Dead Man's Best Friend

by Sarah Hines-Stephens

  I heard them first. Car motors. Car doors. Unfriendly voices. I smelled onions and lies. Heard heavy boots. When I smelled the metal of guns, my hackles rose. My ears twitched. I stood still, listening, while Mark sifted through the evidence.

  “What is it, boy?” he asked.

  I heard footsteps next. They’d be inside soon. I whuffed low, to let Mark know. He understood.

  “They’re coming.” I saw his body brace. His forehead wrinkled.

  “I’m taking this off.” He unclipped the FIDO from my head. “To keep you safe. Well, safer.” He didn’t want them to come after me for the evidence we’d captured. He gave me a pat. He slipped the camera off my head and pushed a button on the screen. The disk compartment popped open. “This oughta do it.” He shoved the tiny disc into his pocket and the FIDO into his bag.

  Then came the voices. Men — three of them. Maybe four. “They’re coming, Dodge. But we got here first. And we got what we need. Good boy. You did a good job. Now I need you to stay for a minute, Dodge. Stay!”

  Mark listened near the door. The onion smell got stronger.

  Then Mark disappeared in the shadows. His next command came from the darkness. “Out, Dodge,” he said. “Out and stay. I’m right behind you.”

  It was a command — I had to obey. I slunk through the blackness. When I got outside, I was relieved. We’d made it! I turned to Mark. But he wasn’t there. I squinted in the dim light. I couldn’t see him. My body wanted to move, but moving would draw attention. And the command had been clear. Out and stay. So I sat. I stayed.

  Then … BOOM! WHOOSH! A big explosion rocked the ground, and the warehouse was swallowed by fire. I barked. Mark! Mark was in there!

  I couldn’t stay. I raced inside and was instantly blinded by smoke. I dropped, crawling forward. I couldn’t see. Couldn’t smell. I fought my way forward. Toward Mark.

  “Dodge!” the voice choked. “Dodge, it’s underneath —” I squinted, coughed, and inched closer. Finally, I reached him on the floor. I grabbed his shirt collar and tugged. He didn’t budge.

  “No, Dodge. No. Bad dog! Get away!” He flapped his arm, shooing me.

  Bad dog? I reeled. The words stung. My chest felt heavy with shame and confusion. My partner went silent, limp. Soon it would be too late. I had to get out. Had to get us both out. I braced my legs on the floor. I grabbed Mark’s pants in my teeth. I pulled as hard as I could. He moved, but only slightly. I felt weak. I braced again, lowering my body to the floor. I leaned back. I pulled. He moved a little.

  Then, KA-BOOOM! A second explosion rocked the building. The world went silent.

  “Dodge?” Cassie’s voice interrupted my memory. We were at the warehouse. I was panting, out of breath. So was she. I didn’t know how long I’d been running — remembering. We had to come back here, to the place I wanted to forget. I wasn’t going to let it overtake me this time, though. We had work to do.

  My bad ear rang as I stared at the warehouse. This was the place where I saw my partner for the last time. After the explosion I went to sleep. Bad sleep. And when I woke up, Mark was dead. Gone. Forever.

  “Dodge, why are we here?” Cassie’s voice sounded hopeful. And worried.

  I went inside, to the place where Mark had lain. To the place where Hero was barking on the tape. The whelp was onto something.

  “It’s underneath . . .”

  I got low and started to bark. “Woof!”

  I barked loud and sharp. First at one square of floor, then another. It had to be here. It had to!

  I watched Dodge bark at the floor in the burnt-out shell of a building with a lump growing in my stomach. It had been a long day and I had pushed my dog too far. And now he was losing it.

  “Dodge,” I said softly, hoping to calm him down. I shouldn’t have let him put on the FIDO and lead me back here. This was where he’d lost Mark, where he’d freaked out just a couple of hours ago. “Dodge,” I called again. He ignored me, moving systematically and barking at the industrial flooring.

  The barking freaked me out. It wasn’t normal behavior for Dodge, and I worried that it was the start of another episode. Also, it was loud. Broadcasting our presence at night in the warehouse district was not a good idea.

  “Come on, Dodge,” I begged. Hopelessness settled over me. I felt my phone in my pocket and considered calling home. It was so late. I’d be in a world of trouble, but deep down I just wanted my parents to come pick me up. Would it be crazy to call them? I couldn’t think straight with Dodge barking.

