by Donna Ball
Corny, who had been practically bouncing on the edge of his seat throughout the telling, could restrain himself no longer. “They don’t know how Cisco works,” he confided to me earnestly. “If it had been a regular search, maybe they would be right. But Cisco loves you. He wasn’t searching for a victim, he was searching for his partner. Of course he could find you!”
Marshall smiled. “He insisted on bringing Cisco back here and handling him himself. And sure enough, less than half an hour later Cisco led us to the truck.”
Corny sat back in his chair, beaming. “Just like Lassie,” he said.
I dropped my hand over the side of the bed, where Cisco’s silky golden head rose to meet it. I stroked the plane of his skull, and closed my fingers gently around his ear. “Thank you,” I told him, and he gazed up at me with his goofy golden retriever grin as if to say, No problem. I couldn’t help grinning back.
“And thank you,” I said to the two men. “Both of you.”
Marshall inclined his head graciously. “Just a small sample of the kind of service you can expect when—”
“You’re elected sheriff,” I finished for him. “I know. And I’m still not working on your campaign.”
He grinned. “Too bad. I’d already planned to order new posters with a picture of me and Cisco on them.”
“People vote for animal lovers,” I agreed.
He said, sobering a little, “I’m glad everything turned out okay. I’ll let you get some rest.” But just before he left he looked back. “It’s a shame about the golden retriever. What do you think is going to happen to her?”
I looked at Corny. He tilted his head slightly and looked speculatively back at me. “I’m not sure,” I replied thoughtfully. “I’ll let you know.”
The nurse came in, glanced disapprovingly at Cisco, checked my vitals, and hung another bag of fluids. Corny stayed out of the way, bustling about with the ice bucket and water pitcher on the bedside tray, until she was gone. Then he looked at me, small tight lines of distress appearing between his brows. “Miss Stockton, I don’t want to upset you,” he began uncertainly. “This probably isn’t the right time, but I need to tell you some things.”
I said, “Corny, I thought you were involved in all this. You shouldn’t have lied to me.”
He looked both relieved and dismayed as he came back to the chair and sat down, his hands clasped between his knees. “I didn’t want to lie,” he told me earnestly. “I tried so hard not to. I didn’t want you to think badly of me. I just …” He sighed. “I wanted the job so badly.” He looked at me hesitantly. “How did you find out?”
I said, “In the first place, I talked to Professor Rudolph.”
He dropped his gaze, ashamed. “I hoped if I did a good enough job you wouldn’t check my references. Not all of them anyway.”
“In the second place,” I went on, “I knew you’d been in my house when you said you hadn’t been. I found one of the dog pins from your hat.”
His hand fluttered uncertainly to his hat and the distress in his eyes only deepened. “It was the first night I got there,” he admitted. “By the time I finished work it was too late to find a place to stay so I sneaked back after you closed up the kennel. I thought if I stayed in the back room just that one night you’d never know and no harm would be done … but you almost caught me when that guy tried to break in and you came outside. I didn’t know what to do so I ran in the house and hid there until you got back, then sneaked out the back door.” Again he sighed. “I must’ve left the door open, and that’s how Cameo got out. I felt so bad about that.”
Technically, of course, he hadn’t lied about that one; I’d specifically asked him if he’d been in my house on Friday, and he hadn’t been. As for Cameo … well, I was most likely the one who’d left the door open, but I decided to let him take the rap for that, just to teach him a lesson. To emphasize my point, I said, “Corny, I almost implicated you in a murder investigation. This is serious business.”
His eyes were big behind the glasses. “Yes, ma’am, I know. I’ll tell the police everything I know about the attempted break-in, and about seeing Cameo and her mom walking that night at the campground. I was going to do that anyway. I would never withhold evidence,” he assured me fervently. “Never.”
I nodded. “That’s good. I want you to know I picked up your stuff this morning at the campground. It should still be in the back of my car.” His face lit up with relief, and then fell dramatically when I added soberly, “But Corny, I can’t have an assistant who lies to me.”
