Hair of the Dog

by Laurien Berenson

  “So he kills Barry to force Alicia to turn to Ron for support,” said Aunt Peg, finally getting into the spirit of things.

  “Except she doesn’t. She turns to Bill instead. Austin hasn’t counted on the fact that Bill is happy to take her back. Bill doesn’t even care that the baby isn’t his.”

  “So he has to kill Bill too.” Peg didn’t look entirely convinced. “So what about the item in the gossip column? What was the point of that?”

  “Let me think,” I said. There had to be a way to fit it into my theory.

  “You’re making this up as you go along!”

  “Well . . . yes. But you can’t say it doesn’t make sense.”

  “Maybe to someone with a very warped mind.”

  “Can you imagine a murderer who doesn’t have a warped mind?”

  Aunt Peg finished unwrapping Tory’s ears. She stood the Standard Poodle up on the grooming table and began to scissor. I kept working on trying to make sense of things.

  “Do you remember when I told you about those accidents Alicia kept having?” I asked.

  “Vaguely. There was a broken step, wasn’t there? And a car that didn’t run? I remember that it didn’t seem like much at the time.”

  “There was also a small fire. And you’re right, it wasn’t much. Not enough to seriously injure someone, but maybe just enough to really scare them. Especially a woman who was alone and pregnant.”

  “You think Austin engineered those things to force Alicia out of that house?”

  “Possibly. And maybe he planted the item in Dog Scene to make Viv look bad.”

  “But—”

  I held up a hand and didn’t let her interrupt. “Ron has now become Alicia’s only means of support. If nobody knew about the situation, the three of them could have worked things out quietly, leaving the Pullmans’ marriage to go on the same as before. But once everything’s out in the open, it practically forces Ron to choose. Will he go to the mother of his child, or suffer the embarrassment of staying with a woman who’s rumored to be a murderer?”

  “I don’t know,” Peg said, frowning. “It all sounds quite Machiavellian to me.”

  It did to me too, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t some truth to it. Things were finally beginning to fall into place. I was sure I was on the right track. “I need to talk to Viv.”

  “The Pullmans aren’t here today,” said Peg. “I told you that before.”

  “Here we are,” said Douglas, striding back to the setup. “And in plenty of time too. I know how hard you’ve been working, so I brought you a snack.”

  Peg eyed the plate of fresh vegetables he held as if she were afraid one of the carrots might leap up and bite her.

  “She doesn’t have time to eat right now.” I took the plate and set it on Tory’s crate. I couldn’t imagine how he’d managed to find carrots, celery, and broccoli at a dog show. Maybe he’d brought the vegetables from home. “The Poodle judging starts in fifteen minutes and she still has to spray up.”

  “Later, then,” Douglas said easily. “What can I do to help?”

  “How would you feel about watching Davey for a little while?”

  “Young Davey?” Douglas’s face lit up. “I’m quite good with children.”

  Peg gave me a suspicious look. “Where are you going?”

  “I told you, I want to talk to Viv. From here, I can get to Katonah in less than half an hour.”

  “You’ll miss the Poodle judging.”

  “You can tell me what happened later.” I stood Faith up and she danced on the tabletop, eager to be included. “By the way, have you seen Austin today?”

  Peg shook her head.

  “Nor have I,” Douglas mentioned.

  “That’s odd,” said Aunt Peg. “He’s almost always around somewhere when Midas is being shown. Do you want to leave Faith in Tory’s crate?”

  I glanced at the Standard Poodle. She was wagging her tail happily. “No, I’ll take her with me. Viv won’t mind.”

  Crawford gave me directions to the Pullmans’ house and told me I couldn’t miss it. When I got there, I saw what he meant. The entrance to Pullman Manor—Lord, what a name—was marked by a pair of lantern-topped gateposts at the end of a long driveway. The house was a large white colonial, deliberately ostentatious, with a row of wide columns supporting an overly ornate portico.

  The driveway forked as it reached the house. One branch led around the back, where there appeared to be several outbuildings, including a kennel. The other branch of the driveway formed a circular turnaround in front of the door. I pulled up to the house and parked.

