Death on a Deadline

outside.
    “Aunt Jenna, catch!” Zac spun the flying disc toward me. I reached up to grab it, but a golden blur leaped into the air and intercepted it.
    Zac’s dimples flashed. “Can you believe how good he is?”
    I took the soggy Frisbee from Mr. Perci and had a sudden flashback to retrieving Hank’s wallet from him that fateful Friday morning. All roads led to the murder these days.
    I tossed it to Zac. “He’s got talent, that’s for sure.”
    “Anybody ever answer your ad about him?”
    I shook my head. “The vet said most likely his owner had died or ended up in a nursing home and the family just let him go. Or someone got tired of feeding him and dropped him off at the park. But I’m still not sure why he adopted me.”
    “He knew a good thing when he saw it.” Carly s ank down on the yellow grass.
    “Yeah,” Zac said, and draped his arm across my shoulders. “After all, you’re my favorite aunt.”
    “Wonder why.” We’d had the favorite-aunt, favorite-nephew thing going since Zac was tiny. “Maybe because I’m the only one,” I growled and tickled his ribs through his T-shirt.
    He ducked away from me. “Hey! I’m too old to tickle.”
    “That’s a sure fire way to know someone’s not ‘too old’ for something,” Carly drawled from the grass. “When they feel like they have to say they are.”
    Zac laughed. “Yeah, well. . . I don’t think that made any sense, Mom.” He threw the Frisbee to her and it landed in her lap. He nodded toward Mr. Persi. “Wanna take him to the park for a while? We could go by and get the pipsqueaks.”
    “Sure.”
    “Sounds good. I’m sure Hayley and Rachel will be thrilled,” Carly agreed, and reached out a hand for Zac to help her up. “Since when do you want to go to the park with your family?”
    Zac winked at me as he tugged his mama to her feet. “Since my aunt got a dog that’s cool enough to be a chick magnet.” He opened the door. “Come on, Mr. Persi—” He froze and looked over his shoulder at me. “Any chance he’s up for a name change? Mr. ‘Persi’ is kinda weird-sounding.”
    It was so good to see Zac acting more like his old self. Maybe if we could clear his name, he wouldn’t have any lasting scars from this. “You’re more than welcome to call him by his full name—Mr. Persistence.”
    “Ooo–kay. Maybe I’ll stick with ‘Hey, Dog.’ ”
    Sadly enough, “Hey, Dog” followed him into the house without complaint and stuck right to his side the rest of the afternoon.

    *****

    I clutched the intercom mic and made the announcement I make every Thursday night at 7:40. “Lake View Athletic Club will be closing in twenty minutes.” One of the first improvements I made when I started working here, the announcement cut down on closing time.
    “Night, Jenna!” Dave called. “Sure you don’t want me to wait and walk you out to your car?”
    “I’m sure.” The personal trainer asked the same thing every week, but so far I’d managed to steer clear of Mr. Universe. The endless parade of blonds on his arm anytime I saw him after hours gave a pretty clear indication this was not a man who might help me meet my deadline. And I tried not to listen to locker room talk, but apparently when he was with the guys he never shut up bragging about his conquests. He was cute, but I wasn’t about to be another notch in his barbell.
    “Night, Jenna. Everyone’s cleared out of the locker rooms. Want me to wait on you?” Gail asked. She had her hands full with her college load and her job here, so sometimes she was kind of scattered, but she was a big help to me. And the members loved her.
    “No, thanks, Gail, I’ll be right behind you.”
    I flipped off the last light switch and let the door whoosh shut behind me, then stood with my key in the doorknob as I went over my mental checklist. Had I checked the pool area and all locker rooms to make sure there were no stragglers? With Gail’s help, yes. Had I checked the coffee pot and smoothie-bar area to make sure everything was turned off? Yes. Had I set the security alarm before shutting the door? Yes.
    Satisfied, I locked the door. It seemed darker than normal tonight. Must be a new moon. Or maybe just my nerves. As I was walking across the deserted parking lot, Carly’s nagging advice about making someone stay late to walk me to my car didn’t seem so silly. Dave’s bulging muscles were looking better every second.
    As I buckled my seatbelt, I squinted at the