Case of the Gold Retriever

by Erik Schubach

  Garcia mumbled, “Uh oh, looks like someone's not getting' any tonight.” Kennedy slapped the back of his head. Yup, the kid was right, I was in deep shit now.

  I holstered my weapon then sat next to the old man. He smiled and shrugged and I had to smile at the old coot as I sighed and said, “Barnabas Sheffield, you're under arrest for theft and grand larceny. You have the right to remain silent.”

  I cringed as Finnegan stomped off toward the cleaning supplies to clean up the mess. Just what the hell had gone on here? And why did I feel like the bad guy in all of this? Calvin whined once at me. At least he appreciated my predicament. Good boy.

  Chapter 12 – Barnabas Sheffield

  After I turned off my cell, I looked at the old man who appeared unsteady on his feet. “Barnabas Sheffield, I presume? The Broadway Cat?” He didn't look dangerous, he was barely able to stand. That's why I told Jane I could handle this. I smoothed my skirt nervously.

  Sometimes it is better to show compassion instead of fear. And besides, Calvin was a great judge of character, and he seemed to think the man was ok, and I trust my fuzzy boy implicitly. The old man seemed lost and like he was disappointed as he looked past me to the door.

  He nodded once and squinted his eyes as he asked, “How do you know my name?”

  I saw him panting as he stood there and I realized he must have used all his energy to lower himself down to my balcony. I quickly hung my stuff on the proper pegs at the door, took a deep breath, and turned around. “Please, have a seat, you look positively exhausted.” I motioned a hand toward the couch.

  His eyes narrowed again, and he said as he accepted the invitation to sit, his voice tempered with the sharing of wisdom to a child that many older people get when sharing common sense with younger generations, “Young lady, there is an intruder in your home, and you invite him to sit?”

  Even though my heart was still pounding and I was suppressing a driving need to clean or organize something, by the swishing tail and lolling tongue, he reminded me so much of my late grandpa. And he had no weapons I could see and wasn't threatening me. And... there aren't many people in this world I was pretty sure I was stronger than, but a seventy-four-year-old man who Jane had said left the hospital against medical advice?

  Hey! Don't look at me like that... Fine! Maybe we were evenly matched. Snot.

  I gave the man a nervous smile. “I figure I can outrun you, and besides, my dog Calvin there likes you, that's a good enough endorsement for me. And that begs the question, just why is the Broadway Cat in my home? Nothing of real value...”

  Then I got it. He hadn't been looking at me in the park when I fell. He was looking at the bag of gems and jewellery. That explained everything. He had been following me, trying to find out where I lived so he could break in and steal them back. I sighed. It was about the money, it's always about the money.

  But he surprised me when he said, “Tea would be nice, young lady. And I was hoping to see Ruff one last time before I turned myself in. I'm getting too old to do this anymore, and I'm just... tired. My health is failing me, and I don't want to hide anymore.”

  My brain skipped a track, and my emotions swung like a pendulum to the other side with the realization I was wrong about my hasty assumption. I asked, knowing the answer as I smiled while I prepared tea for us. “Ruff?”

  He smiled and nodded as he supplied with a wistful smile, “My golden retriever.” It wasn't about the money and jewels, it was about the heart. His furry baby. “I had lost him in the park when I had a heart attack. I was so worried. I knew the jig was up when I was brought to the hospital. I knew someone was going to find out. But I couldn't leave him to starve in the park, so I left the hospital to find him.”

  I smiled warmly at him when he shrugged and shared, “I searched through the park, thinking the worst, that animal control took him away. But then I saw him with a sweet girl, wearing a sundress of all things. And he looked so happy. But I just had to say goodbye, knowing my past was finally catching up with me. So I watched you over the past couple days and followed you here.”

