“So how long have you and Lisa known each other?” Charlotte asked.
“Oh, about three months. We started dating two months ago, but to be honest, we weren’t sure how you’d react, so we decided to keep our relationship a little bit more secret for a while.”
I could feel Sophie using every ounce of energy she had not to bash her head against the table. How did neither Lisa or Austin realize that telling us about them ahead of time was surely a better idea than just showing up to dinner together one night?
I was worried that we’d quickly run out of things to talk about, but luckily, Sophie decided to pitch in at one point.
“Hey Austin, did you hear that today Willow Bay had its second murder in two months?”
“Sophie,” Lisa scolded. “That’s not exactly dinner conversation.”
“It’s fine,” Austin said, smiling. “I enjoy a little bit of local gossip here and there. Do they know who was killed?”
“A local gossip,” Sophie replied with a small smile. I couldn’t tell if she was ridiculously angry, enjoying herself, or both. Austin’s smile dropped slightly, but then he pasted it right back onto his face.
“Well, that’s quite sad. I heard you ladies had a little something to do with helping the police find the last killer,” he added.
“Yeah, we just helped,” I jumped in quickly, before either of the other two could reply. I was going to do my best to make sure this dinner didn’t devolve into total chaos, for Lisa’s sake. I might not like the guy, but if he made Lisa happy, wasn’t that what was important? After all, she’d raised Charlotte, Sophie and I as a single mother; the least we owed her was to be nice to her first boyfriend that we knew of since her divorce.
Just then the waitress came by with our meals – thank God – and the conversation was a lot slower as we all focused on our food.
We made it through the rest of the meal without anyone openly insulting anyone else, and when we finally parted ways, we decided that we’d just leave Lisa and Austin there and head straight back to the bungalow. Walking through the parking lot towards the car, I thought I heard a bang behind the restaurant.
“What was that?” I asked Charlotte and Sophie, and they shrugged. “Just someone throwing out some trash.”
“Maybe,” I replied, but something drove me to go have a look. Witch’s instinct? I wasn’t going to say no to that. “I’ll be right back.”
I made my way around the side of the diner building towards the back. Most of it consisted of windows, to let the guests see the view of the water, but the far end was just behind the kitchen. I made my way over there, certain that was where the sound came from.
I was suddenly extremely aware of the fact that I was alone, in the dark, at the back of a restaurant where I’d just heard a strange noise. My heart leapt into my throat as I heard something else, there was someone in the garbage at the back of the restaurant.
Moving ever so slowly, I made my way closer, and closer, until I saw what it was and let out a yelp.
Sophie and Charlotte came running over.
“What is it?” Sophie asked, as I came out holding a dirty, ragged, but still healthy looking red and white shepherd mix named Sprinkles.
“Sprinkles,” I said, grinning from ear to ear. We’d found him.
Chapter 7
“It’s ok, Sprinkles, it’s ok,” I repeated to the little dog over and over like a mantra as he sat in my lap on the way home. He’d been out looking in the restaurant garbage for any extra food to eat. Luckily, being a vet, I always had a reasonable store of dog food at home, and I knew that in less than five minutes he’d be able to eat to his heart’s content.
Well, ok, maybe not that much. Giving dogs free reign of the food bowl is rarely a good idea, unless you like vomit. But I was going to make sure Sprinkles didn’t go hungry again tonight.
He was shaking as he sat in my lap, and I patted him softly to try and calm him down.
“Is he ok?” Charlotte asked, concerned as she saw him shaking.
“I think so,” I replied as I gave Sprinkles the best physical exam I could while in the passenger seat of a moving car in the dark. “I think he might just be scared. Is that it, buddy?” I asked, but rather than reply, Sprinkles simply burrowed his face into the nook of my arm.
Charlotte gave me a concerned look. Poor Sprinkles. I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d seen his owner murdered, and if he could help find who did it.
If it was murder at all, of course. Either way, poor Sprinkles had likely seen his owner’s death, and that couldn’t be easy for anyone.
