by Marta Acosta
“I saw him at the Chili Cook-Off.”
“Take your truck back to the courtyard and block the exit so no one leaves. Call Sheriff Desjardins and tell him what happened. I need a few minutes with the boy.”
A small frightened animal will fight and Robbie kicked at me, connecting his small foot with my jaw so hard that my teeth gnashed and catching me in the gut with another blow, but I had to stay calm because he needed me to be calm.
I helped the child stand, and I kept firm hold of his arm as he gyrated in his effort to get away.
When his energy lagged for a second, I began leading him and Zeus out of the shack. We moved forward, forward from the shadows to the light and I said, “My name’s Maddie and this is Zeus. He’s was locked up, too, and everyone hated him. People were so afraid that they couldn’t see how special he is.”
We reached the courtyard, but when I saw the cluster of motel guests who’d gathered, I turned down a side path. “Zeus’s treat for finding you is a game of catch. If you let me cut through the tape on your hands, you can throw the ball for him.”
ROBBIE WAS SITTING with his arm around Zeus on the leaf-strewn ground under a tree when Oliver and his deputies arrived. “Robbie, this is Sheriff Ollie. He’s Zeus’s best friend. He sent Zeus to help you.”
Robbie ducked his head into the dog’s fur.
Oliver said quietly, “Maddie, you should have waited. It could have been dangerous.”
“Ollie, I’m the dangerous one.”
“You’ve got a nasty bruise coming on.”
I touched the tender spot on my jaw. “Occupational hazard.”
He smiled briefly. “You can tell me later. I’ve got to secure the scene and we need to take Robbie to the hospital for an exam. We might be able to get prints and DNA off him and what’s left of the tape. Can you convince Robbie to come with us?”
“He’ll go with Zeus. Call him.”
Oliver said, “Zeus, bring!” and the dog stood and gently placed his mouth over the boy’s arm and took a step. The boy got to his feet and followed.
“I didn’t know he knew that command, Ollie!”
“We’ve been practicing.”
Chapter 25
AFTER I’D GIVEN A STATEMENT to a deputy, I asked Hardwire to drop me off at my center. Before he drove away, he said, “That was something, wasn’t it?”
“It sure was. Hardwire, you know how I said you acted like a coward?”
“When you were giving me shit? No worries. I deserved it.”
“But you’re not a coward. A jerk sometimes, but not a coward. You saved a boy’s life today.”
Hardwire nodded solemnly, and I saw the man he would be someday. “I know that, Maddie, but it’s real nice hearing it from you.”
Bertie greeted me with a wag and a lick of my hand and then ran back to a slow game of chase with Heidi II.
Jaison had come back and offered to take care of evening feeding before returning to the celebration. “Do you want to talk, boss?”
“No, I want to eat. I’d been waiting all day for a barbecue sandwich. And grilled corn and peach cobbler and a strawberry milkshake.”
“I’ll run town and bring back those things.”
“No, run to town and enjoy them yourself.”
I felt strangely let down as I went to my house. Nothing was in my fridge but eggs. I couldn’t keep up with the hens’ laying so I scrambled three eggs. I cut the moldy crust off old bread and toasted what was left, wishing I had butter.
The phones rang incessantly. Sasha left a series of messages, going through the five stages of grief when I wouldn’t answer. I unplugged the landline and put my phone in silent mode.
I found a bottle of pinot grigio in a bottom cupboard and poured it in a glass filled with ice cubes. I wandered through the empty rooms, drinking and thinking. The paint on the walls was shadowed with the furniture Kenzie had taken and that’s how the house was to me—shadowed with my family’s unhappy history.
It was almost ten when a siren blasted briefly. I went outside to see Oliver’s car coming down the drive. He parked and said, “You weren’t answering your phone. Again.”
“I have a ‘Don’t call me, I’ll call you’ policy.”
“I can leave if you like.”
“My policy is primarily for jerks like Abel Myklebust, not you. I thought you’d be too busy to call me tonight.”
“I told the troops to hold down the fort for a few hours.”