  It was too hot to leave Faith in the car. I held the door open and she leapt out joyously. We walked up the front steps together. The doorbell had a deep melodic tone that seemed to echo through the house. Nobody answered the first ring, so I tried it again, then waited another minute.

  “What do you think?” I asked Faith. “Nobody home?”

  The Poodle cocked her head to one side. She was looking at a window on one end of the wide porch. I wondered if she’d seen something there. Because it was easier than getting in the car and driving back to the show, I rang the bell again. This time the door opened.

  Viv was casually dressed in a pair of tight white jeans and a chambray shirt with tails unbuttoned and knotted at her waist. She didn’t seem surprised to see me standing on her front step. Perhaps it was she Faith had seen in the window.

  “Hi,” I said. “Sorry to stop by without calling first. Do you mind if I come in?” I don’t usually chatter on, but Viv’s tight expression compelled me to fill the silence.

  She held the door partway shut and stood, blocking the small opening. “It’s not a good time.”

  “I think we need to talk.”

  Something that almost looked like panic flickered in her eyes. “Not now.”

  Viv started to close the door. I braced my palm against the solid panel and pushed back, catching her by surprise. Apparently nothing in her southern upbringing had prepared her for rude guests who didn’t know how to take no for an answer.

  “Are you okay?”

  Her gaze skittered away, up, down, and sideways. She didn’t answer.

  “Are you alone?”

  Beside me, Faith stiffened. Her feet tightened and arched. Whatever was wrong, the Poodle sensed it too. Hairs on the back of my neck prickled. Suddenly I wanted to be anywhere but there.

  “Why don’t we go for a drive?” I suggested. My voice came out sounding high and unnaturally bright. “My car’s right here. Come on.”

  Abruptly the door drew back. Austin appeared in the opening, standing just behind Viv. “That won’t be possible,” he said. “Viv’s busy right now.”

  Though he was smiling, Faith growled softly. The sound rumbled deep in her throat. I agreed with her assessment. Whatever was happening here, I didn’t want any part of it.

  The only problem was neither, apparently, did Viv. She looked at me imploringly. I thought of Ann Leeds, who’d hoped to find safety in numbers but had been disappointed by the women she’d turned to for support. Now Viv was turning to me. I probably should have stopped to consider, but I didn’t. I shoved the door aside and walked inside the house. Faith, like the well-behaved Poodle she was, trotted at my heels.

  “I suppose there’s time for a short visit,” Austin said, frowning. “Perhaps your Poodle would rather wait outside.”

  “I can’t leave her out there,” I said. “She’ll run away.” I was lying, but I figured he wouldn’t know that. After all, his own dog hadn’t even recognized him.

  “Really?” Austin glanced at Faith dismissively. “I thought they were supposed to be smarter than that. I’ve never had a Poodle myself. I couldn’t stand the thought of dressing a dog up in that silly hairdo.”

  He held out his hand, fingers extended, for Faith to sniff. She did so briefly, then turned her head away. No doubt she was sensing the same undercurrents I was.

  “Viv?” I asked. “Are you
all right?”

  “Of course she’s all right,” said Austin. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

  In my mind, that was precisely the problem. “Maybe she could tell me so herself.”

  “I’m fine,” said Viv. “Everything’s fine. Really.”

  She didn’t look like she believed that any more than I did.

  “I thought you’d be at the show today, Austin. Isn’t Tom Rossi showing Midas?”

  “He’ll win whether I’m there or not. He always does. Today I had something more important to do.” Austin glanced in Viv’s direction. Pointedly, she looked away.

  “Really, what was that?”

  “Viv and I had a few things we needed to settle. You’re the first to know. She and Ron are splitting up.” He paused, looking at me shrewdly. “Or perhaps you’d already guessed.”

  For a moment I was so startled by his announcement that I couldn’t think of a thing to say. Austin mistook my silence for denial. “Oh, come, Melanie,” he chided. “I know you’ve been asking questions about me.”

  No I hadn’t, more’s the pity. What I’d been doing was asking questions about Barry Turk’s murder. And Bill Devane’s.