The despair that flooded his eyes, after the relief of only a moment ago, was heartbreaking. But then he squared his shoulders and started to stand. “Yes, ma’am. I understand.”
“Which is why,” I went on firmly, “I’m promoting you to head groomer and general manager. It’s a full-time position with a lot more responsibility, and I need someone who can live on site. I trust that won’t be a problem?”
He looked at me as though I’d just offered him the keys to the Taj Mahal. “N-no, ma’am,” he stammered. “Not a problem at all.”
“I was thinking the back room of the kennel,” I continued. “You can use the kitchen and the full bath next to it, and you’ll be in charge of opening and closing every day. Long hours, and the pay isn’t that great, but at least you’ll have a short commute.”
“It sounds,” he said, still stammering, still looking at me in wonder and disbelief, “it sounds like just what I’ve been looking for.”
I smiled. “Me, too.”
He rushed forward and embraced me awkwardly in the hospital bed, careful of the IV tube and the ice cup, exclaiming, “Oh, Miss Stockton! Thank you! Thank you so much! You won’t regret it, I promise you that! I won’t let you down! I’ll be the best employee you ever had! I’ll treat your dogs like my own! I’ll …”
“I know you will, Corny,” I assured him, trying, a little uncomfortably, to extricate myself. “And,” I reminded him firmly as he straightened up, beaming, “you’ll never lie to me again. About anything.”
“I promise!” he declared, raising his right hand solemnly. “My life is an open book. I have no secrets. Ask me anything. I’m as transparent as glass. I …”
Suddenly Cisco scrambled to his feet and raced across the room, panting happily. I knew before I looked around who had just entered.
Cisco flung himself on Buck, and Buck, smiling, scratched Cisco’s ears and ruffled his fur. I could not help thinking, with an odd little stab of pathos, about Cameo and Greg Sellers. And about Melanie and Miles, and the woman who was trying to tear them apart. Divorce had so many victims, so much fallout, so many unintended consequences. And while it rarely ended in murder, oftentimes the pain it caused the innocent was as severe as if it had.
Cisco lowered his feet to the floor, claws clacking, and Buck looked at me. He said, “You’re looking better.”
Corny stood protectively between Buck and me, his stance suggesting that if I but gave the word he would gladly fly into battle for my sake. I had to repress a smile.
“Buck,” I said, “This is Cornelius Lancaster, my new general manager at Dog Daze. Corny, Sheriff Lawson.”
Buck nodded politely. “Pleasure.”
Corny said stiffly, “Sir.”
“You were a big help out there,” Buck added.
Corny was unmoved, remembering, no doubt, that the last time he had seen this man I had struck him in the face. My enemies were his enemies. I rather liked that, even though it might be a little inappropriate right now.
I said, “Corny, do you think you could get me some more ice?”
The ice bucket was almost full, but he took the hint, however reluctantly. “I’ll just be a minute,” he said, picking up the ice bucket. He moved past Buck with a look that on anyone else might have been construed as dark.
Buck came over to me, a large brown envelope in his hand. Cisco followed him adoringly. “Here are your things. Your keys, your phone, some dog stuff. We
kept the duct tape as evidence.”
I took the envelope. “Thanks.”
“I’ll send someone over in the morning to take your statement, but we’ve got enough on Sellers already to keep his lawyer busy for a while as it is. Kidnapping, assault on an officer with a deadly weapon, and, as soon as the ballistics report comes back on his gun, the murder of Tony Madison. Not to mention stalking and invasion of privacy. And that’s just the top of the hit parade. Of course,” he added, “our case would be a lot stronger if we could find that transmitter.”
I said thoughtfully, “I might be able to help you out with that.” He looked at me with interest and I said, “I have an idea. I’ll let you know tomorrow. Sellers said he didn’t kill his ex-wife,” I added. “He said he saw Madison do it.”
