Dogs and More Dogs, Another Murder

by Christa Nardi

  She hesitated before she answered, not quite making eye contact. “I’m Lacie and yes, I’ll help with the dogs. It’s been a while, but I know the routine.”

  I couldn’t help laughing. “Nice to meet you, Lacie, but with the sudden addition of all these dogs? Most in bad shape? There is no routine right now. The dogs from before yesterday are all here in the house, moved toward the back to accommodate all the mamas and pups and smaller dogs. Maddie and Alex are with them. The rest are down in the garage. Grab a coffee and it’d be great if you joined me down there.”

  “You don’t need to tell me what to do. I don’t need you or another mother. Stay out of my way and mind your own business.”

  I was stunned speechless. I turned around and grabbed another cup of coffee. So far, it looked like Luke’s opinion of Lacie was right on. Then again, maybe I had come on a little bossy.

  CHAPTER 5

  Lacie darted ahead of me as I walked to the garage. The dogs all seemed happy to see us, though some barked or whimpered. After a brief explanation of the ribbon system and the clipboards, Lacie turned from me and I began with the crates with more than one dog. Thankfully, she took the hint and helped with the second dog as I took the first one out. The dogs certainly seemed to like her and she did well with them. She whispered softly and I had no idea what she was saying, but it worked.

  While we got the first crate cleaned up and the dogs back in, I tried conversation to no avail.

  “Beautiful dogs, here. Hard to imagine someone letting them get in this condition.”

  “True.”

  “I’m relatively new here. Did you know the Stoneham family growing up?”

  She tilted her head at me as if I had asked if she’d traveled to Mars yet. “They lived on the outskirts of town.”

  “It’s a good thing Mr. Buchanan’s dog found that puppy.” I shook my head for emphasis.

  “Are these all the dogs?” She looked around, her mouth flat.

  “Mostly. I think maybe one or two went with the vet. Yesterday was the first time I met Dr. Barksdale. Come to think of it, when I was leaving she took off in a hurry – they’d found a mama about to deliver. I’m not sure what happened with her or the pups.”

  Her eyes glistened – the first real hint of emotion – and then she shook herself. “I think we’d best spread out and make sure we get to all the dogs.”

  With that she headed to the far right corner. I shrugged and went to the left. A few minutes later, Willie joined us.

  “Hi, Ms. Sheridan. Mom’ll be down in a few. Do you and Ms. Lacie want coffee?”

  I chuckled. “Willie, you know I do. Ms. Lacie’s over on the other side. You’ll have to ask her.”

  He smiled and went off in her direction. The next thing I knew he was back with a tray and coffee for us, as well as bottled water. Melina followed with dog biscuits I suspected had just come out of the oven and donuts for the humans. Part sugar junky, I washed my hands and stopped working long enough to enjoy a donut and coffee. Willie joined me.

  He glanced at Ms. Lacie and then cupped his hand as he stated, “That Ms. Lacie, I think she’s a dog whisperer. One of the dogs was agitated and whimpering. She talked to him, real soft, and he immediately calmed down and let her take him out of the crate. Eerie.”

  I smiled. “Ms. Lacie used to help Mrs. Chantilly with the dogs before she started work at the police station. I think she probably developed a few tricks in the process.”

  As I watched her, I added to myself, “what she lacks in social skills with people, the opposite is true with the dogs.” I wondered if she had a dog or two.

  With four of us tending to the dogs, we managed to get the crates all cleaned, with water and food and clean “bedding,” now limited to at least one towel. I noticed Melina try to engage Lacie in easy conversation and get the same brusque response I’d gotten. No big deal. The dogs all got some human time, and the ones strong enough got some play time outside.

  We tagged only one dog for immediate attention by the vet. Lacie named her Rosie for her coloring and stayed with her, while Melina, Willie, and I went back up to the house. We heard the noise before we got in the door. Mrs. Chantilly and Chief Peabody and another officer I didn’t recognize were at it.

