Bulldogs & Bullets: A Dog Town USA Cozy Mystery

by Meg Muldoon

  “I would, but one of our officers called in sick and I’m taking his shift on traffic patrol.”

  I nodded solemnly.

  “Well, maybe I could bring you something? There’s some lasagna from last night in our fridge, and—”

  “Listen, Freddie. I’ve got something to talk to you about.”

  I stopped speaking, caught off guard by the seriousness in his tone.

  His expression matched it.

  “What is it, Sam?”

  He unzipped his jacket slightly, pulling something out from the folds of it.

  “I figured out who’s been following you in the Kia,” he said.

  “You did?”

  My heart skipped a beat as a sudden fear gripped me.

  He slid the envelope across the dashboard toward me.

  “Call me tonight and we can talk about what to do about this,” he said. “I’ve got to get going now.”

  He opened the passenger door and left without saying anything more. I watched in the rearview mirror as he dodged the rain and headed for the front door of the police station.

  I furrowed my brow, confused by his strange reaction.

  Was he just tired?

  Or was it something more?

  Then I reached for the envelope.

  A moment later, I understood why Sam had reacted the way he had.

  Chapter 45

  I picked at the reheated lasagna, listening to the sound of Lou’s high heels clicking against the hardwood upstairs as she walked back and forth between her closet and the full-length mirror in the bathroom.

  I’d eaten about half of what she had served me, despite not having much of an appetite. And now, sensing my disillusionment with the food, the animals had started circling. Buddy had jumped up on the chair across from me, taking Lou’s seat and eyeing my plate with interest. Meanwhile Mugs was resting his little chin on my thigh under the table, hoping this display of abject loyalty would win points with his owner and sway me from giving any of my leftovers to the cat.

  The two of them were relentless.

  The footsteps above me became louder and the noise migrated toward the staircase. Lou appeared in the kitchen a few moments later.

  She held out her arms and twirled, the folds of her dress lifting up slightly with the motion.

  “Well? How do I look?”

  Her blond hair was curled to perfection and hung over the back of her long, shimmery green dress. She wore a pair of gold high heels that looked both elegant and gutsy to even attempt. Her makeup highlighted her high cheekbones and did justice to her full lips stained a shade of cranberry.

  I had no doubt that she would be the most beautiful woman at Greg’s important investor’s dinner tonight.

  “You look like a million bucks, Lou,” I said.

  She smiled, clearly pleased. Then she took a seat at one of the dining table chairs.

  But after seeing my half-eaten plate, her smile fell a little bit.

  “Listen,” she said. “I just want to tell you again how sorry I am about earlier. I mean, I hope I didn’t mess anything up between you and Sam.”

  I shook my head.

  She’d already apologized at least half a dozen times about it.

  “No, you didn’t do anything,” I reassured her.

  Lou’s cheeks reddened.

  “That jerk,” she said, obviously referring to Jimmy and not to Sam. “I can’t believe he had the gall to show up here last night after everything he did to you.”

  I nodded, keeping quiet about what had happened earlier that afternoon.

  And the fact that there was a part two to the story.

  She looked past me and mumbled something derogatory under her breath, as if she was duking it out with Jimmy in her head.

  “It’s okay, Lou,” I said, again.

  That snapped her out of it.

  “I’m just glad you and Sam are okay,” she said. “He’s a really great guy, Freddie. Really great. And you should see the way he looks at you when you’re not looking. I mean, any fool could see that you’ve stolen the man’s heart.”

  I smiled, but found that it came out a little sad.

  I couldn’t help but think about the way he’d looked earlier that afternoon in the police station parking lot. Serious and strange and hard to read.

  I didn’t feel like thinking about any of it right now.

  So I changed the subject.

  “So, uh, how’s everything going with Greg?” I asked.

  Her face lit up.

  “Wonderful,” she said, obviously glad that I had asked. “He’s very sweet. I mean, when we go out, he’s always taking me everywhere and showing me off to all his friends. He’s always buying me things. I feel like he’s really trying to sweep me off of my feet.”

  She smiled, looking off into the distance.

  “I haven’t been this dazzled since… since, well ever,” she said, letting out a delirious sigh.

  I did my best to keep any trace of concern out of my expression.

  It wasn’t that Lou didn’t deserve being shown off or given expensive gifts and two-week vacations in the Bahamas.

  It was just that I was worried she was getting blinded by it.

  Greg seemed like a really nice guy. From what I’d seen, he treated her well.

  But I had the feeling that something wasn’t quite right about the whole thing.

  Lou had a good head on her shoulders. But love could blind even the most reasonable of people. And the bottom line was that I didn’t want to see her get hurt later on when the blindfold wore off.

  She could say what she wanted to about Pete. But he had always put Lou and her interests first. He hadn’t been a Romeo, but he at least respected who she was and what was important to her.

  “Is something the matter, Freddie?” Lou said suddenly, noticing the way my smile had faded.

  I took in a deep breath.

  Should I say something?

