by Donna Doyle
“There’s the man of the hour!”
Courtney looked up to see two men walk into the rescue. She recognized Detective Fletcher, but not the tall, slim man who strode along next to him. Courtney stood up and stepped out of the kennel. Gunnar came out with her, accustomed as he was to accompanying her. He sat obediently at her feet.
The detective made the introduction. “Miss Cain, this is Shawn Ryder, the trainer I told you about.”
The slim man extended a hand. “I owe you a big apology. I was very sick, bad enough that it put me in the hospital. When I got back home and found all those messages from both you and Detective Fletcher, I felt absolutely terrible. This poor guy needed my help, and I wasn’t around to give it to him.”
“That’s all right. I completely understand, and I hope you’re feeling better.” Courtney shook his hand and instantly felt good about him. He was one of those people who just felt genuine and kind.
“This is him?” Mr. Ryder slowly extended the back of his hand for Gunnar to sniff. He smiled as the dark nose grazed his knuckles.
To Courtney’s surprise, the very tip of Gunnar’s pink tongue appeared. He licked Shawn’s hand and wagged his tail.
“He approves of you!” Courtney said excitedly. Gunnar was a good dog, and he’d never outwardly shown any aggression to anyone but the pizza man and Officer Holland. Even so, he’d remained reserved around most folks, and it gave her that much more hope to see him reacting like this.
“I’m glad to see it,” Shawn agreed. “I’ve done some training with police dogs before, and I was actually just starting up a new program with them so that local police wouldn’t have to import animals from other countries that are already trained. It happens a lot, and sometimes it puts a lot of stress on those canines to go through customs and quarantines and whatnot. I think it would be a lot better for the community and for the animals.”
“Strictly German Shepherds?” Courtney asked.
The trainer shook his head. “They’re traditional, but any dog who shows the intelligence and the willingness to take orders should be considered. Some of them might flunk out of the police program and still work out for assistance dogs or even pets. I’d love for Gunnar to come on board with us. With his experience, he can actually help train new officers.”
Courtney’s heart leapt in her chest. She was excited for Gunnar, but she hated to see him go. “I don’t think I can say no to that, but I do have one request.”
“Certainly.”
“If for any reason he doesn’t work out with you and your program, bring him back here to us. He’s had a few problems since his owner passed away, and I wouldn’t want him to get put down just for suffering from a long-term heartache.” She sadly scratched Gunnar behind the ears. He’d become a huge part of her life over the last couple of weeks, and she’d miss him terribly. Mrs. Peabody would never let her have him at her apartment, and it would take a lot of effort if she ended up having to move just so she could take in a pet, but she would seriously consider it for a dog like Gunnar.
Shawn shook his head. “You won’t need to worry about that. I’ve got a huge training facility with lots of land, and I live right there on the property. If he’s not successful with the program, he’ll be napping in front of the fireplace.”
Courtney breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s wonderful. Thank you so much. You should know that Gunnar did go after a couple of people. One was a pizza delivery man, but Gunnar only wanted his breadsticks. An officer at the police station also got a scare from him, but it was because he smelled drugs in the man’s desk.”
Again, Shawn waved away her worries. “That’s not a problem at all. Detective Fletcher explained all that to me.”
“Okay. I’ll get you started on the paperwork.” Courtney clipped a leash to Gunnar’s collar and handed the other end to Shawn.
“Actually, is there someone else who can do that?” Detective Fletcher asked. “I’d like to talk to you for a moment.”
Puzzled but very curious, Courtney found Jessi in the office and told her what was happening. She got Shawn started on the paperwork. Courtney and Detective Fletcher headed into the cat rescue area at his suggestion.
“I think I told you I was a cat person,” he said quietly as he put his finger through the wires to tickle the chin of a big marmalade. “I still am, but Gunnar has given me a lot to think about.”