  “Now you listen to me, Glenn Peabody. I remember you from when you were in diapers. Do you know where your backpack from high school is? If Lacie says she gave clothes and the backpack to Goodwill, then she did. You made it out of diapers and she turned herself around. She’s not the same hellion she was back then. Heck, you even hired her.”

  “Dora, we still need to talk to Lacie. Justine… someone had to have helped her. Her food was delivered to the house – ordered online. Justine didn’t have a computer or smart phone. She had a land line and an old rotary one at that, not a portable one.”

  “What about Old Man Stoneham?”

  “He’s dead, buried in the backyard.” He shrugged.

  Mrs. Chantilly gasped and then took the offensive. “So, Justine killed him and buried him? Maybe his ghost came back to get her. Or the guilt could have done it.”

  “We’re investigating his death as well. A ghost didn’t kill Justine and didn’t order her food to be delivered – including dog food. Last box was sitting inside the door, like someone brought it in and never got any further.”

  “That’s the answer then. Justine brought the box in and some drifter surprised her from behind and killed her. Probably stole stuff, too.”

  Peabody and the other officer exchanged glances. “Dora, where’s Lacie right now?”

  “You two need to be figuring out where all these dogs came from and who killed Justine and Herman. We have work to do. Poor Luke was up all night, you know. He’s passed out.”

  On cue, Luke stumbled into the doorway, not passed out yet barely awake.

  “Mrs. Chantilly, we need to have a plan on re-homing these dogs.” He looked to Melina and me. “If we get some pictures, can the two of you start contacting area shelters and rescues? Maybe they could take a few of them?”

  “See, Glenn, we have a lot of work to do here.” With that Mrs. Chantilly escaped to the second floor.

  “Luke, that’s a great idea. I can check out all the rescues. We’ll start with the dogs that look the best. And maybe one of the mamas?”

  Melina nodded agreement, then added, “Can you take the lead – technology and I don’t always compute.”

  I nodded as Willie grinned and shook his head. “I’ll go get a couple of pictures.” He turned to Chief Peabody. “Shall I tell Ms. Lacie you want to see her?”

  Peabody dragged his palm over his face and signaled to the officer. “No, son. We’ll just go with you.”

  Melina, Luke and I watched them go. We weren’t surprised when Blake arrived a few minutes later. Luke went to tell Mrs. Chantilly. Before we left, Willie sent me a bunch of pictures. As the police, Blake and Mrs. Chantilly started arguing again, we decided it was time to leave. I dropped Alex off at home with the same advice the vet had given us about changing clothes before playing with his own dogs.

  CHAPTER 6

  After showers and a quick lunch, I looked up rescues online reasonably close to Clear Leaf and sent off emails with photos and a lot of hope. Then I texted Brett we would be having dinner with the Champlins. I hadn’t seen Angie or Karla in a while, so dinner would be fun. Tired out, both Maddie and I crashed. I’d just woken up and made coffee when Brett pulled in.

  He gave me a hug and kiss before taking his coffee. “How were things at Pets and Paws?”

  I gave him a quick summary, ending with the emails and photos I’d sent to rescues.

  He nodded. “This will be on the news soon enough so I’ll fill you in. The body was identified as Justine Stoneham, wife of Herman Stoneham. Blow to the head and left to die in a bedroom – boxes everywhere, almost obstructing the door. Even if she wasn’t dead from the assault, she had no way to get help. The only phone was downstairs.”

  “Could sh
e have fallen and hit her head?”

  He shook his head. “From what I heard, there were boxes everywhere – in every room. Nothing that she could have hit her head on that hard. No indication of what or who hit her either. They can’t be sure where she was when she was hit – she could have been hit some place else and then gone to her bedroom. It doesn’t help that boxes and loose papers were moved to get to her and to get her out.”

  “Chief Peabody said they also found Herman’s body?”

  “There was no record of him leaving or where he might be. They searched as they need to notify next of kin. In the last round of checking for injured or sick dogs, with the help of one of Blake’s dogs, they found a mound in the backyard. The dogs went crazy and they called in for shovels. They found Herman – or at least they think it was Herman – in his ‘go to church’ suit. No obvious foul play but the coroner is working on it. His initial guess was that Herman died about a year ago, maybe a little more.”

