The sound of barking and the smell of confined dogs hit my senses like a Mac truck.
I tried to breathe through my mouth as I followed Will into the kennel area. He headed for the office.
I was supposed to find employees to talk to, so this lady would do nicely. I cleared my throat to get her attention. “Excuse me, ma’am. Would you mind if I took a peek at the dogs?”
When she glanced at her watch and hesitated, I crossed my fingers behind my back, pushed my guilt into a dark corner and added, “I’m thinking about getting another dog to keep my golden retriever company in the daytime.”
She shrugged. “Guess it couldn’t hurt none. We don’t have any puppies right now, though if that’s what you’re looking for.” She opened a second door and mumbled. “Everybody wants a puppy.”
We stepped through the door, and she led me down a concrete-floored hallway. I tried to block out the sad, desperate barking and concentrate on the mission.
Breathe, Darwin. It’s not going to do anybody any good if you get upset.
“I’m Rhonda, by the way.”
“Darwin. Nice to meet you.” I had to raise my voice over the barking. “Actually, a dog already potty trained would be best. I can’t do a puppy with my schedule.” I felt terrible lying to her and getting her hopes up. I’d have to make amends later somehow. Maybe a generous donation.
As we closed in on the metal cages, most of the barking turned to whining. More heartbreaking but easier to have a conversation. “What if I find a dog I like and he’s not neutered, do y’all do that? I saw that van out in the parking lot … the mobile spay and neuter one.”
She looked me over, assessing my income level, I guessed. “The mobile unit goes out to low income neighborhoods, which I’m assuming isn’t where you call home?”
I shook my head silently.
“In that case, we charge a seventy-five dollar fee for our affiliated vet to neuter upon adoption, which yes, is required.”
We were standing in front of the cages now and my heart was cracking wide open. A brown and white pit mix was curled up on a flattened, well-worn pillow in the corner of his concrete cage, just the tip of his tail flicking as he watched us with deep brown eyes. His neighbor was a wire-haired terrier mix, who was jumping and barking at us through the fence. At least he still had hope, still seemed determined to be noticed.
I’d have to make sure I didn’t touch any of these guys. Most likely they’d all suffered some kind of recent trauma, and I would break down in a ball of snot and tears if they showed it to me right now. And that would bring my investigating to a grinding halt.
“They do get up-to-date shots when we get ‘em in though. In fact …” She moved down a few cages and put a hand on a fleshy hip. “You said you have a golden, right? We have a golden-mix who came out of our intake isolation facility this morning and is ready for adoption. Her name’s Sandy. Sweet as pie, that girl. Dropped off by a lady who’s mom had just passed, and she couldn’t keep her. Such a shame.” She looked me hard in the eye. “She does have blood sugar issues and needs shots a few times a day, so it’s gonna be hard to find her a home.”
I glanced into the cage she was standing in front of. It was empty.
Rhonda shrugged. “She must be getting her shots now. But, you can bring your dog back and see how they get along.”
Oh heavens. What was I doing? I really should’ve thought this through.
Forcing myself to keep up the charade despite the guilt heating up my face I whispered, “Sure. Okay.”
Glancing back at the row of cages behind me, I noticed a large, particularly vocal, black-as-night dog pawing at his gate and wagging his tail. I sighed. “I guess it takes a special person to be able to be around all this heartbreak day after day.”
“Well, it helps that we’re a no-kill shelter. At least they have a chance at getting a family.”
I saw my opening and sprinted through it. “You know, I had a friend who really wanted to build another no-kill shelter in the area. Unfortunately, he passed away recently. Peter Vanek. Did you know him?”
She glanced sharply at me, tears suddenly glistening in her large doe eyes. “Sure I knew him.” Clearing her throat and swiping at her nose, she stuck her hand against a cage to let the terrier lick her palm.
“Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Did you know him well then?”
