I Shall Not Want

by Debbie Viguié

  “Can you feel it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Now, concentrate on it, on the rhythm, and see if you can feel the blood as it pulses through other parts of your body as well.”

  She concentrated for a minute, and then suddenly she could feel it everywhere. She jumped and moved her fingers. “Eww,” she said, waving her hand.

  “It is an unpleasant sensation at first, but it is a quick and easy way to teach yourself to focus.”

  “You could have warned me,” she complained.

  “That would not have done you any good. Now, let’s try it again. First five breaths.”

  She took the five deep breaths, holding them and then releasing each slowly.

  “Now, tell me when you can feel your pulse through your body.”

  She lifted her fingers to her throat again until she had the rhythm, and then she felt for it until she found it. She nodded.

  “Okay. Now, keep your eyes closed. I am going to let you smell a scent, and I want you to tell me where you smelled it before today.”

  After a moment she caught the distinct smell of pine. “Camping with my family when I was six.”

  Next she smelled cinnamon. “Hot cider at Christmastime when I was little,” she said with a smile.

  And then she smelled something else. She had smelled it earlier that day, but she had smelled it before then. Where?

  Suddenly she was in another place. She was in a hall, nervous and uncomfortable. She was sitting at the speed dating table as a tall, handsome police officer sat down across from her, wearing some sort of cologne.

  Vince.

  18

  IT WAS VINCE!” SHE GASPED. “HE WEARS THAT COLOGNE.”

  “Are you sure?” Jeremiah asked.

  “Positive. And he was there at the charity event, and he was the first officer to respond to Joseph’s alarm going off the night the other puppies were stolen. He took Clarice to the lab where the tests got messed up and said she didn’t have any human DNA on her.”

  “He wasn’t there when they arrested Joseph.”

  “No,” Cindy said, tears running down her cheeks. “He was kidnapping Mark’s wife when Mark was arresting Joseph.”

  She stood up and went to get her cell phone. Mark answered on the second ring.

  “It was Vince,” she said. “I remember that Vince wears Old Spice cologne.”

  “You’re sure?” Mark asked.

  “Yes. Have you had any luck finding the other dogs?”

  “Turns out a dozen others have been kidnapped from homeless masters who thought the dogs ran away while they were sleeping. They’ve all been hoping to have word that someone has found them.”

  “How did you manage to find so many so quickly?”

  “This early the day after Thanksgiving? Most of them had dinner at the shelter last night and slept there as well. I’m still looking for a couple of others, including a lady who left with her dog early this morning.”

  “Bernadette?” Cindy asked, fear welling within her.

  “Yeah. You seen her?”

  “She was at my house yesterday for Thanksgiving dinner.”

  “She was there when we arrested Joseph?”

  “Yes.”

  Mark muttered something under his breath. “Okay, I have to go. Hopefully we can find Vince and put an end to all this.”

  “Good luck,” she said.

  She hung up and looked at Jeremiah. He was pale and sweating, and she wondered if he’d had a fever that broke. “Are you okay?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “I’ve been worse.”

  “Do you think you could help me find Bernadette?”

  “We can try.”

  “I know she likes to hang out around the theater some, but I have no idea if she’ll be there today.”

  “Let’s go find out.”

  She put fresh food and water down for the dogs, and then put newspapers down in the kitchen since she didn’t know how long they’d be gone. She left the living room light on and turned on the porch light as well. Jeremiah raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

  They took her car, since she wasn’t sure he should be driving. Cindy knew she should let him go home, but she was too afraid to go looking by herself. It didn’t take them long to drive to the theater. When they parked, she glanced over at Jeremiah, who somehow looked even worse.

  “Should I take you to an emergency room?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “It’s just the flu, and I haven’t really had a chance to rest.”

  Guilt washed over her. “That’s my fault.”

  “No, it’s mine.”

  She glanced out the window. There were lots of people milling about in the parking lot. The theater was part of a larger complex that had a bookstore and other shops, and the whole area was busy. She should be safe enough with so many witnesses.

  “Stay here while I go look for her,” she said.

  He started to protest, but she held up a hand. “It does no one any good if you pass out and I have to try and carry you back to the car.”

  He smiled faintly. “If I pass out, you have my permission to call an ambulance to take me to the emergency room.”

  “I’m going to hold you to that.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  He reclined the seat back and closed his eyes. “If you’re not back in thirty, I’m calling Mark.”

  “Fair enough.”

  She locked the car as she exited and then hurried toward the theater. She couldn’t help but remember being there on Sunday when the body in the bushes had been found. She got a chill as she walked past the spot. She cast around, looking everywhere, hoping to see the old lady and her dog.

  She didn’t see them, but she walked all around the building just to make sure. She stood for a moment and thought. Where else might Bernadette be off to so early in the morning on Black Friday?

  Around her, shoppers rushed by, intent on heading for the stores. It would be at least another two or three hours before they turned their footsteps toward the theater.

  Which meant she shouldn’t expect to find Bernadette at the theater. She should expect to find her someplace where the people were. She turned and joined the throng of people heading toward the shops. She bypassed the bookstore and was debating between the others when a sign caught her eye and she veered suddenly to the left.

