Chow Down (A Melanie Travis Mystery)

“Unfortunately Melanie doesn’t have anything terribly useful to say.”
    “You went and talked to Bill and Allison . . .” He refused to be deterred.
    “And they didn’t have anything useful to say, either. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”
    “Then make something up. Tell us a good story.”
    Aunt Peg glared in Terry’s direction. “Don’t listen to him. And don’t make up a thing. We’re supposed to be looking for clues here, not spinning fairy tales. The Reddings must have seen something. They were there.”
    Murder solving by committee. It was enough to make my head spin. Is it any wonder that Kinsey Milhone works alone?
    “ I was there,” I pointed out. “And I didn’t see anything.”
    “You heard Larry, fall down the steps. That’s something. Where were the Reddings while that was happening?”
    “They were out in the parking lot. They said they left as soon as the meeting ended. Lisa Kim said she did the same thing. She told the police she was outside when Larry fell, but neither Bill nor Allison saw her there.”
    “Maybe Lisa was lying,” said Terry. I think he watches Law & Order too. “Maybe she was actually in the stairwell with Larry. I’ll bet she’s the one who screamed.”
    “What makes you think that?” asked Sam. He doesn’t really approve of my mystery solving predilection, but sometimes he gets interested in spite of himself.
    “Because women always lie. It’s the nature of the beast.”
    Wrong answer. All four of us glared at him.
    Terry wasn’t even slightly fazed. “Oh, like you think that isn’t true. Try asking any woman her weight. What about dress size? Age? Do you color your hair? Did you buy that on sale? Who ate the half pound box of chocolate I left sitting on the counter?”
    “Women lie sometimes ,” Bertie said. Pointedly she ignored Sam who’d begun to snicker. “And what makes you think men are any better? Just try asking a man what sports he played in college. Or when he’s going to mow the lawn. Or whose idea it was to meet the guys for lunch at Hooters.”
    “Hooters?” asked Aunt Peg.
    “Use your imagination,” I told her.
    “I am,” she muttered unhappily.
    “Maybe Lisa was in the parking lot,” Bertie mused, “and the Reddings are the ones who weren’t where they said they were.”
    “Or maybe they’d split up,” Sam offered. “Bill could have been outside with Ginger while Allison was screaming in the stairwell with Larry.”
    “Now there’s a visual to make your hair curl,” said Terry.
    “Not mine,” said Peg. “I’m still stuck on the Hooters thing.”
    I lifted my hands and cradled the sides of my face. “You people are giving me a headache!”
    Aunt Peg leaned over and peered at me closely. “That’s not our fault, you’re just hungry. Eat something, dear, you’ll feel better.”

    The Non-Sporting group was scheduled second to last, which meant that we had to hang around the show nearly all afternoon. Bertie continued to show her clients’ dogs, Aunt Peg wandered off to talk to various other people she knew, and Sam and I gave Eve a breather in her crate and went to watch the judging in other breeds.
    Even though I’ve reached the point where I know quite a bit about Poodles, I’m still a novice when it comes to dogs like German Shorthaired Pointers or Great Pyrenees or Rhodesian Ridgebacks. I could usually pick out the soundest entries but the intricacies of breed type eluded me. It seemed nothing short of astounding that there were judges who were licensed to judge every single one of the A.K.C.’s more than one hundred and fifty breeds. No matter how long I was involved in dogs, I was certain that I’d never succeed in compiling that comprehensive a body of knowledge.
    An hour before our group was due to start, we headed back to the setup. The handlers’ section of the large hall had emptied out considerably. Space had been tight earlier, but now, as exhibitors finished for the day and went home, areas had begun to open.
    My single crate and grooming table had been tucked in beside Crawford and Terry’s much larger setup, with Bertie’s equipment and supplies on the other side. But as Sam and I approached we saw only empty space where the Bedford Kennels setup had been earlier. Even Bertie was packing up for the day.
    “Good, you’re back,” she said. “I was about to start loading up and I didn’t want to leave Eve sitting here all by herself.”
    “I hope we didn’t hold you