Doggone Christmas: A Polly Parrett Pet-Sitter Cozy Murder Mystery (Polly Parrett Pet-Sitter Cozy Murder Mysteries Book 1)

by Liz Dodwell

  The dogs leapt from the van in joyous abandon and bounded through the snow drifts. It would do them good to run around for a while so I steeled myself to deal with my mother and stepped into the house.

  Mom was at the window with Cappy on her lap, and she was laughing! I’d practically forgotten that sound; it had been so long since I’d heard it.

  “Mom?”

  “Come and look. Vinny and Coco are being stealth dogs.”

  Puzzled, I looked outside and realized what she found so funny. Angel was looking for the two white poodles, but they’d figured out all they had to do was stay still, cloaked in the snow, and she couldn’t see them. In fact, if Mom hadn’t pointed out the two pairs of eyes peeking through the drifts I would never had known they were there. I laughed with her and it felt good for once to be sharing a happy moment. And before long I found myself telling her about Rooster and Elaine, and Tyler’s part in the affair and even about my confused feelings for him.

  “Tyler is a nice young man. I knew it the first time I saw him. And he’s right about this Rooster character; you really don’t know him at all. Remember, a man has been murdered.”

  “Mom, I’m telling you, Rooster is a good guy. Anyone who can love a dog the way he loves Elaine couldn’t be a killer.”

  “Polly, even some of the worst criminals have loving relationships with pets. I’m not saying Rooster is a criminal, but I am asking you to keep an open mind. You’ve done all you can for now so, please, let the police and the attorney handle things.”

  There was no way I was going to let the police bungle things up and I was about to say so, but the look of concern on my mother’s face made me swallow the words and I meekly agreed, while keeping my fingers crossed behind my back. My mother knows me well, though, and she sighed deeply and said, “Well, at least promise you’ll be very careful.”

  Grinning, I kissed her on the cheek and for the next hour took care of a few chores around the house, while the dogs came in and settled themselves round the wood stove in the kitchen. When I was ready to leave I found Mom again at the window.

  “I’ll be off now.”

  She turned and gave a wistful smile. “I was remembering how much I loved Christmas here when you and the boys were little. We’d have lights around the porch and in the trees outside, and your dad would climb up on the roof and stamp around while I jingled bells in the living room, and….”

  “…and we were quite, quite sure it was Santa.”

  “It was lovely, wasn’t it? To gather pine cones and branches and wrap them in big, red bows to decorate the house. I’ll miss all that when I have to leave here.”

  “But we haven’t celebrated Christmas here in years.”

  Mom sighed. “It still always meant so much to look at the mantle over the fireplace and remember the stockings hanging there. And in my mind I can see you, when you were five, sitting by the rocking chair as you unwrapped that stuffed toy rabbit with the red hat and blue bow tie.”

  “Mr. Beanie,” I said. And I still had him. “But I so wanted a real bunny.”

  “Well, I think you’ve made up for it since then.”

  I smiled. “Yes, I have.”

  Nine

  Mom’s words stayed with me as I drove away later. The farmhouse had been a wonderland of merriment for many Christmases. As a small child I’d been awestruck by the miracle of presents under the tree. In later years it was the gathering of our happy family wrapped in love for each other that seemed miraculous. By the time I was twenty – and Mom was in a wheelchair - it was a miracle if we could spend Christmas day together without Mom’s self-pitying absorption dragging us all down to a level of petty bickering.

  I made up my mind that I would persuade my brothers to help me bring the magic back home for one last Christmas. We had nearly three weeks to get things together and all the old decorations were still up in the attic. Maybe it would help lift Mom’s spirits.

  Feeling pretty festive myself, I hummed along to the seasonal tunes playing on the radio as I drove. There was one quick stop I needed to make – my nemesis, Pookie Pie. Pookie was a large, fluffy gray feline of indeterminate origin and sociopathic tendencies. His owner, Bob, doted on him and believed him to be the sweetest creature in all the world. If that was the case, then Pookie used up all his sweetness on his loving pet-parent and saved his ugly, sourpuss self for the rest of us.