  What are you doing here? I asked myself sternly. I regretted going to the station to look at the FIDO at all. We should have stayed in bed. We should have been sleeping.

  “Rowf! Rowf! Rowf!”

  Dodge’s barks were so sharp they made me wince. “Dodge, stop!” I stepped closer, but he backed away from me. “Dodge, no,” I pleaded, my eyes tearing. Fear and frustration churned my empty stomach, making me feel sick. This was awful.

  Something moved near the wall. I shivered, thinking it was a rat, but caught a glimpse of black and white. The stray pups! I couldn’t imagine why they’d come now, with Dodge barking like a maniac. It didn’t matter, though. I had no burgers, no crate, no help. If anything, I needed help.

  “Dodge!” He’d never ignored me before, but he was doing an amazing job of it now. He took another step and kept barking.

  “Rowf! Rowf! Rowf!” He stared at the floor like he was standing over a gopher hole. Like there was something in there. I was about to call his name again when I noticed that his bark sounded different — the echo lingered longer in the air. He barked again, louder. And he stopped moving. He looked at me and scratched the floor. “Woof!”

  “I hear it,” I told him, listening. There was a hollow sound to his bark here, as if there were a space under the tile. I knelt down for a closer look and saw a tiny crack in the floor, shaped like a square.

  “Good dog.” I gave Dodge a pat, then looked around for something to slide in. I found a piece of slim metal, slid it in, and pried. To my surprise, the sooty square came up easily. I stared into the hole, my mouth hanging open. Beneath it was a fireproof safe!

  “So this is what you were trying to tell me!” I glanced at Dodge, whose eyes were locked on the safe. My heart thudded in my chest as I pulled it out, setting the heavy box on my lap. It had a latch and a key slot, and I was sure it was locked. But when I lifted the latch, the safe opened.

  My heart felt like it was rising up to my throat as I opened the lid and peered inside, then sank quickly. The safe was empty. Dodge whimpered, and I looked up. “Exactly,” I agreed. “Total bummer.” But what did I expect? Sighing, I reached in and felt around inside. Nothing. Another dead end.

  Dodge lay down next to me, exhaling through his nose. We were both completely wiped out. “We should go home,” I said. I was about to close the safe when the moonlight reflected off something secured to the edge. I ran my fingers over it — a small square of plastic, taped to the side near a corner. I pulled it out and peered closer at the tiny square. It was a video memory card. … just the right size to fit in a FIDO.

  It was hard not to yip like a puppy when Cassie pulled out the piece of the FIDO. She’d found it! We’d found it! This was the bone that Mark had buried. It was the bone Mark had died for.

  I nosed the back of Cassie’s hand. I nosed the FIDO screen she was holding, hoping she’d understand. She did. She pushed the plastic into the screen. I heard her press something. There was a click. Cassie stared at the little screen and leaned into me. Woof. I couldn’t see what she saw, but didn’t need to. I’d been there. I’d filmed the piles of paper evidence with my old partner. Papers with pictures. Papers with squiggly lines. Mark held them all up to the camera. If Mark had been a dog, he’d have picked those papers up in his teeth. He’d have shaken them back and forth victoriously. But Mark wasn’t a dog. He was a man. A dead man. My tail dropped.

  I whimpered, listening to Mark’s voice on the recording. “This is t
he jackpot, Chief. It’s all here. We’ve got enough to put away Slatterly, the whole core of The Corps, and GreenWay, too! It’s one giant mess of sneaky land deals and corruption. Greenbelt, ha! And oh, my. What have we here? Yep. Yep. It’s just as we suspected.”

  I remembered Mark slapping his leg with the papers. “Mayor Baudry has been a very naughty boy. Tsk, tsk, Morris. You said you had nothing to do with these guys, but the whole lot of you had your hands in each other’s pockets.” My ear twitched. I’d missed that part the first time.

  Cassie sucked in her breath. “The Corps. GreenWay. Baudry. They’re all connected….” she whispered. “So that means the mayor … and Mom.” Cassie pressed her lips together. “Oh my God,” she whispered in the near dark. “This is huge. And Mom is in serious trouble….”