  “That must have been a recent decision.” I glanced over at Viv. Her eyes were wide with fear. She looked like an animal who’d been caught in a trap and was contemplating gnawing off its own foot.

  “It isn’t ... I mean I’m not ...” She stumbled over the words. Austin reached out a hand and Viv shrank back as though the thought of his touch repelled her. Her voice lowered to a whisper. “Melanie, it was him. He’s the one who did it.”

  “There, there,” Austin said soothingly. “You’re just overwrought. Once I get you away from here, everything will be fine, you’ll see.” He turned and looked at me calmly. “You’ll have to excuse Viv. She seems to be a little confused.”

  “I am not!” Her voice was louder and edged with emotion. “He’s the one who’s crazy. He killed Bill and Barry. Ask him, he’ll tell you!”

  One look at Austin’s face, and I realized that any questions I might have posed would have been superfluous. It was one thing to suspect, quite another to confront the truth head-on. Worse still, in that instant of recognition that passed between us, he knew that I knew. I felt my stomach plummet.

  Before I could react, Austin quickly moved to block the door. “I’m afraid this changes things,” he said quietly.

  Faith pressed herself against my legs. Her tail was down, her ears flattened against her head. I knew exactly how she felt. Now what?

  Austin stared at me as though he was wondering the same thing. Clearly I hadn’t been part of his agenda. We were even then, because finding myself in this predicament certainly hadn’t been part of mine.

  Behind his back, Viv began to edge her way across the hall toward an arched doorway that led into an expansive living room. Maybe she had a plan, I thought hopefully. Maybe I could help by providing a distraction.

  “You’ve wanted Viv for a long time, haven’t you?” I asked.

  Austin didn’t answer, but he did incline his head slightly, inviting me to continue. I tried out the same theory that I’d run past Aunt Peg.

  “Viv didn’t want you. She wanted Ron.”

  “That was her mistake. But I knew she’d come to see that she was wrong. Ron was bound to slip up sooner or later.”

  “And then he did. With Alicia.” I saw the pained expression that crossed Viv’s face, but kept talking anyway. “He had an affair with her and she got pregnant.”

  “He didn’t deserve Viv. What sort of fool goes out for hamburger when he has steak at home?”

  “You thought Viv would leave Ron then, but Alicia let everyone believe that Barry was the baby’s father, and there was no way for Viv to know otherwise.”

  “Of course there was a way!” Austin snapped. “I told her what had happened. She didn’t believe me.”

  Oh, yes, she had. Either that or she’d had suspicions of her own, because she’d yanked Leo out of Turk’s kennel and sent him to Crawford, hoping to remove Ron from the path of temptation.

  I glanced at Viv. By now she was nearly into the living room. Austin started to turn too. “You wanted Viv,” I said loudly. “Ron was the one in your way. Why didn’t you kill him? Why go after Barry Turk?”

  “That was obvious. Turk was inconsequential, a nobody. Besides, there was no way anyone would connect his death to me. Turk had so many enemies, the police had more suspects than they could count.” His voice was chillingly calm. For all the concern he showed, we might have been discussing the weather.

  Anger, white and hot, seared through me “What about Bill Devane? Was he a nobody too?”

  “You probably won’t believe me,” said Austin, “but I didn’t mean for that to happen. I went to his house to try and reason with him. To convince him that it wasn’t in his best interests to take Alicia back. But he wouldn’t listen me. He said he knew what he was doing.”

  Viv slipped around the corner and disappeared.

  “But your plan wouldn’t work unless Alicia went to Ron. You hadn’t succeeded in breaking up the Pullmans’ marriage, but you were pretty sure that she could.”

  “I knew she could,” said Austin. “Viv is rather charmingly old-fashioned. There was no way she was going to tolerate another woman in her marriage, especially not one carrying her husband’s bastard. All I had to do was push Alicia to the breaking point, then let her do the same to Viv.”

  “All you had to do ... ?” My voice rose and Faith tensed beside me.

