A moment later, Betsy’s angry face appeared beside her husband’s. She shut the window with a vengeance and gestured at me with two flicks of the wrist to go away, as if she were shooing a fly.
I walked off with Shogun, and once again he did fine on leash until we reached the Randons’ walkway. There Shogun trotted up the path as if that was where we were surely going. It dawned on me then that it was probably Melanie he was expecting to visit and that, since Edith wasn’t the one to bring him there, Trevor must have been.
To test my theory, I let Shogun go ahead and lead the way, and I rang the doorbell. Shogun’s tail began to wag as we waited. Not knowing whether or not anyone was even home, I found myself immediately hoping that the little guy wasn’t about to be disappointed.
Paul swung the door open. He was unshaven and wearing a grubby sweat suit, his dark hair uncombed. “Allida, hi. What’s up?”
I picked up the waggy-tailed little dog. “Actually, we’re here to visit with Melanie for just a minute. Is she home?”
Before Paul could answer, she popped into view, then bolted through the door. “Shogun! It’s Shogun, Daddy!”
“I can see that.”
She held out her arms for him, and seeing no unspoken objection on her father’s part, I let her take him and give him a hug. Shogun licked her lace and she giggled.
“As you apparently guessed, they’re old friends,” Paul said, indicating his daughter and his next-door neighbor’s dog.
“Yes, he kept pulling on the leash to come over here, and I finally figured out that the Cunninghams must have brought him over here to see Melanie.”
He nodded. “A while ago, Trevor used to let Melanie walk him.” He stared at his giggling daughter. “Seeing these two together was the main reason I was so adamant about wanting to get a dog.”
“That was nice of him.” Though somewhat unfounded, I felt a surge of relief at the thought that maybe this meant that Edith’s accusations concerning Trevor having had a sexual relationship with Cassandra weren’t true. Maybe he’d innocently been over here to let his dog visit with Melanie.
“Trevor was a good neighbor. Listen, I’d invite you inside, but the place is a mess and—”
“No, that’s all right. It really was the dog’s idea to come, and I’d better be going myself.”
“Can Shogun stay?” Melanie asked. “He can sleep in my bed.”
“No, he can’t, honey. Sorry. Shogun doesn’t belong to Allida.”
“Your Dad’s right. I’m going to give him back to Trevor tonight.”
“Tell him I said hello,” Paul said.
“But you said you hated him,” Melanie said, getting to her feet.
“I said no such thing. Come on inside.” Paul all but chucked Melanie back inside the house. He gave me a sheepish smile and shook his head. “Kids. It’s hard to know where their imaginations leave off and their interpretation of reality begins.” He ruffled his daughter’s hair. “Thanks for bringing Shogun over. Have a good day.”
He shut the door, and I walked Shogun back across the street, feeling intensely uneasy. It had been my impression that Melanie had a fairly good grasp of her “interpretation of reality.” And I remembered how Paul had said something to Trevor that all but froze him in his tracks the night after the murder.
Back home, my mother gave me a shoulder colder than the cup of ice cream she’d stashed in the freezer. When I asked why, she said, “You’re obviously hell bent on getting yourself killed, and I don’t want to have to stand by and watch. For God’s sake, Allie, a man nearly strangled you this morning! Then I see you over there talking to Susan, after you came out of Edith’s house. One of those women might be a murderer! For heaven’s sake, stay away from them. Let Andy handle things.”
“I am. I just want to get Shogun to his rightful owner.” Then I wanted to get the puppies and Suds adopted to good homes; I doubted Carver would be a free man anytime soon.
Mom was already in a huff, so I decided that I might as well go through with my idea of calling Trevor to invite him over to get Shogun. He wasn’t home, so I tried his work number and reached him. The moment I said, “This is Allida,” he blurted, “I just hung up with Edith. She tells me that she thinks you’re incompetent and won’t pay. Am I right in taking that to mean that you’ve decided to award me custody of Shogun?”