Rhonda waved a hand. “Don’t mind me. It’s just been a long day. I knew him well enough. He took some great photos of the dogs. Dressed ‘em up real cute in bandanas and stuff to help ‘em get homes. I couldn’t believe it when Sassy told me he’d had a heart attack. He seemed like such a health nut, always carrying around some weird green drink. Guess you never know. When your time is up, it’s up.”
“Yeah.” I paused a beat, so I didn’t seem so anxious when I asked, “So, Peter and Sassy White got along?”
She shrugged thoughtfully. “Sure … as much as Sassy gets along with anyone, I guess. Don’t get me wrong, she keeps this place runnin’ drama-free which ain’t easy. But she’s all business, getting along isn’t her priority.”
A door shut somewhere behind us, and we turned to see a tall, handsome man with dark hair and olive skin round the corner. He was dressed in blue scrubs. A spark of recognition stirred in my brain, but I couldn’t place him. A plump, white faced golden-mix was at his side.
“Ah, there’s Lincoln now with Sandy, the dog I was telling you about.” Rhonda moved back to the empty cage as the pair approached. She held the door opened. “How’d she do?”
“Beautifully. Not even a flinch. She’s a sweetheart.”
The woman grinned at me, her face lighting up. “Told ya. Want to pet her?”
“Oh.” Panic fluttered in my chest and sweat broke out under my hairline. I glanced down at the time-whitened face tilted up at me. Sandy was a lighter color than Goldie and a bit overweight, but lord help me, the same achingly sweet spirit stared out at me from those bright, trusting eyes. I bit my lip, hoping the pain would keep my emotions in check. “I better not today. I might fall in love before I see how my dog reacts to her.” That was certainly true.
They both nodded as if this was reasonable, and Lincoln gave Sandy one last pat before he led her back into the cage.
My stomach cramped as I watched her sniff around, turn a few circles and then plop down on the bed in the corner. I could imagine Goldie’s face whitening like that as the years passed. What I couldn’t imagine was her spending those years in a cage instead of a home. Tears pricked my eyes.
Time to go.
“Well, that was the last dog for today.” Lincoln pulled off white latex gloves and shoved them into a black bag. “I’ll be back on Saturday.”
“All right. See ya, Lincoln, and thanks.”
“Yeah, I better let you go, too.” I gave Sandy one more longing glance. She deserved a home, and it broke my heart I couldn’t give her one.
Or could I? I hadn’t really thought about adopting another dog. Maybe … No. Not with my schedule at the pet boutique and her medical needs. I would try to find her a home though, I silently promised her that.
I tuned back in as Rhonda was saying, “Just give us a call and schedule a time to bring your dog in.”
“I will. Thanks again.”
Lincoln held the door for me, and then we walked back out into the hallway together.
A petite African-American woman with wild gray hair, thick orange-framed glasses and an air of frustration stepped in our path from a side door.
“Lincoln, I have a bone to pick with you.” Her hand was on her hip as she eyed me with a raised brow. “How many girlfriends do you have?”
“What’s up, Sassy?” He shot me an apologetic look.
I stifled a grin. I could see why Charlie found it hard to imagine this woman committing murder. That would require deception, and she seemed like the “lay it all out in the open” type.
I excused myself and pushed through the door to the f
ront room.
Will was waiting there, his hands in his pockets, staring at a photo of a bulldog in a top hat and bow tie. When he heard me come through, he turned.
“How’d it go?” I asked.
Before he could answer, Sassy and Lincoln came through the door behind me, laughing about something. I guess they worked out whatever she’d been upset about.
Sassy patted Will’s arm as she walked by him. “Have a good evenin’, Detective. Time to get my old bones home.” She pushed the door opened with a hip, letting in the balmy evening air and called back, “I’ll see you Saturday, Lincoln.”
“Later.” Lincoln stopped when he saw Will and held out his hand. “Detective Blake, right? From Rachel’s party last night.”
“Guilty.” Will glanced down at Lincoln’s scrubs. “A model and a …vet?”