  I whimpered for The Mom. For Mark. For Cassie. And then I heard it — a car door slamming. Right outside the warehouse. I smelled onions. Meatball subs. Metal. I froze as fear seeped under my fur like icy water.

  It was happening again.

  By the time I realized what was going on, the mayor and two other men were already inside the warehouse. I should have known when Dodge tensed that he’d heard somebody coming, but I was in shock. Not only had I just been looking at Uncle Mark on a tiny screen, I’d found out what happened the night he died … and why.

  It was like getting punched in the stomach over and over. The Corps and GreenWay were connected. Mayor Baudry was doing shady business with both of them. And they were responsible for killing Uncle Mark and setting up Mom. I was sure of it.

  Not only was I in the place where my uncle was killed, I’d just been caught here by the people responsible for it all.

  It was too much to take in, so I sprang into action instead. Taking a quick step around Dodge, I blocked the FIDO with my body and held the screen behind my back. I kept an eye on the three men by the entrance and fumbled for tiny buttons. While their eyes adjusted to the near dark, I pressed STOP, FAST-FORWARD, and RECORD. Dodge growled long and low. I knew he couldn’t help it, but it drew the mayor’s attention.

  “Hey, Mayor Baudry. What are you doing down here?” I greeted him first, trying to sound casual and perky. As if we were in a park instead of a burnt-out warehouse. Why not play dumb? If the mayor didn’t suspect I was onto him, I might stand a chance.

  The three men eyed Dodge and me.

  “I thought you said that there was a cop down here, not some girl and her dog,” one of the men grumbled. I recognized him immediately: Slatterly.

  Baudry silenced him with a hand while I smiled like an idiot. None of them smiled back. It was already clear that my dumb act wasn’t going to cut it.

  “I could ask you the same question, young lady,” the mayor replied. “You and that dog like to snoop, don’t you?”

  “What? Us? Oh, we were just out for a walk.” My smile was starting to feel like a grimace. Sure we were out for a walk, past midnight, in the warehouse district. …

  Dodge was showing his teeth a little. I scooted closer to him, glad he was there. This wasn’t some little mess we’d gotten into — it was downright dangerous. My heart was beating faster than the blinking red light on Dodge’s FIDO.

  “This is Chief Sullivan’s daughter. Amanda, isn’t it?” Mayor Baudry said, introducing me to his henchmen. He didn’t offer their names.

  “Cassandra,” I corrected. “And this is Dodge, a trained K-9.” I swear I saw one of the guys shrink back a little.

  Mayor Baudry looked even more annoyed, then started to laugh. “So your mommy sent you to do the job she couldn’t, eh?”

  I abandoned dumb completely. I put my hand on Dodge’s shoulder blades. He was ready to spring if he had to. “You mean the job you won’t let her do….” I said as Dodge and I stepped closer. I wanted to make sure the camera captured their faces.

  I recognized the bigger guy as I moved in; he’d been with Slatterly outside Happy Produce last Wednesday — the driver. They were both part of The Corps and both wore big black boots. They also looked as though they could squash me and Dodge like bugs. My mind flashed to the strays and their fear of Taylor’s footwear. These guys had probably been kicking innocent creatures around the docks for years.

  Baudry picked at his teeth, which looked tiny in his big head. “First The Chief sends her brother, and now her daughter. A child. It’s pathetic, really.” Dodge and I flinched, and Baudry chortled. Then he heaved a sigh, like Dodge and I were an annoying smudge he’d simply have to wipe away. I think he realized that he’d hit a nerve talking about Uncle Mark, though, because he kept going.

  “Such a shame to lose a good officer. It happened right here, you know.” He made a goofy sad face and my fear turned to fury. Oh, I knew.

  “Good officer? I think you mean great officer,” I said loudly. My voice shook a little but I didn’t care.

  Baudry stopped talking.

  “My Uncle Mark was a great cop. He figured out that you were working with The Corps, that GreenWay was just a cover. That’s why he died. You destroyed him along with the evidence that would have sent you to prison.” I knew I was walking a dangerous path, that I should probably just keep quiet. But after everything that Baudry had put Mom through, put my family through, I couldn’t.

  “You’re a smart girl, Amanda. You’ve figured out that your uncle got too close to the truth and died because of it. So tell me, what do you think will happen to you and that dog of yours if you get too close to the truth?”

