Dogs and More Dogs, Another Murder

by Christa Nardi

  “I need some help with all these mamas and pups.”

  That was all it took and Maddie was off chatting away with Susie.

  “I’ll just grab some coffee and go see what the status is in the garage.”

  “Have you solved the mystery yet? I know you can do it. You’re not going to get any help from Lacie, you know. She doesn’t open up to people, only dogs. You will help her won’t you and prove she didn’t kill Justine. I know you will. Justine was a little odd, you know. It must have been a drifter. It will all work out, won’t it Luke?”

  By the time I worked out the substance of what she said, she disappeared. Luke shrugged.

  “She’ll make biscuits now. There are one or two more dogs in the garage – Dr. Barksdale brought them in last night. Another one with a broken leg - Horatio. We also had an owner surrender last night – tied the dog to the porch railing, rang the bell, and drove off. She’s in the back room. I’m going to take care of them and then I’ll be down to the garage.”

  I nodded and grabbed a cup of coffee before I made my way to the garage and the dogs there. Lacie was already at work.

  “Hi, Lacie. How’s it going?” I tried my best to be friendly.

  She shrugged. “Okay. Luke and I moved the crates around. Organization is key. I started on this side. You start on that side. When either of us gets to a crate with multiple dogs, we can both take care of those.”

  I looked around and noticed the crates were a little less scattered, more in neat rows, smaller crates with one dog along the wall. The larger crates with multiple dogs were in the middle.

  “Sounds good. Luke said he might be down in a bit as well.”

  “Whatever. Just stay out of my business, you hear.”

  I nodded and focused my attention on the dogs. The dog in the picture wasn’t where I remembered him. I wandered down the aisle between crates, looking for him, and softly called, “Rosco? Rosco?”

  One dog, the one in the photo, barked and climbed the side of the crate. I went to him, and comforted him. “Rosco, I think we may have a home for you.” He licked my hand, his tail wagging.

  I looked around and caught Lacie watching. She turned away and didn’t say a word. I marked Rosco’s name and the name of the rescue on the crate’s clipboard. Having already gotten him excited, I took him outside and then made sure he had food and water. Thankfully, his crate was clean. After marking the time, I went back to the start of the aisle, to be sure nobody was missed.

  My watch alarm went off after a while. “Lacie, I’m not sure what’s holding Luke up. I have to leave for a while, Maddie has an appointment, but I’ll be back later. The dogs all look so much better.”

  She nodded and then turned away. It was disheartening to see all these dogs, some in appalling shape. Up at the house, I prompted Maddie about the time and looked for Luke.

  “Mrs. Chantilly, I’ll be back in a while, but I have to take Maddie to choir practice. Remember I took some pictures and was going to email them to nearby rescues?”

  “Rescue. I don’t like that word. Some places just take your money and don’t care about dogs at all. Like children who grow up. Happy and sad at the same time to see them go. Like Lacie. Luke, too. Sad but glad.”

  “Mrs. Chantilly, someone at Fur-ever Home recognized one of the dogs. His name is Rosco and she’s checking to see if his foster family can take him back. Isn’t that great?”

  “Too many dogs. We need more help and people to take them. Many fosters keep the dogs forever, you know.”

  I nodded. Maddie nudged me. “We gotta go. I’m going to be late for choir rehearsal.”

  “See you later, Mrs. Chantilly.”

  “Bye, Mrs. C.”

  In the car, Maddie chattered on and on about the puppies. I nodded, still thinking about Rosco and Justine getting him from a rescue. Maybe that was how she ended up with all these dogs. I pulled into the parking lot at the middle school. As Maddie catapulted out of the car, I yelled, “Have a good time. I’ll pick you up in two hours.”

  The more I thought about it, the more I was sure Chief Peabody should hear about this. Sitting in the parking lot, I called him before calling Marcy to confirm it was Rosco.

  “Chief Peabody, please, this is Sheridan Hendley and I may have information on the dogs over at the Stoneham place.” I smiled to myself. If this was a big city, there’s no way I’d ever be talking to the chief, but in this small district and with two bodies, he was pretty hands on.

