I cocked my head and squinted at her. “You’d be honored to give the head of a mafia crime family a private viewing?”

  Her brows rose. “Of course. Do you know how much pull Ms. Angelino has with the deep pockets that help fund our library? Do you know how much she gives to charity?”

  That didn’t sit well with me, and I stuffed my hand in my pockets and shrugged. “So, the only reason you’d give her a tour is because of what she can do for you and your library?”

  Confusion flitted across her features right before a blush crept into her cheeks. “That was callous of me, Alex. I’m sorry. I guess to you, it seems as though I’m taking advantage of your friendship when the only reason you said you thought she’d enjoy a tour is that you know she’d really enjoy the tour.”

  She’d hit the nail on the head. Kelly’s perception always impressed me, and simply I shrugged and nodded.

  Sighing heavily, the redness in her face intensified and she pushed two fingers into her temple. “Can we please start again? Forget everything I just said. I’d still like to give Ms. Angelino a tour and I promise it won’t have anything to do with fundraising or even with the library itself. I know she’s a lover of the arts and would thoroughly enjoy the exhibit.”

  The exchange gave me a look into the world of Gianina Angelino, and I understood on a visceral level why our friendship was so important to her. “Look, when the exhibit’s in town, let me know, and I’ll see if she’d like to come. No guarantees, but at least I’ll tell her you offered.” I wanted to add that Gia would be pleased, but Gia had lived in her world for so long that I doubted she’d believe there were no strings attached to Kelly’s offer.

  Kelly unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Thanks. And I really am sorry, Alex. It was a kneejerk reaction because our funding has been cut more and more each year.” She lifted her brows and forced a smile, which bothered me because I really liked the lady and knew her apology was genuine. She pointed at her stomach with her thumb, indicating the desk behind her where Tammi Mae’s fingers were flying over the computer keyboard. “Did you get the information you wanted?”

  “No, all she knew was that he asked to see some yearbooks.”

  “Hmmm.” Her eyes unfocused while she used her researcher’s brain to come up with a solution that might help me. “It’s a long shot, but Jasmine reshelves the books on the third floor. She’s not here today, but tomorrow I’ll ask whether she remembers reshelving any yearbooks recently.”

  I shrugged and grinned at her. “You’re wonderful, Kelly. Thanks.” I glared at Tammi Mae. “I wish all librarians were as helpful as you are. It’s an outside chance, but I’d appreciate a call either way. That way, I can mark it off my list of things I need to follow up on.”

  “Will do. And, in her own way, Tammi Mae is a wonderful librarian. It’s just hard to see through all the angst following in her wake.” Her eyes sparkled as she closed the door and locked it behind me.

  I took a moment to scratch behind Peanut’s ears while I thought about where I needed to go next in the investigation. First, I wanted to run things past Casey, and I hoped she’d have some new information that might help put all the little bits of information I’d been gathering into some kind of perspective.

  Chapter 18

  My cellphone rang with a generic ringtone on the way to the station. I’d stuck it way down my front pocket, and I had to switch lanes and pull into a parking lot to dig it out. I glanced at the display before I answered. “Huh.” I hadn’t thought I’d hear from Pipes, but apparently, I was wrong. I hit send and then patted the center console to get Peanut to come up and sit next to me. She happily jumped into the front seat and checked out the two men unloading some boxes from a delivery truck. Not sure why Pipes would be calling, I decided on a cheerful, friendly greeting, something I don’t always give to people involved in my investigations. “Well good morning.”

  “Hey, Alex. I saw something last night I thought you should know about.”

  Apparently, Pipes isn’t much for small talk over the phone, so I just went with it. “At the cemetery or the church?”

  “Neither. I was bored. Sometimes I like to people-watch, and I ended up taking the bus downtown. Do you know a bar called, The Weasel’s Pass?”

  “Sure, it’s Megan’s favorite bar. At least it was until she started going to The Backdoor.”

  The silence stretched out long enough for me to smile at what she must be thinking. After a moment, she asked, “Megan’s gay?”

  I chuckled, “Oh, hell no. She’ll jump any guy in tight jeans with a cute butt.”

