Trouble at the Kennel

by Dianne Harman

  CHAPTER 26

  At nine the next morning Kelly had just returned from walking Skyy in a grassy area near the pier when Roxie said, “There’s a call on the telephone for you. I told the woman you’d be with her in a minute.” Kelly put Skyy back in the storeroom and secured the latch on the gate. She walked over to the telephone extension and said, “This is Kelly Reynolds. May I help you?”

  “Oh, I’m so glad you took my call. It’s Sandy Reston. I really need to talk to you. Could you come out to my house? Please? If you don’t, I think I’ll lose my nerve.”

  “Of course. I believe you told me you were in one of the new developments south of town. What’s the address?” She didn’t want Sandy to know that Mike had found the address the evening before and given it to her. She listened carefully, and then said, “It will take me about twenty minutes. Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. I’ve made some important decisions about Hank and our relationship, and I really need to talk to you.”

  “See you in a few minutes.” Kelly took off her apron and walked into the front area of the coffee shop. “Roxie, I need to leave for a little while. I’m going to take Rebel with me, but would you walk Skyy in about an hour if I’m not back by then?”

  “Love to. That little girl is getting to me. She’s adorable. I think I’ll call her wiggle butt. She shakes her rear end so hard when she’s wagging her tail, it looks like she’s made of two parts,” she said laughing. “Go on, we’ll be fine.”

  “Come on, Rebel. I want you with me.” They got in the minivan and drove south of Cedar Bay to where Sandy Renton lived. Kelly easily found her house and parked her minivan in front of it. “You stay here, Rebel. I shouldn’t be too long. Probably better tell Mike where I am.”

  She took her phone out of her purse as she opened the door of the minivan. She pressed in Mike’s number and heard his answerphone message, “You’ve reached Sheriff Reynolds. I’m not available to take your call at the moment. If this is an emergency, please call 911, otherwise I’ll return your call as soon as possible.” She decided there was no need to leave a message with Mike as it would probably just cause him to worry about her.

  She put the phone in the pocket of her jeans and walked towards the house. Just as she sensed that someone was behind her she heard a voice say, “What you feel in your back is a gun. I have no problem with having to pull the trigger, but I would prefer it if we both went inside where Sandy is, and we can talk. After all, it’s her fault you’ve even here.”

  Hank pushed open the door of the two story tract house. Kelly saw Sandy sitting on the sofa crying. “I am so sorry, Kelly. You’ve never met him, but this is my husband, Hank. He came home early from his business trip and wanted to know what I’d done during the day. I made the mistake of telling him about our conversation.” There were fresh black and blue marks on her upper arms and a small gash on her forehead.

  “Sit down, Kelly,” Hank said. “You and I are going to take a little ride out of town in a few minutes. Don’t want anything to go down here at the house. The neighbors might hear something and call your husband. That would be rich, wouldn’t it? He comes to the house for a disturbing the peace call and finds his wife dead,” Hank said laughing. “No, I have something much better planned. There’s a small abandoned shack out on my employer’s lumber property that no one knows about. I discovered it by accident one day a few months ago. Make a nice place to meet your maker. Sandy, say goodbye to Kelly.”

  “Kelly, It’s all my fault. Hank told me he’d hurt the baby if I didn’t call you. I can’t hurt my baby,” she said, sobbing.

  Hank said in a smooth comforting voice, “Don’t worry, Sandy, I’ll be back in a little while and everything will be okay. Trust me. Our baby will be fine. Now that Mary’s gone, and Kelly will soon be gone, there won’t be any reason for me to get angry anymore. You know how much I love you. I’m doing this for you and our baby,” Hank said, gently wiping Sandy’s tears away.

  He turned to Kelly. “I want you to walk over to the door that leads to the garage. I’ll have my gun on you the whole time so don’t even think about trying to make a run for it. I’m going to tie your hands behind you with some rope. When I’m through doing that I want you to get into the back seat of the silver car in the garage and lie down. If I sense you’re trying anything, I’ll shoot you. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” she stammered, doing exactly what he asked. A few moments later he put the car in reverse, backed out of the driveway, and began driving. “This will take a few minutes. Just stay where you are and don’t get up until I tell you to.” He turned on the radio to a music station and hummed along with the singer.

