The Pomeranian Always Barks Twice

by Alex Erickson

  “Liz, I know you could use the cash.” She made a face, eyes darting around the room in disgust. “So, I don’t hold it against you for taking it. But since we were both there, and were both looking out for the best interest of Chewy . . .”

  I held up a hand stopping her. “It’s Stewie,” I said. “With an S.”

  “Whatever.”

  “And I never took the money,” I said. “I haven’t looked for it, don’t care to. If it belongs to anyone, it belongs to Junior.” Even with as little as he deserved it.

  “I promise not to tell.”

  “Courtney!” It was all I could do to keep from screaming at her. “I don’t have it. Someone else ransacked the place, so if anyone has it, it’s likely that person.”

  She pouted, before she stepped back and brushed at her shirt, which had attracted a few stray hairs from Wheels. “Well, then,” she said. “I don’t even know why I came over.”

  Neither do I, I thought, but kept it to myself. “I’m sorry, Courtney, but even if I did find the money, I wouldn’t be keeping it. It’s not mine.”

  “Uh-huh.” She huffed. “Well, if it does somehow magically fall into your hands, let me know. I’m sure we could work something out.”

  I should have continued to argue, but what was the point? No matter what I said, Courtney would still think she deserved a share. I wasn’t even sure the stash existed, yet it appeared everyone in town was interested in it. Was I the only person who hadn’t known that Timothy might be secretly loaded?

  “If I find it, I’ll let you know,” I told her, just to make her go away.

  Courtney nodded once, glanced around my place one more time, and then made for the door. “You do that,” she said, and then she was gone.

  I stared after her, not quite sure I could believe what just happened. I knew Courtney was shallow, but geesh, this was really low, even for her.

  I waited until she backed out of my driveway and was down the road before I left. I noted Joanne was standing outside, looking toward my house, a disapproving frown on her face. I think she was worried Courtney’s pink van would become a fixture in my driveway. If I’ d had it in me, I might have done something to make her think it was, just to see her sweat.

  But I was in no mood for another argument, at least, not a pointless one.

  I waved to Joanne, who sniffed and went back into her house. So much for playing nice.

  I drove by, putting my neighbor—and Courtney—out of my mind. Ben was what was important. And to save him, it looked like I was going to have to pay Selena Shriver another visit.

  19

  Clarence was sitting outside when I pulled into Selena’s driveway. It was becoming a habit, one I hoped I’d be able to break soon. I’d lost count of how many times I’d been to Selena’s place over the last couple of days—or Timothy’s house for that matter. Hopefully, the next time I was on this end of town, I’d be here to pick up Stewie, or spend a quiet few minutes with Clarence.

  I waved to him as I got out of my van. He raised his ever-present coffee mug in salute, and then continued to watch. I wondered what he thought of my constant visits, and then decided that I probably didn’t want to know, considering his near-crude comments about Selena the last time we’d talked.

  Selena’s car was in the driveway, but I was worried she wasn’t home. She could have come back, and then left again with Jason, with him driving this time. As much as I wanted to confront her about how her relationship with Ben affected her relationship with her boyfriend, I wasn’t going to wait around to do it.

  I knocked, and was pleasantly surprised when the door opened and Selena peered out at me.

  “Mrs. Denton,” she said, taking an abrupt step back. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

  “Can we talk?” I asked. Motherly anger was trying to bubble up, yet I suppressed it. She might have a perfectly good explanation as to why she was with Jason earlier. Nothing said she’d actually led Ben on, though from where I was standing, I wasn’t sure what else you could call it.

  “Uh, sure.” Selena stepped aside, sounding, and looking, uncertain.

  “Is Jason here?” I asked, going straight for the kitchen, and peering out back. No one in the pool, or around it.

  “No. Why would he be?” Nervous.

  I glanced around the kitchen, noted the lack of food dishes on the floor. There wasn’t cat food anywhere in sight, nor did it smell like a cat lived here. Selena’s house wasn’t all that big, so it wasn’t like she had many other places to hide a pet, or its things.

  “You don’t have a cat, do you?” I asked, facing her.

  Her eyes darted around the room before they finally firmed on me. “No, I don’t.”

  “But you told me you did.”

  “So?” she asked. “Telling white lies isn’t a crime.”

  “No, it’s not,” I said, “but it is suspicious. Why would you tell me you have a cat, when clearly, you don’t? Do you have something to hide?”

  Selena didn’t respond, just stood there, looking at me, face unreadable.

  “You said Jason was just a friend,” I said, not backing down. This girl lied to me, more than once, and I couldn’t imagine any other reason why she would, outside of her being involved in Timothy’s death in some way. It was the only thing that made sense.

  “I did.”

  “You didn’t say what kind of friend.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Some of her stoicism broke as worry creased her brow.

  She knows I know.

  “He’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?”

  She opened her mouth, and I got the distinct impression she was going to deny it, before she shrugged and looked away. “What business is it of yours whether he is or not?”

  “You pretended you two weren’t together. Why would you do something like that? And why would he go along with it?”

