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

by Liz Dodwell

  Uh oh. He was looking apoplectic.

  “You have some nerve. The police seem pretty certain they have the killer, but you want to drag Mary and me through the muck to save him!”

  This wasn’t going at all well. I soldiered on, though.

  “Don’t you want to be sure the real murderer is brought to justice?”

  Before he could answer, another voice was heard. “I do.” The speaker had a look of someone whose joy had been ripped from her, yet she held herself erect and was holding on to sanity – just. “I’m Mary Hardwicke, this is my father, Ray Gethings.” She patted his arm and directed her attention at him. “It’s alright, Pop. It will help if I talk about it.” Turning back to me, with a lopsided smile that didn’t meet her eyes she said, “Shall we sit?”

  We settled ourselves around a small coffee table and I found myself telling her how I came to be in the alley, what had happened and then describing Rooster and his life.

  “So you see, he’s just not the kind of man who would take another life.”

  “You’re not convincing me,” Ray said. “A Vietnam vet with PTSD who’s admittedly been violent in the past. Sounds like exactly the right person is behind bars.”

  “Pop,” Mary cautioned, “he sounds like the kind of person Donny would want to help.

  “Polly, thank you for telling us all this. Ask me anything you want. I’ll help in any way to see justice done.”

  For fifteen minutes I asked every question I could think of and was disheartened with the answers. Neither Mary nor her father knew of any connection between Don and anyone in Mallowapple. They’d never heard of Mallowapple before this and Mary was sure her husband had not planned on staying here. And, no, they could think of no-one who might wish Don harm.

  “He is….was…a wonderful husband and father. We have two beautiful little girls, ordinary jobs, belong to the PTA. Donny is a Rotary Club member and we like to barbeque hot dogs and hamburgers.”

  I was getting desperate for something of use. “Is there anything unusual that happened to him? Ever?”

  Mary put her head back on the seat and raised her eyes to the ceiling. A long moment later she looked at me. “There was an incident when he was in his teens, though I don’t see how it could possibly relate to this.”

  I widened my eyes expectantly.

  “Donny and two of his friends were hunting. There was an accident and one of the kids got shot and died. Only it wasn’t an accident.”

  “Wha… what!” Ray stiffened.

  Mary gave him a guilty look. “I’m sorry, Pop. I promised I would never tell anyone, but I guess that doesn’t matter anymore. Please, keep quiet ‘til I get it all out.”

  “Go on, Mary,” I said.

  “They were on private land, owned by the family of the boy who was killed. They were after wild turkey but they saw a deer. The other two boys – not Donny – fired and it went down. They started arguing over who had bagged it, when suddenly, the one boy simply raised his rifle at the other and pulled the trigger.

  “Donny said he was completely stunned. He was going to run for help when the other kid threatened to kill him as well unless he swore to everyone that it had been an accident. When Donny began to object, the kid said he’d just have to kill Donny’s family.

  “There was a big fuss, of course, and plenty of suspicion, but Donny was too terrified to tell the truth. He was only fifteen, you know. Then, a year or so later, the bad kid’s family moved away.”

  “Do you know where?”

  Mary shook her head.

  “Did you know this boy?”

  “No. My home was in New Hampshire. I met Donny at a sales conference in Boston and didn’t move to upstate New York ‘til after we married.”

  It was a terrible tale, but I wasn’t at all sure it helped.

  Ray stood, signaling an end to the conversation. Thanking them both and promising to keep in touch with any news we turned to part.

  “Oh, one more thing,” I said. “What was the boy’s name? The one who shot his friend, that is?”

  “It was John Sulkey.”

  I shook my head. It didn’t mean a thing.

  Fifteen

  In the middle of the night I awoke and sat bolt upright. I’d been dreaming that a multi-tentacled creature had been chasing me, only it had Tyler’s head and was wearing a cornflower blue paisley tie. I didn’t know whether to run away or stop and say, ‘Take me, I’m yours.’ Apparently the sleeping me decided it was best to give up on the whole sequence and so here I was, wide awake and fidgety.