  Once a week, Bob, a retired librarian, took a day-trip out of town to visit his ailing sister. Truth to tell, Pookie didn’t need a visit, but it made the over-anxious Bob happier to know his beloved was being checked on. I didn’t think I should inflict ‘his nastiness’ on any of my crew, so I always took care of Pookie myself.

  I trotted up to the front door, key in hand, unlocked it and pushed it inward. A one-inch gap opened before the door came to a jarring stop. What the…?

  Tentatively I pushed a little harder. Nothing. I put my eye to the gap and swore. Pookie!

  Bob had an antique hall stand just inside the doorway. It had drawers in it. One of the drawers was open and blocking the doorway. Sitting in the open drawer was Pookie.

  Honestly, I swear the bloody cat knows when I’m coming. How he got the drawer open I had no idea. The stand was mahogany and the drawer was heavy. I just had to figure how to get it closed.

  It was freezing cold so I jumped back in the van for a while and turned on the heat. The dogs merely wagged their tails at me while I wondered if I could get my hand far enough through the crack in the door to ease the drawer closed, finger over finger. Nothing else was coming to me so I figured I’d give it a try.

  Back at the door I peeked in again. Pookie was still sitting there. “Shoo! Ssssst! Yip!” I made a variety of noises and banged on the door to get him to move. He weighed more than twenty pounds, for cripe’s sake. He casually lifted a paw and began washing it.

  “You…….!” Relax Polly. He’s just a cat.

  Forcing my left hand through the gap I got two fingers under the drawer and attempted to lift and close it a little. Have you ever tried lifting thirty pounds with two fingers? I made about a quarter-inch headway when there was sharp sting in my forefinger. With a gasp I yanked my hand out. That little so and so had clawed me! Sucking the blood and nursing my wounded dignity at being bested by a cat, I trotted back to the van to look for an adhesive bandage.

  Now what?

  I hated to admit defeat and call Bob. Not that I wanted Pookie on my roster but I didn’t want to let Bob down, either; his visits to his sister were really important to him. With a sigh I headed back to the door and banged and yelled again, to no avail. I broke a twig off a bush and tried to shove it through the door to poke him. The twig snapped, Pookie looked me right in the eye, yawned and curled up in the drawer, his back to me.

  “Aaaaaargh!” I screamed aloud.

  “Step back slowly, turn around and keep your hands where I can see them.”

  The voice scared the bejeezus out of me, so of course I jumped around with arms in a defensive position, only to see Officer Rooney before me, legs apart and hand on his holstered gun.

  “Holy cow, what are you doing?” My heart was racing.

  “I’m the one who should be asking that question.”

  “I come every week to take care of Bob’s, Mr. Stanton’s, cat. Why are you here? Has something happened to Bob?” A sense of alarm was beginning to set in.

  Rooney ignored my questions. “Looks to me as if you were trying to break in. All that banging and shouting.”

  Moron. “If I was trying to break in would I make a lot of noise?” I grit my teeth, took a calming breath and spoke slowly. “Look, I’m a pet-sitter. I take care of pets. Here are the house keys.” I held them up. “The door is stuck because the cat opened a drawer and I was yelling to get him to move.”

  Rooney’s face showed disbelief and I had to admit, even to myself that sounded pretty strange. Thankfully, Bob chose that moment to pull into the driveway. Ignoring Rooney, he came straight to
me. “Pookie?”

  “Everything’s fine, Bob. Pookie’s up to his tricks; he’s blocked me from getting in.”

  Bob laughed out loud when he heard the story. “That’s my Pookums. I should have let you know there’s a kitchen door key hidden in the back.” If only.

  Officer Pinhead was dismissed, though not before he got in a last word about disturbing the peace, and Bob and I went into the house. Pookie immediately morphed into a sweet, lovable creature while Bob explained he’d tried to call to tell me he’d be home early. “It kept going straight to your voicemail. You didn’t need to come, Polly. I’m sorry.” I pulled out my cell and looked at it. The battery was dead. Oh, well.

  Ten

  Back in my car I plugged in the phone and saw there was a message from Tyler. Granger was taking the case. Yes!

