A Shot in the Bark: A Dog Park Mystery

Friday, May 20

Lia pulled up the tarp and surveyed the stacks of finished pavers. Bailey peered under the plastic cover. "How are they doing?"

"We need to spray them down again, but they're doing fine. We're ahead of schedule, so we might be able to finish a bit sooner than expected."

"Let's not tell Catherine. If we say anything to her, she'll forget 'might' and hold us to a new deadline no matter what the contract says."

"True." Lia made a moue.

"Are you ready to pour the next batch?"

"I've got the tarps on the floor. You start mixing the topping concrete and I'll lay out and oil the first ten molds."

They worked efficiently. Once the topping was ready, they split it into two batches and used a combination of pouring, scraping with a spatula, and tapping the base of the molds to force the concrete down between the tiles. It was slow work.

Bailey finished her smaller batch and began adding water to the regular concrete that would form the body of the pavers. While she did this, Lia laid precut eleven inch circles of chicken wire into the molds for extra strength. Bailey scooped the new mix into the molds. Lia pulled the edge of a planed one-by-two across the top in a zigzag motion to level out the mix, scraping the excess over the rim into a gallon milk container with the top cut off. Bailey followed behind Lia, tapping the sides of the molds with a paint stirrer to cause trapped air to rise to the top. Lia started the row over again, using a trowel to 'finish' the concrete with strokes that resembled icing a cake. This step caused aggregate to sink below the surface.

While she did this, Bailey dumped the rest of the concrete onto a slag pile outside, dropped the tools into a five gallon pickle bucket half-full of water, and hosed out the tub she'd used to mix the concrete.

"Ready for a break?" Lia held out a Starbucks Frappuccino ice-cream bar for Bailey, then ducked back into her dorm fridge to get another for herself.

"Do I get a Frappuccino bar after every set we pour?"

"Hah. We'd both blow up like Jabba the Hutt on Prozac if we ate that much ice cream."

"Let's see, three hundred pavers, divided by ten, that's thirty bars apiece. Surely we could handle that?" Bailey asked.

"Next time we bid a job, I'll have to add in the cost of ice cream and a week at a spa to work it off." Lia nibbled delicately at the chocolate as she relaxed on a stool.

"Make the spa in Costa Rica."

"Sure, Bailey, whatever you want. I assume you also want a pair of hunky masseurs to feed you grapes after your yoga sessions?"

"Can they be twins?"

"Absolutely."

"If only."

"Hey, we keep doing this, we might get to build our own little spa down in Costa Rica."

"You can forget the spa. Just send the twin masseurs." Bailey deposited her ice cream stick in the trash. "Any word on Terry yet?"

"He's stable. Right now they feel the coma is helping him heal. If it goes on too long, they'll re-evaluate his condition."

"That's so rotten. Weird, I got that call from him at the park, and a few hours later he's in the hospital. Can you believe he thought Luthor got that gun from me?"

"Where'd he get that idea?" Lia asked.

"Not sure. I don't recall ever showing Dad's gun to him. I might have told him about it, since he's such a gun nut. Terry seemed to think he'd laid eyes on an old Luger somewhere around here. Where do you suppose it was?"