Dog Walker 03 - Death in Show Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Teaser chapter

  Praise for the Dog Walker Mystery Series

  Heir of the Dog

  “McCoy brings back professional dog walker Ellie Engleman and her reincarnated pooch with a witty and fast-paced mystery set in New York’s fashionable East Side. McCoy has a simmering plan of vengeance, peppered with humor, that readers will love.”

  —Romantic Times

  “What a clever, clever series. Rudy is a small dog with a big attitude. . . . Judi McCoy has done an excellent job with her narrative and the story threads, sewing everything together nicely.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “Brimming with witty repartee, steamy romance, an intriguing, suspense-filled plot, well-drawn characters, charismatic secondary characters, and dogs.”

  —Romance Junkies

  Hounding the Pavement

  “McCoy fills this delightful story with humor, quirky characters, and delicious hints of romance.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “The crisp writing, humorous dialogue, and delightful characters, both human and canine, all make this book a winner.”

  —Romantic Times

  “Judi McCoy writes with heart and humor. Anyone who loves dogs or books will have a howling good time.”

  —Lois Greiman

  “A delightful dog’s-eye-view romp through the streets of New York. If you’ve ever talked to your dog and wished that he would answer back, this is the book for you. Four paws up!”

  —Laurien Berenson, author of Doggie Day Care Murder

  “Engaging characters and a cute premise kick off this delightful series. This canine caper will have you begging for more!”

  —Nancy J. Cohen, author of the

  Bad Hair Day mystery series

  “Hounding the Pavement, the first book in the Dog Walker Mystery series, is a treat for everyone, whether a dog lover or not. . . . Ms. McCoy has written a cozy mystery sure to please.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  Also in the Dog Walker Mystery Series

  Heir of the Dog

  Hounding the Pavement

  OBSIDIAN

  Published by New American Library, a division of

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  First published by Obsidian, an imprint of New American Library,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  First Printing, June 2010

  Copyright © Judi McCoy, 2010

  All rights reserved

  OBSIDIAN and logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-18790-6

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  To Kerry Donovan, my editor and a fellow dog lover.

  Thank you, Kerry, for loving Rudy as much as I do.

  To my nephew John Doherty for his clever help with

  titles and story ideas. The kids at Dover High School are

  so very lucky to have you as their English instructor.

  And as always, to Rudy, my forever boy. I hear your

  voice with every word I write. Though you’re not here

  with me, you keep me sane, grounded, and smiling. I

  hope they appreciate you up there in doggie heaven,

  big man, and they know how lucky they are to have

  you with them. But I still miss you every single day.

  Acknowledgments

  A huge thank-you to Jessie Esposita, my lady in blue who recently left the NYPD. Jessie, thanks for keeping me honest. To my readers, please don’t blame Jessie when I stretch proper police procedure to construct my books. She tries to rein me in, but like I keep telling her, I am writing fiction.

  Lawyer Jokes

  Thanks to Brian Ritzler for the lawyer joke in chapter eight.

  Thanks to Melodie Stickrath for the lawyer joke at the end of chapter thirteen.

  Thanks to Mary Ann Angros for the lawyer joke at the end of chapter sixteen.

  Thanks to Elsie Hogarth for the lawyer joke in chapter eighteen.

  Chapter 1

  Ellie pulled the lapels of her black wool blazer close as she crossed West End Avenue and headed for the Javits Convention Center. This was the best place for a dog lover to be on a cold November day, she told herself as she passed people leading canines of all shapes and sizes into the center. Though she’d sat in the viewing area of the Westminster Kennel Club show many times, this was her first visit to the Mid-Atlantic Canine Challenge.

  And she was attending as a special guest, which allowed her backstage access for the most exciting part of the competition. Flora Steinman, the owner of Lulu, a Havanese Ellie walked twice a day, had requested she be here to offer moral support for both her and her dog. In fact, since the petite pooch had come to Ellie’s home to share a playdate with her own dog, Rudy, she put Lulu on a par with Mr. T, her best friend’s Jack Russell, and considered the Havanese a full-fledged member of her family.

  She entered the crowded conference center and headed for the jammed escalator with a full heart. She was more than happy to spend today and tomorrow at the second most prestigious of all dog shows. If Lulu won the MACC, she would be well on her way to Westminster in February. And even if she only got as far as Best in Breed or Best in Group, she would still be in a good position to take the big prize at Madison Square Garden.

