Dog Biscuits

by Geonn Cannon

  “This is a surprise,” Gwyneth said. “Is Dale with you?”

  “No, she’s at home. I wanted to talk with you privately.”

  “Is everything okay?”

  Ari nodded. “I just wanted to get your advice.”

  Gwyneth raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

  “Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

  “Of course.” She stepped to the side and invited Ari in.

  A pair of suitcases were sitting next to the foyer closer. Airport tags dangled from the handles. “Traveling?”

  “Uh, yes. Just a quick trip. I got back late last night.”

  “Anywhere fun?”

  Gwyneth avoided eye contact as she brushed past her daughter. “Uh, London.”

  Ari grimaced and followed her into the living room. “Aha. So. Still seeing Milo?”

  “I’m not ‘seeing’ anybody, Ariadne. But in the interest of full disclosure, yes. I did see Miss Duncan while I was there.”

  Ari tried to be okay with the revelation as she perched on the arm of her favorite chair. There were so many reasons Milo wasn’t right for her mother. She was much too young, for starters. She had been enlisted by Gwyneth and another canidae named Ben in a convoluted scheme to break up Ari and Dale. And there was the fact she was a woman. Ari was confused by how big a factor Milo’s gender was, but she couldn’t help it. Her mother had never hinted at any same-sex attraction, and now she was hooking up with someone young enough to be her daughter? It was unsettling.

  Gwyneth sat on the couch, hands flat on her thighs. “I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to bring down the hunters. I never had time for a social life. Now that wolf manoth has been quashed, I have free time to explore myself. That includes my sexuality. But I doubt you came here to judge me for my choice in casual sex partners, so why don’t we just move on?”

  “Right.” Ari brushed her hands over her thighs. “I got a job offer from GG&M. They want me to be their in-house investigator. I’ve been on probation with them for the past couple of months and, when that ends, the head partner is going to offer me a full-time job. It would mean giving up Bitches. More importantly it would mean not working with Dale anymore.”

  “I see. What does Dale think?”

  “She doesn’t want me to make a decision based on how it affects her. But she’s told me how much she loves her job. If I take it away from her…”

  Gwyneth said, “You’re not necessarily taking it away from her. You’re simply moving forward without her.”

  “Yeah, that sounds much better.”

  “It would be a promotion? Higher pay?” Ari nodded. “Safer?” Another nod. “Other than Dale’s employment, what are the cons?”

  Ari said, “I don’t like the woman I’d be reporting to. I don’t want to report to anyone. I like being my own boss.”

  “Sure. Who wouldn’t. But sometimes you need to think of the future. Dale’s feelings might be hurt for a while, but that will blow over. You might be grateful for a larger paycheck in a few years. You could be putting away toward your retirement.” She sighed and looked at her feet. “Of course, none of that would be necessary if you would just allow me to take care of you.”

  “I’m a little old for an allowance.”

  “Parents help their children, Ariadne. There’s no shame in that. And there’s no shame in taking a better-paying version of the same job you’re doing now. Dale will understand if you make that choice, because she’ll understand you’re making it for the both of you. If you decide to take the job for more money, it will be so you can better take care of her. She’s a smart young woman. And she adores you.”

  Ari said, “Everything I’ve built, and that we’ve built together, would just go away. Bitches would cease to exist.”

  “Maybe Bitches existed to bring you and Dale together. It gave you an environment to find one another, become friends who grew into lovers. And now that you’re a couple, it served its purpose. It can be put to rest.”

  “Maybe,” Ari muttered.

  Gwyneth said, “I hope that didn’t seem too harsh. I’m extremely proud of everything you’ve accomplished with your agency. But I feel as though you’ve already made up your mind to say no. I thought I would play devil’s advocate. If it made you angry, well… I’m used to you being angry at me.”

  “No. You just told me what I haven’t been admitting to myself. Maybe I can take the job without ruining what I have with Dale.”