  “Chief Peabody here.”

  “Hi Chief, this is Sheridan Hendley. I’ve been working over at Pets and Paws and sent out a few photos of the dogs to nearby rescue groups to see if any could help. There are way too many dogs for Mrs. Chantilly to handle. Anyway, I know I’m rambling, but one of the rescues got back to me. She recognized the dog as Rosco and said Justine adopted him from her rescue. Maybe that’s where all these dogs came from – rescues.”

  “That’s interesting. I’ll have someone follow up on that, Sheridan. Do you have the number?”

  I gave him her name and number. “I’m about to call her to let her know it is Rosco. Should I mention someone from the police might call her?”

  “That would be good. Let her know we may want some additional information so she isn’t surprised. And thanks, Sheridan. Let me know if you find out anything else.”

  Even though he couldn’t see me, I smiled at the phone as he disconnected. Then I called Marcy and confirmed it was Rosco. I smiled again when she shared that the foster would take him back as soon as he was cleared by the vet. I promptly gave her Dr. Barksdale’s number.

  I made a quick stop at the grocery store. After putting the bags in the trunk, I got in the car and groaned. Someone had written something on my windshield. I had to get out of the car to read it and looked around. MYOB was the message. I tried to wipe it off and realized it was soap. I couldn’t drive the car without cleaning it off so I took a picture. The windshield wiper fluid did a fair job – enough for me to drive next door to the carwash. Later that night, I showed the picture to Brett.

  “Not good. At least no permanent damage or threat. I seem to recall someone telling you that recently?”

  “Lacie. At least twice. I’m pretty sure she stayed behind to help with the dogs. I didn’t see her in the store or in the parking lot. And it’s not like whoever did it left the bar of soap for fingerprints or we could get fingerprints off the soap if they did.”

  Brett shook his head. He knew that wouldn’t stop me from helping out at Pets and Paws.

  CHAPTER 8

  It was the last weekend before back to school for Maddie and meetings for me. Pets and Paws would have to wait. We’d already planned skating with Alex, Karla and their mom, Angie, in the morning. Not Maddie’s best time of day, but the skating rink wouldn’t be as crowded in the morning. As we pulled up, and Karla got out of their car and maneuvered her walker, I hoped this would work.

  Angie must have caught my worried expression before I smiled. “We try to expose her to everything any other girl her age does. The cerebral palsy is mild and she can do a lot with the walker.”

  I nodded, still not clear how the walker would work on ice. Karla, on the other hand was as excited as Maddie and Alex. Inside we all got skates. A young man came out to join us as we all got our skates on. He was taller than Alex with a more athletic build. He looked to be the same age as Luke or Willie. My best guess was a sophomore in high school.

  “Hi. I’m Dan. I understand we have a new skater who may need some assistance.”

  I’ll give him credit. He looked around our group until Karla raised her hand. “Me. I’ve… I’ve never been on skates.”

  “Okay then. Let me get you started. Take my hands and see if you can stand up on the skates.”

  Karla took his hands and, with help from Angie, she stood up. “Ready? Now lock your hands around my forearms. Don’t look at your feet. Keep your eyes on my face. We’ll take a spin around the rink. You’ll have to be my eye
s and tell me if I’m heading for the wall or about to skate into someone.”

  Her initial wide-eyed expression with clenched teeth erupted into a smile, as he slowly pulled her forward and propelled her around the rink. Maddie and Alex joined them, Alex pulling Maddie. Brett stood and put out his hands and we did likewise. I looked over wondering about Angie alone and smiled. Eric had joined her and was skating up. I was glad to see their relationship was moving forward. There were only a few other kids and no one was skating wild. Some even copied our tandem skating. After a few trips around the rink, Dan skated up to us with Karla.

  “I’m afraid I need to get back to the hut – the line is getting long, and I left Sam there all by himself.”

  I looked at Brett and he gave me a slight push off. I stepped in behind Karla while Dan and Brett made the trade-off. We skated for about an hour more, though Karla tired quickly and sat out after a while. Alex and Maddie could have skated longer and it sure looked like Eric was born on skates. The rest of us were cold and tired. In the hut, we all had hot chocolate. Dan delivered them and joined us for a minute.