  Juggling her schedule had been daunting. Since Ellie had lost Hilary Blankenship as her assistant a couple of months ago, she had hired and fired several others. But just last week she’d found someone who might actually work out—a Columbia University student named Joy. The girl’s usual chore was simple: Walk five dogs in Paws in Motion’s farthest north building for the next two days. But because of Ellie’s commitment here, Joy now had to walk thirty dogs, some twice a day, in four different buildings. Definitely not an easy task.

  It had been even more difficult explaining the rearranged schedule to her charges. Canines thrived on routine and weren’t happy when their regular walk time changed. She’d promised special treats for the rest of the week if they agreed to the time adjustment, which they did, and she told herself again that her dogs were worth every extra penny.

  Continuing her upward ride on the escalator, she recalled the information Flora had given her on the ins and outs of the dog show world. First and foremost, competition was fierce and beset by politics. Over the course of a competitive year, judges came to know each handler as well as the owners and their dogs, which brought friendship and a canine’s reputation to every event. Right now, the gossips predicted that tiny furball Lulu would handily take Best in Breed and go on to win Best in Group, but anything could happen to change that belief.

/>   Ellie still wasn’t sure of the reason the Havanese had amassed so many championships, but it was clear that Flora had taken an unusual route on the road to Lulu’s success. Many canines were owned by multimember partnerships and the dogs lived with their handlers. Even the professor, Ellie’s first client, had sent Buddy to his handler several weeks prior to a major outing in order to ensure that the pair would appear as a single unit at the competition.

  Instead, Lulu spent her life with Flora, who brought the dog to each conformation showing in which she was entered two days ahead of time. Arnie Harris then worked with Lulu long enough for them to compete as a synchronized team. The unusual practice made getting here expensive and arduous for a woman in her seventies, but Flora had been adamant. Lulu would live with no one but her until forty-eight hours before a show.

  Ellie still wasn’t sure if the Havanese owed her success to continuous coddling or to her stellar pedigree, but it didn’t matter. Lulu had amassed enough points to be allowed entry here, and since today was one of the little dog’s biggest appearances, she couldn’t say no when Flora asked her, Lulu’s secondary caregiver, to share the momentous experience.

  She was determined to give Flora and Lulu the support they needed, and she looked upon her attendance more like a mini-vacation, with the right to be near some of the most well- known and prestigious purebreds in the country.

  After stepping off the escalator, Ellie flashed her pass at the guard and received directions to the backstage area where the contestants waited for their event. It was there the dogs in the morning rounds were made ready to compete. Inside the packed holding zone, filled with owners, groomers, handlers, hundreds of canines, show sponsors, and a variety of news reporters, she realized it was the most exhilarating place she’d ever been that had to do with her favorite four-legged friends.

  Sidling past Malteses, Chihuahuas, Yorkies, and dozens of other miniature breeds, she took note of one oddity. The area was filled with the racket of human chatter, snipping scissors, and busy blow dryers, but not a single sound came from the canines. At the very least, she’d expected to hear some of their excitement, but nothing penetrated her brain. These had to be the most focused hounds in the world.

  Ellie almost sighed in ecstasy. She’d never been this close to so much pooch perfection. Rudy was a pound puppy, which was fine with her, but she’d never spoken to a professional judge or handler, and she was looking forward to doing both.

  Fighting her way through the crowd, she kept her tote bag under her arm and her eyes peeled for a sign that marked the holding area for the Havaneses. After several minutes of swimming through a mass of bodies, she decided this event was a pickpocket’s dream. People had to walk sideways to get through the throng, brushing against each other like lovers sharing a group dance. If Lulu won today, Ellie planned to tuck her keys in an inside pocket and stuff cash in her bra for tomorrow’s more important competition, instead of carrying her jumbo bag.

  Rising on tiptoe, she saw Flora speaking to a man she thought might be Arnie, and she headed in their direction.

  “My darling girl, you made it,” said the older woman when Ellie reached her. Dressed in a lilac suit and matching pumps, Mrs. Steinman wore a double strand of pearls that Ellie guessed had cost more than her yearly income.

