Chapter 1

Why did I ever think putting on a Halloween costume contest for pets was a good idea? I had put on all kinds of events over the years for my kids, but never anything solely to do with pets. This was proving to be the most challenging thing I had ever done. My name's Tillie Moore and I own Paw Paws Pet Bakery in Sweet Haven, Michigan, which is on the west side of the state. Sweet Haven is a small town, but because of our proximity to the water, it tripled in size during peak tourist season.

It was the week before Halloween, so not peak tourist season, but we had still seen a lot of tourists coming in on the weekends. Shockingly, quite a few tourists had signed up their pets to take part in my event. That was a good thing since, when I'd come up with the idea, I wanted to create more exposure for the bakery.

I had been open a little more than a year at this point and the tourist season had allowed me to put some money back for slower times. One thing I had learned about being a business owner was that you could never take your foot off the gas with marketing.

“Sorry I'm late,” Missy, my one and only employee, said as she walked into the business office of the hotel.

I was using it as my office for this event. The contest was being held in the ballroom of the Sweet Haven Bed and Breakfast, which was a bit of a misnomer. It made you think of a cute and cozy house. This was a mansion. The place was too big to be called a house. The bed and breakfast was an 1880s Italianate style. I knew nothing about architecture, but the history of the house was on their website. This house was about 10,000 square feet and gorgeous.

“That's okay. I'm just a little flustered with the last-minute entries. I hate telling anyone no, but if we ever do this again, it might be smart to close the entries about a week prior to the event, not the night before. Who knew so many people would sign up last minute?”

“Well, you live and learn. This is the first time you've ever done something like this, so how would you know?”

“True. I just have to keep thinking that this is great exposure for the bakery and that's what matters. Well, that and I want everyone to have fun.”

“That's the attitude to have,” she said. “Now, what can I do to help?”

“If you can take these registrations I pulled off my email and go to the lobby where Hilary and Chelsea are checking people in, I would appreciate it. Not that I think anyone would try to sneak in without having paid the entry fee, but you never know.”

“Well, you are offering prizes. That might entice someone to sneak in.”

“I guess. I just don't see why anyone would do that. Half the entry fee goes to charity.”

“Because people do crazy things.”

“Thanks, Missy,” I said as she took the stack of papers I had just printed off and headed to the front lobby. I was super grateful for Missy. She had come on board several months ago at the start of the busy tourist season. I had been apprehensive about it because having an employee entailed a great deal of financial responsibility, particularly for a new business. My friends, who were all business owners, told me I couldn't afford not to. Finally, I took the plunge, and they were right. I could now focus more on working on the business rather than working in the business, and could develop new recipes.

I’d started an Instagram page, which had done better than I had ever expected, and it had definitely increased sales. Though if I didn't have Missy's help, there's no way I would've been able to put on this Halloween costume contest. Even though I was a little frustrated, I knew the result would be fun. The Sweet Haven Bed and Breakfast had donated the use of their ballroom and the judges their time, keeping my costs low. The owners of the bed and breakfast had also thought this event was a wonderful idea and said since they would get a lot of exposure as well, it made sense to them to donate from a marketing standpoint.

Thank goodness, as I wouldn’t have been able to hold it here without their donation. The cost to rent the ballroom was over a thousand dollars. I had charged a nominal fee of twenty dollars to enter the contest, none of which I was taking. Of the twenty dollars, I allocated ten dollars to prize money and the remaining ten dollars would go to the local animal shelter. Chelsea, who helped me with my bakery website, had added a place on the registration form where you could donate extra, and the number of people who had given an extra donation to the shelter blew me away. It warmed my heart. This event was going to be a win-win for everyone. I finished what I was working on and headed to the area where everyone was getting ready.

The judging would take place in the main ballroom. There was another, smaller ballroom where everyone was hanging out and getting their numbers. That was what I was getting ready to do—make sure everyone had the right numbers so that they corresponded to the right names on my sheet, so when we called out the names of the winners, they were all accurate.

I walked into a room that was buzzing with excitement, and I instantly broke out in a smile. Looking around at all the animals dressed in these most adorable costumes made my heart happy. I saw a black lab dressed up as Elvis, a little Chihuahua dressed as a Barbie doll, and I laughed out loud when I saw a Great Dane dressed like a spotted cow. That was hysterical.