“Is that what you needed to talk about?” Courtney asked, trying not to giggle. “You’d like to adopt a cat?” Fletcher was always so somber and serious, but she caught the little bit of a smile the feline tenants were bringing to his face.
“I’ve been thinking about it, but no. I actually thought you deserved to know a little bit more about what had actually happened with Officer Holland.” Fletcher moved on to the next cage, which held a large tuxedo cat with golden eyes. “Oh, you’re a handsome fella, aren’t you?”
Courtney unlocked the cage and put the cat in Fletcher’s arms. “His name is Artemis.”
“Hi, buddy.” The cat settled down, purring happily as the detective talked. “Whether you or Gunnar quite realized it or not, Don Holland killed Officer Cheatham.”
Grateful she was still standing near the cage so she could lean on it for support, Courtney drew in a deep breath. “Really? Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. Gunnar finding those drugs in his desk was just the beginning of what has unfolded into a rather massive case over the last few days. You see, Holland was selling drugs on the street. He’d take something from the evidence locker here or bribe a dealer there. He was making a ton of money, and he had all the right connections since he was the head of the drug task force for the police department. He thought he was untouchable.”
“Wow.” Courtney hadn’t been sure about Holland from the beginning. He was too big and brash, his confidence overwhelming. Even when he’d talked to her about Big Mike out in the woods, she’d had the feeling that he was probing her for other information. “I imagine that’s created quite a problem.”
Fletcher let out a little chuckle as he rubbed the cat’s belly. Artemis closed his eyes in absolute bliss. “You bet. That one little bag in Holland’s desk opened an entire investigation into the department and what was happening in it. You see, Holland and his arrogant attitude only went so far. Cheatham was onto him. He knew that he couldn’t simply accuse another officer without solid proof, so he was in the process of gathering that before he outed him. Holland caught onto it, and he poisoned Cheatham with arsenic. It wasn’t hard for him to do since they worked together all the time.”
“But I thought the official report said Cheatham died from a heart attack?” Courtney had started to get suspicious about the circumstances around the late officer’s death as she and Gunnar got out into the community, but she hadn’t really had a reason to think he’d been murdered.
“Sure. Arsenic mimics a heart attack when it comes to autopsy results, but Holland had a little extra help since the coroner was in his pocket.” Fletcher scratched the underside of the cat’s chin. Artemis let his head fall back, his eyes squeezing shut.
Courtney could just imagine how the police department must’ve been turned completely on its head. “You’re kidding!”
“Nope. It turns out Holland was selling drugs to the coroner himself, who was taking them to self-medicate for stress from work. He knew that if word got out, he’d get sacked. Holland used that as blackmail and made him fudge the autopsy results.” The cat in Fletcher’s arms suddenly sat up and rolled over, but only so he could cling to the man’s chest and butt his head up under his chin.
“All of that over one little find from Gunnar,” Courtney marveled.
“He was certainly the start of it,” Fletcher agreed. “He more than deserves his medal and his bone. Gunnar was responsible for finding Sophia Parr, but it was her disappearance and recovery that made the coroner confess. He knew that she was one of Holland’s customers. It was one thing to look the other way when adults were
making their own decisions, but not an innocent teen girl. Once he found out about her, and then Gunnar put it all out for the world to see, the coroner couldn’t keep silent anymore.”
“Wow,” Courtney repeated, trying to sort the information in her head and to make sense of it all. “Maybe that was why Gunnar had been acting so strangely after Cheatham died. He knew his owner had been murdered.”
Fletcher nodded slowly as he stroked the cat’s back. “I think so, too. That dog had something to say, but he had to figure out how to tell us. You said Gunnar attacked a delivery boy, right?”
“Yes,” Courtney said with a grimace, wishing she could forget that day. “We’d ordered Russo’s for lunch.”
“And was it the garlic breadsticks he went after?”
She nodded.
