Teacup Tubulence

by Linda O. Johnston

  The restaurant was moderately busy, although the tables were spaced comfortably apart, also attesting to the place’s upscale nature. The servers were all dressed in white shirts, black trousers, and white pocketed aprons.

  We started out with hummus and pita as well as a calamari appetizer, then ordered an assortment of entrées that we would share.

  Dante was treating, as he always did. It was a festive night, complete with delicious food.

  And wonderful conversation, as I filled them all in on the latest Airborne Adoptions flights. “I’m especially thrilled to have been on the last leg of this relay,” I told them all.

  Not that any of them had any reason to know of my now-conquered—well, mostly conquered—fear of flying in small planes.

  I described how things had gone in Las Vegas, too, and how enthused the three HotPets managers were to get started actually promoting and selling the HotPets Bling collars.

  “Any idea how soon that will happen?” I asked Dante.

  “Within the next couple of weeks,” he said. “I’m stepping up the schedule since those same managers and even more from that area have started their own campaign to light a fire under me.”

  “Sounds painful,” Matt said, but of course he was smiling.

  Kendra looked a bit skeptical, a frown of concern on her pretty, youthful face. “Are you sure you’re ready?” she asked. “And just as important, is Las Vegas ready for you?”

  Rather than looking at Dante, she cast her blue-eyed gaze on me. I knew what she was asking without words. “If you’re wondering if the pet-shelter community there knows what’s about to hit them, I doubt it. But I’ll be communicating with some of them and they can spread the word.”

  “And it’s a good thing,” Matt reminded her. “I don’t know what the statistics are for adoptions in the Las Vegas area, but they surely have a fair number of small dogs.”

  “Probably,” Kendra agreed. “I do think they should be warned about what this community experienced, though. I love the positive result, but it’s only fair to share it so they can be prepared.” This time she looked at Dante, who regarded her with an approving smile.

  “I agree,” he said.

  “Now let me ask you one more thing: Are you ready to share the possibilities of HotPets Bling with the rest of the country, too?”

  I told them all about Carlie’s request to do a feature about the HotPets Bling phenomenon on her show.

  “I think it’s too soon,” Kendra said. “Wait till the national rollout is ready.”

  “I disagree,” Dante told her. “Let everywhere else hear about it and anticipate. Carlie can always do a follow-up when we’re ready to go national.” He looked at me just as our appetizers were served. “What do you think, Lauren? Would she be willing to do that?”

  “I’ll check with her, but I know she’s always looking for fun topics for her shows. HotPets Bling can surely give her two segments, and maybe even more.”

  “Great. Let me know what she says.”

  We all proceeded to eat then, and HotPets Bling and Carlie’s show were no longer topics of our conversation.

  At least not until it was time for dessert—baklava and Greek lemon cake that we all shared.

  “So Lauren,” Dante said, “any idea when Carlie will want to film her show?”

  “Soon, I’m sure. Should she contact you?”

  “That’s fine. Better yet, have her call my assistant, Sheila. I’ll warn Sheila about it. I assume Carlie will want to film at a HotPets store or two, and possibly at our manufacturing facilities. We’ll need to have some restrictions on that, since our designs and process are proprietary, but we can talk about that. Will you accompany her?”

  “If I can, depending on her timing. It should be fun to watch.” At Matt’s amused smile and Kendra’s questioning gaze, I added, “From a distance. I have no intention of getting on camera.”

  They all laughed. So, after a moment, did I.

  “One question for you,” Dante added after we’d all settled back down and were eating and sipping our strong coffee once more.

  I suspected, with that lead-up from him, that I wasn’t going to like the question. Which I didn’t. Especially with Matt there.

  “Since you accompanied Tom and Naya on their plane both ways and saw the venue and some of the people in Las Vegas, did you learn anything that might help you figure out who killed Teresa Kantrim?”

  Another question like Carlie’s. They both knew me too well.

  Dante’s gaze looked innocent, but I caught a hint of steel behind it. The manager of his most potentially successful subsidiary at the moment was under suspicion of murder, and Dante knew that I’d solved some before—and that I’d stuck my nose into this one, too.

  I felt Matt’s glare as he aimed it first at Dante, then at me, as they both awaited my response. Kendra appeared completely interested. She’d solved a bunch of murders, too, but none recently, the lucky thing.

  She was aware I’d somehow taken over for her. And, considering her romantic relationship with Dante, I felt sure she’d want all the stops pulled out by anyone trying to protect him and his pet-supply empire.

  “Not really,” I told Dante. “But I gather that, for now at least, the cops aren’t breathing too heavily down Tom’s and Naya’s necks about it.”

  “It had better stay that way,” Dante said. His brief stare at me suggested that I needed to ensure it would. Which I absolutely couldn’t do.

  But neither had I given up on trying to find out what had happened. I owed Dante a lot, and I liked the Faylers.

  At the moment, though, I had no further leads. And with the authorities not being too pushy, I hoped maybe we could all just ignore the situation for a while.

  I should have known better.

  Chapter 25

  The next day, I was at HotRescues. Where else? And, as always, I was delighted to be there. It was my second home. Maybe my first, since my kids weren’t around.

