Count Catula (Whales and Tails Cozy Mystery Book 9) by Kathi Daley Page B

information,” Siobhan offered. “I’ll text him and have him request Lowman’s phone records as well as her assistant’s. What was the assistant’s name again?”
    “Rayleen Colby,” I answered. “Have him get banking records as well.”
    “I’ll do a general background search on Amanda Lowman,” Cody offered. “I won’t have access to everything Finn does, but I do manage to dig up quite a bit on the people I’m looking into for my stories. Lowman was a pretty big-name writer. Chances are there’s all sorts of information about her on the web.”
    “Okay, and I’ll track down Toby Willis, Lisa Kellerman, Conrad Quarterman, Victoria Edmonds, and Eric White to see what they know,” I said.
    “That’s a lot of people to track down,” Tara commented.
    “Some of them are people I run into during the course of my everyday life. Victoria Edmonds worships at St. Patrick’s and has kids in the choir. Cody and I have choir practice tomorrow night, so I can speak to her then.”
    “Conrad takes out advertising for his gym in the newspaper from time to time; I can drop in to chat with him,” Cody offered.
    “Lisa Kellerman comes in for a latte almost every day,” Tara pointed out. “If she shows I can arrange to talk with her.”
    I frowned. “She does?”
    “Kellerman is Lisa’s maiden name. You know her as Lisa Dalton.”
    “Oh. Yeah, I do know her. I wonder if anyone else is on Amanda Lowman’s list by a different name.”
    “As long as we’re divvying up names, I’ll take Eric White,” Danny offered. “He’s at the pub after work more often than not.”
    “Okay, great, and I’ll take Toby,” I said. “We’ll all meet back here tomorrow night to see if we’re any closer to figuring out what exactly is going on.”
    After everyone else left I poured glasses of wine for Cody and me. I knew he’d want to return to his place so as not to leave Mr. Parsons alone two nights in a row, but before he left I wanted to speak to him about another idea.
    Cody tossed another log on the fire, making the room feel warm and cozy.
    “I’ve been thinking about the situation with Harland Jones,” I began. “He needs a place to live that allows dogs and won’t cost an arm and a leg. Father Kilian asked me today if I knew of anyone who had a house they weren’t using, and it occurred to me that I knew someone who liked dogs and had part of a house he wasn’t using.”
    “Mr. Parsons,” Cody realized.
    “Exactly. He does tend to have a grumpy side, which can be off-putting, but deep down inside he’s a squishy marshmallow with a big heart who wants to help others. When I first brought Rambler to him I had to lie and tell him it would be a temporary placement to help out a friend, but he loves that dog, and he’s better for having him in his life.”
    “Yeah, it was the same when I moved in after he had his fall. He refused help at first, but I convinced him that I needed a place to stay and could use his help, and I’m not sure either of us can imagine not having the other in our lives at this point.”
    I took a sip of my wine. “Mr. Parsons has a ton of extra room in that mausoleum of a house he lives in. Even with you taking over the third floor, I bet he has a half-dozen empty bedrooms. Plus, having Mr. Jones around would provide companionship for him when you aren’t home.”
    I could see Cody was considering the idea. We’d need to play this just right; both Mr. Jones and Mr. Parsons were crotchety old men who wouldn’t accept charity in any way.
    “We’ll need to handle this very delicately,” Cody said after a few minutes. “But I think I know Mr. Parsons pretty well and I’ve spent quite a bit of time talking to Mr. Jones since his house burned down, and I think this could work. Let me talk to Mr. Parsons first, and if he seems willing I’ll have a chat with Mr. Jones.”
    “We should present this as a temporary situation,” I cautioned. “That way if it ends up not working