Groomer Has It

by Katie Hagen

  “Wait, you knew about that?”

  “Ashley and I have been hanging out for a while. I didn’t know how to tell you and the baby...well, that wasn’t my news to tell.” She came over and took a drink of my tea.

  “I think I’m in shock.”

  “You’ll be fine. I think what you need is something to take your mind off of it.”

  “Carlie, I can’t drink anymore, maybe ever.”

  “No, not alcohol. Something else.”

  I left Picklepuss with Beverly, grabbed a coat, and followed Carlie out onto the street. The rain was just starting again to drizzle, so we pulled our jackets up over our heads and hurried toward main street. When we got to the alley she stopped, looked around and then darted in.

  “Carlie!” I whispered. “Ashley said they already checked the shops.”

  “I know, just follow me.”

  When we got to the alley we turned and Carlie fished around under the mat behind Vic’s shop, pulling out a key. “Perfect.”

  She pushed it into the latch and the back door swung open.

  The back room of The Cattail Bookstore was a mirror image of Paint N’ Tings except while Frannie’s back room was filled with paint and supplies, Vic’s was nearly empty. The only thing that really stood out was a bean bag chair on the floor and a tv on a stand in front of it. A video game system sat on the shelf.

  Carlie went straight to the chair, sat down and pressed the on button on the game system.

  “What are you doing?” I whispered.

  “Vic had friends. They’re just online. I’m going to figure out what they know.”

  I looked around the dark room. “Carlie that’s genius! But let’s be quick.”

  Carlie put on Vic’s headphones and started clicking through games. While I waited, I wandered around the room. The only difference between Vic’s and Frannie’s that I could see was that there were two doors facing the far wall toward the street instead of one. I was debating which one to try first when a little white paw caught my eye from beneath the left door. A desperate meow came next.

  “Alright,” I smiled and opened the door. Crookshanks 2 darted through before it was even fully open, did a spin around my ankles and ran back into the main part of the shop. I followed her quietly until I found her standing by her food bowl.

  “Did Daddy miss dinner time?” I frowned. “Poor thing.” Vic was really getting on my bad side. I mean murder was one thing but cat abandonment too?

  I filled up her bowl with a bag I found nearby and replaced her water with a fresh bowl. I then cleaned her litter box before closing the door again.

  Next, I tried the right door and was faced with a set of dark stairs. I looked back at Carlie who seemed busy in the game and then flicked on the light switch.

  The stairs were cement and I felt colder with every step. I couldn’t see what was below me until I reached the bottom. Peeking my head around the corner I saw nothing but a washer and dryer and a few plastic containers filled with books and other paperwork. Annoyed, I went back upstairs.

  “Carlie, I think we should go,” I said after grabbing the headset and pulling it off her ear. “Who knows when he might come back?”

  Carlie shook her head. “I’ve barely got started here.”

  “Can’t we just take it with us?”

  Carlie turned around and raised an eyebrow at me. “Are you suggesting we steal it?”

  “Borrow it. But do it quick please. This place is giving me the creeps.”

  Carlie packed up the system, the controllers, and the headset and we went back outside, locking the door behind us.

  “Should we run?” She whispered.

  I took the system out of her hands but left her the headset and the controllers. “Carlie that is so immatu…”

  I took off at a dead run leaving her clomping along behind me laughing hysterically. When we got back to Kitty’s we were both winded and crying.

  “I’m…glad…you’re…back,” Carlie panted.

  “I’m not back,” I wiped my eyes. “But I’m glad I’m here. Even if…”

  “I know,” she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Let’s get to work.”

  When we got up to the apartment Beverly was sitting on the couch with Picklepuss. “What were you two laughing about?”

  “Nothing,” we said in unison.

  Beverly shook her head then stood up and grabbed her purse. “I locked up,” she sighed and kissed us both on the forehead before leaving. “You girls be careful.”

  Carlie grabbed a bag of chips and set up the gaming system.

