I Shall Not Want (18 page)

There was no one in sight, and she walked out a few steps, hovering on the porch and forcing Clarice to relieve herself next to the path. As soon as the dog had, Cindy backtracked into the house and slammed the door again.

Buff had reentered the living room, clearly curious about what was going on. She showed him the leash, and he bounded over to her. She repeated the same thing with him.

When she was back inside the house for the third and final time, she threw all of her deadbolts before realizing she hadn’t checked the back rooms for any sign of intruders.

Surely the dogs would be acting strangely if there was an intruder, but she couldn’t be too careful. Cell phone in hand and at the ready, she walked toward the back of her house, flipping on every light switch she passed.

She checked her bathroom, bedroom, and office and was relieved to find them just as she had left them. Satisfied that they were as safe as they were going to be, Cindy hurriedly got ready for bed.

When she finally slipped between the sheets, she found that her mind was racing a million miles an hour and her heart was still pounding like a jackhammer. She flipped on her side and prayed for sleep, but it seemed elusive.

“God, please let me sleep. I thank You for Your protection. Amen.”

It wasn’t poetry as prayers went, but it was honest and forthright. They were two qualities she admired, and she believed God must admire them as well. After a minute she felt something jump on her bed and then a second.

She looked up and saw Clarice curling up in a ball by her feet. Buff snuggled into her hip with a contented sigh and gave no signs that he planned to move again, ever.

With a smile on her face, Cindy drifted off to sleep.

Her dreams were plagued by dark creatures that mocked her, laughed at her and whispered the vilest lies she had ever heard. She tossed and turned for a couple of hours, waking every so often to look at her clock.

When Black Friday finally came, Cindy was up before the dawn. She fed and walked the dogs and then got in her car and drove to the drugstore. She ended up joining a line of shoppers waiting to get in. She’d had no idea that even the drugstore was offering holiday bargains. She heard rumors going up and down the line that toys were 40 percent off and Christmas decorations were 50 percent off. The excitement was electric, and Cindy couldn’t help but feel it.

When the doors ceremonially opened, she bolted for the toiletries section. Her eyes scanned the shelves as she looked for Old Spice deodorant. In dismay she finally saw the shelf where it should have been and realized it was sold out. She checked the body wash and cologne sections as well, with no better luck. She growled deep in her throat and fought back tears. She had to know who she was looking for if she was going to put a stop to the killings.

“What’s wrong, sugar?” a large, blonde woman wearing a nametag asked her. “You need help finding something?”

“I was looking for Old Spice. You don’t have any in the storeroom, do you?” she asked hopefully.

“Everything is on the shelves today if we have it,” she said. “I’m sorry. We should get some more in early next week.”

“But that will be too late.”

“Then don’t tell anyone I said so,” the woman said, lowering her voice, “but you might want to get yourself over to Plusmart.”

“Thank you.”

Cindy turned and rushed from the store. Ten minutes later she was circling the Plusmart parking lot, desperately looking for a parking spot. Several opened up only to be taken by others circling the lot as well. She couldn’t help but think that they all must resemble a pack of vultures, waiting to fall upon prey.

Finally she found one within sight of the recycling bins, and she couldn’t help but shiver as she thought of Harry.

She rushed into the store, and was no sooner inside than she hit a wall of people. She heard people shouting and screeching around her, calling for friends and loved ones or shouting angrily at others who had hold of what they desired. It was chaos, and Cindy felt fear clutch at her heart as the crowd pushed her forward. She fought her way toward the correct section and finally made it into the shaving aisle.

There she found the Old Spice deodorant, and she pulled off the top and inhaled deeply. She waited a moment, but nothing came to her. Frustrated, she put the lid back on and continued to move. She finally found the body wash and tried it. Still no memories stirred. At last she found the cologne, but it was in a glass cabinet. She fought her way toward the pharmacy, looking for a Plusmart employee who could help her. She finally found one who was already besieged by half a dozen others.

She waited patiently, dogging the employee’s steps as he helped first one and then another. Finally it was her turn.

“I need to see the Old Spice cologne, which is locked in a case,” she said.

He nodded and waded back in that direction with her following. When he reached the case, she held her breath as he opened it. “I need to smell it,” she said.