  Of course, I called Tyler back straight away. Turned out Granger not only felt he could help Rooster, he was taking the case pro bono. He’d looked into Roosters background and was impressed with his service and disgusted that he’d pretty much been abandoned afterwards.

  “Granger is an ex JAG lawyer.”

  “JAG. What’s that?”

  “Judge Advocate General’s Corps. It’s the legal branch of the military,” Tyler explained, “so he has a soft spot for veterans.”

  “That’s terrific. When can we visit Rooster?”

  I heard Tyler take a deep breath. “We can’t.” Shocked, I waited for more. “Only family members are allowed.”

  “That’s bull. Rooster doesn’t have any family. Can’t we just say we’re his niece and nephew or something?”

  “It wouldn’t work. There’s a vetting process, which takes weeks anyway. Look, I’m as bummed as you about this. Why don’t we get together and I’ll fill you in on everything? There’s something else I want to talk to you about as well.” Like, maybe, I’m crazy about you? “Are you home?”

  “On the way.”

  “I’m only a few minutes from your place. I’ll meet you there.”

  Not again. Here I was in grungy old dog-walking duds, without a scrap of make-up on. I sighed. I was never going to make a good impression on the man.

  By the time I got home Tyler was already there. As we stepped inside I glanced around and breathed an inward sigh of relief – it didn’t look so bad after all. As long as he didn’t go in the bathroom where I had freshly washed bras and panties hanging over the shower rod it would be OK.

  “Do you mind if I use your bathroom?”

  Oh no! “Um, if you can wait just a couple minutes, I’m pretty desperate myself.” And that’s no lie. Not waiting for a response I dashed in the room and slammed the door shut. Snatching the undies down I looked wildly around for a hiding place. The medicine cabinet was the only thing with a door and it was too small. I’d have to stuff everything behind the towels on the shelf.

  Reasonably satisfied my intimates were out of sight, I fluffed my hair, groaned at the bags under my eyes and casually exited.

  While Tyler did his thing I cleared some space at the dining table, which doubled as my desk, and did my best to find a pose that said sexy, yet confident but was probably more desperate and pathetic. None of that mattered anyway when Tyler came out holding my best pink bra on his finger. “I needed a towel……..uh…” He couldn’t say any more because he was obviously trying really hard not to laugh. With delicate precision I removed the garment from his hand, headed into the bedroom and threw it down, stuffing my hand into my mouth and giving a silent scream. That done, I plastered a smile on my face, went back to the table and resumed my pseudo-sexy pose. “So what did you want to talk about?”

  Immediately, Tyler became serious.

  “Elaine isn’t doing so well. She won’t eat and I’m worried about her. She’s really pining for Rooster.”

  “Damn, we should have expected that. Is she at least drinking water?”

  “She just lays around and shows no interest in anything. Suzette even cooked chicken for her but she didn’t give it a look.”

  “OK, let’s not panic. Here’s what to do. We need an item of clothing or something with Rooster’s scent on it that we can give her. Without alarming Rooster, let’s find out what her favorite food is. I assume we can still talk to him on the phone?” Tyler nodded. “It may be she’s never liked chicken.”

  “A dog that doesn’t like chicken!”

  “You’d be surprised. Three of my cats won’t touch it; they only want cheap commercial cat food.”

  Tyler looked skeptical.

  “How many kids do you know who would eat spinach and fish rather than a Happy Meal?”

  The light bulb went on. “Oh, yeah,” Tyler said.

  Soon we had a plan of action. Tyler would ask the lawyer to bring us a used shirt from Rooster so Elaine could have something imprinted with his scent. Meanwhile, we’d offer hot dogs – that always worked with my gang. For good measure, I’d give her some fluids. I always kept an emergency IV bag on hand, with a boost of B vitamins. “When do you want to do this?”

  “Now would be good.”

  We agreed to ride together then Tyler would bring me home later. Snow was falling again and his Subaru would handle it better than my van.