  I shuddered. “Did they have children? Was no one concerned they hadn’t heard from them?”

  “They had a daughter and a son. Best anyone can remember, they both moved away permanently after college. They have everyone they can find out there going through the papers and boxes to see if they can find a return address on a card or something.”

  He shook his head. “I stopped there on my way home. The smell… And it looks like they saved every bit of mail, junk and all, since forever.”

  “And the mail person didn’t ever notice the smell or the dogs?”

  “The mailbox is at the end of the drive with the house hidden at that point. Dogs barking? As long as they weren’t coming after the person delivering mail and the mail was being picked up, why would they question it? Yesterday, the mail person noticed all the activity and brought the mail up –said two days of mail hadn’t been picked up. The interesting thing is that somehow food was delivered – the most recent delivery was inside the door, delivered three days ago.”

  “Let me get this straight. Up until two days ago, Justine – or someone helping Justine – had collected the mail and the boxes of food. That means Justine was assaulted either three days ago on Saturday or Sunday after collecting the box and mail or on Monday, two days ago, before the mail came?”

  Brett chuckled. “That sounds about right. Officially, the coroner will make that determination as well as cause of death. The question is whether Justine was the one collecting the mail and the box. If not and someone was helping her, who was it and why did they stop?”

  “And where did all these dogs come from? Why didn’t she or they get them the care and food they needed? This wasn’t only two or three days of neglect.”

  The alarm on my phone sounded. “We need to meet Angie and the kids at Pizza Heaven in an hour. Good thing we like pizza. Time to get Maddie up.”

  We were running late and got to the restaurant later than planned. Thankfully, Angie and crew had been able to snag a table big enough for all us. I smiled when I saw Eric Pinsky. Eric was an attorney who did a lot of pro bono work with adolescents. We’d gotten to know Angie and him when Alex and Maddie were implicated in a murder. He’d represented Alex then. He was single and did a lot of pro bono work. More and more, he was around when we got together with Angie.

  “Hi, sorry we’re late.”

  “No problem, Sheridan. Alex told us about the situation at Pets and Paws – I’m guessing you and Maddie took a nap, same as he did.” Angie reached over and tousled his hair. Alex in turn pulled away from his mom and shook his head. Angie and Melina were the two closest friends I’d made since moving. I smiled at the looks between Angie and Eric.

  “We went ahead and ordered a couple of pizzas. Hope your tastes haven’t changed any. Karla’s sure she remembers what we had the last time.” Eric looked over to her and smiled. Karla smiled back.

  Alex was the first to bring up the dogs. “Have they figured out about the dogs and the woman they found?”

  “Not yet. They’re working on it. The dogs are doing better.” I didn’t bring up the second body.

  “Luke was a big surprise. He was – well, human. Nice to me even and definitely working hard. After dealing with him last summer? Surprising to say the least.”

  Eric nodded to Alex. “Everyone deserves a second chance.” He turned to me and asked, “So his probation with Mrs. Chantilly is working out, huh?”

  I nodded and he continued, “I hear he’s at Clover Hill High and not the private ‘academy’ now, too.”

  That surprised me and I wasn’t sure how Eric knew that.

  “What about Caleb? I haven’t heard anything about his status.” Caleb was involved in the harassment and activities in the summer as well, only he’d also developed a drug habit.

  “Word is he’s making good progress in rehab. The last month or so, he’s been able to go home for a weekend with strict supervision and an ankle bracelet. With his uncle in prison, and his parents on board, he may be released from rehab. The hard part is finding community service for him. He made a lot of enemies in the past and not even Mrs. Chantilly is willing to take him on.”

  Angie shook her head. “I hope you kids learn from their mistakes.”

  “Where will all the dogs go?” Karla asked, her lips quivering. Eric patted her hand and looked at me, like I should have all the answers.