  Selena continued to hem and haw around without actually saying anything. She brushed some crumbs off the table, rearranged the salt and pepper shakers, before fiddling with a book on a nearby table.

  I waited her out. Selena was a grown adult, albeit a young one. I had quite a few years on her, and I bet she still viewed me like most teenagers did anyone older than them. I doubted she respected me—she wouldn’t have lied if she did—but she would assume I believed I had some sort of authority over her.

  I crossed my arms and pointedly tapped my foot hard enough so she could hear it. She glanced up at me, entire demeanor tightening, as if my impatience was merely going to cause her to pull within herself even more.

  So, she was going to play it like that, was she? Well, I wasn’t going to let her get off with stubborn silence. “I saw you with him,” I said. “I was buying cat food and just so happened to see you two messing around in a nearby parking lot. That kiss looked like a lot more than what two friends would share.”

  Selena eased down into a chair. “Okay,” was all she said.

  “Okay, what?” I pressed.

  “He’s my boyfriend.”

  I crossed my arms and just stared. I knew the two of them were closer than they’d let on, but hearing it actually hurt. Oh, Ben, how could you be so stupid?

  “I’m sorry,” Selena said, clearly unsure what she should say. “It wasn’t like we planned it or anything. Jason . . .” She scowled down at her hands. “I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.”

  My chest tightened. Was that an admission of some kind? “Tell me.”

  Selena took a moment to gather her thoughts, and I let her. If she was involved in Timothy’s death, I didn’t want to scare her off, press her until she clammed up.

  “I like him,” she said, voice soft, almost shy. “Ben, I mean.” Her gaze lifted, met mine. “I really do.”

  “But you’re with Jason.”

  “I know.” She slumped back. “We’ve been together for a long time, but honestly, I think it’s over. He’s been pulling away for months now, and while we still have fun sometimes, there’s just
not the same spark as there was before.”

  “But the kiss . . .”

  She shrugged it off. “It happens from time to time. We are still together.” The “for now” was implied.

  I mentally sorted through what I knew and asked, “Someone told me the two of you might be getting married.”

  Selena actually laughed. “Maybe like two years ago,” she said. “We talked about it then, but I’m not sure either of us were too serious about it. Then, after I heard he was running around with Carly . . .” Old anger seemed to bubble up, and then dissipate. “I just don’t care anymore.”

  I still wasn’t quite getting it. How did this have anything to do with Timothy Fuller?

  “Why did you lie to me?” I asked. “When we first met, you told me it was a cat in the house. It was Jason, wasn’t it?”

  “It was,” she admitted. “I didn’t know what to do. Jason knew Ben had been here, but I didn’t want him to know anything else. As far as he knows, Ben and I are just friends. I mean, I guess we are. Were. I don’t even know what we are. Or what we could have been if, well . . .” She motioned in the direction of Timothy’s property.

  “So, you’re interested in Ben?”

  “Yeah.” A shy smile crossed her lips. “He’s nice.” The smile faded. “I said what I did about him when Jason was here, just to throw him off. I didn’t mean for it to sound like I was accusing Ben of something.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “About Ben, about him leaving for a little while.” She reddened, refused to look up. “When Jason got here and found out some guy was here, I had to say something, so I told him Ben was a friend from school. Then, when you showed up, I hoped that saying I dozed off, and that Ben left, he’d leave it alone.”

  It sounded awfully convoluted to me, but what did I know? I’d never been in a situation like this before: torn between two men, and having it happen right when a murder takes place next door. Selena was probably just as confused about the whole thing as I was.

  “So, you lied to me because you didn’t want Jason to know you were interested in Ben?” I asked, just to be sure.

  “I know,” she said. “It sounds stupid, but I panicked. Mr. Fuller was murdered, and I was having problems of my own, and I just didn’t want to deal with it. I thought if I made everyone believe there was nothing between Ben and me, then it would all go away.”

  “Until you broke it off with Jason,” I said.

  She nodded. “I was thinking of doing it soon, I swear.” Then, she sat forward, finally meeting my eye. “I didn’t want Ben to get into trouble. I’m sure he had nothing to do with Mr. Fuller’s death. I didn’t mean to make it sound like he did, not really. I was just so scared.”

  “You could tell the police he was with you the entire time,” I said. “Let them know he couldn’t have killed Timothy.”

  “Well . . .” She looked like she was going to tell me something I wouldn’t want to hear when she sucked in an excited breath, and abruptly stood. “The car!” She hurried to the back door and went outside. I followed after her, but if there was a car back there, I sure didn’t see it.

  “What car?” I asked, when all she did was stand there, looking out toward a back alley that ran along the rear of both properties. I touched her arm and asked again. “Selena, what car?”

  “It wasn’t when Ben was here,” Selena said. “But afterward, that night.”

  “Okay?”

  “I was sitting out here with Jason, just chilling, when I saw it. I didn’t really think much of it since you can’t really see anything.”

  Which was true. A couple of small trees sat at the edge of Selena’s property, as they did next door. If a car were to drive by, it would be mostly obscured, right up until it vanished behind Timothy’s barn.