  “A butt woman, huh? Me too, except I like them on women instead of men. Yours isn’t too bad, by the way.”

  I grinned into the phone. “Thanks.”

  “Anyway, I was walking down the sidewalk, and these two guys came out of the Weasel and almost knocked me down. And guess what?”

  “I give up.”

  “One of them was that fat, bald, asshole detective. You know, the one who worked with that cop who killed himself?”

  “Diesel Hoffman?” That wasn’t so unusual since his interpretation of his job description was to hang out in bars.

  “Yeah. Anyway, like I said, they almost ran me down. He was drunk off his ass, and when I glared at him, he shoved me and said, ‘What the hell you lookin’ at, bitch?’ Well, I’m no fool. Trying to talk sense with a drunk cop is nothing but trouble, so I said ‘sorry’ and started to move on. He grabbed my jacket, pulled me back, and got in my face.”

  When she paused for a breath, I said, “Yeah, that sounds like Diesel.”

  She mumbled, “Fucker,” and her voice grew cold and hard. “he said, ‘I’d know that ugly mug anywhere. I’ve seen you in bars watchin’ me and my partner.’” She sighed, “Well, I couldn’t exactly say he must have been thinking of someone else because, well, you know, the scar thing an’ all.”

  I pictured her rubbing the burn scar on her face.

  “Anyway, I shrugged and glanced at his friend to see if I was gonna get some help from that quarter, and I got a real shock.”

  “Who was it?”

  “I don’t know his name, but I’ve seen him pick up Tiffany sometimes at the school.”

  “What does he look like?”

  “Thirties with a receding hairline, black hair, wears sunglasses. About five foot ten. Medium build. That’s about all I got because he never gets out of the car and I only had time for a quick glance last night before Diesel jerked my attention back to him”

  “What kind of car did he drive?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t pay much attention to cars. A sports car, maybe? Anyway, I thought it might be something you should know. The guy could just be someone the asshole detective knows from the bar. Anyway, some other people came out, and I tagged along with them until I was out of sight.”

  “Huh. Okay, thanks for the info. And anytime you have something you think might help with the drugging cases, please call me, okay? And Pipes?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You’re not a cop. Don’t do anything stupid, okay? Just call me with the info if you get something.”

  “Yeah. Talk later.”

  She ended the call, and I drove the rest of the way to the station thinking about what she’d seen. Casey was at her desk, and Captain was resting in his little bed. His ears perked up when he saw Peanut, and Casey told him he could come say hello. I undid Peanut’s leash, and the two of them bumped noses, smelled butts, and then happily went to their respective beds to take a nap. Captain’s food bowl and off-duty collar were sitting on Casey’s desk. I flicked the bowl with my finger and asked, “What’s this?”

  “Didn’t Director Crawford call you this morning?”

  I pulled out my phone and saw a missed call at seven-thirty-three, while I’d been out walking the dogs. I’d been talking to Kelly then and hadn’t realized someone else had called in. “Shoot. Yeah, I was on the phone and didn’t notice she’d called. “What’d she want?”

  Casey shrugged, “She said they like to randomly shuffle the dogs because part of the program is having them work with different detectives depending on the needs of the day. Captain’s your pup now, and Peanut’s mine.”

  “What?” I’d been growing fond of my little partner, and I liked to think she liked hanging out with me. “It’s only been five days. That’s not long enough.”

  “Apparently it is. Are you gonna argue with an assistant director, now?”

  I looked over at Captain, who had his nose resting on his paws. His eyes were closed and by the twitching feet, he’d already fallen asleep. Leaning over so only Casey would hear, I asked, “What do you have to say to see if he has to go pee?”

  Casey gave me one of those looks, you know, like she thought I’d gone completely around the bend. She looked around, probably wondering why I was whispering, but eventually, she leaned in too and whispered, “Go potty outside.”

  “Oh.” I stood and lifted my brows. That was a whole lot more acceptable than, ‘go teetee.’ “Okay, then. Can you stop by my place after work and get Peanut’s stuff?”