  I just nodded. The man loved his dog... Ruff. Except the whole sneaking into my apartment thing, I couldn't fault the man. I shared as I watched for the water to boil, “I've been calling him Goldie. He's quite the gentleman. I'm sorry I don't have him with me now. He's at the Central Park Tails animal rescue which Calvin and I run, I wasn't going to let the police bring him off to animal control. That's cruel and unusual punishment. Instead, he's getting spoiled as we speak.”

  He blinked in surprise then prompted, “You run a pet rescue?”

  I shrugged as the water began to boil, and nudged my chin to the silly Border Collie who was getting so much attention from the man. “Calvin owns it. I just run it for him. When his mom was killed, she left her fortune to him. We figured, what better use for the money?”

  He smiled and seemed to relax in resignation a bit as I prepared a tray with the teapot, two cups on saucers, and some of the cookies I have been fattening Jane's station up with. I added a couple linen napkins. His voice was world-weary as he sighed and asked as I brought the tray over to set in front of him. “Do you mind terribly much if we just sit a moment, so I can get my wits about me before I turn myself in?”

  I nodded as I poured us both tea. I smiled as he accepted the cup on the saucer and reached forward for the milk to pour a splash in then stirred just twice with the small teaspoon before tapping the drops of tea from it into his cup and placing the spoon on the saucer. The man had impeccable tea etiquette.

  He waited for me to raise my cup to him before we both took a careful sip and placing the cup on our saucers between sips. It had been so long since I had drunk tea so formally with anyone and for some reason this had me smiling in satisfaction at the man.

  He prompted, “I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage. I hope I hadn't given you a fright...”

  “Finnegan.” I provided.

  He saluted with his cup and inclined his head. “Finnegan.” He seemed to be tasting the name as he sipped.

  I know, not the most mainstream of names, only about eight percent of the Finnegans out there are female. Only three thousand two hundred and twenty children have been named Finnegan in my lifetime. Two hundred and fifty-seven of those female, and only thirty-three of those live in the United States. Two from the year I was born. The other woman runs a vegan diner in Hell, Michigan. I kid you not, the town is named Hell.

  Whaaat? So, I may have researched it in my free time... a lot. Borderline obsessively. You'd do the exact same thing, and you know it. Now shush and let the adults talk.

  I sat on the loveseat kitty-corner from the man. “So... Mr. Sheffield...”

  He prompted, “Barney, please.”

  I nodded acceptance as Calvin abandoned him to hop up on the loveseat to lay his head on my lap, “Barney. The Broadway Cat?”

  He winced at the name, shaking his head ruefully. “The press has no imagination. It isn't like I could have rung them up and asked, 'I'm sorry, but the Broadway Cat? Seriously?'”

  I chuckled but offered helpfully in their defense, “Well most of the burglaries occurred on Broadway, so you can forgive them that.”

  He shot me a conspiratorial grin after another sip. “The ones who reported it anyway.” Then he tapped the side of his nose with a finger. “Most of the rich have a lot to hide. And if they can afford to keep the police and the press out of their personal lives, a few bobbles are a fair price to pay for their dirty little secrets.”

  I blinked at him. I knew he wasn't talking about blackmail. But it was a surprise that there were other burglaries that the victims had chosen not to report. “Do you mind if I ask... why?”

  Expecting it to be for the thrill or something, as he has already demonstrated that he was careful to hide and not use the items he took. But that idea was quickly dashed when he simply said. “My Trudy.” There was a pain that transcended years in that voice. I kn
ew that voice as it was the same one I used when speaking of my dad, the best man I ever knew.

  I leaned in in interest, and he settled back, taking a sip of tea then shared, “My wife. She was working as a nurse back in the seventies at Bellevue Hospital. Some bigwigs were intent on making a name for themselves with a new cardiopulmonary wing.”

  He seemed to slump even deeper into the couch as he went on. “She was the reason my heart beat you know. Trudy made me want to be a better man. She made me a better man. You should have seen her. A true angel on Earth when I first saw her ten years before that, when she treated rope burns on my hands. She took my heart that day.”

