December 15
Bright and early Cordelia found herself at Randy’s apartment, peeking in through the windows, trying to catch a glimpse inside.
“I thought you already solved the mystery.” A man’s voice came up from behind.
Cordy jumped and spun around.
Jasper stood there with a grin on his face.
Cordy shook her head and laughed despite herself – was she ever going to stop being so jumpy?
“You back to spying more on Randy?” Jasper asked.
“Randy has Joe’s dog in there. I’m trying to check on him.” Cordy explained.
“Ah, well I can help with that.” Jasper said as he reached toward Martha’s door and gave a solid knock.
The usual barking never came though. The townhouse was quiet and still.
Martha opened her front door, still in her bathrobe and curlers. She was clearly not a morning person. “Why are you knocking so loudly?” She demanded.
Jasper motioned toward Cordy. “Cordelia was looking for the dog.”
Martha turned and looked at Cordy and broke into a grin. “The town hero!”
That’s what people were saying, much to Cordy’s embarrassment. “Still need to find the tome and Sophia.” Cordy heard herself say. This new phrase was evidently going to replace her old “I’m Sophia’s niece” catch phrase. “And now, I guess I need to find Joe’s dog.”
“George was here all yesterday afternoon. He had a search warrant. I think he was looking for the stolen book. They would have taken the dog knowing Randy will be locked up for a while.” Martha explained.
“Probably at the shelter then.” Jasper agreed.
“Oh, I should go get it then.” Cordy felt terrible for the poor dog! She didn’t know his story, but that was a lot of handoffs in a short amount of time. And the shelter was no place to spend the holidays, even for a dog. “Do you know if they found the tome when they searched Randy’s house?”
“Word on the street is they did not.” Martha raised her eyebrows. “They would have searched his office by now too…and I am pretty sure Margaret would have called to tell me if it had been found.”
“That’s strange.” Cordy bit her lower lip. “He had arranged to sell the book to a buyer this weekend. Which would mean he still had the book somewhere. Where else would he have hidden it?”
“Probably in plain sight.” Jasper said.
“Probably. I guess I had better go find which shelter Joe’s dog ended up in.”
“Have a great day, Cordelia.” Martha gave a wave.
“Are you going to stick around town for a while?” Jasper asked.
“Until Sophia comes back at least. Probably longer.”
“Good. We need more people like you in our town.” Jasper said warmly.
“Thank you. Oh, and I am still going to work on that story about your collection. Delaney Hart is going to publish it.”
Jasper broke into a big smile. “Good ‘ol Delaney!”
Cordy waved to the handsome couple and made her way back to her car.
~
A few hours later Cordy was at the local shelter looking for Joe’s dog. The big lab was in a kennel all to himself…barking, loudly.
“That’s him.” Cordy laughed.
The young shelter worker opened the kennel and worked some magic getting the dog to calm down enough to clip a leash on his collar.
“You sure you can handle this one?”
Cordy accepted the end of the leash and held on for dear life. She hoped so!
~
Eventually Cordy made it back to Sophia’s house with the giant dog. Wayne did his routine of growling and acting put out to have to share his space, but within an hour the two dogs were best friends. And once they were friends, fortunately, the bigger dog calmed way down.
Since no one seemed to know the lab’s name, Cordy decided to call him JD – short for Joe’s Dog. Her hope was that the name would keep her optimistic about Joe’s return for his pet, bearing answers to all of Cordy’s questions. Top of the list being: where’s Sophia?
The moment of doggy peace was soon shattered though when the doorbell rang. Wayne and JD were kindred spirits when it came to barking at the door. They fed off each other’s enthusiasm for security protocols.
Cordy opened the door and laughed at Brandon’s surprised expression when JD jumping toward him.
“Who’s this?” Brandon asked, petting JD.
“Joe’s dog.”
“Ah. He’s kinda big…ger than Wayne.”
“Eats a lot more too.” Cordy nodded.
They stepped inside the house and JD and Wayne ran into the living room to play.
“Any word from George today?” Cordy couldn’t wait to ask.
“Well, I’m on George’s bad-word list, so he doesn’t want to talk to me much. But Jane found out that George had searched Randy’s house and office. While he supposedly found the same evidence you did, he didn’t fine the tome. There were also no indications about Joe or Sophia.”
“That’s bad news.”
“He’s as dumb as a lamp post. I am sure it’s going to show up.” Brandon tried to console her.
“I’m glad you showed up.” Cordy smiled and gave him a peck on the lips.
“My thoughts exactly.” Brandon smiled.
They walked into the living room and Brandon’s eyes went to the blank space on the wall. Cordy’s crime board was gone, but he was too polite to say anything about it.
The crime board was gone from the living room…Cordy had set up an abridged version of it in her bedroom though. A version that focused on where Sophia and Joe might be. The suspect list was gone, instead she was focusing on evidence that Sophia and Joe were together, possibly even of their own volition. She had a hunch.
Brandon walked over to admire the Christmas tree instead. Until his eye caught the Victorian ornament with the Xs over eyes. “This one is unusual.”
Cordy took a deep breath and explained how she had gotten the ornament, what Tiffany told her about the ornament being purchased by someone walking a big dog, and then the follow up note on her car windshield. She had decided to keep it on her tree as a symbol that she was safe and pure defiance.
Brandon listened patiently. “So Randy?”
“I think he was trying to scare me off.”
“That would make sense. At least we hope that’s who it was.”
Cordy titled her head. It hadn’t occurred to her that it would have been anyone but Randy at this point…