“Yes, and I was wondering if—”
“I’ll be right over. And don’t worry, I’ll cover your fees myself.”
Half an hour later, despite a rainstorm that had developed, Trevor arrived, soaking wet. He pumped my hand vigorously, picked up his dog and Shogun’s bed, then handed me a check for twice what I’d planned on charging. He said he had never been so willing to pay for anyone’s service.
Just as he was about to leave, I decided I had to address the niggling concern that Edith had raised about his relationship with Cassandra. “Trevor,” I began, “I heard a rumor about Cassandra having been unfaithful to Paul. Did you ever hear anything to that effect?”
Trevor scoffed. “Cassie? Unfaithful? Never.” He shook his head and met my eyes, his own filled with joy at having his dog back. “Someone got the story wrong.” He beamed at me, said, “I can’t thank you enough,” and left.
That evening, John White called me to ask how I was. I said, “Fine,” and asked how soon I could get Suds back with her puppies. He insisted on personally bringing Suds to my home. In a lame attempt at humor, he promised that this time he wouldn’t have any knife-wielding passengers with him.
An hour or so later, he rang my doorbell. He was wearing brown cotton-twill slacks and a pale yellow T-shirt, and his hair was neatly combed. I wondered if he’d spruced up in my honor. Suds, her muzzle still bandaged but otherwise healthy-looking, rushed inside and straight to her puppies the moment I opened the door, but John remained on the porch.
“Thanks for bringing her.” I was unable to make my voice more than barely civil.
He shrugged. “I really came over to apologize. I’m sorry I lied to you before. I never dreamed Carver would...I just wanted to tell you that I’ve turned in my two weeks’ notice at work. I’m leaving the state, getting a fresh start someplace else.”
“Because of Carver?”
He nodded. “My past has been catching up with me. I need to get some distance between myself and...who I used to be.”
“I don’t understand.” I didn’t feel like talking to him through the screen door, and even less like inviting him inside, so I joined him on the porch. “Who did you used to be?”
“A petty thief, for one thing. I’ve changed my ways, though.”
Now I understood. “That’s how you met Carver. In prison.”
He nodded, not meeting my eyes. “I’m real sorry, Allida. I had nothing to do with your neighbor’s murder, and I never thought Carver would come hassle you and try and take Suds.”
“What’s going to happen with him?”
“He’s going back to jail. We’ll be putting Suds up for adoption in a couple of weeks, once the puppies are fully independent. That’ll be my last project for them before I go. We’ll try to get the puppies adopted immediately when they’re at seven weeks. They’ll go fast. Puppies always do. You wouldn’t want to make your fostering of Suds permanent, would you?”
“No. Sorry, not until I’ve got my own place. I think Mom has put up with enough of my decisions regarding the animal kingdom. She’s probably getting pretty fed up with my taking my work home with me.”
He nodded. “I’ll be seeing you in a couple of weeks, then, unless something comes up in the meantime.”
“No offense, but let’s hope not. So far, anything that’s ‘come up’ has been painful.”
John sighed and searched my face. “I never intended to get you involved with Carver. You do believe that, don’t you?”
I regarded him for a moment and realized that I’d been unlucky—or unwise—when I hadn’t thought to double check his claim that the police had told him that C
arver had had an alibi. Otherwise, John’s lies might have unraveled sooner than they did. “Yes. It’s just that...you can’t run away from your past, and lying about it doesn’t make it go away.”
“That, if nothing else, is one thing I’ve learned. Goodbye, Allida.” He pivoted on his heel and walked back to his car, then drove away without a second glance.
***
Sunday morning, I accompanied my mother to church. She had seemed to have put our previous friction behind her, and I was more than willing to drop the matter. It was such a nice day that we left all of the dogs outside in our absence. Mom went out to the back deck to check on them the moment we returned. Suds and a couple of the puppies rushed in the instant she opened the door. She was looking pretty flustered when she returned from the backyard. “Have you seen Fez?”