  I sat on the couch. Two women had been attacked in the span of a week. One more was missing. Where was Vic Perring? Had he taken Frannie somewhere? Was he hiding out after…I couldn’t even think it. Frannie was a mom. What would her children do without her? The thought was almost too much to handle.

  And what the heck was going on with my sweet, innocent, boring little hometown? I couldn’t remember the last time the police were involved in anything more than teenage stupidity. Now Glaney, Washington seemed to be a hotbed for murder, assault, and kidnapping. It didn’t make sense. Was it possible that danger had really lurked below the surface all along?

  Was that just another thing I’d failed to notice?

  I hadn’t seen that Mayor Trull seemed to be forcing change upon Glaney, change that most residents wanted nothing to do with. Then there were the things I thought I saw. Things that turned out to be based on preconceived judgements. Daniel Bianchi was not some threatening, dangerous giant and his petite wife was not as delicate and innocent as she seemed. And then there was Vic.

  Carlie had the headset over her blond curly hair again, navigating the world of online gaming, searching for anyone that might have been friends with Vic. Someone who could give us some insight into why he would do this and where he might be hiding.

  I walked over to the front patio widows and looked out over the water. We were wasting so much time. What if Frannie didn’t have any more time to give?

  “What did you see Frannie? What did you know?”

  And why didn’t she tell us anything? She had to have known more than she let on.

  I began to silently list all the things I knew about Frannie in hopes that something would lead me to a reason why she was now in danger.

  Frannie was a single mom and an artist. She was a free spirit and didn’t seem to have a problem with anyone. Except Vic Perring, she seemed to think he could be capable of murder. Did she see something?

  Picklepuss, who had been peacefully snoring on her chair suddenly got up and ran to the back door. A low growl came from her throat.

  “What is it, Killer?” I swept her up into my arms and felt her growl through her chest. Something was outside.

  I looked at Carlie, but she was engrossed in the game.

  Slowly, I put my ear to the door and listened.

  I could hear something in the distance. I creaked open the door an inch and peered outside into the dark evening. A yellow sweater of Kitty’s was hung on a hook by the door and I wrapped it around myself before stepping outside.

  The noise continued from below the steps and as I descended, I knew what I would find.

  The ghost-like mask of the saluki turned to face me before he darted away a few steps. Afraid to scare him off again, I sunk low onto the bottom step, keeping my head turned downward. Picklepuss continued to growl and I stroked her nose in a failed attempt at calming her. The saluki watched me carefully, swishing his abnormally long tail in a move more cat-like than dog. He took a single step forward before I lost control.

  Before I could stop her, Picklepuss went flying from my arms and ran toward the saluki with tremendous speed, bouncing and barking the entire time like an off balanced washing machine.

  The saluki disappeared into the woods with Picklepuss right on his tail. I was a close third.

  Each movement through the thick brush left my arms and legs with more scrapes and what I guessed
would be some pretty interesting bruises.

  Finally, the brush cleared into a small open space where I found Picklepuss standing over the saluki whose legs were sticking straight into the air. When he saw me, he let out a soft whine and with one eye on his attacker he turned a little and tried to crawl toward me.

  I reached out toward his head to pet him but noticed quickly how his body went rigid. Dogs were easy to read if you knew what you were looking at. Submission does not mean safe, and fear could turn to aggression in an instant. If only people were so easy.

  It was then that I saw what he was laying on. A huge pile of dog hair had been drug, I assumed from Kitty’s garbage cans and laid out on the forest floor. Scraps of paper, food wrappers, stuffed animals, and other objects were scattered throughout the makeshift bed as well. It was almost as though he’d made a nest.

  “So, are you a cat, a dog, or a bird?” I asked in a soft but confident voice. “Wait. It was you, wasn’t it.?” The idea was almost too much to accept but looking at the sweet white face I knew it was true. “You buried Vicki Perring.”