He handed her the tester bottle, and she sprayed the air and then inhaled. She knew she had smelled it before, but she didn’t know where.

“Miss? Miss?”

“Yes?” she asked, opening her eyes again.

“You want it or not?”

“I’ll take a small bottle,” she said.

He handed her a bottle, and she made her way to the front of the store. Every cash register was open and had a line ten people long. She chose the ten items or less line, hoping that it would at least move fast.

As it turned out, she had chosen poorly. The first person in line had an item without a price tag. The fourth person paid a forty-dollar bill entirely in coins. Cindy looked around, but the other lines had grown even longer at that point, and she was afraid to switch.

Finally it was her turn, and she barely waited for her change before dashing out to the parking lot with her purchase. As soon as she exited the parking lot, she called Jeremiah’s home number.

“Hello?” he asked, sounding worse than the night before.

“I am so sorry to wake you,” she said. “But you know how you were telling me you could teach me to calm down and focus?”

“Cindy, is that you?” he asked.

“Yes, sorry, it’s Cindy. Do you remember telling me that about the focusing exercises?”

“Yes. I can help with that.”

“I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t really important, but I need you to teach me how to do that now.”

“What’s happened?” he asked, sounding more alert.

“I recognize the smell of the Old Spice cologne, but I can’t remember where it is I’ve smelled it before. I bought a bottle
and I have it with me. I just need to be able to calm down and focus so that I can figure it out. If I can do that, then I’m sure we can stop the killer.”

“I understand.”

“Can I come over to your place?”

“Now?”

“Yes. The sooner I can remember, the sooner we can put an end to this.” She took a deep breath. “I didn’t want to wake you up again last night, but the killer has kidnapped Mark’s wife.”

“When?” Jeremiah asked, his voice suddenly hard.

“Yesterday sometime. He took their dog too. He was one of the ones that wasn’t adopted on Friday. Mark adopted him Sunday. So, please, I need to come over.”

Jeremiah coughed long and hard. “Tell you what, I’ll meet you at your house,” he offered.

“Awesome. Thank you so much.”

“I’ll be there just as soon as I can.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

She hung up and considered calling Mark but rejected it since she really had nothing new to tell him. Once she could remember who it was that wore Old Spice, then she would have something to call him over.

A few minutes later she made it home. She deposited the bottle of Old Spice on her kitchen counter before taking both dogs for a quick walk. Finished, she went into the bathroom to wash her hands and face.

“Just calm down,” she told her reflection. “You can do this. You just have to remember one little thing. It shouldn’t even be that hard. Odors are great memory triggers; you just have to let this one do its job.”

Be still and know that I am God.

She took a deep breath and went into the living room. She sat down on the couch to wait for Jeremiah. Both dogs curled up at her feet.

Be still and know that I am God.

She bowed her head and began to pray.

When Jeremiah finally arrived, she was much calmer but seemingly no closer to remembering what she had to. She handed him the bottle of cologne and gave him a frustrated look.

“Still no luck?” he asked.

“None.”

“Okay, let’s go sit down,” he said.

She returned to her seat on the couch and folded her hands in her lap. She felt nervous and a little silly for feeling that way and for asking for help to focus. It should be something she could do naturally.

“Please, help me.”

“I will,” Jeremiah promised. “But you have to listen to me.”

“Okay.”

“You need to learn how to calm down and focus. Now, close your eyes and just concentrate on your breathing. Now, slowly, breathe in. Hold it for a count of ten. Then, just as slowly, breathe out. Keep doing that until I tell you to stop.”

She did as instructed and was surprised how hard it was to keep her thoughts focused on breathing and not scattering to the four corners of the wind. Gradually it grew easier, but she still struggled.

“Okay. On to the next thing. Keep your eyes closed. When you were a child, did you ever get a puppy or a kitten?”

“Yes, when I was very little, we got a puppy.”

“What did he do when it was time for bed the first night?”

“He cried.”

“He missed his mother?”

“Yes.”

“What did you do?”

“The second night my mother put a clock inside a blanket and let him sleep with that.”

“Did it calm him down?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Why?”

“Mom said it replicated his mother’s heartbeat.”

“Exactly. Now, feel your own pulse.”