  I’d taken my walk through the entire facility with Zoey and all was well, as the kennels were being cleaned and the animals fed.

  Nina had just arrived, and it soon would be time to open for visitors.

  Back at my desk, I had already gone over the applications for the proposed adoptions of the three remaining small dogs, as well as a couple more for cats.

  There was something nagging me about those teacup-pup applications, but I hadn’t yet put my finger on it. All of the applications sounded good enough, though.

  And it certainly would be a fine thing to have this lot all accounted for when we were able to bring the rest from Carlie’s here for their quarantine.

  I heard Nina greet some people in our welcome area, but I was far enough down the hall that I couldn’t make out what she said.

  Until she started yelling. “No, just wait here. I’ll see if—”

  I stood, and so did Zoey, who’d been lying on the rug near my feet. She let out a bark, so I knew she’d been startled, too.

  Before I got into the hallway, I was confronted by Mark Black. He’d packed his skinny form into a loose L.A. Dodgers T-shirt and cutoff jeans, and he glared down at me as if he was really peeved.

  His just being there, defying Nina and showing up at my office, made me really peeved, too.

  Zoey sensed it as well. She remained close beside me, her hackles raised and a seldom-used growl emanating from her throat.

  “What are you—?” I began, but he cut me off.

  “I’ve been in this town long enough. The cops aren’t letting me go home, and I’m tired of hanging out with that miserable Elsa. But one thing she and I have in common? We want justice for Teresa.”

  “I can understand that,” I shot back. “So why don’t you just turn yourself in and admit that you killed her?”

  He did remain fairly high on my suspect list, after all. I figured the authorities had kept him in their radar for the same reason.

  But if he truly was innocent, why was he here a
t HotRescues today, yelling?

  Heck, even if he was guilty—why was he here?

  “I didn’t kill her!” His shout was loud, and he clasped his hands into fists at his sides.

  Zoey’s growl grew louder, and I knelt to hold her back—and also, I hoped, to make a change that would ease things up a bit.

  At the same time, I saw Nina hurrying down the hall. “Our security people are on the way,” she called. I knew she’d gotten in touch with the company that backed up our own security staff, EverySecurity, since Brooke and her people weren’t around during the day unless we knew in advance they were needed.

  “Great.” I faced Mark again. “You don’t have much time left here, so why don’t you tell me what you want from me?”

  “Fairness.” He did, at least, back down a little. “I know you’re local and that you’re friends with a cop, or at least someone who works here is. That has to be why they don’t arrest the people who killed Teresa and keep coming after Elsa and me.”

  I snorted. “It may work that way where you come from, but not around here. It doesn’t matter who you know here. If they have enough evidence to arrest someone, they do it. Since you’re still free—and I gather that Elsa is, too—then they don’t necessarily think you’re innocent, but they don’t have enough on you to bring you in. The same apparently goes for everyone else in the case, assuming that no one has been arrested.”

  “Then I need to go talk to those pilot jerks. I know you know them. They were at your party. I got their names from the news reports, but I haven’t been able to find them.”

  “Not that I’d tell you where they are, but what would you do if you did locate them?”

  “You will tell me.” His arms raised and I had the sense that he was going to grab my throat.

  “Nope,” I said, and brought out my not-so-secret weapon, my cell phone, and began snapping pictures of him. “You want to wind up in jail anyway? Go ahead and attack me. I’ll have proof of it.”

  That made him hesitate—and apparently EverySecurity was a lot more efficient now than it had been when I’d first needed their help some time ago. A man came barreling down the hall with Nina, who’d disappeared for a moment, right behind him. She must have let him in and showed him where to go.

  “Back off!” the guy hollered. He was in a suit that had an insignia on the jacket pocket. I recognized it, though not the burly man wearing it. Not surprising, it was the EverySecurity logo. He grabbed Mark and whirled him around to face him—probably not too difficult, judging by the difference in their sizes. Mark was way thinner, and I figured his real estate job didn’t require him to work out or train in self-defense. “Now why don’t you just leave, mister? Otherwise I’ll need to call the cops.”

  “You mean you’re not a cop?” Mark sneered. He looked the guy up and down. “Not good enough.” He nodded.

  I could see the anger churning on the security rep’s thick features, but despite what Mark said, he was clearly good at what he did.

  “What counts is that I’m better than you, bud. Now, are you leaving or am I taking care of that for you?”

  I saw Mark’s hesitation. In a moment, he turned back toward me. He sucked in his lips and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry, Lauren. What’s happening to me—well, it’s not your fault. And you didn’t have anything to do with my losing Teresa, either. But it’s all so hard . . .” To my surprise, he began to cry.

  “All right, Mark,” I said softly. “I think you’d better head back to Elsa’s now, or wherever you’re staying.”

  “That’s part of the problem,” he sobbed. “She’s throwing me out. I’m tired of her, too, but I have to stay in town and I have nowhere else to go. No money, either. I don’t know what to do.”

  If he’d been a dog or cat, I’d probably have felt sorry for him. Well—in fact, even despite his nasty actions here, I did feel a little sorry for him.

  But I had no answers or even suggestions about what he could do.