  “I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.”

  “Good, good. And here’s someone you should meet.” Flora smiled at her companion, a tall, burly man of about fifty wearing navy blue Armani. “This is Edward Nelson. He used to be Lulu’s handler.”

  Used to be? Ellie held out her hand and she and Edward shook. “Hello. It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Same here. Flora tells me we have something in common,” Edward said in a deep voice thick with a New York accent. “I walk dogs, too, some in the very building where Lulu, Flora, and I live.”

  Flora had fired Mr. Nelson, and he lived in the Beaumont? She raised a brow at Lulu. Ensconced on a pillow, the snobby Havanese pointed her muzzle in the air.

  “Don’t look at me,” the Havanese announced. “Firing him was Flora’s idea, but he always wore too much aftershave, so I approved. He made me sneeze up a storm.”

  Ellie waggled her fingers at Lulu and returned her gaze to the handler. She’d never seen Edward Nelson before, and she’d thought she knew every dog walker on the Upper East Side. “In the Beaumont? I can’t believe we haven’t met before now.”

  “Oh, but I’ve seen you and your charges marching up and down the avenue like a marine platoon. Natter speaks very highly of you,” he said, mentioning the Beaumont’s doorman. “As does Flora.”

  She filed the information away, planning to bend Natter’s ear about the handler/dog walker as soon as she saw him again. “We should compare notes sometime.”

  “Sounds good,” said Edward, glancing over his shoulder. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to find my boy.” A grin that seemed more of a smirk graced his ruddy face. “Flora, nothing against you and Lulu, but I look forward to bringing Fidel to the winner’s circle today. No hard feelings, I hope.”

  “Of course not,” Flora chimed as the man shouldered his way through the mob.

  “Fidel?” Ellie asked, quirking her lips.

  “The other Havanese I told you about, the one that gives Lulu so much competition,” said the older woman. “If Edward hadn’t found a dog in the toy group to handle today, I would have paid him a compensation fee for taking Lulu away. I only hired Arnie a few months ago, you see, and most handlers are booked well in advance for a show as prestigious as this one. I wasn’t sure Edward would find another client in this group in such a short amount of time, but he managed, though it did surprise me that he found a second Havanese.”

  “Hey, Mrs. Steinman.” A young man dressed in a navy suit and matching tie called as he pushed his way through the crowd. When he neared, Ellie saw that he was accompanied by a twentysomething man wearing the same type of suit and tie in dark brown. The first man, short and stocky, with a pleasant expression, spoke. “Jim Hiller.” He took Mrs. Steinman’s hand and shook it lightly. “We met at that open show in Connecticut last spring. Are you still using Edward Nelson to handle your prize bitch?”

  “Why, no,” Flora answered, not offering Arnie’s name or Ellie’s. She turned her gaze to the other man. “And who is this fine fellow?”

  “My pal Josh. I’ve been telling him about Lulu ever since she won Winner’s Bitch at that competition. We heard a rumor about Edward being out of the picture and hoped you’d ask one of us to show her today. I sent you several e-mails, but you never answered them, so I called and left a few phone messages. Guess I should have known you weren’t interested when you didn’t respond.”

  “I’m afraid I’m a total novice on a computer, and I’ll have to speak to my housekeeper about those phone messages.”

  “Yeah, well, I still want you to know how much I admire your bitch. I don’t have a dog in the toy group and . . .”

  Ellie ignored the rest of their conversation, thinking instead of the terminology dog people used. She had a difficult time referring to female dogs as bitches, though it wasn’t a slur but proper canine classification. Still, this kid’s pushy attitude was hard to swallow. She’d been told that handlers had a lot of confidence, but as far as she was concerned, his comments were just short of rude.

  Flora didn’t seem a bit flustered and spoke politely to the young men. They left a moment later, and she gave a loud harrumph. “Sorry I didn’t introduce you, but those boys are brazen upstarts, too eager to push the pros out of the way. Inexperienced handlers looking to break into the big time often campaign for new customers, but not in such an unprofessional manner.”

  Then the older woman’s eyes sparkled, and she nodded toward the crowd. “I think Arnie has arrived, and he’s stopped to greet Edward. That means he’ll be here any moment.” She touched her head of silver hair. “How do I look?”