I Shall Not Want (16 page)

Satisfied that he had done what he could for him until morning, Jeremiah turned out the lights and headed for bed.

He had been lying down for five minutes when he heard the dog walk into his room whimpering.

“What is it?” Jeremiah asked groggily.

The dog jumped up onto the bed and lay down next to Jeremiah’s feet and within a minute was snoring softly.

With a frustrated sigh Cindy finally had to admit that “soon enough” was shaping up to be “tomorrow.” Every store she drove by seemed to have closed early for the holiday. The one drugstore that was open didn’t carry any Old Spice products at all.

So much for avoiding the stores on Black Friday
, she thought grimly as she pulled up outside her house.

Clarice and Buff were thrilled to see her, and she took them both for a quick walk in the front yard. Once back inside, she had no sooner unclipped the leashes than the phone rang.

“Hello?” she asked as she picked up her cordless.

“Hi Cindy, it’s Guy.”

“What guy?”

“Uh, Guy Randall from speed dating?”

“Oh, I am so sorry!”

“Did I catch you at a bad time?”

“A little bit, sorry.”

“I can call back.”

“No, now is fine,” Cindy said, forcing herself to take a deep breath and sit down on the couch. Clarice jumped up beside her, and she petted the dog absentmindedly.

“I know I wasn’t supposed to call until Sunday, but I just wanted to wish you Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Happy Thanksgiving,” she replied automatically. “How’s your family?”

“Well, thank you. How is yours?”

“Okay, I guess.”

“Good.” He paused and then continued, “Is there anything wrong?”

“One of my friends just got arrested for murder. I’m sure he’s innocent, but the police came to arrest him at my house during dinner.”

“Ouch! I’m sorry.”

“Me too.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Are you serious?” she burst out.

“Yes, why?”

“Well, for one, you’re out of state, and for another, you don’t even know me.”

“But I want to.”

She blushed. “That’s sweet.”

“I’ll take sweet. At least you didn’t call me nice.”

“Why?”

“That’s the kiss of death from a girl. Whenever a girl tells a guy he’s nice, that means she won’t go out with him.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.”

“Really? Can you think of the last guy you called nice?”

Joseph.
“Uh-huh.”

“Did you want to go out with him?”

“No.”

“There you are.”

Clarice shifted slightly, and Cindy’s fingers ran over the back of her neck. Amidst the soft fur there was the sensation of smoothness, and Cindy stopped and looked down, parting the dog’s thick fur with her fingers.

There on the back of Clarice’s neck was a tiny shaved spot.

“Oh, my gosh,” Cindy breathed as she stared at the shaved spot on the back of Clarice’s neck. “Guy, I’ve got to go. Can I call you back?”

“Sure.”

She examined the dog more carefully. Clarice had the same sort of shaved spot that the other dogs did. It made no sense, though. Joseph would have had Clarice chipped when she was younger. There was no reason she should have a shaved mark too.

“What happened to you?” she asked.

The dog just looked at her with dark, mournful eyes. Buff had discovered a catalog and was happily shredding it in a corner, not at all the frightened puppy of a couple hours earlier.

“What scared you, Buff?”

He glanced up briefly then went back to shredding the glossy pages. She knew she should stop him, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Why would someone be sticking a needle in Clarice? And who could have done it? It was possible that the person who had broken into Joseph’s house whom she had bitten could have done it. The only other time the dog had really been vulnerable that she could think of was when the police had taken her into custody to check the DNA evidence from the blood on her.

And what about Buff? Who or what had scared him so badly when the police came to arrest Joseph? He had already met Mark the day she found him. She couldn’t see where Paul would have been any more threatening.

It was the uniforms
, she realized. Buff had been terrified of one or all of the uniformed officers. Had he seen or smelled one of them before? Or had he a reason to be afraid of the uniform?

She began to shake as the truth dawned on her. A policeman was involved.

16

M
ARK CALLED IN AND ASKED FOR THE HOME ADDRESS OF
J
UNE
,
THE DIREC
tor of the animal shelter.

“They’ll have it for us in five minutes,” he said as he hung up.

He considered hurling his phone out the window or smashing it against the dashboard, but stopped himself since he needed it to receive the call back. Plus, Traci had the number. She might manage to get free just for a second or two and call.

Mark flipped the phone open and checked the battery. He had full bars still.

Paul swerved the car into a parking spot in front of a 7-11. “I need coffee and something to eat. So do you.”

“I’m not hungry.”

Another officer Lou, who had been at the scene, pulled up. He glanced at Paul and Mark with an apologetic grimace. Paul and he walked inside together, and Mark tried not to scream at the delay. He sat, staring at his cell, willing it to ring.

Finally Paul and Lou exited, and Mark could hear the tail end of their conversation.

“If it was about the dog, why didn’t they kill Traci like everyone else?” he heard Lou ask.

“Could it be the guy doesn’t want to cross the line by killing a cop’s wife?” Paul asked.

“Why not just knock her out if he didn’t want to kill her?” Lou countered. “Why kidnap her?”