  Gwyneth laughed and stood up. “Sweetheart, as someone who tried to destroy that relationship - an act for which I am very, very sorry - I can assure you that the bond between you and your partner is as strong as any pack I’ve ever seen. To break that woman’s heart would take an act of cruelty I don’t believe you’re capable of.”

  “Thank you, Mom.”

  Gwyneth kissed Ari’s cheek. “Whatever decision you make, now that I’m proud of you.”

  Ari nodded and stood up. “I should go. I have to follow a hockey player around tonight.”

  “Be safe.”

  “Always. And with… your… things… be safe, too.”

  Gwyneth smiled. “I will.”

  Ari avoided looking at the suitcases on her way out of the house, hoping ignoring them would speed her erasing their meaning from her brain.

  #

  “U guys better not of sent me to one of them queer bars!”

  Ari had gone home to have dinner and play nursemaid for Dale while she waited for Dubov to start his night out. She kept an eye on his tweets so she’d know when he was on the way to the karaoke bar. It only took an hour before she felt like she had to wash her phone. The guy couldn’t spell, could barely complete a thought, and once he reached Capitol Hill, they became horribly homophobic. “Everything heres RAINBOWS! Even Xwalks r damn RAINBOWS!” and “Pretty soon gona be illegal to be STR8! Just watch!”

  Dale elected to stay home due to her injury, but Ari kept her on the phone for the short drive. “Even if he’s not the guy who tried to run us over, can’t I rough him up a little just on principle?”

  “Sure. Get in a few good licks for me.”

  Ari sneered and looked down the street from where she had parked. It wasn’t much of a crowd yet so she felt confident she could get in even without showing what little cleavage she had available. If Dubov had seen the rainbow crosswalks he had to be close.

  “In all honesty,” Dale said, “this is exactly the kind of thing the team owners are looking for. Seattle is an extremely gay-friendly city, especially compared to some other franchise cities in the league. If the Totems want someone who will represent the values of the city, they’re not going to want this guy who is spewing hatred about queers on his Twitter feed.”

  “True. So either way, I can put a big red X on his name.”

  “Exactly.”

  Dubov rounded the corner, staring down at the phone clutched in hands so big it looked as if he was wearing his uniform gloves. As he approached he stuck the phone into the pocket of his coat.

  “He’s here. Gotta go.”

  “Be safe, puppy.”

  Ari hung up and got out of the car. There was no bouncer or velvet rope blocking the entrance so she walked in, trading the sounds of the street for the overloud music pouring from the speakers and the low hum of chatter. She made her way to the bar and chose a position where she could see both the door and the main stage. Currently a girl dressed unseasonably in a giant scarf and a knit cap was more or less making progress through “Because the Night.”

  Dubov appeared and was immediately surrounded by the college-aged patrons. He signed autographs and posed for pictures as he slowly inched toward the bar. Ari had been worried he would recognize her from outside the hotel so she’d put on a baseball cap and a pair of thick-framed eyeglasses that she hoped would disguise her enough for a cursory examination. Dubov motioned for the bartender and scanned the crowd. His eyes skipped over her without so much as a hesitation.

  Once he got his drink, he m
ade his way to the main stage. “What do you ladies wanna hear, huh? I can do it all. Classic rock? None of that boyband shit. Can’t have that showin’ up on YouTube, you know? People might talk!”

  Ari joined the crowd of adorers. Dubov chose one of the women around him at random and told her to pick what song he would sing. She headed off, beaming with pride at the responsibility she’d been handed, as Dubov took a position near the stage. He remained standing, swaying to the music as the girl finished her song. He applauded and whistled when she finished, then climbed up to take her place.

  “All right, everybody, here we go!” The music started he swayed his hips and rocked his head to the beat. Ari recognized the song as “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing,” and Dubov’s moves fit the disco tune. When he started singing, she was startled when he actually pulled off the falsetto. The women were going nuts, screaming so loud that they almost drowned out his singing. During the first chorus he took off his jacket and tossed it toward an empty seat.

