Chow Down (A Melanie Travis Mystery)

had found the entrance ramp to the turnpike. It pulled on and merged into traffic. We were moving faster now but Central Park was still at least an hour away. Now that we’d established our credentials, Dorothy had evidently decided that she might as well while away the time in conversation.
    “Occasionally. No more than a litter a year. Sometimes not even that.”
    “I know how that goes. Puppies are more fun than anything. But if you’re determined to do everything right, having a litter can be a very time-consuming project.”
    I suddenly thought back to the conversation I’d had with Cindy during our individual interview. We’d spoken about how determined Chris Hovick had been in his support of Yoda and MacDuff. He’d fought hard for their inclusion in the final five.
    And, as it happened, his own dog was a Scottie, just like the one lying near my feet.
    Coincidences happen more often than you might think; but I tend to be a naturally suspicious person. What were the chances, I wondered, that Chris had just happened to pull MacDuff’s entry out of his pile of submissions? I was willing to bet that it wasn’t very likely.
    “Not to mention,” I said, “how hard it can be sometimes to find enough really great homes for all of them.”
    “Fortunately I’ve never had to worry about that,” the older woman said. “As you might expect, MacDuff’s reputation enhanced the desirability of everything I produced. I usually have a waiting list for my puppies.”
    Aunt Peg did too, but I feigned surprised anyway. As if Dorothy had attained a level of achievement with her breeding program that most mere mortals could only dream about.
    “Really?” I said casually. “Is that how you first met Chris?”
    Dorothy shook her head slightly. As if maybe she was trying to place the name. Her confusion didn’t appear any more real than my surprise had. Regardless of how she answered the question, I knew that my suspicions had already been confirmed.
    “Chris?”
    “You know”—I nodded toward the front of the bus—“Chris Hovick?”
    For a moment, Dorothy looked as though she might deny the connection. But since she wasn’t sure how much or how little I knew, I guess she quickly realized that doing so might lead to complications later.
    “Did Chris tell you that?” she asked instead.
    “No, but Cindy told me he had a Scottie.” I pasted a goofy smile on my face and tried to look as though I’d ventured a lucky guess. “I suppose I just put two and two together . . .”
    “Sometimes when people do that, they come up with five,” Dorothy said tartly. “But in this instance, as it happens, you’re correct. Chris acquired a puppy from me last year. A very nice male. I believe he calls him Duffy.”
    “A nod to his illustrious sire.”
    “Quite so.”
    Dorothy didn’t look at all pleased by the turn the conversation had taken. I wondered if the fact that she and Chris had had a prior connection was against the rules. Of course to know that, I would have had to have actually read the rules. Usually contests barred family members from entering. In this case it seemed as though the same ought to apply to canine families.
    In any event, I was willing to bet that neither Chris nor Dorothy had advertised their previous acquaintance. Probably the other committee members had no idea. Which meant that Dorothy was right to be concerned.
    As far as conversation was concerned, most people wouldn’t have considered a question about murder to be an improvement. But right about then, Dorothy was looking like she’d be very receptive to a change of topic.
    “That was too bad about what happened to Larry Kim, wasn’t it?” I said.
    “Indeed.” Dorothy had gone back to staring out the window. She didn’t choose to elaborate.
    “Had you known him and Lisa from the shows?”
    “I’d certainly seen them around. You know what the dog show world is like. The two of them had been breeding Yorkies for quite a while. Occasionally they’ve even had a good one.”
    She didn’t even bother to veil the insult. I gathered she hadn’t thought very highly of the Kims.
    “You don’t seem surprised that someone might have wanted to hurt Larry.”
    Dorothy swiveled in the seat to face me. “Should I be?”
    “I don’t know. I never met either of the Kims until last week at the meet-and-greet. Why don’t you tell me about them?”
    “If you’re waiting for me to say that it was a huge loss to the dog show