  She chuckled, apparently not wanting to go into detail about Peanut’s potty habits. “Sure.”

  We rearranged the crates so Captain’s was near me, and Peanut’s was now next to Casey. I sat down and patted my lap and Peanut jumped up immediately. I turned her to face me and gave her a huge hug and explained she was going to have to go with Casey now and how she was going to love all the new friends she was going to make with Casey’s menagerie. She wagged her tail and I’d like to think she smiled.

  Casey called Peanut over to her side of the desks, and my little girl obediently went with her and cuddled up in the familiar confines of her crate.

  Captain had been sitting patiently next to Casey’s chair. He didn’t appear the least bit discomfited that we’d woken him from his nap and had actually looked like he’d wanted to pitch in and help move the crates.

  I leaned down and patted my leg. “Come here, Buddy.”

  He immediately popped up and trotted over. “He’s a sturdy, little guy, isn't he?”

  “Yeah. He’s funny. He was a bit standoffish with the other dogs, but he ruled the roost. All he had to do when Taz came over to his food bowl was lift that tail off his back and give her the look, and Taz would slink away. On the other hand, he’s super friendly and I had no doubt he’d tackle a rattler or coyote if they came onto the property to hurt one of the other animals.”

  Captain came up to about mid-calf on me. I pushed back a bit in my chair and leaned down to pick him up. “Whoa. He’s not fat, but he’s heavy.” I gave up trying to lift him from such an awkward position, rubbed him beneath his chin, and told him to head for the bed in his crate.

  “I know, he’s solid. He’s like my nephew. The kid is two, not fat, but when you pick him up, he’s ten times heavier than you think he’s gonna be.”

  “Anything new on the case?”

  “Not really, unfortunately. How ’bout you?”

  I sat back and laced my hands behind my head. “This morning, I found out that when Pete Jeffers—”

  Casey held up her hand. “Wait a sec. Kate just walked in, and she’d gonna want to hear anything we’ve got.” She picked up her notepad and motioned for me to follow.

  Kate had gone straight to her glassed-in cubicle, and Casey and I followed her in and sat in the chairs in front of her desk. She didn’t waste any time on chit-chat. “What do you have?” She looked from Casey to me and back to Casey again.

  Since Casey had already told me she didn’t have anything new, I started in. “Remember I told you I had an interview this morning?”

  Kate nodded.

  “I found out that after Pete Jeffers left Casey and me at Fernando’s, you know, after we told him about Tiffany, he went straight to the main library and probably went up to look through some yearbooks.”

  Kate held out her hands, palms up. “And?”

  “I don’t know. It’s just another piece of the puzzle, that’s all.”

  “What yearbooks?” Kate seemed irritated, and I figured her meeting with the senior staff hadn’t gone very well.

  “I don’t know. I’m trying to find out.” I thought about telling her about Pipes seeing Diesel and the other man the night before, but then I remembered I hadn’t told anyone about Pipes and, for whatever reason, decided to keep that to myself for now. Instead, I asked, “Is Diesel still working the case at all?”

  Kate cocked her head. “No…why?”

  I shrugged, “I was just wondering whether they suspended him or what’s going on. The asshole doesn’t deserve to wear the uniform anymore as far as I’m concerned.”

  “As I told you before, you don’t need to concern yourself with Diesel, Alex. The chief and internal affairs are handling that end of things.”

  Up until Pipes’ call, I didn’t give a rat’s ass about Diesel, but now I began to wonder who this mystery guy was who was picking up Tiffany after school. I had too many scraps of information floating around in my head, and I absently pulled out my notebook and began leafing through it.

  “Alex?”

  Kate’s irritated voice reminded me I was in a briefing with her and Casey.

  I looked up. “Yeah, Boss?”

  Her eyes narrowed, and I quickly flipped the cover over the pages. “Sorry. It’s just that I have too many names and bits of information flying through my head, and I’m having a hard time sorting everything out.”

  That seemed to pique her interest, and she leaned back, crossed her arms, and propped her foot up on her partially opened drawer. “Like what?”

  “Like, for instance, there’s this guy Anthony told me about—”

  “Who’s Anthony?”