“Maybe because she could identify him?” Paul said as he opened his car door.

“It was a cop,” Mark said.

“What?” Paul and Lou asked in unison.

“A cop is behind all of this,” Mark repeated, turning to look at his partner, who looked as stricken as he felt.

“How can you be sure?”

“This guy has killed too many people, both homeless and not. The only way he cares about kidnapping her instead of killing her is if he needs a hostage or he feels too guilty to kill her.”

“Just because she’s a cop’s wife?”

“No,” Mark said, as the full horror of it dawned on him. “No, because she’s a cop’s wife and because he knows her.”

His cell rang, making him jump. He flipped it open as he reached for his pen. He jotted down the address the woman on the other end gave him and then hung up. “Let’s go, I’ve got the address.”

Paul slid into the driver’s seat, carefully stowing the coffees in his hands in the twin cup holders. He stuffed a couple of high protein energy bars and a bag of gummi bears into the glove compartment and then tossed a hot dog at Mark as he put the car in reverse.

Even though the thought of food was making him a bit sick, Mark forced himself to down the hot dog. He would need to keep up his energy until this was over.

It only took them a few minutes to find the address they were looking for. As it turned out, Mark and Paul interrupted the director of the animal shelter during her holiday festivities. She came out on the porch, closing the door behind her as the evening seemed to still be in full swing. Through an open window somewhere Mark could hear the sounds of a game being played.

He winced, realizing he hadn’t called his sister-in-law and that she would be wondering where they were. He almost didn’t want to call her with the news that he had, but he knew he had to.

“What is it?” she asked, wrapping her arms around herself, and staring intently into their faces.

“We need to ask you a few more questions,” Paul said.

“Now?” she blinked in surprise.

“Crime never sleeps and neither do we,” Paul said grimly.

“Okay. Are these questions about the murder or about the break-in?” she asked.

Paul and Mark exchanged a surprised glance. “What break-in?” Mark asked quietly.

She looked surprised. “The one Sunday night. When I showed up for work Monday morning, the place had been broken into. The cat rooms had been opened and a couple of the dog pens too. It was a mess; fur and feces everywhere. The dogs were chasing the cats, and the cats were hiding everywhere they could. It took us hours to round everyone up and get them back where they belonged. Thank goodness there were only minor injuries. We called the police right away and filled out a whole report.”

Mark felt a chill and couldn’t help but wonder if he hadn’t heard about it because the officers working that unit hadn’t thought or realized they needed to alert homicide of a possible
connection or if the officers who had taken her statement had conveniently lost the report.

“Did you get the names of the officers who responded to the call?” Paul asked.

She shook her head. “I was too upset to pay attention.”

“Can you describe them for us?” Mark asked.

“One was tall, good-looking, wore a hat pulled down over his eyes, and the other was shorter and kind of fidgety.”

As Paul scribbled down the descriptions on his notepad, Mark fought to control his temper.

“Anything more than that? Hair color, eye color? Light skin, dark skin? Could you sketch them?”

She shook her head. “I’m terribly sorry, no. I can remember every dog that’s come through our shelter, but I have a terrible memory for people’s faces. But why would that be important? It can’t be that difficult to figure out who came out that morning.”

It could be if they were trying to hide their tracks
, Mark thought. Still, there was a chance someone at dispatch would know who it was who had taken the call.

“Was there anything taken?” Paul asked.

“Nothing physical, but I’m fairly certain information was stolen. The main computer was on and it had been hacked into. Not that that’s too hard to do, though. We are pretty sloppy about passwords and the like. I’ve since implemented new safety precautions.”

“What information?” Mark asked.

“Names and addresses of everyone that adopted a dog involved with the Animals to the Rescue program.”

Mark felt the world tilt sideways. “Including the non-homeless who ended up adopting one of the extra dogs, like me?”

“Yes, Detective.”

That was how he knew about the rich woman who was killed, and about Mark and Traci having a dog.

“I’m just so grateful we didn’t store any financial information for the non-homeless who paid the regular adoption fee. Could you imagine the consequences? My sister had her identity stolen last year, and she’s still trying to straighten it out.”

“Yeah, it can be devastating,” Paul agreed. “We’ll need a list of those adopters as well.”

“I can get that for you now, if you wouldn’t mind waiting a couple of minutes. I had surgery over the summer, and my husband set it up so I can access my work computer from my home computer.”

“That would be excellent, thank you.”

She hesitated. “I hate to ask, but, would you mind waiting here?”

“That’s fine.”

“I’ll be right back,” Mark said, stepping away a few feet and pulling out his cell phone. He took a deep breath and then dialed his sister-in-law’s house. Her husband answered.

“Hi, it’s Mark,” he said.

“Hey! We were just about to send out a search party. You two on your way over?”

“No, something’s happened, actually,” Mark said, trying hard to keep his voice calm.

“What is it?” the other man asked, sobering instantly.

“Traci was kidnapped a couple of hours ago.”

