"Tell me about it." Jo glanced out the window. "The scenery is so beautiful here. I’d hate to see it turn into a city."
"It’s not gonna. Not if I can help it."
"Woof."
"Even Lucy agrees." Sam crouched down and patted the dog. Lucy was now a permanent fixture due to the grant. Dupont had stopped complaining about her when he’d seen how much the locals loved the idea of a police dog in town.
For Dupont, it was all about the votes, but in this case it also worked in Sam’s favor. Of course, Dupont had taken the credit for getting the K-9 grant. Reese played along—she was happy just to have saved Lucy.
Sam had taken to bringing Lucy home with him. He’d gotten accustomed to having the dog as company. She was better company than either of his ex-wives, just as Mick had predicted. She never talked back, was always happy to see him, and didn’t expect him to take her out to dinner.
Jo opened the manila folder and started shuffling through the resumes. "I don’t know. It seems disloyal somehow to be hiring someone else in Tyler’s place."
They both glanced over at the empty desk. Lucy must have agreed with them. She trotted over and started sniffing around then looked back at Sam and whined.
"I know. Even Lucy senses the loss. But we have to fill the opening," Sam said. "Maybe we can get a different desk for the new person."
"Woof." Lucy scratched at the corner of the desk.
"Are you hungry?" Sam glanced at her dish. He’d fed her just a few hours ago.
Lucy kept scratching and looking back at Sam with those whiskey-brown eyes as if she was trying to tell him something.
"Looks like she’s after something," Jo said. "Did you ever clean out Tyler’s desk?"
Sam nodded solemnly. Kevin had done that job shortly after Tyler died. He’d handed all of Tyler’s notebooks and all his notes for the various cases to Sam. The desk was empty.
"Well, I don’t know what she’s after," Jo said. "Maybe some old food stuck in the bottom of a drawer?"
"Woof!" Lucy’s scratching became more persistent. She shoved her nose into the three-inch space under the bank of drawers on the side of the desk and sniffed loudly.
Sam went over and crouched down beside her. "What are you doing? Is something under there?"
"Woof!"
Sam pressed his cheek to the cold marble floor so he could get a better look at the bottom of the drawer. As if to encourage him, Lucy pressed her snout under the desk too, looking sideways out of the corner of her eye at him.
The desk was old, made of solid wood, not like the new particleboard crap. Even the bottom of the drawer was old oak. Except for a small piece of metal that glinted gold. He wedged his hand under, his fingertips brushing the smooth surface of packing tape and thin bump of something the tape was holding. He peeled the tape away, and something small and metal clinked onto the marble floor. He grabbed it.
Jo had come over and was squatting next to him. "What is it?"
He pulled it out and opened up his hand. A small gold key tarnished and pitted with rust gleamed in his palm. The numbers 317 were engraved on the rounded top.
Jo plucked it out of his hand. "What is this? A post-office key?"
They both looked back at the row of post-office boxes. Those old boxes didn’t take keys—they were a combination lock with two dials on the front. And besides, they didn’t need a key to get into those boxes. The backs were open.
"Or a safety deposit box, or locker key? Those types of keys are all this size with numbers on them." Sam took the key back and flipped it over in his hand. "It would be impossible to tell where it came from."
"How long do you think it’s been under the desk?" Jo looked up at Sam. Their eyes locked. "Do you think Tyler put this here?"
Sam got that tightness in his chest. The feeling that told him this was something important. That this was something he needed to investigate. "Hard to say. These desks are left over from the post office. The key looks old. So anyone could’ve put it here, but..."
"Yeah, I know. It seems awfully strange. I don’t think this is something we should just put off as coincidence."
Sam stood up and glanced back at the empty desk, a feeling of foreboding darkening his thoughts. "But if it was Tyler who hid this key under the desk, then that begs the question… what the hell had Tyler been up to before he was killed?"
********************
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Books in the Sam Mason Series:
Telling Lies (Book 1)
Keeping Secrets (book 2)
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Also by L. A. Dobbs
Sam Mason Mysteries
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Telling Lies (Book 1)
Keeping Secrets (book 2)
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L. A. Dobbs also writes light and humorous cozy mysteries as Leighann Dobbs:
Silver Hollow
Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series
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A Spell of Trouble (Book 1)
Spell Disaster (Book 2)
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Mystic Notch
Cat Cozy Mystery Series
* * *
Ghostly Paws
A Spirited Tail
A Mew To A Kill
Paws and Effect
Probable Paws
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Blackmoore Sisters
Cozy Mystery Series
* * *
Dead Wrong
Dead & Buried
Dead Tide
Buried Secrets
Deadly Intentions
A Grave Mistake
Spell Found
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Mooseamuck Island Cozy Mystery Series
* * *
A Zen For Murder
A Crabby Killer
A Treacherous Treasure
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Lexy Baker Cozy Mystery Series
* * *
Lexy Baker Cozy Mystery Series Boxed Set Vol 1 (Books 1-4)
Or buy the books separately:
Killer Cupcakes
Dying For Danish
Murder, Money and Marzipan
3 Bodies and a Biscotti
Brownies, Bodies & Bad Guys
Bake, Battle & Roll
Wedded Blintz
Scones, Skulls & Scams
Ice Cream Murder
Mummified Meringues
Brutal Brulee (Novella)
No Scone Unturned
About the Author
L. A. Dobbs also writes light mysteries as USA Today Bestselling author Leighann Dobbs. Lee has had a passion for reading since she was old enough to hold a book, but she didn’t put pen to paper until much later in life. After a twenty-year career as a software engineer, she realized you can’t make a living reading books, so she tried her hand at writing them and discovered she had a passion for that, too! She lives in New Hampshire with her husband, Bruce, their trusty Chihuahua mix, Mojo, and beautiful rescue cat, Kitty.
Her book "Dead Wrong" won the "Best Mystery Romance" award at the 2014 Indie Romance Convention.
Her book "Ghostly Paws" was the 2015 Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem First Place category winner in the Animal Mystery category.
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