  “Oh, his daughter plays on Tiffany’s soccer team.”

  Casey shook her head, looking slightly baffled. “When did you talk to him?”

  “Last night, at the Backdoor.”

  Kate’s pen began tapping on her thigh. “Did you let anyone know you were contacting a witness, or a potential suspect, since we have no idea who’s a suspect at this point, in a bar, by yourself, at night, without a backup?” Kate looked at the ceiling, “No, wait. Don’t tell me. Megan was there as your backup.”

  Her angry gaze returned to my face, and I flinched. “It wasn’t like that.”

  “Which part?”

  “All of it. Well, not all of it, exactly. Well, some of it, kind of by accident.” I was babbling. Sometimes I was amused when Kate turned that look on me, but she was in a bad temper, and I definitely didn’t want to pull the tiger’s tail. “Well, after work, Megan asked me to meet her at the Backdoor for drinks. I did, and it was Karaoke night, so I went to the back room where it was a little quieter. Lak and Anthony walked in—”

  Kate clarified the information, “Lak is the administrative assistant at Thomason and Anthony….” It only took her a second to put the name to an obscure note in one of the daily reports she was having us write. The woman’s memory when it comes to investigating major cases always astounds me. “Anthony Jensen, the man Tiffany’s mother slapped at the soccer game. You’re telling me you just happened to be at the Backdoor, and two people involved with our case just happened to stroll through the door.”

  “Yeah.” I didn’t need to mention that Lak had told Casey and me that he sometimes meets Anthony at the Backdoor, did I? Nope.

  She sighed and nodded to me. “Go on.”

  “Megan brought them to my table and….”

  “Megan just happened to bring them to your table.”

  “Yeah.”

  Kate crossed her arms. The chair squeaked when she tilted it further back. She raised her brows, telling me to continue.

  Why did I have the feeling she wasn’t buying my story? And the thing was, that’s exactly what happened. Sure, I may have tipped the scales a bit because of what Lak had told us, but still, it was the truth. “Megan knows Lak because she hangs out at the Backdoor and so does he. Anyway, Anthony started talking about Jane March, Tiffany’s mom—”

  “I know who Jane March is.”

  “Right, and then he mentioned that he noticed some guy sometimes drops off and picks up Tiffany at school. He assumed the guy was Jane’s boyfriend, which might be true since she and her husband are separated and going through a divorce.”

  “And what does that have to do with the case?”

  “I don’t know. Probably nothing. It’s just another loose end, that’s all. Oh, I forgot, when I was heading to the Backdoor last night, I saw Jane March in a lime-green sports car yelling at some guy.”

  “Did you run the plates?”

  I held up the notebook she’d made me close. “That’s what I was looking up when you stopped me.”

  We waited in silence because I sure as hell wasn’t going to open the notebook again without her telling me to. She played her hand by cocking her head, and I raised her one by lifting my brows. Her jaw moved to the side, and her eyes narrowed. “I’m not in the mood, Alex. What…is…the…man’s name?”

  Taking that as an order to open the notebook, I began flipping back through the pages. “Let’s see. It came back to a…Colin Resnick.”

  Kate took her foot off the drawer, leaned forward, and wrote the name on a paper inside a folder on her desk. “Okay, you’re probably right and it’s nothing, but find out what you can on him.” She looked at Casey. “Where are we as far as talking to all the parents?”

  Casey began listing people, holding up a finger for each parent. “We talked to Adham’s mother, Casilda. Father’s deceased.” Second finger. “Tommy Carter’s mother, Stephanie.” Third finger. “Alex has a call into Charlie Carter, Tommy’s dad. As far as I know, he hasn’t called back yet?”

  I shook my head and Casey continued, “Terri tried to talk to Tiffany’s parents at the hospital, but all they wanted to do was blame the other one for what happened.”

  Kate rocked back and forth in her chair while she thought about what we had so far. “Casey, you track down Tiffany’s parents and interview them. Alex, you find this Colin Resnick and talk to him. If Jane March is with him, interview them separately and then let Casey know so she doesn’t keep looking for Mrs. March.”