Lethal Affair (26 page)

Kim appeared and yanked her back
inside.

At the grill Lyle and Max worked in
tandem, ladling and flipping enough pancakes for an
army.

“
Uncle Lyle,” said Max, “are
you and Jolene getting married?”

Lyle sputtered. “What brought that
on?”

“
I saw you making goo-goo
eyes at her. She really likes you. I can tell.” This last bit with
every ounce of solemness he could muster.

“
Oh? How so?”

“
She looks at you like my
Mom looks at her new boyfriend, and they're getting married. I
mean, that's what happens when people are like, in love,
right?”

Amused, Lyle gazed down into the boy's
trusting eyes. “People in love don't always get married, sport.
Sometimes they just hang out together and that's enough for
them.”

Max expertly laid another pancake onto
the grill, the repetitive action becoming automatic. “Then why get
married at all? Why not just hang, like you said?”

“
Marriage is a promise to
always be there for the other person. Sometimes to form a family.
Other times people like your Dad and your Mom decide they don't
wanna live together, so they go their own ways and share the
responsibility of raising their kid. Still other times one parent
or the other takes on the whole load because the other parent isn't
around.”

Confusion reigned in Max's eyes. “It
sounds complicated.”

“
It can be. Or it can be an
adventure.”

“
You mean, like, having
sex?”

Lyle jolted. “That's a conversation
for your Dad. Where is he anyway?”

“
Upstairs in the office. So,
you're saying that people get married for different
reasons?”

He wasn't going to let it go.
“Everyone is different, so no two experiences are the same. Most
people get married and hope for the best. Does that make
sense?”

“
I guess. It's like when you
try out for a team. You don't know how it's gonna turn out but you
gotta try or you'll never know.”

And in that moment Lyle had a
revelation.

Damn. The kid had made it crystal
clear.

All his high and mighty theories about
how his own attempt at marriage would be doomed by his ancestors
shot down by a simple analogy uttered by an inquiring
mind.

Double damn.

He ruffled Max's hair. “I think we're
done with these. Go and find your Dad and tell him breakfast is
ready.”

*

“
It was Miguel Flores,”
Will told Lyle. “The bump on his head wasn't serious, but he'll be
off on worker's comp until his wrist heals. Thank God we're
insured. But hell on wheels! I swear I'm ready to form a lynch mob
and go after Hammond myself.”

They were in the office where Will had
spent most of the day catching up on paperwork and phone calls. The
work hadn't eased his mind one iota.

“
Good thing his wrist was
his only injury. Could'a been a whole lot worse.”

“
Yeah. Like Lillian
McFarley.”

“
We don't know if Hammond
had anything to do with that,” reminded Will.

Lyle grunted. “You're getting deeper
into the fray with Kylie. That means you're taking on her problem.
Just want to let you know, I'm on your team in every which
way.”

“
You'll join my lynch
mob?”

They both laughed a little too
heartily.

“
Kylie's the first one to
admit that she made a mistake with this guy,” said Will, “but she's
doing the right thing by shouldering the responsibility of the
child. In my books that's stellar.”

“
Definitely the
right...”

Footfalls thumped up the stairs and
Max, carrying Dino, rushed into the room. “He's hurt!” he cried,
holding a whimpering Dino close. “He burned his paw on the grill.
It's my fault. I didn't move the stool back like you told me Uncle
Lyle.” Fat tears formed at the edges of Max's eyes and he blinked
them back furiously.

Will folded both Max and Dino in his
arms. “It's okay. Shi... I mean, stuff happens. Let's call
Gina.”

“
Good thing her clinic is
right here in the Village,” said Lyle. “I'll call her right
now.”

“
Okay. Then get back in the
kitchen and make sure Kim doesn't burn the place down. Max and I
will take Dino over.”

* * * *

CHAPTER
THIRTEEN

When Gina Kirby had spotted the
building for sale she'd scooped it up off the market instantly. In
keeping with city regulations it was a mere three stories high
which suited her needs perfectly. Redefining spaces, she'd turned
the small and outdated apartments on the first floor into her pet
clinic reception, examining room and holding room with large, airy
cages for overnight patients. The remaining two floors she'd
converted into a lovely apartment for herself.

Normally closed on Sundays, when
Lyle's call came in she turned on the lights in the examining room
as Will carried Dino in and placed him on the metal table, Max
anxiously glued to his side.

“
What's wrong, little guy?”
she cooed at Dino, who trustingly looked into her eyes and held up
his paw.

