is ten thousand dollars which would go a long way to paying off what I owe Will.

Mango coconut muffin recipe: take four.

I finish putting a batch into the oven when there’s a knock on the door to The Bistro. It’s almost midnight, so I can’t imagine who might be out there. Paco runs in a circle and barks happily like he’s expecting something good to happen.