“Hey, can we stop by the sushi place and grab a small container to take away?” I asked Sophie. “I think Bee’s going to kill us if we bring back a dog and no sushi.”
She rolled her eyes, but made the quick detour to get Bee her treat. I was afraid to know what chaos was going to happen otherwise.
As soon as we walked through the door, Bee jumped up onto a side table and hissed at Sprinkles, who cowered behind me.
“Bee, absolutely not,” I scolded. “Be nice.”
“I will not be nice. How dare you bring a dog into my sacred home?”
“First of all, this is my house, so I can bring whoever I want into it. Secondly, if you’re not nice to Sprinkles, I’m not going to give you any sushi.”
Bee eyed up the dog, trying to decide which was more worth it: the promise of sushi, or the ability to torment a poor, scared little dog. Thankfully, she eventually settled on the sushi. Maybe she was more like a dog than she realized.
“Fine,” Bee eventually said, turning with her tail up so I could see her butthole. I rolled my eyes.
“Thank you, Bee. Sprinkles just lost his owner, and he’s been running loose outside for a few days. We’re just going to be taking care of him for a little bit,” I told my cat’s retreating form.
“Don’t care, dogs are awful, give me sushi,” Bee replied from the kitchen. I gave Sophie an exasperated look.
“Sometimes I know exactly what’s going on, even when I can only hear one side of the conversation,” she snickered, taking the box of sushi over to Bee.
“Just give her one roll, we’re probably going to need to bribe her with the others later on,” I warned Sophie as she headed off to appease my cat. At least the claws hadn’t come out yet.
“Now,” I said to Sprinkles, sitting down on the floor with the dog to get to his level. “Are you hungry?”
For a minute I didn’t think Sprinkles was going to answer me. He just looked at me sadly, then came out the saddest little sound from his mouth.
“Yes, I am,” he replied.
“Ok. I have some dog food here. When was the last time you ate?”
“I don’t remember. I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok,” I told him gently. The poor dog was apologizing for not remembering when his last meal was. Sprinkles was just so sweet, I almost couldn’t handle it. “Let me get you a bowl of kibble, ok?”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“It’s no problem at all. I’m just glad we finally found you.”
I went into the kitchen, where Bee was happily munching on her sushi roll, and found a bag of kibble given to me for free by a major dog food company. It wasn’t the best quality food, which was why I just kept it at home, but it would do for a night.
Grabbing an extra dog bowl from a storage cupboard – it’s amazing the things you pick up in this job – I poured in two handfuls of kibble and brought it over to Sprinkles. I knew he’d eat it all straight away, but I didn’t want him eating so quickly he threw up.
As soon as I set down the bowl, Sprinkles’ instincts took over. I heard him muttering thank you after thank you in between bites, and in seconds, the whole bowl had been licked clean.
“Thank you so much,” he told me when he was finished, looking up from the bowl, unable to help himself and looking around to see if there was more.
“You’re very welcome, Sprinkles,” I told him. He w
as so sweet and polite. Which was ironic, given as his owner had been just the opposite. “I do have more food for you, but if you eat it now you’re just going to throw it up, so let’s wait a little bit before I give you some more, ok?”
“Whatever you say, ma’am,” Sprinkles replied.
“Oh, you can just call me Angela,” I told him with a smile. He had always called me ma’am, even when I spoke to him at vet appointments.
Charlotte came over and gave him a pat. He nestled his head into her hand and when she stopped, rested it on her knee.
“Awwwwww, you’re just the sweetest thing ever,” Charlotte muttered to Sprinkles, earning herself a glare from Bee that she didn’t see. If I wasn’t mistaken, I had a feeling my cat was actually jealous of the attention Sprinkles was getting!
“Would you mind if I gave you a bath before bed?” I asked Sprinkles. “I’d like to be able to make sure that you’re not hurt, and it’s a lot more difficult when you’re covered in mud.”
“That would be fine, thank you. I do feel quite dirty right now,” Sprinkles replied. I just couldn’t get over how polite he was.