“Arsenic smells like garlic. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gunnar had smelled that on his owner as he passed away and associated the two smells. He was always a great drug dog, and I think he knew a lot more than any of us could imagine giving him credit for.” He smiled again as Artemis pushed his head all the way up against Fletcher’s throat.
“That explains it,” Courtney said, all the pieces falling into place. “Cheatham’s wife let me take a handkerchief of his to see if it would console Gunnar. He wasn’t interested, but I’d accidentally wiped my hands on it when I was making pesto.” She shook her head in disbelief at how complicated it had all been.
“Makes sense. You know, in all the years I’ve been in this line of work, I’ve come to realize that sometimes the clues are right in front of you. It’s hard to know it when they seem so circumstantial, but they’re there,” Fletcher said.
Courtney pressed her lips together uncertainly. She and Detective Fletcher were starting to build up a nice working relationship, but once again her curiosity was a stronger urge than anything else. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“I met with Carolyn Cheatham to talk to her about Gunnar. When I pulled up to her house, I saw you leaving. I don’t mean to be nosy, but I thought it was strange, especially given the early hour.” She didn’t want to say out loud that it was even more strange, considering that Fletcher was a married man.
“Oh, that,” the detective replied, unflustered. “I was put in charge of going through Cheatham’s desk and locker, and I found his extra house keys he had stashed in a drawer. I wanted to be sure they were in the hands of the person in charge of his estate. The two of us got to talking and reminiscing, and since I hadn’t had my coffee yet, I nearly forgot to give the keys to her until I was leaving.”
“I see.” There it was. Every knot was tied up, every puzzle piece put in place. “The next time I have an animal acting strangely, I’ll think a lot more about why. Do you want me to put him up for you now? I’m afraid he’s gotten hair all over you.” Courtney held out her hands to take Artemis back.
But Detective Fletcher took half a step back and held onto the cat even tighter. “Don’t bother. I’m in love.”
It was the sweetest thing. Courtney loved seeing people come to the shelter, often “just looking” at the available pets. Sometimes they left empty-handed, but in other instances they fell head-over-heels in love and absolutely couldn’t leave without a new member of their household. She could tell by the look on Fletcher’s face that this was one of the latter. “I can mark him as pending if you need to talk to your wife,” she offered.
“No need. She’ll understand.”
Artemis, who must’ve understood what was happening, purred even louder.
“Sure thing. We’ll head right this way and do the paperwork.” Courtney grinned as they moved into the office, where Jessi was finishing up with Shawn.
“You’re all good to go,” she said as she handed the dog trainer his copy of the papers. “Any questions about anything?”
“No. Thank you very much.” Shawn shook Jessi’s hand and then moved over to do the same with Courtney. “I really appreciate your patience, both with me and with Gunnar. I think he’s going to do really well.”
Courtney knelt to give Gunnar one last hug goodbye. “He was more than worth it. Here. This should go with him.” She took the medal down from the wall and hung it on the dog’s neck. “He deserves it.”
She watched them go, knowing that Gunnar was finally going to get the home he deserved. He’d only been with the Curly Bay Pet Hotel and Rescue for a short time, but his future had been tenuous for a moment. It couldn’t have worked out better.
“Detective Fletcher?”
“Hmm?” The man was so occupied with his new best friend that he didn’t even lift his head to look at her.
“I’m afraid you’ll need at least one hand free to fill out the paperwork for Artemis,” she said with a smile.
Instead of trying to set the cat down or asking to put him back in his cage, he simply shifted the feline’s weight, holding him like a baby in his arms as he picked up the pen.
Chapter Nine
Courtney took a deep breath and lifted her fist to knock on Mrs. Peabody’s door. She’d avoided taking care of this for long enough, and she’d used Gunnar as an excuse. It was time to change that.
The old woman swung the door open rapidly, glaring up at her. “Yes?”
“I’ve got the rent,” she said, proffering the money order. “It’s for both this month and next month, so there’s no chance of getting behind again. I really am sorry.”