  Sighing, I extricated myself from the bed between a host of furry bodies. Vinny half-opened one eye and Taz complained because I had to move her a teensy weensy bit. Other than that, the whole gang slept on.

  My mind wouldn’t settle down, so I decided I may as well put it to good use. Opening up the laptop I tried to organize my thoughts in print. All I did was end up with a page of rambling ideas and very few hard facts. Looking over the notes the name John Sulkey jumped out at me. Curious to know more about the incident I ran a search, adding in Hardwicke’s name, home town and the year the killing happened.

  A few articles popped up about a teen accidentally shooting his friend. They didn’t tell me more than I already knew and there were no pictures of the kids, presumably because they were underage. For the heck of it I ran a general search for John Sulkey with the town name, and bingo! Up popped a picture of the junior varsity high school football team. Sulkey was listed as the seventh from the left in the back row. I zoomed in on the face. The quality was really grainy and it was a small image to begin with, but as I peered closely I understood what it means to say your blood runs cold.

  It took me a few moments to get over the shock. Then, without thinking, I snatched up the phone and hit speed-dial for Tyler.

  “Polly?” The voice was groggy. Hell, I hadn’t realized it was three thirty in the morning. Oops. Then the tone became alarmed. “Polly. Are you OK? I can be right over if you need me.” Well, that was gratifying. He really must care.

  “Polly! Say something!”

  “I’m OK, everything’s fine. It’s more than fine. I think I know what happened to Don Hardwicke.”

  Sixteen

  The coffee maker coughed out the last of the fresh pot. Coffee was one of the few things I always had on hand. Fortunately, everyone took it black, as there was no milk or sugar to go with it.

  It was mid-morning. Tyler, Zill Granger and Sheriff Wisniewski sat around the kitchen table. We’d been talking for over an hour. Wisniewski had objected to meeting at my place but Granger had managed to persuade him it was for the best. Now he sat taut, palpable waves of anger coursing from his body.

  Tyler had arrived on my doorstep soon after I’d called him. When I opened the door he’d crushed me in a warm embrace. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

  I acted innocent. “What do you mean?”

  “You can’t call me in the early hours of the morning without scaring me. There’s a killer out there. I thought you were in danger.” Wow. This was more than gratifying.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled.

  I’d gone through my notes and my theory with Tyler, who then called the attorney. Granger came right over and I went through everything again. Then Granger contacted the sheriff and I’d repeated my hypothesis for the third time. Wisniewski had confirmed one thing we weren’t sure of – the time of death. As far as I was concerned, that pretty much sealed the deal.

  “There’s still no hard evidence,” Wisniewski said.

  “But now you have enough to check DNA and fingerprints against another suspect.” Granger gave the sheriff a hard look.

  “I’m going to take care of that as soon as I get to my office. Fingerprint samples will be on file, but it will take a while for the DNA.”

  “Is this enough to get Rooster out on bail?” Tyler asked.

  “That’s for a judge to decide,” Granger responded, “but I think there’s a good chance.�
��

  “What more do we need?” I was probably on my eighth cup of coffee, so I was a little excitable.

  “Let me check it off for you again:

  We now know Hardwicke’s body was most likely in the dumpster at nine, when Tyler and I came upon Rooney playing Robocop with Rooster and Elaine.

  Hardwicke left Bennie’s Diner suddenly, right after he saw Rooney. That suggests he followed Rooney out.

  Elaine growled at Rooney – twice. In fact, she growled both times she saw him and she never growls at anyone. That suggests she senses something bad about him.

  Officer Anson Rooney is John Sulkey. That’s his face in the high school picture. So, not only is he a known killer, the photo puts him in the same school, at the same time, as Don Hardwicke.”

  “Young lady, a dog growling will not get a conviction. I am going to pull Rooney in for questioning and put him on suspension. If there’s a fingerprint match then that’s a whole different ballgame.” Wisniewski stood. “Thank you for the coffee. Now I’m going to get on with my job.”

  It wasn’t much longer before Granger left. Tyler headed out soon after with a promise to call later. We all had work to get on with. Fortunately, my injured sitter was back on the job and I’d been able to re-arrange my schedule to clear the morning.