Buck gave a small lift of his shoulder. “That’s for a court of law to decide. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was telling the truth on that, though. From what we were able to dig up, that Madison was a pretty nasty guy. Three wives died under mysterious circumstances before this one, but there was never enough evidence to bring to trial. That’s why we were keeping such a close watch on him in the first place.”
I should have known the sheriff’s department had the investigation well in hand, even without my help. Buck knew how to run a case. And Jolene wasn’t bad, either.
A brief silence fell, which Buck broke before it became too awkward. “Ro and Mart are here,” he said. “They were in to see you earlier, but you probably don’t remember. Mart says she’s going to take you home with her for the night.”
“I’d really rather go home and see my dogs.”
“I told her you’d say that.”
He bent to rub Cisco’s ears one last time, then turned toward the door. “Well,” he said. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
I had to hold Cisco’s collar to keep him from following.
I said, “Buck.”
He looked back.
“I’m sorry I hit you.” I drew a breath and added, because I really meant it, “I hope things work out for you.”
After a moment he smiled, although it seemed a little sad. “I hope things work out for you too, Raine. I really do.”
When he was gone I reached into the envelope and pulled out my phone. I hesitated a moment, not because I was uncertain, but because I knew what I was about to do would change the course of my life. Or at least I hoped it would.
I got voice mail, but that was okay. I waited for the tone, and said, “Miles, hey, it’s me. Listen, there’s something I need to say to you.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Where was it?” Jolene demanded when I handed the small round disk over to her the next morning.
“In the lining of my purse. I thought I was putting it in a safe place when I put it in the zipper pocket,” I explained, “but I forgot I used to keep dog treats there too. The dogs had chewed a hole in the pocket, and the transmitter fell behind the lining.” Just like Corny’s schnauzer pin, which I’d already returned to him, had done. I added, “In a way, I guess it was a safe place. If it hadn’t gotten lost behind the lining, Sellers would have stolen it when he took my purse.”
A corner of Jolene’s mouth turned down dryly. “Dog treats?”
I shrugged. “It’s what I do.”
She sealed the little disc into an evidence bag and we walked out on to the porch. She had taken my official statement already, and told me that the preliminary ballistics report had shown that the bullet that had killed Madison came from Sellers’s gun. She had also talked to Corny, whose information about having seen Cameo and April getting into a car Tuesday night only confirmed Sellers’s story. It was starting to look as though Sellers might have been telling the truth about what happened to April, not that that made him any less guilty of subsequent crimes.
“It’s kind of sad, isn’t it?” I said as we stepped out onto the shade of the porch. It actually felt a little cooler today, although that might have been just me. After the three hours I’d spent locked in that truck I didn’t think I would ever complain about the heat again.
Jolene cast me an inquiring glance and I explained, “Sellers had a good idea with the transmitter. He might have nailed Madison, might even have saved April’s life. Even after April was found, if he’d just turned himself in and told you what he’d seen you could have arrested Madison before he even left the hospital. But he had to take the law into his own hands. Now the woman he loved is dead and he’s going to prison.”
Jolene murmured, “There’s a lesson in that, Stockton.”
I returned a dour look. “I have never,” I informed her, “taken the law into my own hands.”
It was Sunday afternoon, and the kennel was officially closed until five-o’clock pickup. I had given Corny the day off, but his idea of a day off was to set up the wading pools in the play yard and take the dogs out for a swim. I couldn’t help grinning as I watched Cisco, with a chartreuse foam Noodle in his mouth that was twice his size, chase Cameo around the yard. Pepper splashed from pool to pool, trying to keep up with the fun, but was continually distracted by the floating toys she found there. Corny tossed a flying disc for Mischief while Magic lounged shamelessly in three inches of water. I had never seen any of them happier. This was going to work out just fine.
Jolene reached into her pocket and took out a citation book. My grin faded as she tore off a sheet and presented it to me wordlessly.