“Hm.” Mrs. Peabody snatched the payment from her hand and peered at it through her thick glasses. “Well. I suppose it’s all in order.”
“I truly do apologize for any inconvenience I might have caused you. That was never my intention, and I shouldn’t have let myself get so distracted with other problems that I didn’t take care of my own quickly enough.” She’d never have made that mistake when she lived in the city, but life was just completely different here in Curly Bay. Courtney cared about her job in a completely different way, and even though she wasn’t putting in the long hours that she’d worked at Miller and Martinez Marketing, she still put the rescue as a priority over her own life.
Mrs. Peabody sighed, and the barest hint of a smile touched her thin lips. “It’s all right, dear. I was a bit harsh on you. It isn’t as though you’re the first person to make a mistake. Things have been a little hard on me since my George died. It was his idea to rent the land out, and it was his passion to take care of it and run the rental business. There are some days I just don’t feel up to the task.”
Courtney felt so sorry for her. This poor woman was running a major business on her own, and at a time in her life when she should be able to crochet on the front porch all day without a care in the world. “I’m really sorry to hear that.”
“Would you like to come in for some tea?” Mrs. Peabody asked hopefully.
Checking her watch, Courtney shook her head. “I’m afraid I’ve got to get to work. But we’ll do it another day?”
“Sure.”
When she’d bid goodbye to her landlady, Courtney headed to the shelter. She had a big day ahead of her, since she planned to do more research and figure out how to get that foster program started. Gunnar had kept her well occupied for the last couple of weeks, and now it was time to knuckle down to work.
Ms. O’Donnell was waiting for her as soon as she came in the door. Her blonde hair bounced around her head as she practically jumped on Courtney. “Can you believe it? It’s just incredible!”
“What? What is it?” Courtney asked, wondering if she should be alarmed or excited.
“Check our social media account! Quick! Hurry!” Ms. O’Donnell pushed her toward the office.
Sitting down at her desk, Courtney turned on her computer and logged in. As soon as she did, she realized just how flooded their page was. The inbox was absolutely packed with new messages, and there were more notifications than she could reasonably go through. “That’s incredible! Is this because of Gunnar?”
“Yes, and because of you, too,�
�� Ms. O’Donnell said with an enthusiastic nod.
“Me?” Once again, Courtney was starting to wonder if she’d woken up in an alternate dimension. Everything was happening quickly, and none of it made sense.
“I should wait for him to tell you himself, but Detective Fletcher called here just before you arrived. You’re getting an award for your part in solving Officer Cheatham’s murder!” The owner clapped her hands together excitedly.
Courtney was glad she was sitting down. “Me? But I didn’t do anything.”
“The police department disagrees, and so does a man by the name of Carl Olson. Apparently, he used to be a drug dealer. Cheatham arrested him and helped him get on the straight and narrow. He owns a pet shop here in town, and he’s donated a big gift certificate to give you!” She added a little squeal of excitement.
“Fletcher told you all that?” Courtney asked, tipping her head to the side. Fletcher wasn’t exactly known for being a talkative man. The exchange they’d had about Cheatham’s death was a longer string of words than she’d ever heard him put together before, and she found it hard to believe that he would volunteer so much information over the phone.
“Well, I sort of pulled it out of him,” Ms. O’Donnell admitted. “But word is already getting out. Someone was asking about it on our page. There were also a ton of inquiries about Gunnar. I responded to a few of them and told them he currently had a home, but now they’re looking at all the other pets we have available for adoption. Everyone else is asking for an appointment at the spa, and we’re booked solid for at least the next month! Dora’s going to have to work overtime to make it happen!”
Courtney wasn’t sure if Dora would be thrilled or irritated, but there was no doubt this was going to be good for the business. The more animals got adopted out, the more they could save. The more pets who came to stay at the hotel or to get a spa treatment, the more funding they had for the rescues. It was a big cycle, and she hoped the momentum kept going.