  Picklepuss began scratching at the hair with her back feet, obviously very proud of herself, but kept her attention on the much bigger dog. The Saluki began to pant, and I could tell from his eyes and his body language that our presence would only be tolerated for a while longer. For some reason, this dog had chosen to be alone and for now and that was the only life he seemed willing to accept.

  Something caught my eye amongst the dog hair and garbage and I carefully dislodged it, stared at it for a few seconds then slipped it into the pocket of my jeans.

  Suddenly everything made sense. It was exactly as my mother had said. I understood dogs. My mistake was in believing that humans were something entirely different. Deep down, we were all animals and I’d looked past all the signs of a dangerous animal in distress.

  There wasn’t time to waste. I left the saluki where he was but grabbed Picklepuss and put her under my arm. We backed away slowly and I hoped that I would be able to find the stray again.

  I ran up the back stairs and when I got through the door, Carlie was waiting for me.

  She had just dropped the headset on the floor and turned to me, wide eyed.

  “I know what happened,” she whispered.

  “Me too, and I know where they are.”

  Chapter 13

  I set Picklepuss on the ground. “I’m sorry girl but you have to stay here. Please try not to destroy the house,” I said and kissed the top of her little silver head. I hoped I’d see her again too.

  We managed to close the door with Picklepuss on the other side before running down the stairs. We could hear her begin to bark and cry before we reached the bottom.

  Together we ran behind the dark buildings along main street until we came to the garden.

  “The police checked here,” Carlie reminded me with her trademarked annoyance when we stopped behind Paint N’ Tings.

  “Just wait,” I told her and fished around under the back mat but found no key. I glanced over at the bookstore. The buildings were identical. What was the chance that the doorknobs would match as well? I had to try. Carlie watched me as I grabbed Vic’s key from beneath his mat and tried it on Paint N’ Tings. It worked.

  “No way,” Carlie laughed. I put a single finger to my lips and together we crept inside.

  The back room to the art store was exactly as I’d remembered. There were stacks of canvases piled up and leaning against walls, boxes full of paint, brushes, and other tools of the trade, and clutter over every surface. Well almost every surface.

  I walked to the center of the room and turned so that I was facing the front of the building.

  Vic’s bookstore and Frannie’s art store were identical in every way except one. Where there had been a second door at Vic’s, at Frannie’s there was only one. She did have a conveniently located bookcase though.

  I walked closer as Carlie scoped out the place to make sure we were alone. On the floor in front of the bookcase was some splattered paint that matched the rest of the floor. But in places it had been scraped clean or smeared. This bookcase moved.

  When Carlie came back into the room, she shook her head. “They aren’t here.”

  “Help me out,” I whispered and started to push on the side of the tall case.

  “This is not the time for feng shui, Kit,” Carlie put her hands on her hips.

  It turned out that the case wasn’t that hard to move. In fact, it swung away almost faster than we could stop it. “It must have wheels hidden underneath,” I shrugged. “That or Pilates is really paying off.”

  Carlie and I stepped back and looked at the now exposed door.

  “I hope that’s true,” Carlie whispered. “Because we might need the muscle.”

  I took a step forward but felt her hand on my shoulder. “We should call Ashley.”

  I looked at the door. “Ok but get away from the door to do it. I don’t know how soundproof this thing is.”

  Carlie nodded, pulled her phone from her pocket and disappeared into the front of the store.

  I took a deep breath.

  The door opened easily, and I was relieved that it didn’t creak. I slipped off my shoes and stepped delicately onto the top of a dimply lit set of stairs. Below me I could hear soft crying.

  I closed the door behind me and locked it.

  “I’m sorry, Carlie, but I can’t let you get hurt too.” I whispered before walking down the steps.

  “Frannie?” I said when I got to the last stair. I heard rustling and when I turned the corner Frannie looked up at me, her big brown eyes filled with tears and her hands shaking. She crouched in front of the still body of Vic Perring.

  “Kit?” She whispered and sunk back onto the floor.