  Ari made her way over to where it landed. She moved quickly, dipping down and sliding her hand into the chest pocket. She got the phone out while Dubov was looking the other way. She found a spot against the wall in a dark corner and tapped the screen. There was a passcode, and she held the phone up so she could see smudges on the screen. It was a trick Dale had taught her on the Wilcox case, and she was amazed at how often it worked. It took her four tries but the screen eventually came up and revealed a string of messages between Dubov and someone identified as ‘Toto.’

  “How late will you be tonight?”

  “Hard to say. I’ll try not to be long. Why, do you have plans?”

  “I can be convinced to cancel any plans that don’t involve you.”

  “Twist my arm. Internet says the karaoke bar you’re going to closes at two o’clock. I expect you no later than 2:15.”

  “I’ll be there with bells on.”

  “Kinky.”

  She was amazed at how articulate and well-spoken Dubov seemed in his messages. Maybe the character limit really was restricting his natural speech. But she couldn’t focus on that now; the song was only about four minutes long, so she didn’t have much time to snoop. She went to the photos and saw shots of Puget Sound, the Great Wheel, the Space Needle… all shots that newcomers to the city eventually took. Dubov didn’t appear in any of them. She went to the information for “Toto” and quickly memorized the number, went back to messages, and turned the phone off. She dropped it onto the seat as the music ended and Dubov was taking his bows.

  She texted Dale the number. “Can you tell me who this belongs to?”

  “ASAP,” Dale responded. Ari watched someone else take the stage and start singing Mutt by Dash Warren. Halfway through the first verse, her phone buzzed with another text from Dale. “Bryan Dunn. He lives in Bothell.”

  Ari frowned. Her thumb hesitated over the keypad, but there was no point in sending a text requesting confirmation. Dale wouldn’t have sent the information if she wasn’t sure. The phone might have been registered to Bryan Dunn while being used by his wife or daughter. Maybe an affair or an underage girlfriend?

  “What do you know about him?”

  “Not a lot. How much do you need?”

  She watched Dubov retrieve his jacket. He patted the pocket, visibly tensed, and then grabbed his phone from the spot where she’d dropped it. The look of panic on his face when he checked to see if it was still locked was almost all the confirmation she needed.

  “Is there any way you can tell if he’s gay?”

  Another minute passed. Dubov went to get a drink and his adoring public followed.

  Dale texted back. “According to Facebook, yes. No H8 pictures, shares lots of liberal posts talking about equality, anti-Trump. Relationship status: it’s complicated. So who is he?”

  Ari watched as Dubov posed for more pictures.

  “I think he’s Tyler Dubov’s boyfriend.”

  Chapter Seven

  Over the next fifteen minutes, Dale sent Ari a series of pictures of the man she identified as Bryan Dunn. All had been publicly posted to his Facebook and showed him attending various hockey games over the past year. He was always rooting for Dubov’s team. Two months earlier, he announced he was moving to Seattle “for work.” It was around the same time Dubov was signed to the Totems.

  While Ari was looking at the photos, Dubov had grown increasingly antsy and distracted. He was forcing his smiles and refusing offers to get back onstage. Losing his phone, even for a few seconds, seemed to have hardened a shell around him. Ari could see the fear behind his eyes as he clutched the phone in one large hand. It never left his grip and he constantly looked at the screen to make sure it was still locked. She felt bad for causing him such mental anguish. He finally told his hangers-on that he was feeling too tired to keep up and wished them a good night.

  She followed him out when he left. A gentle rain had started while they were inside and Ari was grateful for the baseball cap of her disguise. They were almost at the Jimi Hendrix statue, a slender man on his knees and leaning back with the neck of his guitar raised to the heavens, when Dubov cut toward the street. Ari moved between the bumpers of two cars so she could see where he was going.

