Anya finished petting Robo and straightened. She went to one of the cupboards and opened it. “You might be curious about some of our equipment.”
Mattie did want to know more, and she moved forward to peer inside. This cupboard contained a soft felt strip of fabric with pockets holding tuning forks and several small bells. She saw numerous small bottles and read the labels on some: sage, lavender, peppermint, frankincense.
What the hell is all this used for?
Though the scents made Robo sniff toward the closet, he still showed no sign of alert for narcotics.
“Let me show you the rest of our resort. It’s rustic now, but we have great plans.”
Anya showed Mattie one of the guest yurts, set up with two twin-size beds and a small dresser, a lounge chair, and an ottoman. Nice little home away from home. When they stepped outside, an attractive blonde wearing white shorts and a pink tank top was passing by on the gravel path.
“This is Adrienne Howard, one of our massage therapists,” Anya said, introducing Mattie.
The woman’s handshake was firm and the gaze from her gray eyes direct. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said. “I’ve heard about you and your dog.”
“Wow,” Mattie replied. “And who’s been talking about us?”
Adrienne smiled. “Various people, Rainbow among them.”
“Oh, yes. Rainbow is excited about your work out here.”
“She’s a sweetheart.”
Not knowing exactly how to answer that, Mattie glanced at her watch and realized her appointment with the Walkers was approaching. She’d seen enough to know that everything else she’d be shown today would look like a legitimate health spa, whether it was or not. “I have to go now. It’s been nice to meet you both.”
After returning a polite response, Adrienne said good-bye and left.
“I appreciate you showing me around,” Mattie told Anya.
“I hope you’ll come back for a treatment.”
“I’m not sure I’ll be able to take the time.”
“I could give you Reiki. We could start with only a half hour if you are short on time.”
“And that is?”
“A type of treatment, very relaxing. Then we could start revitalizing your heart chakra.”
Mattie had no possible way she could respond to that.
Anya smiled slightly, as if understanding Mattie’s discomfort. “I’ll teach you what I’m talking about. I hope we can put your mind to rest about our business. We have nothing to do with the criminal element you have to deal with here in Timber Creek, and I wish you the best in eliminating it. Even though Dean is uncomfortable talking about his income, I can assure you he comes by his money honestly.”
Mattie said good-bye and headed back to Timber Creek. Though Anya Yamamoto spoke a language that Mattie was unfamiliar with, she seemed sincere and truthful about her profession.
Dean Hornsby, on the other hand, lit up Mattie’s radar. Though he didn’t seem like the sinister type, she suspected he was hiding something. There was something about him that she found hard to put a finger on. She decided to run her interview past Stella and recommend that the detective also pay him a visit.
Chapter 17
When Mattie rolled into her now familiar parking spot in front of the Walker house, she saw Cole Walker and his daughters out in the front yard with Belle on a leash. The large dog was walking gingerly on three legs, barely touching the ground with the fourth. Mattie paused for a moment, enjoying the sight of little Sophie carefully guiding Belle from flower bed to rose bush, offering her each tantalizing blossom to sniff. Smiling, she rolled down the windows for Robo and got out.
“Hey, Sophie,” she said as the girl slowly led Belle over to greet her.
“Hi!” Sophie called. “See Belle walk.”
Robo barked from his cage in the back of the cruiser.
Mattie turned to give him the look, but this time it didn’t work, and he barked again. “Robo, quiet.”
He settled down with a whimper.
Walker and Angela joined them.
“I see her,” Mattie said to Sophie. “It looks like she’s doing real well for the day after surgery.” She glanced at Walker for confirmation.
“She is,” he said. “We just said good-bye to my sister and decided to give Belle a little exercise. She’s had about enough now, Sophie. Let’s go up on the porch.”
“Okay.” Sophie said to Mattie, “She can do stairs, too, even on three legs.”
“Oh, wow,” Mattie replied and then turned her attention to Angela. The girl’s face had better color than it did yesterday morning. “How are you feeling today? Did you get over the food poisoning?”
“Yes, that stuff was nasty.”
“I’ll bet. Clucken House is still shut down today.”
“It doesn’t matter to us, we won’t be going back there for a while,” Walker said. “Do you want to get Robo out of the car? The girls would like to meet him, and it looks like he’d like to meet them, too.”
Mattie turned back to the cruiser to see Robo grinning and waving his tail. When he saw her turn, he started doing his happy dance.
Mattie remembered the face-off over Grace Hartman’s grave between Robo and Belle a couple days ago. “I don’t know. He’s friendly with kids and well socialized with dogs, but he and Belle squared off the last time they were together. I wouldn’t want them to mix it up and hurt Belle.” She observed the two dogs—Belle seemed to be ignoring Robo for the most part, and Robo just wanted to play.
“Sophie, I think it’s time for Belle to go inside and lie down on her bed for a while anyway. Why don’t you and Angie go put her there and then come out and meet Robo?”
It looked like Belle was happy to follow the two girls as she limped after them. Mattie waited with the doctor and watched the dog take the three steps up onto the deck and hobble inside. She turned away to get Robo out of the car, and Walker followed her.
“I told the kids that Robo found Grace. He’s something of a hero in their eyes.” He wore a somber expression. “I didn’t tell them that Belle dug up her body.”
The memory of finding Belle trying to protect the teen’s body would stick with Mattie for a long time, and she shared in the vet’s sadness. “Robo was in a down-stay, showing me what he’d found. He didn’t want to fight with Belle, but she was protecting the girl’s body from him.”
“That must have been hard on you, too.” He searched her face as if trying to read her feelings, looking away when his daughters came out of the house. “Well, let’s let him get out now so he can play. He can distract Sophie while you talk to Angela.”
“I’ll put him on a leash.”
Robo worked his magic on the girls, and Mattie could tell they were just as taken with him as they seemed to be with Belle.
As Sophie led Robo around the yard, the other two Walkers and Mattie settled into wrought iron patio chairs that were circled around a matching table. Angela sat on her hands and leaned forward in her chair. Mattie noticed she had a pink flush on her pale neck.
Trying to put her more at ease, Mattie relaxed back into her own chair. “Angela, thanks for talking with me again. You don’t have to answer any question you don’t want to. I think you’re brave, and I admire you for being so willing to help.”
Angela nodded, her eyes lowered.
“We’re pretty sure that Grace’s death had something to do with drugs.” Angela looked up sharply, frowning, but Mattie continued. “Now, you said yesterday that to your knowledge Grace never had anything to do with drugs, and I believe you. But I want you to keep an open mind and think. Is there a chance that she got involved with the drug scene this summer while you’ve been away?”