  He didn’t need to ask — I knew. But anger was giving me courage. Anger, and Dodge. I laced the fingers of my free hand in my dog’s scruff. What Baudry didn’t know was what we had on tape. A shiver snaked up my spine as I braced for the next move. If we were going to take this creep down, I needed a way out for Dodge and me and our evidence.

  “I suppose you’re feeling rather impressed with yourself. You and your dog there have done a lot of investigating. You’re even in the right place. Only your timing is a little off. You see, there’s no evidence left. And I can’t be seen with these gentlemen. Not by you. And not by that camera.” He pointed at the FIDO’s blinking light, which clearly hadn’t gone unnoticed.

  He raised his chin and leveled an angry gaze at me. “Get them!”

  Dodge took a step forward. His growl deepened, and suddenly he was in stereo — his growl coming from multiple places at once. No. It was a chorus of growls. The black-and-white strays had crept out of the shadows to flank us. Good dogs.

  Baudry and the other men stepped back, afraid of the pack. Very good dogs.

  I saw my moment and used it. Sliding my free hand into my pocket, I speed-dialed Mom. I pushed SPEAKER and talked fast and loud. “Mom. It’s me. You’ll want to record this. … I’m here with Morris Baudry and people from The Corps. Kemper, I think. And Slatterly.” My hands trembled a little as I blurted out my location. “I’m at the waterfront. In the warehouse where Uncle Mark died.”

  The men eyed the growling dogs warily, and I knew their fear was the only thing keeping them from grabbing us. That and the fact that they couldn’t get all of us at once.

  “Stay on the line!” Mom yelled. I heard more noises, maybe a slamming door and a car starting. It was hard to tell.

  I wasn’t sure how long the dogs and I could hold out. Something would have to tip the scales.

  I had no idea it would be Officer Riley and Hero. They burst through the warehouse door in a flurry of uniform and fur. For a second I thought we were sunk — that the police duo was on Baudry’s side. Then I saw a flash of metal — Officer Riley’s gun. It was trained on the mayor!

  “Stop where you are — you’re all under arrest!” Riley bellowed.

  “Rwoof! Rwoof! Grrr!” Hero echoed.

  The three men knew they were caught. They knelt with their hands in the air, and Dodge and Hero circled behind them so they couldn’t escape. Riley slapped a pair of handcuffs on the mayor. “You have the right to remain silent….”

  “I should have k
illed that dog when I had the chance,” Mayor Baudry spit, glaring at Dodge. Something in his head must have snapped — he didn’t seem to realize that everything he said could and would be used against him. Or maybe he figured there was no help for him anymore.

  “That dog was with Mark Sullivan last year when we came to burn the evidence. Luckily we had enough explosives to take care of Sullivan. I thought the dog would die with him, but he obviously didn’t. And when you kill a cop, someone always has to take a fall.”

  I listened, stunned. His words came out so easily, like he was talking about the weather. Only he was talking about my uncle. My dog. My family.

  Riley continued talking, “Anything you say can and will be used against you . . .”

  “Come on, Officer, you have to admit it was genius to make it look like Sullivan’s own sister sent him into the mess.” Baudry chuckled, looking at me. “Your mother made it so easy. It was like she wanted to take the blame….”

  I glared at the corrupt creep, glad the FIDO was still recording. He was incriminating himself. But another part of me desperately wanted him to shut up. I didn’t want to hear him gloat about killing Uncle Mark and scapegoating Mom.

  “That’s enough, Baudry,” Riley said.

  Actually, it was too much. Way too much.

  Riley gave me a wan smile. “You’re one brave kid. Definitely a Sullivan.”

  Outside, a pair of cars screeched to a stop. A moment later my parents ran in, followed by Officers Langtree and Walker. I expected Mom to fall right into being chief of police, but she and Dad rushed over to me instead.

  “Cassie!” Mom cried, her face full of pain. “Are you okay?” She and Dad wrapped me in a hug, and I shuddered with exhaustion and relief. Tears spilled out of my eyes and streamed down my face. Then Dodge’s snout burrowed in, and I put an arm around him, too. We stood together in the place where Uncle Mark had died, hugging one another tightly. We were together, and we were safe.