  I couldn't stop smiling at the love in his tone as he spoke of his wife. But his voice had such a haunted tone as he went on. “There were some roadblocks to starting the construction. It seems the old wing they had to tear down had asbestos and other caustic chemicals and materials, but a couple investors were running for city council, and it was an election year. So, they greased some palms and cut some corners, and the safety protocols were ignored.”

  The anger in his tone was evident as he said, “Trudy and four others who worked at the hospital in the adjoining wing contracted lung cancer just a couple years after construction was completed.”

  My heart felt as if it had stopped beating and I felt a familiar panic settling into me as he said the C word. I remember the day dad was diagnosed. And the day he left us. It feels as though it had all happened so fast. Calvin whined, picking up on my panic. This brought me back under control. He worried about me, such a good boy, I loved him too.

  Barney asked in concern, “Finnegan? Are you alright?”

  I gave a sad smile, nodded, and assured him, “I'm fine, sorry, go on.”

  He took another sip and centered his thoughts, “The bigwigs involved in pushing the construction through wouldn't take responsibility, and they even sent someone to threaten us to keep quiet. We couldn't afford treatment, the cost of her care quickly depleted our savings, and my Trudy... she passed just a few months later.”

  I felt tears welling up as he choked up and finished his tea and set the cup and saucer on the tray before continuing, “I confronted the investors, wanting to just ask why. For them to take responsibility or simply acknowledge it. One is even the deputy mayor now, and to a man and woman, they denied, denied, denied and even threatened. But there was nothing they could do to me, nothing to threaten me with, they had already taken my life when my Trudy died.”

  He gave me a smirk. “I was a great window washer in my prime. And all these people who cost my wife her life for nothing but prestige, power, and money were going to pay.”

  The whole picture was becoming clear now as he shared with a harder edge to his voice, “They took what I loved, so I returned the favor. I even left my calling card at every robbery over the years as I tracked each one down. I left them each one of Trudy's medical bills and one of the thank you cards I had sent to friends and family who had attended her funeral service.”

  I screwed up my face in confusion. “But nobody ever said they found anything like that at the crime scenes, just the cards. Jane would have said that, and you would have been caught decades ago.”

  He smiled and winked, touching the side of his nose again. “As I said before, most of them knew... they never reported the burglaries. The others hid the fact it was payback for my Trudy, and after hiding the evidence, reported the robbery for the insurance money.”

  I frowned and prompted, already knowing the answer, “Not one of them ever stepped up to take responsibility?”

  He shook his head sadly and explained, “So I buried what they loved like I had to bury my love. The material things they worshiped. I've never spent a dime of it.”

  I blinked. That meant that there had to be five or six more bags like the ones Goldie... I mean Ruff brought me. Or more since some weren't reported. He never... and now he was going to jail.

  I asked as I reached over to lay a hand on his arm, “Was there anyone else to fill the void?”

  He smiled and shrugged. “It was always Trudy. Nobody else could ever compare. Tulip, her golden retriever and I soldiered on. I've had a few retrievers over the years... always a golden. They reminded me every day that Trudy would want me to 'be brave and be kind' it was her motto.”

  Then he looked at me. “Old Ruff is ten now, getting up there in years like me. He helped me bury the items from the last two burglaries.”

  Then he grimaced, his face painted with regret. “I had just one last job to do. Deputy Mayor Eunice Henderson.”

  He smiled wryly as he shared, “I'm not as young as I used to be, and I got too worked up and overworked myself while walking Ruff through the park to scout out Henderson's new condo in an older structure with operable windows. I had bided my time for years until she moved into a building I could gt into. But my heart... it couldn't finish things for my Trudy.”

  He looked at me and asked in a small haunted voice which broke my heart, “Do you think she'll know I tried?”

  A tear streaked down my cheek as I nodded at the poor man. “Of course. She knows you loved her with all your heart.” Then I smirked as I offered, “While not the series of actions I would have pursued, you did everything you could to make sure they didn't get away scot-free. You followed your heart.”