  “Maybe you could try again with Elsa. Even if you can’t pay her, maybe there’s something you can do around her place—cleanup work or . . . whatever.” I knew I was stumbling, and I hated to be less than firm. But despite how angry I was with this man, how furious I was that he’d threatened me, I couldn’t completely discount my sympathy.

  “I miss Teresa,” he cried. “That’s the worst of it.”

  “Okay, guy,” the EverySecurity man cut in. “That’s all a shame, but it’s time for you to leave.”

  I did in fact hear voices from the welcome room. I didn’t see Nina and assumed she had gone there to greet visitors.

  “Good-bye, Mark,” I told him.

  As he was led down the hall by the security guy, he turned back for an instant. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something else, but then he shook his head and let himself be shown out.

  • • •

  After assuring Nina and everyone else that I was okay, I returned with Zoey to my office. And just sat there.

  I was angry. I was afraid. I was also still a bit sympathetic.

  And I was also determined once more. Not that it was my responsibility, but I really wanted to learn who had killed Teresa. That way, I might help to calm Mark—and get him out of here so I never had to see him again. Assuming he really was innocent, and I wasn’t sure of that.

  I would also help the Faylers and thus, indirectly, a lot more small dogs and, even more important, Dante.

  So what should I do now?

  That became obvious to me the more I sat there. It wouldn’t involve doing anything, for now, that I hadn’t already considered.

  But I had already gotten everyone I’d come to believe were potential suspects in Teresa’s murder together once before. I would do it again, in about a week.

  That was when the latest batch of small dogs would be through with their quarantine.

  I seldom threw parties, either at home or here at my shelter.

  But I was about to throw one again.

  Chapter 26

  I immediately called Carlie to discuss when I’d be able to pick up the little guys and put them into our quarantine area here.

  Sitting forward in my chair, elbows on my desk, I held my breath when she answered. What if any of them turned out to be ill?

  But they all were fine. “Even so, why don’t you leave them here for a few more days?” Carlie said. “Till Friday, maybe? Just so we can keep an eye on them.”

  “That’s only to be extra cautious, right?” I asked. “I mean, you don’t see any indications of problems, do you?”

  “No,” she said. “And to be honest, it’s also so some of my staff can have more time to play with them. They’re all adorable. In fact . . .”

  She let a second pass, and I knew that was due to Carlie’s tendency to be dramatic. She was, in fact, the star of a well-regarded TV show.

  “Yes?” I prompted.

  “I suspect that you’ll get an application or two from some of my staff. And beyond that, I have a request.”

  “For what?” I asked suspiciously.

  “I want to film that show about your HotPets Bling and teacup adoptions phenomenon right away. It’s big here in L.A., and it’ll get even bigger all over the country, I’m sure of it, if Dante rolls out those collars with ads like the ones he’s done locally.”

  “He is, and soon, I gather. I’ve asked him. At least, it’ll start soon in Vegas and go from there.”

  “Great. So when can I start filming?”

  I laughed. “Tell me where you want to film and what you’ll need from HotPets Bling and from me. I’ve checked with Dante and he’s okay with the idea. I’ll give you his assistant’s contact information so you can set it up.”

  • • •

  Unfortunately, though, it took a while to get Carlie’s filming scheduled. In fact, more than a week had passed. I’d already picked up the little dogs from her clinic and kept them in our quarantine area, and the next day, which was Friday, they would fin
ally be available for adoption. I’d planned my party for Saturday to celebrate.

  But now, I had just pulled my Venza into the parking lot of the City of Industry Bling facility.

  Carlie and her filming crew had apparently arrived just a minute before I had, since they were exiting a couple of vans and removing equipment.

  “Are we all set?” Carlie asked, approaching as I stepped out of my car.

  “Yes.” I’d already told her I had discussed the visit and filming again with Dante after Carlie had talked to Sheila about scheduling it. Dante had been pleased, even though the show would be aired nationally and the rollout wasn’t yet ready to begin.

  But it would be sometime in the not-too-distant future.

  There had been ongoing discussion about when to film where, and Carlie had suggested a couple of different schedules. Dante had chosen one where the filming here, which would be brief, would be done today, then the crew would go to the HotPets headquarters.

  So as not to divulge any manufacturing secrets, this would just be an outdoor scan of the plant plus a short introduction to what was inside, not including rooms where the Bling collars were actually put together.

  That might be of interest to Carlie’s viewers, particularly when combined with more fascinating things like interviews with Chris Mandrea and some of the Bling executives. The factory building wasn’t much different from others, especially around here, but people might enjoy learning that some place that looked this blah could result in large quantities of gorgeous dog collars.

  The local staff had apparently been warned of our coming, since two people met us just outside the entry door. I recognized them from my prior visit but didn’t know their names. Both wore blue coverall uniforms. The older fellow, with mussy gray hair, introduced them. “I’m Al, and this is Jimmy. Dante told us to expect you and to show you all you want to see, but he also let us know what you could take pictures of for your show and what you couldn’t.” His dark eyes stared a challenge toward Carlie. “I’ve seen your show. Love it. But you do ask a lot of questions.”