“Ugh, willingly taking a bath? What kind of animal are you?” Bee shot at him from the kitchen, and I glared at her.
“Ok, come follow me Sprinkles, I’ll take you to the bathroom,” I told him. Five minutes later he was in the tub and I was hosing him down with the removable shower head.
“Ohhh that feels good,” Sprinkles muttered as I massaged his skin lightly with shampoo. I couldn’t help but smile. I was so glad we’d finally found him.
“Do you want to talk about what you’ve been through?” I asked him gently, and I saw a flash of fear cross through Sprinkles’ eyes.
“Talk? No. No, I can’t talk. Absolutely not. Can’t talk. Sorry.”
“It’s ok, it’s ok, you don’t need to talk,” I reassured him quickly. As soon as I’d mentioned talking about what had happened to him, Sprinkles was obviously agitated. If he had anything to tell us about what had happened to his owner, it certainly wasn’t going to be now.
When he finished his bath and I ascertained that Sprinkles had nothing more than just a couple of scrapes on him, I dried him off, wrapped him up in a towel and put him on a couple of pillows that I covered with an old blanket for him in the corner of my bedroom.
“There’ll be a good breakfast for you in the morning. You’re safe now, Sprinkles. You don’t need to worry anymore,” I told him, giving him a kiss on the head, but the poor creature was already asleep. I watched him doze for a minute, smiled, and went out into the kitchen.
“I can’t believe this! I’ve been betrayed!” Bee cried when I made my way in. I rolled my eyes.
“You have not been betrayed. We rescued a dog who’s been lost and by himself for days after seeing his owner die. We’re being nice to him.”
“I know what you’re doing. You say he’s not yours, but you’re just saying that. He’s going to live here for good, and I’m going to have to tell all my friends I live with a dog. I’ll be the laughing stock of the whole town!”
I rolled my eyes. “Bee, you see like one other cat a month, and all you do then is howl at it to get off your lawn. You and I both know that you’re not going to be the laughing stock of the town. Besides, Sprinkles isn’t staying for more than a few days.”
“You say that now, but I’ve seen how you humans work. It’s only a matter of time before poor Bee is left out on the streets to fend for herself.”
“Well, at least we know we’ll be able to find you near the sushi restaurant if we ever want you back,” I sighed, exhausted. I really didn’t want to deal with my cat’s hatred for dogs right now.
“SHE JOKES. You hear that, people? The woman jokes of my plight.”
“Bee, go to bed. You’re not going to be abandoned. You’re not going to be replaced. Everything’s going to be fine.”
“You say that now,” Bee muttered, but she slowly made her way towards the far corner of the couch and lay down in it in a little ball. Two minutes later she was fast asleep.
I sat down at a stool at the breakfast bar and put my head in my hands.
“Oh man, what an adventure today was,” I said.
“Yeah, I’m so glad we found Sprinkles,” Charlotte said quietly, glancing over to make sure Bee didn’t hear.
“I just can’t believe you didn’t tell me about Austin before dinner,” Sophie hissed.
“To be fair,” Charlotte replied, “I wasn’t actually sure your mom was dating anyone. I just kind of suspected.”
“Still. You’re the worst human being. Why would you not tell me? She’s my mom.”
“Because we knew you’d react the way you did.”
“And how was that?”
“You acted like a huge jerk.”
“Not before he did first.”
“No, he might have said a few things that weren’t the greatest, but you were a jerk right from the start.”
“Whatever. She’s my mom, I’m allowed to think what I want.”
I sat in the middle, completely exhausted, watching Sophie and Charlotte duke it out. I just didn’t have the energy to try and stop them anymore.
“What do you think, Angie?” Sophie asked, turning towards me, and I wanted nothing more than to melt into a pool of nothing in the tiles.
“I think we should worry more about Sprinkles and less about Austin,” I replied. “Who knows, they’ve only known each other for three months, it might not even last. I tried asking Sprinkles about what had happened to him in the bath, and he immediately had a little panic attack. I don’t think he’s going to be ready to tell us about what happened to him for a while.