  “Right now, we’re checking with rescues in the general area to see if any of them can help out. I sent a few pictures and emails out.” I shrugged. “A few of them had chips. Unfortunately Dr. Barksdale said the information was out of date.”

  Maddie bounced in her seat. “The puppies are so cute – though not as cute as Bella. Mrs. Chantilly is sure they will get adopted once they’re healthy.” As was often the case, the rest of the meal was taken over by talk of puppies.

  CHAPTER 7

  With only a few more days of winter break, I holed up in the shared room we called a home office to prep my classes for the spring semester. I liked working at Millicent College, but I still missed Cold Creek College and my friends there. As if on cue, my best friend Kim called. We’d worked together for several years and had shared many experiences, good and bad.

  “Hi, Kim. I was just thinking of you.”

  “We barely had time to catch up over New Year’s but I’m so glad we were able to get together at all. More and more of my holiday time is with Marty’s family.”

  “That’s interesting. You good with that?” Kim didn’t have a history of positive relationships though this one seemed promising. And I liked Marty.

  “Oh, yeah. They’ve gotten used to me I think. And I to them. Are you ready for the semester to start? This call is my avoiding reworking syllabi.”

  We both chuckled. “That’s what I’m doing this morning. Then I think we’re going to Pets and Paws again. We’ve been spending a lot of time there the last few days.”

  “Marty mentioned the old lady who died with so many dogs left behind.”

  I filled her in on the dogs and Justine’s death. A text message came as we lamented the plight of the dogs. “Kim, I’ll have to call you back. One of the rescues I contacted just texted and asked me to call them.”

  “That’s great! Hopefully, that will work out. In the meantime, you stay out of Justine’s murder, if it is murder – Millicent College didn’t seem too keen on your association with murder.”

  She laughed. But she was right. When Dr. Addison hired me, he’d made a comment about staying out of the news. I immediately called the number on the text.

  “Fur-ever Home, good morning.”

  “Hi, this is Sheridan Hendley. I sent you an email and you texted me just now.”

  “Oh, yes. My name is Marcy Jenkins. I’m in charge here and… The large male, lab mix you sent a picture of? Please don’t tell me that’s Rosco. He was adopted out just a few months ago. Someone named Justine – please don’t tell me he was abandoned again. We had a hard time finding a home for him because of his size.”

 
My mouth dropped and I worked at coming up with an explanation. “I’m sorry to say Justine died and our local shelter took in all her dogs. I don’t know if that is Rosco – there were no tags or collars on the dogs. I’ll stop by today and see if the dog in this picture answers to that name. If so, can you take him?”

  “I’m so sorry to hear she died, she seemed like a nice person. Elderly, you know. Like Rosco. Seemed like a great match. Do let me know if it’s Rosco. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can find a foster who could take him even if it’s not Rosco.”

  “That would be great. Honestly, the shelter took in more than twenty dogs, not counting the mamas and pups. Any help would be appreciated.”

  “Oh my. The woman…she said she’d lost her husband and Rosco would be an only dog.” She hesitated as she digested the lie and then suggested some other rescues in the greater Appomattox area. I jotted them down.

  After sending a few more emails with the pictures we’d taken, I worked on my syllabi until Maddie got up. Both our dogs fed and taken for a short walk, we left for Pets and Paws.

  Mrs. Chantilly greeted us before we reached the front door. “Sheridan, Maddie. It’s so good to see you again. Isn’t the weather beautiful? Too soon we’ll have snow again. Chloe and Buster love playing in the snow. We have to have another adoption day. They so need a forever home.”

  “Good morning, Luke. Did you manage to get some sleep?” Luke nodded. He looked much better.

  “Yes, ma’am, I did. I feel better, and so thankful for you and Maddie and the others.” He shook his head with a side glance to Mrs. Chantilly.

  “Susie’s back today to help as well.” He gestured in Susie’s direction and I almost laughed at her wide eyes. A technician with one of the local veterinarians, she was mature and capable. And obviously stunned. She looked to Maddie.