  When she stepped out into the street, he was beside her. His hand went against her throat before she could react, clasping both her hands around his forearm as she was lifted and slammed against the backside of one of the SUVs. He pressed his body against hers so she couldn’t squirm free. She tried to kick but he positioned himself so she couldn’t get at his groin.

  “Who are you?” he said, his face so close to hers she could see the spittle on his bottom lip. “Why are you following me? You were outside my apartment too, right?”

  “I’m…” Her voice was a croak. She slapped at his arm. “I can’t…”

  He released his grip but moved his hand down to her shoulder. He gripped it tight enough to hurt and kept her back against the vehicle.

  “My name is Ariadne Willow. I’m a private investigator.”

  She saw a flash of fear in his eyes. He looked up and down the street as if he expected a mob of reporters to descend. When he confirmed the street was mostly empty, he stepped closer and lowered his voice to a shaky whisper. “Who hired you?”

  “Your bosses. The same people who hired you.” She didn’t want to give away the fact she was investigating the entire team. “People who wouldn’t want me to talk too loudly about why you’re in Seattle until a certain unveiling.”

  He was breathing so hard that his shoulders were rising and falling like a bull about to charge. His nostrils flared and plumes of air shot out around his head to make him look like he was in a cartoon.

  “Why?”

  “They hired me to see what you were hiding. They thought it was something bad.”

  “And what did you learn, you little bitch? Huh? Snooping in my phone?”

  Ari said, “What I found in your phone is nothing compared to what you put up on public forums. All that bigoted shit. Are you overcompensating or are you really that self-hating?”

  He moved close again. “You shut your damn mouth or I’ll—”

  “You’ll what?” She swung her arm up and chopped her hand against his elbow. His arm bent and the pressure was removed from her shoulder. She stepped to one side, wrapped her leg around his, and shoved him forward into the space she had just been occupying. His head bounced off the glass hard enough to make the car alarm chirrup once and then fall silent. Ari put some distance between them, rolling her shoulders in preparation of a fight in case he came after her.

  The fight seemed to be washing out of him. He hung his head and she watched the machismo and rage fade. “What are you going to do?”

  “Why don’t we find somewhere more private to talk about that? Not to mention dryer.”

  He brushed a hand under his nose, checked it for blood, and nodded. “Okay. Yeah.”

  Ari said, “Good. There’s a diner not far from here.
”

  Even though he looked meek and defeated, Ari made sure to keep an eye on him as she led him away from the karaoke bar.

  #

  Lost Lake Lounge was a throwback to another age, a diner-bar-cafe combination that blended elegance and nostalgia in a beautiful balance. The walls were wood paneling with support beams of stone and the floor was a classic black-and-white checkerboard pattern. She’d chosen it because it was nearby and it was open twenty-four hours. She hadn’t remembered there were rainbow flags in the window until they arrived, but Dubov didn’t seem to notice. He did see the rainbow-colored poster on the door that declared it was a designated Safe Place for victims of LGBT-related crimes.

  Once inside Dubov went to the red vinyl booth that was farthest from the door. He dropped heavily as Ari made their drink order from the woman behind the bar: two root beers. When the drinks were ready, she brought them to the table.

  “I saw online that this was your favorite drink. Was that a lie, too?”

  “No. I like it. Thanks.”

  “Thanks for pulling your punches back there. I’ve seen video. You could have put me through that truck without even blinking.”

  He shrugged and looked at the froth on his drink. “What are you gonna do?”

  “There are two options. One, I can go and tell your bosses what I found just on your social media. Bigoted nonsense about queers. That might fly down south, but you’re in Seattle now. I know you saw the sign on the door back there. This city stands by all of its citizens, save for bigots like you’re pretending to be. Your bosses want players who will represent Seattle well. They take one look at that shit you were posting and you’ll be packing your bags for the next port of call. Might be a shame considering you-know-who’s life was uprooted to move here for you.”