“Vet tech,” Lincoln corrected him with an amused grin. “More work, less money.”
Yeah, now I remembered seeing Will chatting with him at the party while I was talking to Daisy Beaumont. I held out my hand and introduced myself. “I’m Darwin by the way. Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” he said, his smile genuine. “So, you’re looking for a dog? Sandy’s got a great temperament.”
Will saved me from having to lie again. “Actually we’re here as part of the investigation into Peter Vanek’s death. I know I already asked you about any enemies he might’ve had, but I just found out Mr. Vanek had plans to build another shelter in the area. So now I’m wondering if there was any conflict between him and Sassy over it. Did you ever see them arguing?”
Lincoln’s amused grin resurfaced as he glanced at the door she’d just exited. “I mean, yeah, but Sassy busts everyone’s chops. It’s just her way. I don’t think there was any real conflict or else Pete just wouldn’t have come back here, right? He was under no obligation to.” He shifted the black bag in his hand. “Look, I’ve been here twice a week for five years and Sassy’s become like an aunt to me … a cranky aunt, but family nonetheless. She wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“So, that was a pretty convincing speech Lincoln gave,” I said, once we were back in the sedan and buckled in. “Did you get the same feelin’ from Sassy when you talked to her, that she wouldn’t hurt a fly?”
Will shifted the car into drive. “She didn’t seem to be hiding anything, and she has an alibi for part of Saturday morning. Says she’d arrived at the shelter around nine that morning, and it could be verified.” He scrubbed his short-cropped hair roughly and then let his hand drop back onto the steering wheel. “So basically, I’m going to have to push the M.E. a bit. Until we find out a more exact time of death, she’s still on the hook.”
“If Peter died earlier than nine a.m.?”
“Exactly.”
I eyed the spay and neuter van, parked in the far corner of the parking lot, as we drove by and wondered if there was any truth to the allegations of fraud connected to their mobile program. “Did you ask her about the fraud charges?”
“I did. She said it’s all a mix-up because her employees didn’t fill out the state forms correctly. That plus she claims the van was down for a week with a transmission problem. Says it’ll all be cleared up soon.”
“Do you believe her?”
“Can’t say. I don’t have enough information.”
We stopped at a traffic light. I watched a guy on a bike cross the street in front of us. The sky was starting to soften and turn pink.
“Charlie told me Peter said something about the van not moving, just sitting there all day. Maybe it was really broken down. Maybe not. But, I remember from the paper that it was volunteer staff who brought up the accusations. Peter was a volunteer … maybe he was one of the people accusing her. There’s motive. Also, what about Peter wanting to build another shelter? Did she know about that?”
“She did. But she said the more the merrier. They were already turning animals away so she’d be glad to have someone else step up and help.”
I stared out the window. “So, now what?”
“Now I go pay a visit to the M.E. and see if we can’t nail down a time of death. Hopefully something will turn up in Peter’s finances that will tell us where he thought this new windfall of cash was coming from. Money is always a safe bet for motive.”
“Or maybe someone will just walk in and confess,” I sighed.
A girl can dream, right?
Speaking of dreams. I had a hard time falling asleep that evening. Around midnight, I gave up trying and scooped up Petey, carrying him down the stairs with Goldie at my heels.
My plan was to take the dogs for a walk to clear my head, but when I got to the bottom of the stairs, I realized I wasn’t the only one suffering from insomnia. My sisters were huddled up on the couch. Even in the dark I could see something was terribly wrong.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“What’s going on?” I stood in front of them, my heart in my throat, glancing from one sister to the other.
Mallory blew her nose into a Kleenex. Her long hair was piled up on top of her head, and she was wrapped in a fluffy pink robe. Lucky was curled up in her lap. “We’re just having a little bit of a hard time sleeping what with the crazy woman stalking us in our dreams.” Her voice rose at the end.
I stopped breathing. I looked from her to Willow. “Both of y’all?”