  Kelly felt the car make a series of turns. She snuck a peek and saw that they were in a heavily forested area. She didn’t know who he worked for or where they were, but she sensed that her life was about to end.

  Why didn’t I take Rebel into the house with me? Really stupid of me. Mike has no idea where I am, nor does anyone else. It’s just me and Hank Reston. This is not how I wanted my life to end. Alone in the forest with a crazy man who has a gun. I guess the only thing I can do is maybe buy a little time, and see if I can get him to talk to me.

  “Hank, what are you going to name your child?”

  “We’re still talking about it. We haven’t found out yet whether it’s a boy or a girl. We’ll get serious about the name once we know that.”

  “I’m curious about something. It’s pretty apparent you were the one who killed Mary Barnes, but I don’t understand why. Since it looks like I’m not going to ever be able to tell anyone, I really would like to know.”

  “I didn’t plan on killing Mary. I let the dogs out to teach her a lesson, not to snoop in other people’s lives. She told Sandy we should see a shrink because of a couple of small black and blue marks Sandy had on her face. Course she deserved them, but I guess Mary didn’t see it that way. Anyway, I’d just let the last of the dogs out when Mary came out of the office and saw me. I didn’t know she was in there. I didn’t have a choice, so I hit her over the head with an iron bar that was lying on the ground next to the kennel. I didn’t think about it, I just acted on instinct. I was wearing rubber latex gloves, so I wasn’t worried about them finding my fingerprints on the iron bar. I had to keep my fingerprints off the kennel closures, because if fingerprints were found somebody would find out I had a couple of problems with the law a few years ago.”

  “I didn’t think you could practice law if you had problems like that,” Kelly said.

  “You can’t. The man who hired me at the lumber mill wanted my legal knowledge, but knew I couldn’t practice in a court of law. Although my license was pulled because of those little problems, everybody’s happy now. I got a job, and he gets legal advice for a lot less than he’d pay a lawyer licensed by the state. If they need an attorney, he has one he uses, and I act as an adviser. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. That’s enough talking. We’re here. I’m going to open the car door and step back. I want you to walk over to the shack. Once we’re inside, I’ll use the silencer, and you’ll be history. Nobody’s around, so I’ll have plenty of time to dig a grave and voila, no more Kelly Reynolds.”

  Kelly started to walk towards the shack, but then stopped and looked up, silently praying. Please, please help me.

  “By the way, you can forget about asking anyone for help. Prayers aren’t heard out here. Now quit stalling and get in the shack.”

  Knowing she was taking the last few steps of her life, Kelly walked through the door of the shack.

  CHAPTER 27

  Mike had just returned to his office from a meeting he’d had with several of his deputies giving them an update on the Barnes murder case. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to tell them. There were plenty of suspects, but none of them had emerged as someone who could be arrested for the murder. When he sat down at his desk he glanced at his phone and saw that Kelly had called him but hadn’t left a message, which was very unus
ual for her.

  Several months earlier he’d read about the Messages app on the iPhones for texts which allowed a person to continuously keep track of where someone else was physically located. He and Kelly had agreed it would be a good thing to do, so they’d always know where the other one was, particularly if they were running late. Mike clicked on her name and hit location. He looked at his watch and was sure the location would show that she was at the coffee shop. It didn’t. It showed she was south of Cedar Bay, actually quite a distance from the coffee shop. He kept hitting refresh, and he saw that she was moving in a southwesterly direction.

  Something’s wrong. This is not like her. I better see what’s going on.

  “Back later. Had something come up. If I have any appointments in the next couple of hours, cancel them. I’ll call you when I know more,” he said to his secretary as he ran out the door. “Take care of Lady for me.” When he got in the car, he called the coffee shop. “Roxie, it’s Mike. Where’s Kelly?”