  She found Bernadette and Ginger in front of the Canine Chateau, an upscale store catering to a pet’s every whim. Bernadette was stuffing a bill into one pocket and a giant dog bone into another.

  “Ginger’s getting in on the act too?” Cindy said, unable for a moment to resist the humor of the scene.

  “A dog’s got to eat. And my Ginger deserves the best,” Bernadette said with more dignity than Cindy could have imagined.

  “Good choice.” Cindy stepped forward. “Bernadette, it’s not safe out here. The killer is moving faster, and he’s targeting everyone who adopted a dog that was there last week. The detectives are trying to find everyone.”

  “They wouldn’t have to find all of us if they could just find one killer,” Bernadette said.

  “They’re close. They know who it is; they’re just trying to catch him. I’d feel a whole lot better if you and Ginger would come home with me so I knew you were safe until this was over.”

  Bernadette hesitated.

  “Please,” Cindy said. “I have Jeremiah with me in the car, and Clarice and Buff are at home and would love to play with Ginger. Plus, there’s still leftover turkey.”

  “Okay, you twisted my arm,” Bernadette said, scooping up Ginger. “Let’s go.”

  As they walked quickly back to the car, Cindy’s heart pounded. Now that she had Bernadette and Ginger with her, she felt like she had a big target painted on her and that something terrible would happen at any moment. She kept swiveling her head from side to side looking for Vince or anyone else who seemed to be looking at them.

  By th
e time they made it back to her car, she thought she was going to scream with the pressure. She unlocked the doors, and Jeremiah brought his seat back upright as Bernadette and Ginger got in the back.

  “Hey, there, young fellow,” Bernadette said. “Heard you missed my company.”

  “You heard right,” he said with a smile.

  “You don’t look so good.”

  “I don’t feel so good,” he admitted.

  “Well, I can make a soup with some of that leftover turkey that will make you forget all about being sick.”

  “I believe it,” he said, closing his eyes as Cindy pulled out of the parking space. Even the drive home strained her nerves. She felt completely exposed and like every car that followed her too closely had a sinister purpose. Once she finally got everyone back inside her house, she gasped in relief.

  She sat down at the kitchen table as the three dogs greeted each other. Jeremiah lay down on the couch, and Bernadette busied herself with pulling food out of the refrigerator and finding a pot.

  Cindy dialed Mark’s number. “I have Bernadette and Ginger here at my house.”

  “Good. We haven’t figured out a way to read the chip yet, if we find it, but we’re working on it. Are you okay keeping them there with you for right now?”

  “Yes, I’ve got Jeremiah here as well.”

  “Again, not surprised,” Mark said. “Keep your eyes out, and if you see or hear anything, you give me a call.”

  “Any luck finding Vince?”

  “Not yet,” Mark said, anger lacing his voice. “I think he might have gone to ground. We tried calling him, but that didn’t go as planned.”

  “Okay, let me know when you catch him.”

  “I will.”

  She hung up the phone and put her head down on the table. She hated this, the waiting and wondering. Every sound outside to her was footsteps. Every time one of the dogs barked, it was because they sensed danger. When Bernadette brushed by her chair, she jumped, and it took all her self-control not to scream out loud.

  “You need to relax,” Bernadette noted.

  “I don’t know how,” Cindy admitted.

  She heard snoring and glanced into the living room, where Jeremiah was passed out on the couch. His left arm trailed down on the floor, and Buff was licking his fingers in a fit of ecstasy. It was all completely surreal to her, and she fought the sudden urge to laugh hysterically.

  Noon came, and Bernadette made turkey sandwiches for her and Cindy and fed Jeremiah the promised turkey soup. After eating he immediately fell back asleep. Cindy got up and put a blanket over him and wondered if she should give him anything. She finally decided to ask him the next time he woke up. Sleep was what he needed more than anything else at that point.

  She sat down with her deck of cards at the kitchen table and laid out a game of solitaire for herself. Bernadette watched with interest. “You have a second deck?” she asked at last.

  “Yes,” Cindy said, retrieving it from her office.

  The two of them played half a dozen games of double solitaire while Jeremiah slept and the dogs played. Cindy had finally begun to relax when the phone rang.

  Mark pounded his fist against the dashboard while Paul stared at him. “What are we going to do now? He knows we’re onto him; there’s no telling where he’s holed up.”

  They had been searching half the day for him and also for his accomplice, the lab tech who had helped him by faking the blood samples taken from Clarice. It turned out no one knew who the guy was. With local businesses, including vet’s offices and laboratories, closed for the day it was making it that much harder to rule out possibilities.

  “He must have needed an accomplice to help read the chips,” Paul said.

  “I know. If we could only figure out where they were taking the dogs, maybe we could find him or the laptop, or Traci.”

  “Buff ’s the only dog who escaped that we know of.”

  “Which means they’ve either killed the others, or dumped them somewhere, or they still have them.”

  “If they still have them, they’d need to be someplace where people would ignore a lot of dogs barking,” Paul said.