  We entered his house through the kitchen door and were met by the aroma of fresh baked bread. A slender young woman was chopping vegetables at a butcher block counter. Her hands moved with speed and precision and when she saw us she wiped them down the front of a cute, vintage-style striped apron. She smiled and stepped toward me, hands out in welcome. “You’re Polly. Oh, I’m so delighted to meet you at last.”

  I really felt she meant it, and before I knew what was happening she put her arms around me and gave me a sisterly hug.

  “Tyler talks so much about you.” He does? I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, but I willingly allowed myself to be drawn into the warmth of Suzette’s personality.

  “I expect you’re here for Elaine.” She gestured toward the corner where Elaine lay on the floor, showing no interest in us whatsoever. “We got her a big, plush doggy bed but she won’t use it.”

  “She’s spent most of her life sleeping on the ground. Eventually she’ll try the bed and then I bet she won’t want to get out.” I hoped I knew what I was talking about. “Anyway, let me see what I can do with her.”

  I went to her and crooned over her for a while. She gave me a look and the slightest flick of her tail, which I took as a good sign. Perhaps she remembered me. She was definitely a little dehydrated, though, so I hooked up the IV and allowed the fluids to do their work. “Let’s try her with some hot dog.”

  Suzette handed me a bag. “They’re all beef.”

  I broke off a piece and waved it under Elaine’s nose, then touched it to her lips. She instinctively licked her mouth so I offered the piece to her. She nosed it a little and licked it, then lay her head down again with a sigh.

  “Oh, I thought she was going to eat it.” Suzette was disappointed while, Frank, Tyler’s mutt, looked expectantly at me, so I tossed the piece to him.

  “Don’t feel too bad,” I said to Suzette, “she showed some interest and that’s encouraging. I don’t suppose you have any peanut butter, do you?”

  Tyler, who’d been standing back reached into a cupboard and brought out a jar. “Here.”

  “Keep it for later. It might stress her if we try and force anything else on her right now. Give her a couple of hours then put a little on her nose. She’ll automatically lick it off and, with luck, it will spark her appetite.”

  “You can do that after dinner. You’re staying to have spaghetti with us.” I love spaghetti.

  I mumbled all the usual things about not wanting to be a bother, while my taste buds were screaming, ‘Shut up, you idiot.’ Thankfully, Suzette was insistent, and I spent a truly pleasant evening with brother and sister. They were obviously very close.

  “When he heard the snow storm was heading our way, Tyler insisted I come and stay with him. He seems to think
I’m not capable of looking after myself.” She smiled fondly at him.

  “Hey, that’s what big brothers are supposed to do.”

  “The good thing is,” Suzette explained with an innocent look on her face, “then I get to meet the women he likes.”

  I felt my cheeks begin to burn and Tyler hurriedly changed the subject by telling me that Suzette also worked for the family business, handling the finances and other paperwork.

  “Most of the time I’m able to work from home,” she said. “In fact, as long as I have my laptop and cell phone I’m good to go anywhere.”

  Suzette wanted to know about my business. I had plenty of funny stories to tell and we shared a good few laughs before the meal was over.

  I managed to get Elaine to lick a couple of blobs of peanut butter from her nose, but she would not be persuaded to eat anything else. At the end of the evening, though, she stood up and began to whine, then pace around in an agitated manner.

  “What’s wrong?” Suzette was alarmed.

  “Probably the IV fluids are making her want to pee,” I said. “I’ll put her on a lead and take her out.”

  “I’ll do it.” Tyler stood. “I need to let Frank out as well.”

  “I’m quite impressed that Elaine would ask to go out,” Suzette said. “I wouldn’t have thought she’d be house-trained.”

  “More likely it’s imprinted on her to go in the outdoors. She just wants to do things the way she’s always done them.” And she is a really good girl.

  By the time Tyler drove me back there was another inch of snow on the ground: soft vanilla cream on top of hot chocolate popped into my mind. Mallowapple residents took the holidays seriously and many houses were alive with strands of colored lights, chubby snowmen in the front yards and a good few Santas hanging out of chimneys. It was enough to make any cynic feel optimistic. If you’re a Christmas lover, like me, you can believe that wishes will come true. So, silently, I made a wish that Rooster and Elaine would be together again by Christmas day.