“No. Isn’t he with the others?” I asked stupidly.
“No. Not unless I miscounted and he already came inside.”
“Okay. He’s got to be here someplace.”
We searched thoroughly, inside and out. Fez was nowhere to be found. But I did find a puppy-sized hole underneath the fence. Suds might have done the digging. My own dogs weren’t diggers, and the puppies were too young to have taken up this particular activity. If Fez had dug this hole himself at his age, he was awfully precocious.
First Shogun was missing, then Suds was forcibly taken. Now a puppy was missing. This was a pattern that had to stop soon. One way or another.
Chapter 16
Mom and I decided that she would check with the neighbors on our side of the street and I’d check with those on the opposite side. The neighbors next door, whose property bordered the fence the dog had dug under, had been out of town this past week. Mom went there first to see if they were back home. She didn’t return, which meant that, yes, they were home, and Mom would have all too much catching up to do on the recent grisly events befalling the neighborhood.
It was unlikely that such a young puppy would venture far on his own. Someone could have spotted him and picked him up, which would not have been a tragedy, for Fez would be old enough for adoption in another ten days anyway. The real danger, of course, was that he might eventually wander into the road at an unfortunate time. I couldn’t forgive myself if that were to happen.
Fez was too young to respond to his own name, so I whistled a few times, but didn’t bother calling. I went to the Randons’ place first, because it was closest and because it was possible that Fez remembered his former temporary home, even though he’d been there for less than a full day.
The front door was open. “Hi, come on in,” Paul hollered from a back room in answer to my knock.
That was a surprisingly friendly greeting, but I stepped inside his home.
He came out wearing only shorts, and his face fell at the sight of me. For my part, I had to say that Paul really wasn’t the sort who should be showing off his torso. He had fairly substantial love handles and only a few scraggly-looking chest hairs on his pale skin. “Oh. Allida. I thought...I’m expecting my secretary to drop by with some work for me.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke.
Pretty casual relationship with one’s secretary not to have put on a shirt for her, but that was his business, not mine. “I just came over to see if you or Melanie have seen any of the puppies this morning. One of them got out through a hole underneath the fence a few minutes ago.”
“Oh. Er, no. Sorry.”
“Could I ask Melanie?”
“She’s...not here. She’s staying with my sister for the next few days. I thought that would give her a chance to get—”
“Yoo hoo,” a woman called from the doorway. I whirled around and faced a pretty young woman with blond hair. She appeared to be startled to see me. Her eyes darted between Paul and me. “Oh. I didn’t realize you had company.”
“Uh, yes,” Paul said. “This...is just a neighbor looking for her lost puppy.”
“You lost a puppy? Oh, dear.” She cast a glance in Paul’s direction, then said with clasped hands, “I do so love little puppies.”
Spare me, I thought. She was obviously playing up to Paul.
Paul disappeared into the room he’d emerged from, muttering, “Let me get a shirt on.”
I couldn’t wait to get out of there, but Paul’s visitor was still standing in the doorway. The young woman had a smile plastered on her face.
“I’d better check with some more neighbors.”
“So you live in the neighborhood?” she asked, still smiling.
“Across the street.”
“I’m a real estate agent. Helping Paul to find a new home. I don’t know if he told you this, but he’ll be moving to Boulder.”
I was embarrassed for my own sake and for theirs, being caught in their lie. “That’s nice. Boulder’s a great town.”
Paul reentered the room just then and chuckled nervously.
“Yes. She is not only my secretary, but has her real estate license.”
“That’s...very industrious of you.”
Paul had a dog-caught-with-his-nose-in-the-garbage look on his face when I turned back toward him. “Please let me know if you see the puppy.”
The woman, still smiling but now with crimson cheeks, stepped aside, and I left quickly. I now had to choose between visiting Edith next door and skipping that house to go to the Haywoods’. Not that the Haywoods were such a treat, but I sorely wanted to avoid seeing Edith again this soon.