Cindy pressed her fingers against her throat.

“Can you feel it?”

“Yes.”

“Now, concentrate on it, on the rhythm, and see if you can feel the blood as it pulses through other parts of your body as well.”

She concentrated for a minute, and then suddenly she could feel it everywhere. She jumped and moved her fingers. “Eww,” she said, waving her hand.

“It is an unpleasant sensation at first, but it is a quick and easy way to teach yourself to focus.”

“You could have warned me,” she complained.

“That would not have done you any good. Now, let’s try it again. First five breaths.”

She took the five deep breaths, holding them and then releasing each slowly.

“Now, tell me when you can feel your pulse through your body.”

She lifted her fingers to her throat again until she had the rhythm, and then she felt for it until she found it. She nodded.

“Okay. Now, keep your eyes closed. I am going to let you smell a scent, and I want you to tell me where you smelled it before today.”

After a moment she caught the distinct smell of pine. “Camping with my family when I was six.”

Next she smelled cinnamon. “Hot cider at Christmastime when I was little,” she said with a smile.

And then she smelled something else. She had smelled it earlier that day, but she had smelled it before then. Where?

Suddenly she was in another place. She was in a hall, nervous and uncomfortable. She was sitting at the speed dating table as a tall, handsome police officer sat down across from her, wearing some sort of cologne.

Vince.

18

I
T WAS
V
INCE
!”
SHE GASPED
. “H
E WEARS THAT COLOGNE
.”

“Are you sure?” Jeremiah asked.

“Positive. And he was there at the charity event, and he was the first officer to respond to Joseph’s alarm going off the night the other puppies were stolen. He took Clarice to the lab where the tests got messed up and said she didn’t have any human DNA on her.”

“He wasn’t there when they arrested Joseph.”

“No,” Cindy said, tears running down her cheeks. “He was kidnapping Mark’s wife when Mark was arresting Joseph.”

She stood up and went to get her cell phone. Mark answered on the second ring.

“It was Vince,” she said. “I remember that Vince wears Old Spice cologne.”

“You’re sure?” Mark asked.

“Yes. Have you had any luck finding the other dogs?”

“Turns out a dozen others have been kidnapped from homeless masters who thought the dogs ran away while they were sleeping. They’ve all been hoping to have word that someone has found them.”

“How did you manage to find so many so quickly?”

“This early the day after Thanksgiving? Most of them had dinner at the shelter last night and slept there as well. I’m still looking for a couple of others, including a lady who left with her dog early this morning.”

“Bernadette?” Cindy asked, fear welling within her.

“Yeah. You seen her?”

“She was at my house yesterday for Thanksgiving dinner.”

“She was there when we arrested Joseph?”

“Yes.”

Mark muttered something under his breath. “Okay, I have to go. Hopefully we can find Vince and put an end to all this.”

“Good luck,” she said.

She hung up and looked at Jeremiah. He was pale and sweating, and she wondered if he’d had a fever that broke. “Are you okay?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I’ve been worse.”

“Do you think you could help me find Bernadette?”

“We can try.”

“I know she likes to hang out around the theater some, but I have no idea if she’ll be there today.”

“Let’s go find out.”

She put fresh food and water down for the dogs, and then put newspapers down in the kitchen since she didn’t know how long they’d be gone. She left the living room light on and turned on the porch light as well. Jeremiah raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

They took her car, since she wasn’t sure he should be driving. Cindy knew she should let him go home, but she was too afraid to go looking by herself. It didn’t take them long to drive to the theater. When they parked, she glanced over at Jeremiah, who somehow looked even worse.

“Should I take you to an emergency room?” she asked.

He shook his head. “It’s just the flu, and I haven’t really had a chance to rest.”

Guilt washed over her. “That’s my fault.”

“No, it’s mine.”

She glanced out the window. There were lots of people milling about in the parking lot. The theater was part of a larger complex that had a bookstore and other shops, and the whole area was busy. She should be safe enough with so many witnesses.

“Stay here while I go look for her,” she said.

He started to protest, but she held up a hand. “It does no one any good if you pass out and I have to try and carry you back to the car.”