  As I was setting off on my rounds a call came in from Suzette. “Polly, can I ask a big favor?”

  She’d taken Elaine to the vet for a check-up and come outside to find her car wouldn’t start.

  “I’m waiting for a tow-truck now, but could you come and get Elaine? I don’t want to drag her to the repair shop or leave her at the vet’s. She’ll be happier with you.”

  “No problem. I’m only a few minutes away. I’ll head over now.”

  I settled Elaine in the front seat as Suzette’s car was hooked up. We exchanged a quick hug and she promised that she or Tyler would swing by in the evening.

  I enjoyed having my sweet friend with me again and she seemed to enjoy riding around. We only had a couple more stops to make when a call came in. I didn’t recognize the number but, when you’re in my business, you always answer.

  “Pets and People, Too. This is Polly, can I help a pet or a person today?”

  “This is Sheriff Wisniewski. Polly, it looks like you’re right about Rooney. We matched his fingerprints.”

  I slapped the dashboard in glee and yelped.

  “It’s not all good.” Uh, oh. “Rooney must have got wind something was going on and he’s disappeared.”

  “Disappeared? You mean as in he’s run away?”

  “I mean we haven’t been able to find him. He ditched his squad car, he’s not responding to calls and he’s not at his apartment. There’s a BOLO out on him but I need you to be careful.”

  “What do you mean by careful?” I squeaked. “Am I in danger?”

  Wisniewski tried to reassure me. “I’m only saying you should take sensible precautions. Keep your eyes peeled and keep your doors locked.”

  That didn’t sound very reassuring.

  “Have you told Tyler?”

  “I left a message for him. Apparently, he’s with clients.”

  “OK, sheriff. Thanks, I guess.”

  “If you see or hear anything, you call right away.”

  With that he hung up and I was left feeling nervous and unsure. There wasn’t much I could do, though, except finish my visits and get home.

  It was a relief when I pulled into my driveway, though not when I saw my automatic light wasn’t on. Six o’clock hadn’t come yet, but the sun had set long before and it was really dark. I felt horribly vulnerable. Why didn’t I carry a gun? Of course, I had no idea how to use one. Perhaps I should rectify that.

  Telling myself to stop being such a wuss, I got out of the van and went round to open the door for Elaine. With key in hand we approached the door when Elaine stopped in her tracks. She stiffened and started to growl. Oh, hell. I knew what that meant. Rooney was here.

  I hesitated, not knowing whether to run back to the van or rush for the door. But Elaine didn’t hesitate at all. She charged forward as Rooney stepped from the bushes, raising his pistol at her. The only things I had were the keys and the dog leash. I flung the keys at Rooney’s head and caught him right in the eye. Instinctively, he reached upward and the gun discharged harmlessly in the air.

  Now Elaine had him by the leg. He turned the gun back to her and I cracked the leash at his hand like a whip. Unbelievably, it jerked the gun from his grip. I was beginning to feel like a regular Indiana Jones.

  With his free leg, Rooney kicked savagely at Elaine’s head. Without so much as a whimper she went down. Enraged, I hurled myself at him and we both fell to the ground. I clawed and bit but he was bigger and a lot stronger than me, and maybe just as desperate. My arms were pinned behind me and a knee to my stomach knocked the wind out of me – hard. I gagged and struggled for breath as he flipped me over so I was eating dirt. With his weight on me, I couldn’t move or breathe. Then I felt something round my neck. Even as I was already losing consciousness, I realized it was the leash.

  Thoughts of my mother, my dogs, my cats and Elaine flashed through my brain and I tried even harder to fight but my efforts became weaker and weaker. Suddenly I was bathed in a white light. So this is it. This is what dying is like.

  Seventeen

  Eww. Tyler needed breath mints if he was going to keep kissing me. I reached out to push his face away. When did he start growing facial hair?

  I opened my eyes. Angel was looking right at me and my head hurt like hell. Come to think of it, my whole body hurt. “She’s awake,” I heard someone say.