We went into the kitchen and I said, “All I can offer is room temperature white wine.”
“Water is fine.” His clothes were wrinkled and his hair, now longer, was sort of a mess in a way I liked.
“Oliver, did you know that Abel is probably my father?”
“I noticed a resemblance and wondered when he let you get away with sabotaging his property.”
“Who else in town knows?” I gave Olly a glass of tap water.
“Do you think I spend my time discussing genealogical theories? But since you brought it up, my favorite is that you’re Doc Pete’s secret love child with his house cleaner, but he lost you in a bet with your grandfather on the flip of a dime.”
“Hmm, that has a built-in justification for my dad’s antipathy. Feel free to spread it,” I said. “In more relevant news, what happened with Hugo?”
“No confession yet, but it looks like you got to Robbie in time. Dirk is denying everything, and the District Attorney’s screaming that we blew our chances of a case.” Oliver shrugged. “Maybe we did on this situation, but pedophiles don’t go from zero to sixty. Hugo had the experience to have a second car stashed somewhere or an accomplice to pick up the boy. He knew where cameras could catch him, and he knew when the town would be so busy a kid could go easily missing. I’m sure we’ll discover that he’d targeted Robbie specifically because of his vulnerability. Robbie’s mother was fast on the mark though, and she made the difference.”
“Zeus, too.”
“Zeus, too,” he said. “While I probably won’t get my Bearcat now—”
“You don’t need a Bearcat.”
“Like hell I don’t.” He set down his water glass and rubbed this temples. All I could hear is the tick, tick, tick of the teakettle-shaped clock. “It was a close one. Most abducted kids—”
“Are killed within the first twenty-four hours,” I said. “Thank you for trusting me about Zeus.”
“It didn’t come easy. Not a damn thing about you is easy. You can’t quit our SAR team.”
“It’s too strenuous for Bertie.”
“He can shift out and take breaks and you’ll train another dog, and we’ll still work together, won’t we?”
“I’ll feel like I’m betraying my old guy.”
“I’ve heard you tell people not to impose human emotions and motivations to dogs.”
“I’m talking about my human emotions. I do have them, you know.”
“I could legally compel you to stay on the Midnight Runners.” Oliver came to me and pulled me tight to him. “You’re all kinds of awful and all kinds of amazing, and I expect I’m going to have to arrest you eventually for vandalism, or theft, or disorderly conduct, or being a general pain in the ass.”
I laughed. “Georgie thinks you want to be naked friends with me.”
“The more naked, the better. My sister said you turned her down. Are you still in love with her?”
“I’ve come to accept that she’s not for me, or I’m not for her. She’s a goddess, and I’m a mere mortal, foolish and fallible and flawed and severely fucked-up. What I like about you is that you understand how special she is. You’ve never tried to convince me that she’s not extraordinary, even though I may not fully comprehend exactly what makes her more than a struggling artist in a nowhere town.”
“That’s one of the things I’ve come to appreciate about you, too, Mad Girl.”
“Please tell me we’re not going to talk about love.”
“We absolutely are. I love Zeus. I
never thought it would happen, but there it is. I love that damn dog. He just makes me feel...happy every time I see him.”
I smiled. “I told you.”
“You tell me a lot of things, and this one happened to be true.” Olly ran his hand through my short hair, sending a wave of pleasure.
My breathing quickened. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Oh, I’m damn sure it isn’t.” Then he kissed me hard, his body pushing against mine.
I kissed him back, hungry for him, clutching him to me, needing to touch his skin. I pulled him to my bedroom and flicked the lights on. I wanted to see everything.
It was strange and wonderful the way we moved together because it was new to me, this physical synchronicity with someone I’d come to admire, someone I cared for and deeply trusted. And that trust was far more liberating than the safe indifference of sex with a stranger, and this time I didn’t try to find his similarities with Claire. He was Oliver only. We explored each other’s bodies, and they were bodies we knew. We knew the muscles and the movements, the smells and the tastes. We knew how we breathed when excited and we knew when we could go farther and when we needed release.