He smiled faintly. “If I pass out, you have my permission to call an ambulance to take me to the emergency room.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

He reclined the seat back and closed his eyes. “If you’re not back in thirty, I’m calling Mark.”

“Fair enough.”

She locked the car as she exited and then hurried toward the theater. She couldn’t help but remember being there on Sunday when the body in the bushes had been found. She got a chill as she walked past the spot. She cast around, looking everywhere, hoping to see the old lady and her dog.

She didn’t see them, but she walked all around the building just to make sure. She stood for a moment and thought. Where else might Bernadette be off to so early in the morning on Black Friday?

Around her, shoppers rushed by, intent on heading for the stores. It would be at least another two or three hours before they turned their footsteps toward the theater.

Which meant she shouldn’t expect to find Bernadette at the theater. She should expect to find her someplace where the people were. She turned and joined the throng of people heading toward the shops. She bypassed the bookstore and was debating between the others when a sign caught her eye and she veered suddenly to the left.

She found Bernadette and Ginger in front of the Canine Chateau, an upscale store catering to a pet’s every whim. Bernadette was stuffing a bill into one pocket and a giant dog bone into another.

“Ginger’s getting in on the act too?” Cindy said, unable for a moment to resist the humor of the scene.

“A dog’s got to eat. And my Ginger deserves the best,” Bernadette said with more dignity than Cindy could have imagined.

“Good choice.” Cindy stepped forward. “Bernadette, it’s not safe out here. The killer is moving faster, and he’s targeting everyone who adopted a dog that was there last week. The detectives are trying to find everyone.”

“They wouldn’t have to find all of us if they could just find one killer,” Bernadette said.

“They’re close. They know who it is; they’re just trying to catch him. I’d feel a whole lot better if you and Ginger would come home with me so I knew you were safe until this was over.”

Bernadette hesitated.

“Please,” Cindy said. “I have Jeremiah with me in the car, and Clarice and Buff are at home and would love to play with Ginger. Plus, there’s still leftover turkey.”

“Okay, you twisted my arm,” Bernadette said, scooping up Ginger. “Let’s go.”

As they walked quickly back to the car, Cindy’s heart pounded. Now that she had Bernadette and Ginger with
her, she felt like she had a big target painted on her and that something terrible would happen at any moment. She kept swiveling her head from side to side looking for Vince or anyone else who seemed to be looking at them.

By the time they made it back to her car, she thought she was going to scream with the pressure. She unlocked the doors, and Jeremiah brought his seat back upright as Bernadette and Ginger got in the back.

“Hey, there, young fellow,” Bernadette said. “Heard you missed my company.”

“You heard right,” he said with a smile.

“You don’t look so good.”

“I don’t feel so good,” he admitted.

“Well, I can make a soup with some of that leftover turkey that will make you forget all about being sick.”

“I believe it,” he said, closing his eyes as Cindy pulled out of the parking space. Even the drive home strained her nerves. She felt completely exposed and like every car that followed her too closely had a sinister purpose. Once she finally got everyone back inside her house, she gasped in relief.

She sat down at the kitchen table as the three dogs greeted each other. Jeremiah lay down on the couch, and Bernadette busied herself with pulling food out of the refrigerator and finding a pot.

Cindy dialed Mark’s number. “I have Bernadette and Ginger here at my house.”

“Good. We haven’t figured out a way to read the chip yet, if we find it, but we’re working on it. Are you okay keeping them there with you for right now?”

“Yes, I’ve got Jeremiah here as well.”

“Again, not surprised,” Mark said. “Keep your eyes out, and if you see or hear anything, you give me a call.”

“Any luck finding Vince?”

“Not yet,” Mark said, anger lacing his voice. “I think he might have gone to ground. We tried calling him, but that didn’t go as planned.”

“Okay, let me know when you catch him.”

“I will.”

She hung up the phone and put her head down on the table. She hated this, the waiting and wondering. Every sound outside to her was footsteps. Every time one of the dogs barked, it was because they sensed danger. When Bernadette brushed by her chair, she jumped, and it took all her self-control not to scream out loud.

“You need to relax,” Bernadette noted.

“I don’t know how,” Cindy admitted.