  Suddenly Viv reappeared in the doorway. Her arms were extended in front of her, her hands clasped tightly around the grip of a small silver handgun. One finger hovered near the trigger as she pointed the weapon at Austin.

  “Now, Viv,” Austin said gently. “This is not good.”

  “Oh, stuff it, Austin.” Viv’s tone was tough, but her hands trembled. “It’s over. Whatever you thought you were up to here, it’s not going to happen.”

  I looked back and forth between them. A gun? That was Viv’s bright idea? Any more improvements like this, and I’d probably see my life flash before my eyes.

  Austin took a step toward Viv.

  She took a corresponding step back. “Don’t come any closer, Austin. I mean it. I know how to use this.”

  “Of course you do.” Austin extended a hand. Viv glanced at it warily. “But that doesn’t mean you will, does it?”

  Before he’d even finished speaking, Austin was already bounding toward her. Viv’s retreat a moment earlier had told him all he needed to know. She might fire the gun, but she wouldn’t do so without hesitation; and he intended to force the issue before she could react.

  For that single crucial second, Viv froze. Austin grabbed her hands and wrested the pistol away. “That’s better,” he said. “Now I need to think.”

  “Take your time,” I muttered unhappily. As if things hadn’t been bad enough. Austin had already killed twice. Anyone should have been able to figure out that arming him was not the way to go.

  I reached down and threaded my fingers through banded hair in Faith’s topknot, tugging on it hard enough to get her attention. I’d never yanked on her hair before, and she looked up at me reproachfully. I hadn’t the slightest idea if Faith would protect me. I certainly hoped she wouldn’t need to. But I wanted her to be ready, just in case.

  Austin hadn’t given her presence a second thought. His dogs were commodities, not friends and companions. It probably hadn’t occurred to him that Faith would help me if she could. Though he kept the gun trained on me, he hadn’t even glanced at her. As far as he was concerned, she was only a Poodle in a silly hairdo. Maybe we could surprise him.

  “It will have to look like an accident,” he said after a moment. “Everyone knows you’ve been snooping around. You came over here and tried to break in. Already nervous because of what happened to Bill and Barry, Viv shot you by mistake.”

  She gasped sharply.

  “Viv
won’t go with you,” I said. Beneath my hand, Faith began to quiver.

  “Yes, she will,” Austin said with the confidence of a man who is used to getting what he wants. “She’ll come to understand that this was how it had to be.” He gestured with the gun. “Go through there, down that hall. We’ll do it in the kitchen, near the back door.”

  I glanced where he’d indicated. The hall was narrow and unlit. At its entrance stood a marble pedestal that displayed a bronze statue of two Chows playing. Dog art. Many fanciers’ homes were filled with it.

  “Come on,” Austin said impatiently. “Viv, you go first. Then Melanie.”

  Viv had that dazed look on her face again. Her brief rebellion quelled, she didn’t question Austin’s instructions. She began to walk, and when he motioned with the gun again, I followed. There wasn’t time to think or analyze. There wasn’t even time to pray. When I hung back, Austin fell in right behind me.

  Reaching the pedestal, I swept the bronze off the top. It was heavier than I’d expected and felt powerful in my hand. A welcome rush of adrenaline made me believe I might even be able to pull this off. I spun around, swinging the statue in front of me like a weapon.

  I’d hoped to hit his arm, but Austin saw me coming and jumped back. Instead, the bronze slammed into the barrel of the pistol and sent it flying. The gun skittered across the Italian tile floor. Immediately Austin went after it. I went after him.

  He was quicker than me and a step ahead. I’d have never reached him in time, but as it turned out, I didn’t have to. Faith flew past me and launched herself into the air. Austin was off balance, reaching for the pistol when all forty-five pounds of her hit him in the back. He grunted and went down heavily.

  Before he could recover, the gun was in my hands.

  Austin rolled over and looked up. Standing above him, Faith showed him all her teeth. Clean, white, and strong, with a perfect scissors bite.

  “What the hell?” he muttered, hand going to his head.

  Faith growled menacingly. Who cared if it was all for show? It looked pretty good to me.