The night was warm and when we lay beside each other, our fingers intertwined, our hearts calming, he said, “What’s the tattoo mean?”
“Flowers, of the garden,” I said. “Des jardins.”
“Why isn’t it finished?”
“The tattoo artist was too damn annoying.”
“Be honest: you were the annoying one.”
“No doubt, Olly.” I gathered my courage. “Do you want me to be better...a better person?”
“What I want is someone, I want you, to run with me through the woods in the moonlight and give me all your dark sex magic,” he said, and he pulled me on top of him.
Epilogue
“MADDIE! WE’RE MAKING cookies. Do you like cookies?”
Helen Meadows stood on a chair in the kitchen while Ava emptied a bag of chocolate chips into a bowl and her brother Sean sat at the table coloring strictly within the lines of his coloring book.
“She’s not really making them,” Sean said in his monotone voice. “She’s waiting to eat them. She ate a red Crayon this morning.”
“I did not!”
Ava said, “We’ll know soon enough.”
“I love cookies, Helen,” I said. “Don’t give any to the dogs, though. Chocolate is bad for them. Don’t feed them Crayons either.” I set a cardboard box on the floor. “This is the last of my things from the living room.”
“Join us for dinner,” Ava said. “Ben’s running late, but we don’t have to wait for him. You can invite Oliver if you like.”
“Sherriff Olly let me turn on the siren,” Sean said. “I’m going to be a sheriff veterinarian.”
“That sounds like a really interesting job. You can solve animal crimes and heal the victims,” I said. “Ava, thanks for the invitation, but it’s my intention to enjoy microwaved pizza and cold lemonade while watching a new series about clones.”
The room had been painted white and white curtains hung on the windows. The counters were clear except for white ceramic canisters and stainless steel appliances. The teapot clock had been replaced by a clock that was just a clock.
“I like the changes you’ve made.”
“It’s not too much?”
“No. Change whatever you like. I feel as if you’ve exorcised all our ghosts.”
“What ghosts?” Sean said.
“Not real ghosts,” I said. “My family’s unhappiness.”
“Feelings aren’t ghosts,” he said.
“Sean!”
“It’s okay, Ava. He’s absolutely right.
“Ghosts better not eat my cookies,” Helen huffed. “I will bite a ghost!”
“I pity the ghost that tries to mess with her,” Ava said. “Maddie, I know the lease is for a year, but it’s okay to kick us out if you want to come back here. We can rent another place while the house is being built.”
“Why can’t anyone believe I’m happy in my container shack? It’s set up exactly as I like.”
“Sean and I wroted—” Helen began.
“Wrote,” Sean corrected.
“Wrote a re, re-voo of Molly Moon and the pug dogs who acted Petula.”
“Two dogs acted one dog,” Sean said. “That’s cheating.”
Ava sighed, and Helen said, “Maddie, I’ll draw you a picture.”
“Thanks! I can’t wait to read your review.” I left them in the house that now held joy and walked to the new structure comprised of three steel cargo containers by my center. Hardwire and his uncle had torched open windows, sheet-rocked, and installed plumbing, and electricity. I had enough space for combination living room/bedroom, kitchenette, bathroom, and storage space. I had a fold-out sofa for guests and a flagstone patio. All my things were arranged exactly as I liked them.
I’d finished my dinner and washed up when I heard a car approaching. I went outside and waited for Oliver to park and let Zeus out of the Jeep.
“You’re supposed to keep Zeus until tomorrow,” I said.
“I am keeping Zeus until tomorrow, but not at my house.” Oliver held up a bottle of wine with a familiar label. “Beryl Jensen gave the department a few cases. I’m told it’s too good to drink by myself.”
“Whenever I have something special, I save it just for me.”
“You’re an interesting mix of selfishness and generosity, Madeline Whitney. Beryl has offered to sponsor the Midnight Runners with an annual donation. She wants to be your friend.”
“Naked friend? She’s not my type. Besides, friendship can’t be forced.”
“Now you tell me. Where’s Bertie?”