  “It was just getting dark,” she went on. “And I might have had one or two too many to drink.” She glanced at me. “It was a stressful day, so, you know, I might have overdone it.”

  I nodded and motioned for her to go on.

  “Anyway, I was sitting here when I noticed the headlights.”

  “The car was coming this way?”

  She shook her head. “I only noticed them when they snapped off. The car coasted down the alley, then went quiet. I didn’t see anyone, or hear anything after that, but I found it odd.”

  “Someone broke into Timothy’s house,” I said. “It might have happened late at night.” Could the car she had seen been driven by the person who’d broken in? I found it likely.

  “I heard.” She shuddered, hugged herself. “I’m not sure if anyone actually got out of the car, because, like I said, I’d been drinking, and Jason was here. We went inside a short time later, so if someone did break into the house then, I didn’t see it happen.”

  My mind raced. Who would have wanted to sneak in, unseen? Junior had a key, and honestly, had every right in the world to be there. Jason was supposedly with Selena at the time, and Ben was in jail.

  So, who did that leave? Duke and Courtney might have come looking for the money, but I somehow doubted they’d go so far as to break in to look for it. Courtney might be the type, but Duke wasn’t. He would have talked her out of it.

  There was always Meredith. She might have come back for the cash, figuring it best to do it at night since Junior seemed to hang around during the day. She didn’t live too far away and after the abuse she’d suffered from Timothy, she felt she was owed. Other than that, I couldn’t think of a single person who would snoop around in the middle of the night.

  Amelia, maybe? She could very well have snuck out and come out here, just to have a look around. I wasn’t sure what all her interest in being a detective had her doing. Could she have been waiting for the killer to return to the scene of the crime?

  “Look, Mrs. Denton, I’m really sorry about Ben, and I really do hope he gets out of this okay,” Selena said, drawing me out of my thoughts.

  “I hope so too,” I said. And then, because I couldn’t let it go, “Have you seen anyone hanging around next door lately? Anyone who doesn’t belong?”

  “I wish I could help,” she said. “But I’ve told you everything I know. I’m sorry.”

  The house next door practically grinned at me. There were secrets there. I could feel them, tucked away in dark corners, in hidden crevasses.

  And all of those hidden secrets appeared to lead right back to Timothy Fuller and his money.

  “Do you think it would be all right if I went to see him?” Selena asked, drawing me out of my thoughts yet again.

  “Who? Junior?”

  “No, Ben.” She scuffed one shoe on the patio. “I was thinking that if he did get out of this okay, that maybe we could catch a movie or something.”

  “You can try,” I said. Though, honestly, I didn’t really want her hanging around my son, not until she broke it off with her current boyfriend. Ben had already been through enough, he didn’t need his heart broken on top of everything else.

  I wondered if I should tell him about Selena’s two-timing, or if I should make her do it, especially if he wanted to see her again. I knew it wasn’t my place, but he was my son. I couldn’t let him make a mistake when I knew I could do something to stop it.

  He might be mad at me after, but as long as he didn’t end up with his heart broken, I was okay with that.

  I left Selena a few minutes later, thinking I might go see Ben. Perhaps there was something he remembered, something I could use to help him. I wasn’t sure what that something might be, considering he’d likely told everything to the police already.

  I was about to get into my van when a faint sound came from Timothy’s house. I froze and held my breath to listen, not quite sure I’d heard it right. Nothing happened for a good ten seconds.

  And then it came again.

  A pair of high-pitched, angry yaps.

  There was no car in the driveway, and I hadn’t seen one out back when I’d been looking.

  Had Junior brought Stewie b
ack to the house, only to leave him unattended?

  There was no way I could let that stand.

  Leaving my van in Selena’s driveway, I marched across the yard, ready to give Junior—or anyone else who would abandon a dog like that—a piece of my mind.

  20

  I’d just reached the front door to Timothy Fuller’s house, when a crash sounded from inside. It was quickly followed by a heavy thump that shook the door in its frame. My heart rate ratcheted up as I pressed my ear against the door.

  No one was speaking, and the barking had either been muffled, or had stopped. Remembering how Junior had cornered Stewie before, I wondered if that was what was happening now.

  But if that was the case, where was Junior’s car?

  Someone had already broken into the house once already, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if it happened again. But in broad daylight?

  I glanced to the house across the street, but Clarence was no longer outside. A flutter of fear shot through me. What if something had happened to the old man? Maybe Timothy Fuller’s death had nothing to do with money. Could there be an elderly man killer on the loose?

  I suppressed the thought. There was no need to panic quite yet.

  Maybe I should call Detective Cavanaugh, I thought, torn between running across the street to check on Clarence and investigating Timothy’s house. The detective could deal with the situation far better than I could.

  But what if he was too slow in getting here? If it was someone looking for Timothy’s stash, they might find it at any moment.

  Then sit back and watch the house. There was no reason to go inside and risk my life when I could wait for whoever was inside to leave. I had my phone; I could snap a few pictures to take to Cavanaugh later.

  Another crash came from within. It was followed by the startled yip of a Pomeranian.

  Nope, there was no way I was going to stay out here if someone was hurting Stewie.