  “Dan lives out by Mr. Buchanan and the lady who died.” Karla offered.

  “Yeah, it’s really sad she died. Until a couple of months ago, she’d have me come out and clean up the yard, mow the lawn. You know, the things she couldn’t do. With winter, I haven’t been out since before Halloween.”

  Brett cleared his throat. “Dan, did you notice a lot of dogs or a dog run or anything?”

  He smiled and his face lit up. “Oh, yeah. She had quite a few dogs – maybe five or six that ‘helped’ me with the yard work. Chased me on the mower and stuff. Rosco was my favorite. Sometimes he was inside, sometimes outside.”

  “And the dogs all seemed healthy?” I asked.

  “Oh, yeah, more or less. Food and water were always on the porch. Maybe in need of a bath.” He laughed. “One time I was there was after a heavy rain. They kept jumping in the muddy water. I offered to try and dig a small trench or something to divert the water into the woods. Mrs. Stoneham, she told me not to, that there were bad spirits if I got too close to the woods. She always had me stop mowing and raking at the same place. Somehow the dogs knew to not go into the woods there, too.”

  Not wanting to make a big deal, I held my tongue and didn’t ask for a better description of where the bad spirits were. We’d have to let Chief Peabody know to talk to Dan and he could get the specifics. Hot chocolate finished, we all left to go in separate directions. My plan was to go help out at Pets and Paws for a few hours, and then to finish my syllabi. When my phone rang and I saw the caller ID, I choked.

  “Hi, Kim. How are you?” I looked at Brett. From his dropped mouth and head shake, I wasn’t the only one who had forgotten our dinner plans.

  “I’m great. Marty called and he’s stuck helping his sister with something. It’s always something. Anyway, we probably won’t get to your place until just before 6 p.m. Is that okay? Honestly, I can’t remember what time our reservations are for.”

  “We’re in the car on our way home. I’ll check when I get home. I can always call and see about 6:30 so we aren’t all rushed.”

  “Great. I can’t wait to see you and Brett and Maddie.”

  “Same here. We’ll see you in a few hours.”

  I disconnected and looked over to Brett. He was shaking his head and smiling at the same time.

  “Completely forgot about it and I guess you did, too. Good bluff.”

  “Yup. I think I made those reservations before Christmas. Hopefully, I wrote it down on the kitchen calendar. I checked my phone while she was talking and it isn’t on my phone calendar.”

  Although we were pretty well digital and smart-phoned, our feeble attempt at trying to use a family e-calendar and personal ones ended up with appointments missed or both of us going to pick up Maddie. With Maddie’s schedule and activities, as well as our own, we opted for an old-fashioned calendar in the kitchen with everything for everybody. Whoever was involved in an activity then added it to their calendar. Obviously, we’d both missed this one.

  “Remember me? It’s not on my phone either. Am I going? Or staying home alone?” Maddie paused barely and her voice raised in pitch. “Can I call Nedra and see what she’s doing?”

  Brett laughed. “It’s just dinner and I think at thirteen you can handle being alone for a couple of hours, but you can certainly check with Nedra.”

  “After we change, we can go to Pets and Paws for a little while. Melina’s helping out today and Nedra is probably there too.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Before we left for Pets and Paws, I checked my email and found responses from some more shelters. The ones I’d sent pictures to thought they recognized a dog or two. I printed them all out. It was easier to respond to them when I was there with the dogs. One other response suggested three other smaller rescues that might have space. I was feeling more optimistic about the situation until we got there. Maddie and I could hear the yelling from outside.

  “You just leave Lacie here. She’s good with the dogs and they’ll help her learn responsibility and empathy. You’ll see. She’ll grow up to be a good citizen.”

  “Dora! Mrs. C! I’m standing right here all grown up. Stop talking about me like I’m not here. You were always a little odd, but you’re losing it.”