  “I have no idea. She left about twenty minutes ago and said she’d be back later. Why?”

  “I’m concerned about her. She called me and didn’t leave a message. We have an agreement that if the other one couldn’t answer the phone for some reason, we’d leave a message. Was Rebel with her when she left?”

  “Yes, she asked if I would walk Skyy if she was gone over an hour, but she said she was taking Rebel with her.”

  “Good. Do you have any idea why she would be south of town? That’s what the Message location on her phone is showing.”

  “I have no idea. The only thing that even rings a bell with me is that a day or so ago we were talking about a guy who had come into the coffee shop asking about Kelly, and I didn’t recognize him, nor did anyone else at the coffee shop. We thought that was kind of strange. I remember making a comment that there were several new developments south of town and maybe he lived there.”

  “Yes, and that’s also where the manager of the Doggie Love Kennel and her husband live. I’m pretty sure that’s who the man was. I’m heading down there now. If she calls or shows up, let me know immediately.”

  “Will do, and I’d appreciate if you would call me as soon as you know anything. I don’t need to remind you about the kind of trouble Kelly can get into.”

  “No, you don’t. Talk to you later,” he said, aware of the pounding in his chest and his increased pulse rate. I know it has something to do with the manager’s husband. I don’t know how or why, but in my gut I know. I just hope I get there in time.

  He sped up and switched on his siren and red lights. Mike radioed two of his deputies and told them to start heading south, and he’d let them know where to go specifically when he knew. He wasn’t a particularly religious man, but he began to fervently pray. He remembered the saying from World War II about there being no atheists in foxholes and thought that probably applied to him when it came to Kelly’s welfare.

  Mike jammed his foot on the brakes when he saw Kelly’s car parked in front of the Reston’s two-story home. He threw his car door open, raced up the steps, and banged on the door. “It’s Sheriff Reynolds, Mrs. Reston, open up.” A moment later Sandy opened the door, crying. “Where’s Kelly? I know she’s not here. Did your husband take her somewhere?”

  “Yes, I have no idea where. He said he was going to kill her. It’s all my fault…”

  Mike dashed back to his car before she could finish her sentence. He saw Rebel in Kelly’s minivan, opened the door, and yelled for Rebel to follow him. He looked down at the tiny blue dot on his phone which represented Kelly and again prayed he would get to her in time. With his siren screaming and his red lights flashing he raced to close the distance between his location and the flashing blue dot on his phone.

  Mike looked at the cell phone on the seat next to him and several times hit the refresh button while he was driving. Each time he saw that he was getting closer to Kelly’s location. The last time he refreshed it the dot didn’t move, and he realized he was very close to where Kelly must be. He’d been so intent on following the blue dot that he hadn’t paid much attention to the fact he’d turned onto a dirt road that led into a thickly forested area.

  He turned off the siren and the red lights as he continued driving deeper into the heavily wooded area. He stopped his car when he saw a silver car about twenty yards ahead of him. To the left of it, almost hidden from view, was a dilapidated old shack surrounded by trees. He radioed his deputies and gave them his coordinates and told them to hurry, and that they should turn off their red lights and siren when they turned onto the dirt road.

  He quietly opened the car door, indicating for Rebel to follow him. The two of them silently made their way from tree to tree. He heard a voice coming from the shack. “If you were younger, I’d have you undress and have a little fun with you, but you’re too old for my tastes. I want you to lie on the floor face down. I really don’t want to see your face contort when I shoot you.”

  CHAPTER 28

  From his vantage point behind a tree Mike saw that the door of the shack was open. He quietly took his gun out of his holster. He could vaguely make out a man’s form standing with his back to the open door, and what looked like a gun in the man’s hand. Later, when Mike looked back on what happened in the next few moments, he realized there was no thought process involved in what he did. He’d acted purely from instinct.

