The Scottie Barked At Midnight by Kaitlyn Dunnett Page A

o’clock the next afternoon. Liss frowned and took another look around the ballroom. Where were they going to put the audience? There was a stage at one end of the room, but she saw no tiers of seating. Of course, there were no cameras yet, either. Perhaps it was just too early for both.
    She fished an MP3 player loaded with Deidre’s music and a set of earbuds out of her tote bag. Tomorrow, a professional sound system would be in place to blare out the tune. For now, she’d have to move to sounds audible only to her. Fortunately, the dogs responded to visual cues.
    â€œOkay, guys,” she whispered, “time to strut our stuff.”
    The number started well enough. Dandy and Dondi loved to do tricks. But Deidre had taught them more than one dance, and Liss was still a novice at giving hand signals to her two canine partners. She finished a second pirouette only to discover that the dogs had broken formation completely. They were supposed to be standing on their hind legs with Dandy’s front paws resting lightly on Dondi’s back. Instead, both sat on their rumps, their big, expressive brown eyes following her movements as if they were spectators instead of part of the act.
    Liss couldn’t bring herself to scold them. She knelt down, murmured a few words of encouragement, and began the routine a second time. On the reboot, the two Scotties made it to the halfway point before they began to improvise.
    Liss sensed someone standing behind her a moment before Elise Isley made a tut-tut sound and added a critique: “Pitiful.”
    The stripper and her snake watched from just outside the blue tape that marked off Area Three. The woman’s lips were twisted into a look of disdain. The python expressed her opinion by flicking her tongue in Liss’s direction. Was that a show of contempt, Liss wondered, or of hunger?
    She tried ignoring her unwelcome audience, but once Dandy and Dondi became aware of Eudora, they lost interest in dancing. Fascinated, they wanted to investigate up close and personal. Liss had to haul them back by their collars. She was still holding on to them when Hal Quarles joined the party.
    Careful to keep his distance from Eudora, he ignored Liss and addressed Elise. “No need to worry about this act anymore.”
    â€œI’d like to see you do better with only one day’s practice,” Liss muttered under her breath.
    Quarles laughed and directed his trademark sneer at her. “Do try not to embarrass yourself. From the looks of that performance, you’ll be out of the running after the next show.”
    â€œShe might get the sympathy vote from the judges.” Elise looked down her sharp little nose at the dogs. Her voice dripped sarcasm. “Poor orphaned puppies and all.”
    â€œThey’re not good for anything without Deidre.” Quarles rubbed his bony hands together and an evil glint came into his eyes. “Elise, my dear, why don’t you make Deidre’s daughter an offer? Once the dogs are eliminated from the competition, I’m sure she’ll be happy to sell them to you. After all those live chickens you’ve been feeding her, Eudora must be longing for a change of diet.”

Chapter Five
    B ack in her suite a few hours later, Liss was still fuming over Hal Quarles’s sadistic comment. She told herself she was being paranoid to feel threatened by it, but the fact remained that someone had dognapped Dandy.
    A glance at her watch told Liss she still had forty-five minutes before she was due for her fitting. Valentine Veilleux had agreed to look after the dogs for the hour or so it would take, and Valentine, Liss realized, was the only one associated with Variety Live she was sure she could trust. If the show’s photographer had wanted to harm the two Scotties, she could have done so on Saturday when Desdemona left them in her care.
    â€œWalkies!” That single word, combined with jingling the leashes