  He smirked slyly and asked as he looked at his cup of tea, “And how, young Miss May, would you have handled it?”

  I blushed and looked north, toward the police station and shrugged, then shared with a sly grin, “If you ask Jane, she'd probably say it would have something to do with breaking glass or stomping toes.” I squeaked to stop my snort.

  He smiled widely then asked, “And who is this Jane you speak so fondly of? This is the second time you've mentioned her.”

  I could feel the blush burning on my cheeks as I stood and smoothed down my skirt and asked, “More tea?” He nodded and I moved to refill his cup. “She's my roommate... my... girlfriend...” I loved admitting that part, and he only smiled, no judgment in his eyes, then I finished, “And coincidentally, the detective now assigned your case after Ruff brought me some of the booty you ill gotten. Gotten ill? Ill-gotten booty?”

  He smiled hugely as I picked up his cup and saucer to hand to him.

  That's when my jerk cop slammed the door open and came in yelling and screaming and waving her gun around. She so was only getting one roll with dinner tonight after that display. Mark my words. And she was going to be sorry that I had dropped the tea and broke the teacup. She was not going to be amused with the new label I was going to print up for her.

  As Barney raised his hands, visibly shaking I blurted, “Jane! What are you doing? Stop waving those guns all around everyone! I said I had this! What's with the stormtrooper doom squad?”

  Then I growled out at the hard look she was giving Barney, while half of me was stressing over the mess I made on the floor. “Barnabas and I were just talking about our dogs, then you have to barge in and scare the poor man! He has a heart condition, and you're being a loose cannon! After our talk, he was going to turn himself in! You... jerk cop!”

  We snipped back and forth, and when she acquiesced to my request not to cuff him, I scurried off to get the mop as she read him his rights. I knew the Miranda by heart... not by choice. Jane just kept arresting me.

  Shut up.

  I wouldn't be able to concentrate until the mess was cleaned up. So, I went to it. Slapping Jane's legs and she lifted them so I could mop under them as she continued, “You have the right to an attorney.”

  I looked over to see an amused looking Kennedy, and confused looking Jorge in the doorway, and gave them an embarrassed wave from the hip.

  I interrupted, “Why are you even here? I texted you that I had this. Barney wouldn't hurt a fly. He was going to turn himself in after he saw Ruff... ummm Goldie.”

  She gave me 'the look' and continued, “If you cannot afford...” Then she
pause to turn from Barney and blurted out to me as she stood, “I thought you were in danger! You can't just text me that a felon was in the house and then not answer your phone!”

  I raised my voice, “I turned it off! It would be rude to have a phone ringing when you are entertaining guests!”

  She almost spat back at me as she pointed at a particularly amused looking Barnabas, “He's not a guest! He's a criminal!”

  Well, I guess she had a point, but I wouldn't give her the satisfaction. “Fine!”

  She moved her face down inches from mine, and I stared at her lips as she growled, “Fine!”

  We turned to a chuckle, and I blushed at Barney as he said, “Trudy and I had the same fire in our arguments. I can see the love you two have for each other. Please... don't argue over me.”

  I mumbled out a little whine, “But... I like arguing with her.” I was hopeless.

  A smile twitched at the corner of her mouth, and she kissed my nose and sat back down and continued reading him his rights as I swished back and forth before attacking the mess again with gusto.

  When I was done cleaning up and mourned the passing of my shattered teacup. Jane finished reading his rights. “Do you understand these rights as I have explained them?”

  Barney nodded sadly and assured her, “Yes I do, young lady.”

  Jane stood and offered a hand to the man. He accepted, and it took him some effort to stand fully. I could visualize the ache in his bones. With a glance at me, she prompted, “Please come with me, sir.”

  He offered, “Barney.”

  By the holy tug rope, my heart was reaching out for the poor man as she capitulated, “Barney.”