“If I can have everyone's attention,” I called out. “We're going to start in about twenty minutes. Please line up in numerical order. I want to make sure everyone has the right numbers on, so there’s no error in judging.”

“I'm number one,” a woman with what looked like a Bernese mountain dog dressed in a cowboy costume called out and stepped forward. “Where do you want me to start the line?”

“If you can come right up here by the door, then everyone else can line up behind you.”

We had over one hundred contestants, which blew my mind, though as I got everyone lined up it looked like we were missing a few people. I made a note that numbers 55, 73, and 92 were missing. That wasn't bad. Some people were likely to not show up, but I still had the registration money, so the shelter would receive a generous donation. The next couple of hours went by without a hitch.

The judges comprised the local veterinarian, a veterinarian from the next town over, and a gentleman who raised and showed Pomeranians. I didn't envy their job at all because I didn’t know how they were ever going to choose which costume was the best. They were all so adorable. I wanted them all to be winners.

After all the animals had taken their turn in front of the judges, I had everyone line up in four rows in order to fit everyone in the room. Once I lined up everyone, I walked over to the judges’ table.

“You have the top three for me?” I asked the town vet, Dr. Robberson.

“I sure do. Though I can tell you, we sure didn't think this was easy,” he said, and the other two nodded their heads in agreement.

“I was just thinking that myself. I don't know how I'd be able to choose.”

Dr. Robberson handed me a slip of paper. I glanced at it briefly, but truth be told, I couldn’t recall which animals they were. I walked over to the small podium set up for this purpose and grabbed the microphone.

“First, I want to thank everyone for coming here today and supporting the Sweet Haven Pet Rescue with your donations. Because so many of you donated more money above and beyond the entry fee, we raised almost three thousand for the rescue.” I paused while the place erupted in applause. It made me proud to be part of this community.

“Now, for the moment, you've all been waiting for. I was telling the judges I don't know how they could decide our top three costumes because all of your pets look absolutely amazing. But they did it, and I am proud to announce third place goes to Coco and her owner Angela. Coco and Angela, if you could please come up here.” The young woman and her Rottweiler, dressed in a clown costume, came up to the front. I shook her hand and pet Coco handing over their trophy.

“In second place, we have Gus and his owner, Toby. Please come on up.” An older gentleman walked up from one line with an orange tabby cat on a leash dressed like a policeman. That was too cute. I thought Beans would have made a good policeman, but I couldn’t enter the contest because that wouldn’t have seemed fair. I dressed them up even though I couldn’t enter. They were with Chelsea, who was handling the contest. I actually dressed up Daisy like a daisy, and I dressed up Beans like a Campbell’s soup can. They both looked adorable, and I thought the costumes were clever, but some people here took things to a whole new level.

“And without further ado, our first place winner is Mr. Cuddles and his owner, Bobby Cleary.” I could not wait to see what kind of dog Mr. Cuddles was. But no one walked up to the front.

“Mr. Cuddles? Bobby? Number 16. Maybe they had to leave. That's it for today, folks. There are light refreshments courtesy of the Sweet Haven Beanery and thank you everyone for participating.”

I set down the microphone, feeling a little disappointed that the winner wasn’t here. Mainly because I would've loved to see the winning costume. Though we had someone taking pictures so I could see it later. I had the contact information on all the entries so I would have to call Bobby Cleary to collect his prize.

Chelsea was walking toward me with Daisy and Beans.

“Were you guys good for Chelsea?” I said, talking baby talk to them.

“Of course they were good. They were perfect angels, and I think they could have won.”

“I don't know. There were amazing costumes on the pets who entered. It was a tough competition. Listen, I need to run back to the office and pack my things. Do you mind holding onto them for just a couple more minutes?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks. I'll meet you by the refreshments so that I can help Hilary clean up when everyone is gone.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

I walked out of the ballroom and down the hall to the office so I could grab my laptop. I got my stuff and headed back out when I heard a dog whining. That was funny. There shouldn’t have been any animals out this way. That was the only request the bed and breakfast had, that the pets stay confined to the two ballrooms, which I completely understood. I heard some whining again and went to investigate. Two doors down was a room with the door ajar. The closer I got, the louder the sounds became. I pushed the door open and saw this massive cane corso, black, dressed as a soldier, whining as he looked down at what I presumed was his owner. And if I wasn't mistaken, his owner was dead. I could see what looked like a gunshot wound on his temple.

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