  “Look, I’m really, really sorry about earlier today if that’s what’s bothering you,” she said. “I should have never doubted you or thought you’d ever get involved with Jimmy again. It was wrong of m—”

  “No, it’s not that,” I said.

  “Then what is it?”

  I set my fork gently down on the plate in front of me.

  “It’s just…”

  She was leaning forward across the table, waiting expectantly for my response.

  “It’s just…”

  But as I looked at her – seeing all the work she’d done to get ready for tonight – I just couldn’t bring myself to say anything.

  “I’m just concerned about Mindy,” I said. “That’s all.”

  She bought the lie – hook, line, and sinker.

  “Aw, I’m sorry,” she said.

  I rubbed my face, wishing I could have just told her what I’d really wanted to say.

  “I know it seems bad now, Sis,” she continued. “But there could always be a chance that Mindy’s alive, right? That you could still find her safe and sound?”

  I shrugged.

  “I guess.”

  But the odds were stacked against Mindy now. And everyone knew it.

  “Well, that’s something to—”

  Just then, a loud honk from the street ruptured the still night. Mugs scrambled from his spot underneath the table and ran for the door, barking.

  Lou shot up.

  “I’m sorry to have to leave so suddenly, Freddie,” she said. “But that’s Greg out there. And we can’t be late for the dinner. He made that very clear.”

  I forced a tight, phony smile.

  “Just… go and have a good time tonight, okay?” I said.

  She squeezed my shoulder.

  “Thanks for understanding, Sis.”

  She headed for the door, her beautiful new green gown flowing elegantly behind her as she grabbed a rain jacket from off the coat rack.

  “Don’t wait up!” she shouted, closing the front door behind her.r />
  Through the foyer window, I watched her hurry down the porch steps toward a newer model Mustang.

  I felt a twinge of concern in my gut.

  Greg might have been handsome and rich and the town’s most eligible bachelor.

  But he was all wrong for my sister.

  I just didn’t know how to tell her that.

  I picked at my food for a while longer, then split it between Buddy and Mugs.

  Chapter 46

  I walked along the deserted streets of Dog Mountain, clutching onto the leather leash and letting Mugs pull me through the fog-choked neighborhood.

  It was quiet as a grave out here, and something about the night and maybe the day’s events, too, made me feel lonely and sad.

  I knew walking these streets alone wasn’t the soundest of ideas. Not with that black car and the volatile person driving it still somewhere out there.

  But I was restless. And sitting at home in an empty house, watching television, alone with my thoughts, made me feel worse.

  Mugs tugged on the leash, dragging me forward a little faster than I would have chosen to have gone. But I didn’t fight it – I’d been sitting in cars and office chairs for days now, and the exercise felt good.

  I turned down Dogwood and then took a left on Marston Drive. Large banks of fog obscured everything, giving the landscape an all-encompassing atmosphere of claustrophobia.

  It got like this some autumns in Dog Mountain. Damp air would cover the Willamette Valley like a wet rag, and sometimes the fog wouldn’t burn off for days. It could become depressing when it lasted too long. And it had a way of making you feel even lower than you already felt.

  My thoughts pressed down on me like swollen rain clouds as I walked swiftly through the silent streets.

  I flashed on the night of Mindy’s stakeout. It had only been a few days earlier, but in some ways, it felt like a lifetime ago. Sitting in Mindy’s car, Bogey drooling on me as I took notes about the injustices of dog code violators. Glancing at the clock on her car radio, wishing she’d hurry up so I could get home and get ready for my date. The way she laughed at my bashfulness when she talked about how good-looking Sam was.

  I wondered if anyone would ever hear Mindy Monahan’s trademark laugh again.

  I let out a sigh.

  Who was responsible for her laughter being wiped off the face of the earth?

  Taylor High?

  Could he have really done something to her?

  Was getting caught violating dog code regulations at a school field enough motive to kidnap or hurt somebody?

  The answer was no.

  But was there more to the story? Something else I wasn’t seeing?

  We rounded a corner and passed by a familiar-looking streetlight.

  I bit my lower lip, feeling my throat grow thick with emotion as I realized where we had stumbled upon in the fog.

  I stopped for a moment at the edge of the school field, grabbing onto the cold wire fence circling the large play area.

  Living in a small, charming town like Dog Mountain, buried in the Willamette Valley the way it was, it was easy to believe that nothing too bad ever happened here. That the town was somehow sheltered from the outside world by its tall pine forests and cloudy, gloomy skies.

  But I knew better than anyone that small towns weren’t immune to the horrors of the world. To the drug dealers, thieves, abusers, and murderers that existed everywhere else – including here.

  It was a sad fact – but a woman could vanish into thin air in any small town, the same way she could in Portland or New York or Mexico City or London or Beijing or any other place in the world—

  My phone buzzed. I fished it out of my jean pocket and looked at the caller ID in the distorted streetlights.

  I took in a deep breath and swallowed hard before answering.

  “Hey,” I said, pressing the plastic up to my ear with my free hand.

  Mugs began sniffing along the edge of the fence and tugging on the leash, but I pulled back to keep him from dragging me along. The puppy listened, and obediently stayed where he was.