“Are you kidding me?” I stared at her incredulously. “You’re giving me a ticket? For what?”
“Take it,” she said impatiently.
I snatched the ticket from her and glanced at it. There was nothing written there but a name and a telephone number. I looked at her uncertainly, puzzled.
She glanced away, trying to hide embarrassment. “It’s a doctor in Asheville,” she said gruffly. “He’s pretty good with PTSD. He might be able to help you with those nightmares.”
My irritation dissolved, and when it was gone I didn’t know what to feel. “Thanks,” I said in a moment, a little awkwardly. I folded the paper and put it in my pocket.
Her lips compressed, as though she were tasting something bitter, and she looked back at me. “You were right about your dog,” she said. “Nike is trained in law enforcement, not wilderness search. Cisco out-did her both times. I was thinking … maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if the sheriff’s department called on you from time to time. Unofficially, of course,” she added quickly.
“Of course,” I agreed, trying to keep a straight face.
“And with a clear division of labor.”
I nodded. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“And,” she added severely, “this doesn’t mean you’ve got free rein to go butting in where you don’t belong.”
“No chance,” I assured her. “None at all.”
She tried to stare me down. I just stared back. Then she muttered, “I’ve got to get back to work.”
She started down the steps.
“Hey,” I said.
She looked back, and I couldn’t resist. I made the sign for a telephone with my thumb and pinky held to my ear. “Call me,” I invited. “We’ll have lunch.”
For a moment she stood there, looking thoughtful, and then she said, “Maybe I will.”
My jaw must have dropped, because she burst into laughter. I think it was the first time I’d ever seen her laugh. “Not in this lifetime, Stockton,” she said, and I thought her step was particularly jaunty as she continued down the steps to her car.
~*~
By midafternoon Corny had shampooed and blow-dried Cameo, polished up her pink rhinestone collar, trimmed her nails and brushed her teeth, and had her looking her very best for the trip to her new home—which, fortunately for Cisco, was not very far away. Don’t think I didn’t agonize over the decision to let her go, both for Cisco’s sake and my own. But part of being in the dog rescue business is learning to put the welfare of the dog before your own, and sometimes before
that of someone you love. And when I saw the look on Marshall Decker’s face as he knelt to hug Cameo, and the way Cameo grinned back at him, I knew I’d done the right thing.
“He needed her more than we did,” I told Cisco as we watched them drive away. “And Cameo needed to be somebody’s princess.”
I sat on the porch with my feet on the top step, Cisco lying beside me with his head between his paws. I rested my hand on his neck, fingers entwined in his fur. “It’s not as though we’ll never see her again,” I went on. “Marshall promised to bring her for play dates, and whenever he has to be out of town she’ll stay with us. And if he’s elected sheriff, she’ll be at the office all the time. We can see her anytime we’re in town.”
Cisco just sighed. He definitely was not going to make this easy for me.
“You’ve got to think of what’s best for Cameo,” I said. “She’s been through a rough time. She just lost the two people she loved most in the world, and she needs someone who can help her get through that. And, Cisco.” I looked at him sympathetically. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but she just wasn’t that into you.”
Cisco lifted his ears and turned his head toward me, making me think for one surprised moment that he’d actually been listening. But it was only Corny, coming up from the kennel with a freshly groomed Pepper on lead. She was looking good and prancing high with a colorful tug toy in her mouth, occasionally pausing to give it a shake or toss it up in the air. Cisco got to his feet alertly, watching her.
“Three down, two to go,” Corny said cheerfully, referring to the dogs who, after a morning spent splashing in the pools and chasing each other around the yard, had all needed baths.
I got up to take Pepper’s leash. “I could help,” I said. “It won’t kill me to hold a blow-dryer and a slicker brush.”
“Don’t be sil! My job, my pleasure! You don’t lift a finger until you’re fully recovered. Can I bring you some more lemonade? Are you sure you wouldn’t rather be lying down in the air-conditioning?”