I started to head past Edith’s house on my way to the Haywoods’ and glanced directly across the street to see if my mother was still over there, hopefully with the dog. Mom was on the front porch chatting with the neighbor. No puppies in sight. She apparently wasn’t overly concerned about Fez’s whereabouts.
I heard a screen door bang and turned to see Edith Cunningham standing on her porch with a puppy in her arms. She was watching me, a haughty expression on her face. I changed directions and slowly headed toward her, wishing someone else had found Fez.
As usual, she was impeccably dressed, in a long white pleated skirt and a gold silk blouse, augmented with pearls. To her credit, she was cradling Fez with seemingly no regard to his getting her clothes dirty. “Why, Allida. Look what I found.”
“Yes. Thanks. I’ve been looking for him.”
She nuzzled the puppy, but kept her eyes on me. “Seems as though the Fates are trying to even things out between us, wouldn’t you say? I have your puppy, you took my dog. Of course, there’s no real comparison between your puppy, which you intend to give up for adoption in a couple of weeks, and my beloved Shogun. Is there?”
“No, there isn’t. Could I have the puppy, please?”
“I found him scratching at my gate, trying to get in. So, naturally, dog lover that I am, I let him in. I cannot believe that you, who teach people how to handle their dogs’ behavior problems, would actually allow a young puppy in your charge to get loose like this and run across the street. Such news would hardly help your business if someone were to spread the word around.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No, my dear. I’m hardly the sort to engage in neighborhood gossip.” She fixed her eyes across the street, where my mother and next-door neighbor were still talking. “Unlike some people I could name.”
Her thinly cloaked insult of my mother set my teeth on edge. “Odd that you make these insinuations about my care of the puppy just after I informed you that your husband and not you would be getting custody of your dog.”
“Are you accusing me of stealing your puppy?”
“No, just of not being sincere about the source of your hostility toward me.”
“So call me small-minded, but you are not one of my favorite people. And if I can cause you the same kind of pain that you caused me, I would not hesitate to do so. Unfortunately, I am not about to take your cocker spaniel or your shepherd to teach you that kind of a lesson. I cannot stand to hurt even you that deeply.”
She thrust Fez into my arms, the
n whirled on a heel and shut the door.
Somehow, I doubted she would be offering me a special low price at her store anytime soon.
Mom and I wedged a rock in the hole underneath the fence, and I took off for work. My mind wasn’t fully focused, and the day seemed to drag. Late that afternoon, I went into my office to catch up on paperwork and the like. Sundays were typically quiet and offered none of the distractions that I readily looked for while trying to avoid this type of work.
To my surprise, Russell trotted down the steps into our walk-out basement office. He was dressed casually, jeans and a purple collared short-sleeved knit shirt. He gave me a big smile that immediately warmed my heart. “Hi. I was hoping I’d find you here. How’s everything going?”
“Fine.” I suddenly realized that the last time we’d spoken, I’d had to abruptly cut short our phone conversation. “Oh, jeez. I just realized I never called you back yesterday. I...got into a bit of a mess with Suds’s former owner, but he’s safely locked up now.”
“Locked up? What happened?”
“He beat Suds, who had to be rescued by Animal Control, then he decided to take matters into his own hands and get Suds back. Using me to run interference. Anyway, it’s over now.”
He studied my face for a long moment, then said, “I have a feeling you left a lot of details out of that story. Which maybe we can remedy. Are you doing anything tonight?”
“No, I’m free.” I didn’t want to seem too anxious, but held my breath in anticipation, hoping he would ask me out on a date.
“Would you be interested in going out for dinner with me tonight?”
“I’d love to.”
“Great I’ll come pick you up at your house around seven.” He gestured at the door behind us and took a step backward “Think I’ll go now, before you have the chance to change your mind.”
“I won’t change my mind.”
His smile broadened, his dark eyes sparkling. “Great,” he said again. “Still, I’d... better go. See you at seven.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it”
“Me, too,” he said, and pushed out the door.
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