  “Frannie, is he?”

  Frannie looked at Vic and then back up at me. “I don’t know.”

  I kept my body pressed to the wall, and my hands in my pockets as I moved just into the room. “Are you ok?”

  Frannie stood up slowly and nodded. “I, I think so.”

  A sob caught in her throat and she choked it back. There was something feral in her eyes.

  “Did you, did you call the police? Are they with you?”

  I thought about Carlie upstairs and hoped she’d got through to Ashley. I also hoped she’d keep quiet.

  “I’m alone, but we can go to the police now if you want. We should get out of here before he wakes up.”

  Frannie took a small step toward me. As she moved, another movement caught my eye. Vic’s hand shifted by his side and his chest rose just slightly. Frannie saw it too.

  Somewhere in the distance I thought I heard a click.

  “Stop,” I whispered and Frannie froze.

  “I told you to stay away from him,” she said as a tear fell down her cheek.

  “You did,” I nodded. “I just didn’t realize that you weren’t trying to protect me. Keep away from Vic Perring,” I recited the words from the note that had been left at my door, the same sentiment she’d expressed to me herself. “You were threatening me.” I pulled my hand out of my pocket and showed her what I’d found. A single plastic glove.

  I knew when I saw it there amongst the dog hair that it had come from Vicki’s house. And I remembered then where I’d seen more like it. Painter’s gloves. I was sure that if the police tested it, they’d find not only Vicki’s DNA but Frannie’s fingerprints inside.

  In an instant we were no longer two women in a room. Frannie was a trapped animal, teeth bared and vicious. I’d placed myself in a room with a creature motivated by fear, and at any moment that fear could snap into something equally as dangerous.

  “I warned them too, but they didn’t listen,” she snarled.

  “You warned who, Frannie?”

  “Vicki, and that…that girl, Sam.”

  “Sam?” Vic moaned from the floor. Vic had terrible timing.

  A sound emanated from Frannie’s throat that was entirely car
nal. “Frannie please, don’t hurt him.”

  “Hurt him!” She screamed. “Hurt him? I loved him and he left me for that girl, and after everything I did for him, getting rid of Vicki so he could finally get what he deserved. I did it all for him.”

  “So, let him go. It’s clear you still love him, Frannie. Let him go.”

  Frannie looked at me and shook her head. “It’s you that can’t let go. You just wouldn’t stop. I saw that pig, one of Vicki’s precious little pieces of trash that she spent all Vic’s money on. I saw it in the case at Kitty’s. I know he gave it to you, because I left it for him!” She pointed her finger at me.

  It took me a second to realize what pig she was talking about. “The pig? I found that by the trash can!” I remembered the toys and mess around the saluki nest. Thanks, dog. He’d probably got it from outside Vic’s and dropped it off at Kitty’s on a hair run.

  “Liar,” she snarled again.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw movement on the stairs.

  Frannie kept her body in front of Vic, as though he were a meal she didn’t want to share. I had to get her away from him.

  “Fine,” I sighed. “You’re right.”

  Frannie squinted at me but didn’t move.

  If she needed me to be the bad guy, I could do that. “I can’t stop thinking about him. I thought I could move on…but it’s impossible. When I came back here, I didn’t know. I’ll never stop loving him.”

  Frannie let out a guttural wail and lunged toward me. More quickly than seemed possible due to the tightness of my jeans, I pulled my other hand out of my pocket and flung a fistful of dog hair at her face just as we heard a howl rise into the night.

  The move and the corresponding sound stopped her just long enough to allow me to slide between her and Vic and call out “Now!”

  Ashley Trull and a barrage of police officers came down upon Frannie like a pacific northwest windstorm. The officers cuffed her and pulled her up the stairs as Carlie came squeezing through. She ran to my arms as Ashley checked on Vic.

  “I can’t believe you locked me out!” She cried and laughed all at once.

  “I know! I really thought you knew me better,” I cried and laughed back.