“Awwwww, that poor little baby,” Sophie said. “He’s so sweet.”
“I thought I was going to melt when he rested his head on my knee,” Charlotte said. “I love him so much already. It’s so sad what he’s had to go through!”
I nodded. “I think I’ll wait at least a couple of days before I bring it up again. I’m going to let Chief Gary know that I found him in the morning, and then hopefully I can find out if it was murder or natural causes then. If it was natural, well then there’s nothing to be done about it. But if it was murder, there’s a chance that Sprinkles actually knows who killed Andrea Dottory.”
Chapter 8
The next morning I woke up to find Sprinkles still sleeping in his makeshift bed, but as soon as I got up and started moving around, even though I did it as quietly as I could, he began to stir. He opened his eyes and lifted his head, but didn’t make any move to get off the pillows.
“Hey, Sprinkles,” I greeted him, coming over and scratching him behind the ears. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“I’m pretty tired, to be honest. Are you going to be taking me to the pound today?” Sprinkles asked, and the sadness he said that with broke my heart.
“No,” I told him. “No, you’re going to stay here with me. I’m going to go tell Chief Gary, and I’m sure he’ll say it’s fine. Then when you’re feeling up to it, we’re going to find you a new home, ok? But not before then.”
“I’m so glad you’re not taking me to the pound. I’ve heard stories. I don’t want to go there.”
My heart broke for Sprinkles. “You won’t. I promise you Sprinkles, you won’t.” I gave him a hug, then told him to sleep in my room in peace, that I’d come back when we left with food and water.
“Is this because of the cat?” he asked, and I nodded.
“Yeah. It’s not her safety I’m worried about, it’s yours. She comes to work with me though, so when we leave I’ll give you free reign of the house, ok?”
“Can you tell her I’m sorry, I don’t mean to impose?”
“Of course I can,” I replied, smiling. I wished all dogs were as polite as Sprinkles. Every time he came in for a check-up at the vet clinic he just stood on the exam table and let me examine him. Of course, with his owner right there I couldn’t exactly have a conversation with
him those times, but it was nice to see that he was the sweetest little dog ever.
He lay his head back down comfortably on the little bed of pillows as I softly closed the door to the bedroom and made my way into the kitchen to make my morning smoothie before work.
Charlotte was out back taking care of the animals living in the stables at the back of the property, and she came in at almost the same time as I did.
“Someone’s not happy this morning,” she said, nodding her head towards Bee, who was sitting on the bookshelf, her tail dropping down over the edge, her face burrowed into the corner.
“Awwwwww, Bee, what’s wrong,” I asked, going over to see the cat.
“You let him sleep with you. In your room.” Her voice was muffled against the sound of the bookcase, and I could see Sophie struggling not to laugh at just how much my cat was sulking.
“I did. Because I wanted him to feel safe. He’d been left outside in the cold for days, I wanted him to have a nice, warm bed for once, like you do every night.”
“I do not. I have a nice, warm, couch.”
“Only because you decided to play fetch with my toes at 2am one time too many,” I protested.
“Did he sleep on the bed with you?” she asked, and the level of hurt in her voice was so ridiculous I wasn’t sure if I should be heartbroken or burst out laughing.
“No. He slept on the floor.” Well, that wasn’t completely true. But I wasn’t exactly lying to Bee, Sprinkles hadn’t slept on the bed. Bee’s tail flickered once, and I wondered if maybe she was starting to forgive me.
“When is he going away?”
“I don’t know Bee. His owner died. He has nowhere to take care of him, so we’re going to handle that for a little while. Are you ok with that?”
“Absolutely not at all.”
I sighed. “Come on, Bee. Sprinkles wanted me to let you know he said thank you for letting him stay in your home for a while.”
“The dog can say what he wants. I don’t like him, and I don’t want him here.”
“Well Bee, we all have to put up with things we don’t like sometimes. Come on, I’ll give you another piece of sushi if you move on out of there, ok?”
Barking up the Wrong Tree: Willow Bay Witches #2 Page 4