  “Thank God.” That was Tyler’s voice. He moved into my vision. “You’re safe now. We got him. You’ll be OK.”

  I wondered what he was talking about, then it came to me in a rush. I couldn’t help myself; I burst into tears and clung to him tighter than a limpet to a rock. Then I thought of Elaine.

  “She’s awake but she’s been taken to the emergency vet, just in case.”

  I heard another voice announce the arrival of the ambulance. “Who’s hurt?” I asked.

  “You. You’re going to the hospital to get checked out. That was quite a beating Rooney gave you.”

  “I don’t understand what happened.”

  “I know. I’ll explain everything later. Right now I’m going to let the EMTs take care of you.

  That was pretty much it for me until I woke in a hospital bed with my mother beside me, holding my hand.

  “Polly Parrett, you do make life difficult for me,” but she smiled as she said it and I smiled back. Or tried to; my jaw didn’t want to cooperate.

  “You’re lucky. It’s not broken, but the bone is badly bruised. The doctor says there will be a lot of swelling and a good bit of pain for quite some time.”

  “It doesn’t feel painful now.”

  “That’s the drugs,” Mom said. “You also have a couple of broken ribs and a lot of scrapes and bruises and can expect a very sore throat. And there’s a terrible bruise around your neck where…..” Mom’s eyes glossed with tears and her breathing started to get ragged.

  “Where Rooney tried to strangle me,” I said softly.

  Mom nodded and bit her lip. I waited for her to compose herself. Considering the circumstances, I was surprised I was so mellow. Must be another effect of the drugs.

  I wanted to know about Elaine, and who was taking care of my own creatures.

  “As far as I know, Elaine is fine. I called one of your sitters and they have everything else in hand. They’ll take it in turns to stay at your house as long as need be and they’ll cover all your own visits, so you’re not to worry.” I have a wonderful crew. “I also called your father and he’ll be here today.”

  “You actually talked to dad?”

  “Whatever else I may think, he’s still your father and deserves to know what’s happened. He said he’ll stay as long as you need him and do whatever he can to help.
Now, I’m supposed to call the nurse when you wake.” She pushed her chair away from the bed.

  “Wait a minute. You have to tell me what happened.”

  “Tyler happened. And that’s all I can say right now without falling apart.”

  I drifted in and out of sleep. At one point when I awoke, Wisniewski was there with a female officer to question me. He was surprisingly considerate and when he was finished I said, “I need you tell me what happened last night.” And so he did.

  Rooney had deliberately broken the driveway light and hidden at the side of the house, waiting for me to get home. Of course, he’d had no idea that Elaine was with me. The sheriff believed his plan was simply to shoot me. Rooney seemed to like that modus operandi.

  The white light I’d thought was my pathway to another life, was actually the headlights of Tyler’s car. He hadn’t got the sheriff’s message alerting him to Rooney’s escape. Meanwhile, Suzette had asked him to collect Elaine. He’d arrived in time to pull Rooney off me and save the day. When the police arrived, they found Tyler cradling me in his arms, with Rooney out cold.

  “If you think you look bad,” I didn’t think that. How bad did I look? “you should see Rooney. Tyler really did a number on him. He must have been one angry man.” That was so sweet.

  Apparently, after Tyler had given me up safely to the EMTs, he’d driven out to collect my mother and bring her to the hospital and had stayed with her, and me, through most of the night. He left in the morning when he had to retrieve Elaine from the emergency vet.

  “So she’s alright?”

  “She had a relatively mild concussion. Nothing that should cause any permanent damage.”

  This day was getting better and better, but I still didn’t know why Rooney had killed his old friend. The sheriff explained.

  “Once we got Rooney in custody, he let it all out. He seems to think he’s justified in everything he did.”

  “He’s wacko.”

  “I won’t argue with that. Anyway, Hardwicke recognized Rooney in the diner. He followed Rooney out and accosted him, saying he’d been quiet long enough and it was time for the truth to be told. Rooney persuaded him to step into the alley where they could talk. You’d think Hardwicke would have known better, but he practically signed his own death warrant right then.