She heard snoring and glanced into the living room, where Jeremiah was passed out on the couch. His left arm trailed down on the floor, and Buff was licking his fingers in a fit of ecstasy. It was all completely surreal to her, and she fought the sudden urge to laugh hysterically.

Noon came, and Bernadette made turkey sandwiches for her and Cindy and fed Jeremiah the promised turkey soup. After eating he immediately fell back asleep. Cindy got up and put a blanket over him and wondered if she should give him anything. She finally decided to ask him the next time he woke up. Sleep was what he needed more than anything else at that point.

She sat down with her deck of cards at the kitchen table and laid out a game of solitaire for herself. Bernadette watched with interest. “You have a second deck?” she asked at last.

“Yes,” Cindy said, retrieving it from her office.

The two of them played half a dozen games of double solitaire while Jeremiah slept and the dogs played. Cindy had finally begun to relax when the phone rang.

Mark pounded his fist against the dashboard while Paul stared at him. “What are we going to do now? He knows we’re onto him; there’s no telling where he’s holed up.”

They had been searching half the day for him and also for his accomplice, the lab tech who had helped him by faking the blood samples taken from Clarice. It turned out no one knew who the guy was. With local businesses, including vet’s offices and laboratories, closed for the day it was making it that much harder to rule out possibilities.

“He must have needed an accomplice to help read the chips,” Paul said.

“I know. If we could only figure out where they were taking the dogs, maybe we could find him or the laptop, or Traci.”

“Buff ’s the only dog who escaped that we know of.”

“Which means they’ve either killed the others, or dumped them somewhere, or they still have them.”

“If they still have them, they’d need to be someplace where people would ignore a lot of dogs barking,” Paul said.

“Like a vet’s office,” Mark said, “bringing us right back to our original problem.”

“Or an animal shelter.”

Mark turned to look at him. “I think someone, a volunteer, or something, would have noticed if one of the dogs from Friday’s event reappeared at the Humane Society. Even the quarantine rooms are visited every day by a number of people.”

“What about a different type of animal shelter?” Paul asked.

“You mean like—”

“Dog pound.”

“Paul, I think you might be a genius,” Mark said.

“Even though a lot of people in this town turn over lost pets to the Humane Society, there are still plenty who call animal control.”

“Let’s go.”

Half an hour later Paul and Mark stood outside the building in question. Half a dozen hand-picked officers ringed the structure, including Percy Grayhorn, who had not complained to Mark’s superior but had insisted on being present if there was a possibility of a hostage situation. The only two members of the force who worked the K-9 unit were also present, but without their furry partners.

“Is everyone in place?” Mark asked Paul, who listened to a radio.

Paul nodded, and Mark took a deep breath. They were all wearing protective vests and had gone over the possible scenarios three times. He nodded, Paul gave the signal, and they all burst into the building.

Mark ran down a corridor filled with dog pens, but stopped short when he recognized Buster. Paul pushed on past him as Mark opened the cage, freeing his dog.

The beagle bayed joyously. Mark had brought one of Traci’s camisoles with him and shoved it under the dog’s nose. Beagles were known for their tracking skills, and he just prayed this one was a credit to his species.

“Buster, find Mommy.”

The dog took a deep whiff, turned around twice, and then headed down the corridor, baying in full, rich tones. The corridor ended in a T. Mark could see Paul running down the left-hand corridor. Buster took the right-hand one. Mark followed the dog.

He heard men shouting behind him, and three shots rang out. He kept running, though. If Traci was here, he needed to find her first and worry about the bad guys second.

Buster veered suddenly to the left into a small room and then turned right into an even smaller one. In the middle of the room was a chair with ropes pooled around it on the floor. Buster leaped onto the chair and bayed as long and loud as he could.

Mark crashed to his knees as he realized that Traci had been held there but was gone. Buster suddenly jumped from the chair and ran to the far side of the room and scratched at a metal door.

Mark crossed to it and flung it open. Buster raced out into a narrow alley and toward the back of the building. There he stopped next to a parking space and cast about on the ground trying to find the scent.

For Mark, though, the stale smell of burnt rubber and the tire tracks on the ground told him all he needed to know. Traci had been moved, probably just minutes before they got there. Buster finally gave up and sat down, looking up at him with great mournful eyes as if to ask him what next.