Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf Read Online Free PDF Page B

some more. “That’s the whole point. She says if I had been in charge, Marique wouldn’t have run away. She’s gotta blame someone, so she’s blaming me.”
    Very quietly, I said, “She’s also blaming me.”
    Vera looked over her shoulder at me. “But there’s not much she can do to you.”
    I looked down.
    She turned off the water and watched me toe some dog hair around the floor. “No …!” Finally she shakes her head and blasts the schnauzer with water again, muttering, “How does that woman find these things out?”
    “Hudson says that money can start a pretty good fire, for paper that’s green.”
    Vera snaps the water off again. “She’s not bribing people, I can tell you that. Lilia Landvogt is as tight as a tailor. She’s come back after four days and said, ‘You didn’t get the smell out,’ and made me wash that prissy dog all over again.”
    “Did she pay you for it?”
    “Are you kidding? She’s always to the penny. I think I’d have heart failure if she ever tipped me.”
    I thought about this a minute. “So you don’t think she’d pay fifty thousand dollars to get her dog back?”
    “Fifty thousand … what?” The schnauzer drenched her again. She grabbed a towel. “What are you saying?”
    “Marique’s been dognapped. They want fifty thousand dollars for her.”
    A canary could’ve flown in Vera’s mouth. “Fifty thousanddollars!” She dried off an arm. “That’s unbelievable!”
    I laughed. “Yeah.”
    She got the schnauzer out of the tub and said, “So why doesn’t she call the police instead of threatening you?”
    I helped towel the dog down and put him in a drying cage while I told her about the ransom note and how I had to find Marique.
    She got the blower going and said, “This is ridiculous. She’s ridiculous. How can she expect you to find her stupid dog? I have a good mind to call the police myself.”
    “You can’t, Vera!”
    She looked at me and sighed. “No, of course I won’t.”
    “I was hoping that maybe you had some ideas.”
    “About who stole the dog?”
    I nodded.
    She shook her head. “Anyone that knows Lilia knows how nuts she is about Marique. And that she’s got money.”
    “So you do think she’d pay it?”
    “She’s not real stable when it comes to that dog.” Vera swatted some fur off her pants with the dog towel and laughed. “Maybe she just needs some grandchildren.”
    I tried to picture the Crocodile as a grandmother, but I couldn’t see her shaking any kind of rattle that wasn’t on the end of a snake. I sighed. “Vera, I have to find that dog. Do you have any idea who might have done it?”
    Vera scowled. “Half this town could’ve. Who
wasn’t
at the parade?”
    I shook my head. “How am I ever going to find her? I’ve got nothing to go on!”
    Vera started sweeping up. “Maybe Lilia’s bluffing. Or maybe she’ll cool off.”
    I watched her flick hair across the floor. “What about people who hate her?”
    Vera threw back her head and laughed. “Land sakes! That’s got to be a long list. And you can add me to it. After that noise about revoking my license …!”
    I could feel a little tingle dancing around my brain. “It must’ve been real important for her to have Marique in the parade.… I mean, it doesn’t sound to me like she lets that dog out of her sight much.”
    “True …”
    “And having Marique jump off the float right in front of the judges would’ve been really embarrassing if the cats hadn’t kind of covered that up for her.”
    She studied me and said, “What are you getting at, Sammy?”
    “I’m not sure.…” I looked up at her and asked, “Where’s Mr. Petersen’s print shop?”
    “Mr. Petersen! Why do you want to talk to that pill?”
    I shrugged. “Maybe he has some ideas. About the other dog owners. They didn’t seem too crazy about Marique being the star. Maybe one of them’s behind this.”
    She picked up the dustpan and said, “His shop’s out on West