  “Like a vet’s office,” Mark said, “bringing us right back to our original problem.”

  “Or an animal shelter.”

  Mark turned to look at him. “I think someone, a volunteer, or something, would have noticed if one of the dogs from Friday’s event reappeared at the Humane Society. Even the quarantine rooms are visited every day by a number of people.”

  “What about a different type of animal shelter?” Paul asked.

  “You mean like—”

  “Dog pound.”

  “Paul, I think you might be a genius,” Mark said.

  “Even though a lot of people in this town turn over lost pets to the Humane Society, there are still plenty who call animal control.”

  “Let’s go.”

  Half an hour later Paul and Mark stood outside the building in question. Half a dozen hand-picked officers ringed the structure, including Percy Grayhorn, who had not complained to Mark’s superior but had insisted on being present if there was a possibility of a hostage situation. The only two members of the force who worked the K-9 unit were also present, but without their furry partners.

  “Is everyone in place?” Mark asked Paul, who listened to a radio.

  Paul nodded, and Mark took a deep breath. They were all wearing protective vests and had gone over the possible scenarios three times. He nodded, Paul gave the signal, and they all burst into the building.

  Mark ran down a corridor filled with dog pens, but stopped short when he recognized Buster. Paul pushed on past him as Mark opened the cage, freeing his dog.

  The beagle bayed joyously. Mark had brought one of Traci’s camisoles with him and shoved it under the dog’s nose. Beagles were known for their tracking skills, and he just prayed this one was a credit to his species.

  “Buster, find Mommy.”

  The dog took a deep whiff, turned around twice, and then headed down the corridor, baying in full, rich tones. The corridor ended in a T. Mark could see Paul running down the left-hand corridor. Buster took the right-hand one. Mark followed the dog.

  He heard men shouting behind him, and three shots rang out. He kept running, though. If Traci was here, he needed to find her first and worry about the bad guys second.

  Buster veered suddenly to the left into a small room and then turned right into an even smaller one. In the middle of the room was a chair with ropes pooled around it on the floor. Buster leaped onto the chair and bayed as long and loud as he could.

  Mark crashed to his knees as he realized that Traci had been held there but was gone. Buster suddenly jumped from the chair and ran to the far side of the room and scratched at a metal door.

  Mark crossed to it and flung it open. Buster raced out into a narrow alley and toward the back of the building. There he stopped next to a parking space and cast about on the ground trying to find the scent.

  For Mark, though, the stale smell of burnt rubber and the tire tracks on the ground told him all he needed to know. Traci had been moved, probably just minutes before they got there. Buster finally gave up and sat down, looking up at him with great mournful eyes as if to ask him what next.

  He reached down and scratched the dog’s head. “You did good, boy, it’s not your fault,” he said, his voice cracking.

  Mark turned and walked back into the building, Buster trotting at his side. He retraced his steps cautiously but soon saw one of his officers walking calmly but purposefully toward him.

  “What do we have?” Mark asked.

  “The phony lab tech. He fired on us, and I winged him. He’s alive and talking. Paul sent me to see if you needed help.”

  Mark shook his head. “Traci was moved before we got here. Still, make sure every room is searched for signs of her, Vince, or anyone else. This whole place is a crime scene. Lock it down.”

  When Cindy answered the
phone, she held her breath when she heard Mark’s voice.

  “We got his accomplice and we found the dogs alive, but Vince and Traci are still out there, somewhere,” Mark said.

  Cindy let out her breath, and the momentary joy she had felt over them finding the dogs alive faded as she realized there was still a chance they would find Traci dead. Or that Vince will find us, she worried.

  “Thanks for keeping us updated,” she said and then hung up.

  “What is it?” Jeremiah asked, suddenly awake.

  “They found the dogs alive, and also captured an accomplice,” Cindy explained.

  “What about Vince?” he asked.

  “He’s still out there and so is Mark’s wife.”

  “That’s terrible,” Bernadette muttered.

  It was terrible. One man had caused so much death, so much carnage, and now he held one woman physically captive and dozens of others emotionally captive. It wasn’t right. One person shouldn’t have the right to cause them all such terror, to tie their hands and make them feel helpless.

  She thought of all the times she had seen Vince the past week. How had she not picked up on how evil he was? And why would such a man have hit on her?

  Of course, she had only his word that he had actually chosen her during speed dating. His interest in her could easily have sprung not from anything about her but from his assumptions about her relationship with Joseph.

  Joseph. She had forgotten to ask if Mark had set him free. She assumed that if he hadn’t already he would have by now. That, at least, was good. But it was Joseph Vince had been trying to keep an eye on the whole time, not her. She was sure he had only hit on her because he thought she was Joseph’s girlfriend.

  And suddenly she knew what she had to do. Vince had given her his number. It was time to use it.

  “What do you want?” he growled as he answered the phone.

  Her hand shook, but she forced her voice to be rock steady. He had answered, which meant he didn’t already have everything he wanted. “The same thing you want… lots and lots of money.”

  “Good luck with that,” he sneered.

  “I don’t need luck,” she said. “I have the dog.”