  “Drop the gun,” Mike yelled, while at the same time shooting at the gun in the man’s hand. Mike hadn’t even needed to yell the words. His gunshot hit the man’s hand, knocking the gun out of his hand and onto the floor. Rebel charged at Hank and attacked him, knocking him to the ground. He stood over him, snarling and snapping. “Rebel, stand guard.” Mike picked up Hank’s gun and hurried over to where Kelly was lying prone on the floor.

  “Kelly, are you all right?” Mike asked, putting his hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, sweetheart. You’re going to be fine. Turn over. I want to make sure you’re okay.” She rolled over and looked up at him.

  “Oh, Mike, I thought this was going to be it. I was going to be murdered in a shack in a forest, and no one would ever find me. Hank said he was going to dig a grave and put me in it. How did you know where to look for me? Did Sandy tell you? I left Rebel in the car at her house, but I don’t think she knew where Hank was going to take me. Mike, he’s the one who killed Mary and let the dogs out.”

  She told him what Hank had told her about killing Mary, and Mike explained how he’d found her through the Message locater on his phone. A few moments later Mike heard voices and looked outside. His two deputies were hurrying up to the shack.

  “I heard your voice, Sheriff, and figured you had everything under control. What do you want us to do?”

  “First of all, handcuff this guy. His name is Hank Reston. Take him to the station. I want him arrested for the murder of Mary Barnes and the attempted murder of Kelly Reynolds. Kelly will be in tomorrow to give her statement.”

  “Boss, I can’t get close enough to the guy to handcuff him because of the dog. Can you call him off?”

  “Rebel, stand down. Good boy.” Rebel backed away from Hank and walked over to Kelly, who was sitting on the floor. He put his big head on her shoulder, his way of asking for an ear scratch which she gladly gave him.

  “Mike, my legs have turned to jelly. I’m not sure I can stand up, much less walk,” she said starting to cry as the realization hit her that she was safe.

  He bent down and helped her up. “Lean on my shoulder, sweetheart, and I’ll get you to the car. You’ll be okay in a few minutes. Rebel, come.” He turned to his deputies. “Might want to wrap Reston’s hand. Looks like I nicked him when I shot the gun out of his hand. I’ll meet you at the station after I take Kelly home.”

  “Mike, I can’t go home. I need to go back to the coffee shop. Roxie will never forgive me for leaving her with the lunch crowd.”

  “Not only will she forgive you, she’ll be the first to insist that you take it easy th
e rest of the day. I’ll pick up Skyy on the way home. Look at it this way, Roxie will have a great story to tell everyone. No one will mind if their lunch isn’t served quite as fast as usual. Once Doc, your favorite lunchtime customer, finds out what’s happened to you, he’ll probably be knocking on the door at the house to make sure you’re okay. No, there’s only one place you’re going and that’s home.”

  “I can tell from the tone of your voice that I don’t have much to say about this decision.”

  “You’ve got that right, sweetheart. I am personally making sure you’re going to rest for the remainder of the day. I’ll have a couple of my deputies get your minivan and take it to the house. Right now I need to call Roxie and let her know you’re safe and sound. It’s going to be kind of like one of those do you want the good news or the bad news things. The good news is that Kelly’s okay. The bad news is she almost got murdered. Kelly, I’m beginning to think you’re like a cat that has nine lives. Whatever it is, you’ve been very, very lucky.”

  “I know. I’ve thought the same thing about some of my past experiences, but today I was pretty sure my cat lives had come to an end. It never occurred to me you could find me. I am so thankful you did.”

  “So am I, and I have a confession to make.”

  “What is it?”

  He looked away abashedly as he closed the passenger door of the car and walked around to the driver’s side. After Mike got in the car he preoccupied himself with his seat belt and getting the car started. Finally, he spoke, “I kind of made a promise. It has to do with me deciding I’ll be going to church with you this Sunday. It was kind of in exchange for me getting to you in time.”

  “That will make Father Brown very happy, and you know what? It makes me happy too, although I would prefer to have gotten you there a little less dramatically.”