  “You don’t understand. We need to get Dr. Barksdale back out here for Rosie. Hi Sheridan, Maddie. Isn’t the weather grand today? It won’t last and we’ll probably get some snow later this week. Always hard on the dogs, though some of them seem to like to play in the snow.”

  I pushed Maddie in the direction of the mamas and she darted away from the chaos. Mrs. Chantilly turned to walk away and Chief Peabody opened his mouth. “Dora?”

  She turned back. “And Glenn, please give my best to your wife. Are you sure you wouldn’t like a dog? We have some beautiful pups and Dr. Barksdale says they’re mostly all healthy. Now everyone get to work. Luke can’t do it all and I need to tend to the biscuits.”

  She smiled and once again reminded me of a Mrs. Claus. Although I’m a psychologist, I never was quite sure she intentionally ignored or added content, or as Lacie put it was “losing it.” The chief grimaced.

  In the lull, I interjected, “Before you get busy with the biscuits, I heard from some more shelters. Okay if I give them calls when I see which dogs are ready to be placed?”

  “Wonderful and we can have an adoption day and hopefully get all these beautiful creatures re-homed in a week or so. I have to admit, there’s no more room in this inn and my babies are suffering.”

  She glanced at the back room where the long-term dogs were currently housed and her eyes teared up. She was right about one thing – the longer the dogs stayed at Pets and Paws, the more attached she became. I wondered how long Lacie had stayed with her.

  Lacie stormed off toward the garage. Peabody looked at me and shrugged. “Getting any information is … I gather you may have some though.”

  I handed him the printed emails. “I’m not sure this has anything to do with Justine’s or Herman’s deaths though.”

  “I’m not sure either. Ms. Jenkins from Fur-ever Home told me Justine went to where Rosco was fostered and picked him up – by herself. I talked to the foster mom and she definitely described Justine. She said Justine took to Rosco immediately – she was sure he’d found his ‘forever’ home. And she gave us the date and Justine’s phone number, which matches the land line at the Stoneham place.”

  “Did Justine have a car? She was driving places to get these dogs?”

  “Her driver’s license was up to date and she had a car – a beat up old SUV 2000. It’s registered to Herman.”

  “Was there anything interesting in the car?” I hoped there weren’t dogs left in the car in the cold.

  Peabody’s eyes got wide. “I don’t know that anyone checked the car other than to verify it belonged there. On that now. Let me know what you find out about these.” He han
ded me back my printouts.

  “One more thing. You might want to talk to Dan who works at the skating rink. He told us he was helping Justine with upkeep until Halloween.”

  His eyes widened again and he nodded. In the kitchen, I fixed a cup of coffee and called the shelters that indicated they might have space to get some details. Each call was the same. Only one got me excited.

  “Ms. Walker, this is Sheridan Hendley. I emailed you about some dogs here in Clover Hill that we need some help with.”

  “Oh, yes. I got your email. You indicated the shelter had taken in a large number of dogs that had been abandoned.”

  “Yes, ma’am. An older lady passed away. I don’t think she planned to abandon them.”

  “Can we possibly FaceTime and you could show me some of the dogs? That might be easier than trying to identify all the breeds and mixes.”

  “That’s a great idea. I’ll walk down to where they’re housed right now and call you back.”

  At the garage, Lacie was on the floor with one of the dogs. She turned so her back was to me when I came in. I shrugged and called Ms. Walker back using FaceTime. After confirming that she could see the dogs, I stopped at each cage and gave her basic information. At one of the larger cages with two dogs – beagle mix was my best guess – she gasped.

  “Beautiful, aren’t they? There’s a note here that says they are a pair and should not be separated if possible.” I had no idea how anyone would know that unless they’d already tried to separate them.

  “Paisley and Plaid. I recognize them. Where did all these dogs come from?” Her voice broke as she spoke. The dogs danced at their names.

  “An elderly woman. As I mentioned, she passed away.”

  “We try so hard. We meet them, you know, when they come to adopt. It must be almost a year ago when they were placed. We can’t do background checks or visit everyone’s home. We’re mostly concerned if it looks like the person might use them for bait dogs. I remember her, she was so kind.”