“In the center with Heidi II. I’m trying to let him exist more fully as a dog and not my emotional crutch. It’s a constant effort. Put Zeus with the others, and I’ll open the wine.”
When Oliver returned, I’d poured the wine in jam jars. He told me about an ID scam, a disturbing rash of opioid ODs, and a fistfight at the Board of Supes meeting. I hardly ever clenched my hands or twitched around him anymore, or maybe I did and was unaware of it because I wasn’t struggling to be anyone but myself with Oliver. I enjoyed him—the energy and strength of his body, the face expressing exactly what his words did, his straight-forward manner, the tonality of his voice.
He asked about my day and I told him, “Zoe is still on her crusade for dog weddings. She seems very sincere, but I think she’s angling for a side gig renting costumes. I told her to write a proposal, but her ambition terrifies me.”
“If you go ahead, try not to be obviously scammy. I’d hate to haul you in again.” He glanced at my refrigerator with notes and a chart attached by magnets.
“There’s no progress. I returned one of Abel’s calls, but only to yell at him. He claims that he didn’t believe I could be his offspring because he has a very low sperm count—the reason his wife left him and way more than I ever wanted to know about that creep. I hit my weekly quota of calls to Kenzie, but I don’t have a quota of visits, so I’m driving to her place tomorrow. It’s strange seeing her in that condo. I thought she’d have it cluttered up with all her girly shiny fluffy flowery stuff, but it’s modern and, I don’t know, normal. She said that she didn’t need those things to disguise her surroundings anymore. I have to ask her what that means exactly.”
“The advantage of being a twin is that we are in constant psychic communication. Claire invited us to a family barbecue at her place on Sunday.”
“It’s too soon and too awkward.”
“I can list the women she stole from me, Maddie.”
“I mean it’s too awkward for me to socialize with Claire and her girlfriend.”
“You’ll eventually have to face Claire and one of her girlfriends, so think about it.”
“I could pretend to think about it, but I’d really be thinking of ways to avoid it.”
“Typical petty criminal min
dset. Franklin says you won’t give him an answer about that SAR candidate.”
“My non-answer is an answer. He can unload his perfect dog on someone who needs one. I have Bertie.”
“Good decision. She’s already been returned to the rescue group twice, which means she’s been dumped a minimum of three times. Beryl’s donation can go toward buying a puppy. A pedigreed dog is better than any random reject.”
“You’re trying to make me prove how very wrong you are.”
“I’m never wrong,” he said, coming close to press against me. He raked his fingers through my hair, tugging the way I liked, pulling the tension from my scalp.
“Let’s go on the roof.” We went outside and then up the stairs leading to the deck atop my container house. Ollie and I spotted a meteor darting across the sky. A coyote yipped in the distance and my dogs barked in response. “Jeanne Gallego was right about sleeping under the stars. I need a mattress up here.”
“You’d complain about mosquitos.”
“A mattress with a mosquito net,” I said. “The more I know you, the stronger a bond I feel with you.”
“Please don’t tell me we’re finally going to talk about love,” he said. “Because if we were, I’d mention that you always say you love your dogs. It trips off your often duplicitous tongue.”
“But I’m always honest with my dogs. Are you jealous?”
“Not so long as you’re loyal to me, too.” Oliver’s eyes shone in the darkness. He was entirely himself. I could close my eyes and recognize the rhythm of his footsteps, the timber of his voice, the scent of his skin, the taste of his mouth. When I was with him, I felt a deep quiet joy that calmed all the chaos, the tangled whirl of thoughts, the apprehension, the mess of living.
“We’re a pack, aren’t we, Ollie? Through thick and thin, rain or shine...”
“Day and night. Easy times and struggles. Because I love you, Mad Girl.”
“You’re in love with me?”
“I’ve been in love before, and this is nothing like that, because you’re not like anyone else.”
And though I’d believed that my life, in the big picture, meant nothing, I felt as if it meant something, and that was enough for me, and I was sure enough with him to be as honest as I was with my pack. “I love you, too.”