Willow nodded. She was facing me, but her attention was directed inward. “We were there together, me and Mal. A shared dream. Father was there, too, in this underwater world. He was trying to warn us about something. He seemed frantic, but neither one of us could hear what he was trying to say.”
Anger lit a fire in my gut. It was one thing when I felt threatened, but now this woman was threatening my sisters? I stroked Petey’s silky hair to calm myself down. He’d worked his way up to snuggle against my neck, and his warm breath against my skin helped keep me calm. “All right. Make some tea. I’ve gotta take the dogs out since I woke ‘em up, but then we’re going to sit down and figure this out.”
The park was all shadows and rustling sounds. A thick layer of clouds blocked the moonlight, making it darker than usual. I felt exposed and encouraged the dogs to hurry while I kept an eye on the Bay waters.
Water had always been my ally, but at the moment, it felt like a threat. Like it would spit that crazy woman right out of its depths at me.
Was this her intention? To take away my sense of security? Anger roiled in my gut once again.
A shadow shifted beneath the banyan tree.
“Zach?” I called, my voice amplified by the quiet evening. Nothing. Would he even show himself if he were there?
A cold chill ran up my spine. The urge to flee engulfed me. “Goldie, come.” Scooping up Petey, I hurried the three of us back across the street, forcing myself not to look back.
Mallory was seated at the kitchen counter when I walked in, using her magick absentmindedly to stretch a candle flame toward the ceiling then pull it back to a tiny speck of orange light on the wick.
Willow busied herself pouring boiling water from the teapot over diffusers in three clear glass mugs. “I used the oolong,” she said distractedly. “I hope that was all right.”
“That’s fine.”
I put Petey on the floor and he began to jump up, trying to bite Goldie’s wagging tail while she had her head in the water bowl. When she was done, she turned around and play bowed then took off into the living room with Petey in hot pursuit.
Oh to be a dog.
I glanced at the clock. Almost one in the morning. We were going to be dragging tomorrow. I slipped onto the stool beside my baby sister. Her nose was still red. “So, Mal, you go first. Tell me exactly what you saw in the dream.”
There was still a tremor in her voice when she spoke. “It wasn’t a dream. It felt too real.”
I listened quietly for twenty minutes as they recalled their experience. It was eerily similar to mine. They were in the same underwater world, empty of sea life and tinted with a violet light.
The crazy woman with the long hair was there. She’d come at them in a threatening manner, too. Father seemed trapped, unable to help and frantically trying to tell them something. The only difference was I could hear him. They couldn’t.
Mallory stifled a yawn and then said, “Maybe your water magick had something to do with you being able to hear Father?” She finally had some color back in her face.
Willow, always the calm, logical one, was making me nervous. I noticed a tremor in her hand as she lowered her teacup.
She glanced up and met my gaze. Worry pinched her brows together. “We should call Grandma Winters. It’s time we knew more about what happened to Father. If Mom won’t tell us, maybe she will.”
Mallory and I eyed her silently. She was right, of course. But Mom would not be a happy camper. She had forbidden us from questioning Grandma Winters about Father’s fate. We thought maybe she was just protecting us because we wouldn’t ever see him again and needed to move on.
But the fact that Zach had told me Father had been imprisoned—and our dreams seemed to confirm that—I was starting to think these dreams were actually visits. We were visiting him or he was visiting us. Who knows? But it was time for us to get some answers.
I reached across the counter and squeezed Willow’s hand. “Can you give Grandma Winters a call in the morning?”
Willow nodded.
I turned to Mallory. “Can you open the boutique by yourself in the morning? I’m going to talk to Zach and find out what else he knows.”
“Sure but Darwin … he’s just as big a threat. Are you sure it’s worth it?”
I thought about the last time I was in the condo with him. She had no idea what kind of danger he was to me, but I was beginning to understand. “He won’t hurt me, Mal. And he knows more about Father than he’s told me so far.”
“You don’t think he’s just telling you he knows something to keep you coming back to him?” Willow asked.
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think he’s lying to me.”
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