There was silence on the other end for several seconds, and then he heard a door closing. There was a slight echo as his brother-in-law whispered, “What did you just say?”

“She was kidnapped. The entire force is doing everything they can to find her. I just realized I hadn’t called—”

“You find her and don’t worry about the niceties. I’ll tell everyone that you’re contagious and staying at home so no one gets the fool notion of bringing dinner to you.”

“I would appreciate it.”

“If you haven’t found her by the morning, then I’ll come clean, but it’s not going to do anyone any good right now.”

“Thank you.”

“You call if you need anything. Anything, you hear?”

“I do.”

Mark hung up and returned to the doorstep just as the woman returned with the printout. Mark scanned it quickly, and several names jumped out at him, including his own.

“Thank you for your time. If you think of anything else, give us a call,” Paul said, handing her his card.

She nodded and went back inside. After a moment they headed toward the car.

“Do you think someone is doing all this to sabotage Animals to the Rescue?” Paul asked.

Mark shook his head. “I think someone is looking for a particular dog, they just don’t know which one it is.”

“Officers!”

They turned as she ran down the walk toward their car. “I just remembered something else.”

“Yes?”

“The tall one had a scar on the back of his neck.”

A chill went up Mark’s spine. It was the same man who had kidnapped his wife.

“Are you sure?” Paul pressed.

“Yes, I remember seeing it when he walked away. And I’m pretty sure he had some sort of New Testament name.”

“New Testament name?”

She flushed. “My father was a preacher, and he used to say he would never name a child of his a New Testament name
because every other Christian did that. You know, like after one of the disciples or writers.”

“Matthew, Luke, etc.?” Mark asked.

“Yes. My dad said that so many times that whenever I hear someone with a name like that I hear him inside my head and it makes me smile.”

“You must smile a lot, then,” Mark said.

They got in the car and sat for a moment while she walked back inside. She didn’t come back out, and after a minute his partner started the car.

“I think we should go back to the precinct and find out if any of the officers there has a scar on the back of his neck,” Mark said quietly.

And talk to dispatch.
He wanted to do it in person where he could read facial expressions and no one would overhear the conversation. His phone rang and he glanced down. It was Cindy, probably calling about Joseph. He let it go to voice mail.

Cindy left a message on Mark’s cell telling him what she had found. She knew it wouldn’t be enough to get Joseph out of trouble, though. If only she could figure out why Clarice had also had the back of her neck shaved as well, then maybe she’d have something.

She glanced at the phone and remembered that she had told Guy she would call him back. She didn’t want to, but she had said she would. She took a deep breath and dialed Guy back.

“Hi, it’s Cindy,” she said when he answered.

“Uh, hello. I’m surprised you called back,” he said. “You didn’t seem thrilled about the original conversation.”

She bit her lip. “I’m really sorry about that. It wasn’t the conversation, it was all the chaos. I think I discovered another clue in the murders that have been happening.”

“Why don’t you tell me all about it?”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Wouldn’t you rather be having fun with your family?”

“Right now my aunt Beth is explaining in detail to everyone why she’s just sure her upcoming sixth marriage is going to work.”

Cindy giggled despite herself.

“Yeah. So why don’t you regale me with stories of guts and gore? Please?”

“Okay, you got it.”

She brought him up to speed on what had happened.

“Wow, seriously?”

“Yeah,” she said.

“So what’s the new clue?”

“I realized Clarice has a spot shaved on the back of her neck too, even though she wouldn’t have been chipped recently.”

“Yeah, unless the bad guy was trying to chip her for some other reason.”

“What did you say?” Cindy asked, sitting up straighter.

“Unless the bad guy was trying to chip her for some other reason.”

“That’s it!” Cindy shrieked into the phone. She leapt to her feet and began pacing as she thought. “Is it possible that someone put something on one of the dog’s chips, modified it in some way?”

“Like data or blueprints or something?” he asked. “Sure, you could modify a chip and then insert it into one of the dogs in lieu of the standard microchip.”

“How would you read it? Could you read it with the scanner they use at the vet’s office or the Humane Society?”

“Possible, but unlikely. If someone was going to all the bother of altering the chip, they’d probably rig it so that the information could only be retrieved with a specific device or program.”

“Could you hook some kind of scanner up to a laptop?”

“That would be ideal, actually. All you’d need is a USB port. Your scanner could input the data and the laptop could unscramble it.”

“Thank you, Guy.”

“Go solve the crime and save the day,” he said.

“I will. I’ll talk to you when you’re back in state.”

She hung up and tried Mark’s cell phone again, but he still wasn’t picking up. She dialed Jeremiah next, and she could tell by the sound of his voice that she had awakened him. She quickly filled him in on the latest developments.

“So what if the plot was to steal something, information of some type?” Cindy concluded.

“That would make sense, but there are a lot easier ways to hand off information then embedded in a dog.”

“It depends on the dog and where the information has to get to. Joseph’s dogs go to dog shows all over the world. If you wanted to smuggle data out, what better way than in the dog?”