  “Hey.”

  Sam’s voice sounded serious again, and my stomach tightened.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “Well, uh, I just thought you should know that I’ve been following up on that Taylor High lead. And that there’s been a break in the case.”

  I felt the breath go out of my lungs.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah,” Sam said. “Turns out that Taylor is the registered owner of a gun that uses the same caliber of bullet as the ones we found near where Bogey was discovered.”

  He paused, giving me a chance to say something.

  But I was speechless.

  “We’re on our way to bring Taylor in for questioning,” he continued when I didn’t say anything. “We should know more later tonight after speaking to him. But, uh, I just thought you’d want to know about the development.”

  I swallowed hard, feeling for the first time since all of this began a small glimmer of hope.

  “I appreciate that, Sam,” I said. “I really do.”

  There was another long pause from the other side of the line.

  “So about that other thing,” he finally said.

  He suddenly sounded uncomfortable. Like he wished he could be anywhere else but on the phone with me right now.

  “I think I should step in,” he said. “It’s gotten out of hand, and I think it’s best for everyone involved if I just go over to their house and talk to—”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head, though I knew he couldn’t see me. “No, that’ll just make things worse.”

  I took in a deep breath.

  “I’d rather handle it,” I said. “I think that’s the best course of action. It’s better if it comes from me.”

  “But Freddie – you don’t know what will happen if you—”

  “I like taking care of my own messes,” I said. “Besides, you’ve got a lot on your plate right now, Sam. And I can’t be taking you away from finding Mindy with this nonsense.”

  “Freddie, nothing that’s got anything to do with you is nonsense,” he said, sternly. “Ever.”

  I bit the flesh of my lower lip.

  He lowered his voice.

  “Is… is there another reason you don’t want me to get involved with this?” he asked.

  “No,” I said. “I just don’t want to trouble you.”

  The line cracked.

  “Sam?” I said.

  “I’ve got to get back to work,” he said in a dry, emotionless tone. “I’ll let you know if there are any other developments.”

  The phone went dead then.

  I let out a troubled sigh into the foggy air.

  Usually I felt so good after talking to him.

  But tonight, I just felt worse.

  Chapter 47

  I let Mugs guide me around the chain link fence circling Tabor Elementary School, barely feeling the ground beneath my feet as my thoughts ran wild in the dark night.

  Trying to figure out how and why Taylor High had snapped the way he had.

  When a thought occurred to me suddenly.

  Taylor High owned a construction company – meaning that most likely, he had plenty of options when it came to kidnapping someone and putting them somewhere no one would find them.

  And if Taylor was the man behind all of this, then it seemed obvious that Mindy would have to be in one of those properties. And that it would just be a matter of narrowing down which one, and—

  I stopped dead in my tracks as a long, ghoulish howl broke through the foggy night, sending the hairs on the back of my neck standing straight up on end.

  It sounded something worthy of The Hound of the Baskervilles, and for a long moment, I just stood frozen in the mist, absolutely terrified.

  Mugs cowered close to the ground, letting out a sharp growl in the direction the noise had come from. A growl that made it clear the young dog was not playin
g around.

  My shoulder was nearly ripped out of its socket as Mugs suddenly charged headfirst in the direction of the thing responsible for the ghastly sound. We were halfway across the empty street when I finally regained control of the pooch’s leash and tugged back. Mugs barked some more at the interference, pulling even harder on his leash in response.

  A second later, we were on the sidewalk in front of a non-descript white house. A row of dead, frost-bitten flowers lined the small space between the lawn and the sidewalk.

  “Mugs!” I whispered harshly as he yanked my arm again.

  But either the pup didn’t hear me, or he didn’t care. He was hell-bent on finding the creature who had made that cry. And he was hell-bent on taking me with him.

  The howl rang out again. This time louder.

  I finally got control of Mugs and forced him to stop before trouncing the lawn.

  My heart hammered away in my chest like a runaway train.

  A second later, the ghostly outline of a massive creature appeared from behind the bank of fog in front of the house.

  Mugs snarled in a defensive tone, and the creature in the fog let out a loud bark in reply as it moved its large, ghastly legs and lunged for us.

  “Oh my—” I whispered in a frightened tone.

  I tried to back away.

  But I was too late.

  The beast was upon us.

  And all I could do was brace myself for impact.

  “Stop that!”

  A voice suddenly rang out, cutting through the mushroom bank of fog like a knife.

  “Tarnation, get back in here, boy!”

  Like a miracle, the beast stopped mid-lunge. It dropped to the ground, sat, and looked at us with two otherworldly pale eyes for a long while.

  Then the hound disappeared back into the fog toward the house where the voice had come from.

  Shortly after, a screen door slammed and a front door squeaked closed.

  I just stood there, stunned.

  The hair on the back of my neck was standing straight up on end the whole walk home.

  Chapter 48

  Sunday.

  For most people, it meant a lazy day spent reading the paper, online shopping, and watching TV. For others, it meant church, family time, and slow-cooked dinners.