“
He touched a hot stove
top,” Will informed her.

Gina donned her glasses. Gently she
examined the pads of Dino's paw through her magnifying glass. “It's
not bad. Poor little tyke.” She smoothed back the fur on his face.
“I'll give him a shot against infection and another for pain, put
some salve and a bandage on it. It will heal quickly.

Dino was a trooper but Max had to look
away when she inserted the needles one by one under the dog's skin.
But when she gently applied the salve and bandaged his paw, Max was
fascinated.

“
I'm gonna be a marine bi...
bi...”

“
Biologist,” Will came to
his aid.

“
Yeah, that. I like sea
animals, you know, dolphins and whales and seals. This is really
cool, you being a vet and all. I'll bet you've helped a lot of
animals!”

Gina appreciated his enthusiasm. “For
me there's nothing better.”

Max wrinkled his brow. “How long does
it take to learn how? Have you ever been bitten? Do you know how to
fix snakes when they're hurt too?”

“
Whoa! Hold on there,
kiddo,” said Will.

Gina laughed, delighted. “It's okay.
I'm used to getting grilled by my younger pet owners. Unlike this
little guy.”

Both Will and Max groaned at the
pun.

“
Since Dino's a special
patient I should keep him overnight to keep him off his feet and
give his paw a fighting chance. You can come back for him in the
morning, okay?”

“
Will do. Thanks,
Gina.”

*

Drew was on the prowl.

The need was at war again with his
conscience, which was losing the battle fast. It sizzled and
flared, demanding gratification.

He gave himself over to it.

Sunday night. The Village was winding
down, restaurants closing for the night, including the Village
Diner.

He knew that Kylie was tucked into her
apartment and Jolene had just been dropped off by that over-sized
cook who had taken it upon himself to be her personal
chauffeur.

No matter. He had something else in
mind.

Drew's thoughts had pulsed and
ulcerated as he'd obsessed about Kylie and the baby she carried.
She'd flat out dumped him, claiming he was violent. He'd show her
violent. He'd rock her world with it. Take out each and every thing
that mattered to her.

The McFarley woman had been a trial
run, a highly satisfying catalyst. A spring-board to bigger, bolder
enterprises. Now that it had been released, the need had become
insisting, urgent, slithering in his mind like a centipede.
Tonight's mission was just an appetizer for what would come
later.

He teetered on the fine line that
defined his actions as revenge against Kylie and the sheer pleasure
of killing. Was she just an excuse to unleash something that had
been there all along? Maybe. Didn't matter. In his mind's eye he
saw her belly grow large, her instincts forming a maternal bond.
Ripping the newborn kid from her protective arms would be the
ultimate infliction of pain. He imagined her horrified reaction as
the prospect of it imbedded itself in his psyche. He'd take the kid
for himself, raise it right.

Keeping watch, he'd seen the dude with
the kid take that stupid dog Kylie adored so much to the vet.
Conveniently they'd left the mutt at the clinic
overnight.

It was well past midnight when he
pulled his convertible into a side street five blocks from the
clinic. He casually strolled the residential streets that ran
parallel to the main drag of the Village until he neared the
clinic. From there he moved up half a block and entered an alley
that ran directly behind the building.

The rear door was sturdily locked. A
window made up of small panes lay to the right. Using a rock, he
broke one of the panes and reached in, opened the latch, braced
himself for an alarm.

Nothing.

His breathing quickened, his heart
rate rose. Anticipation bolted through his nervous system, zinged
merrily through his veins. He pushed his way through the open
window and landed softly inside.

Furtive now, he extracted a pen light
and shone it around the room. The odor of animal feces clung to the
air and two pairs of eyes gleamed at him from inside separate cages
lining the wall.

An ominous growl emitted from one of
the cages. A ripple of panic seeped through.

Should have brought a stun
gun.

Not that he had one.

Upstairs, Gina Kirby snapped awake. On
her baby sound monitor, one of her overnight guests was barking, at
first just a single bark, now a constant yammer. Was Dino in pain,
or was it the boxer with the leg injury? Judging by the timber of
the barks she determined it was the smaller of the two
dogs.

The bark became frantic.

She got up and pulled on her robe,
headed downstairs.

“
Alright, alright, I'm
coming,” she yelled over the barking as she entered the holding
room. Flipping on the overhead light she caught a flash of silver
arcing through the air before a horrific pain shot through her mid
section. Doubling over she gripped her flank, blood oozing through
her fingers. Looking up, she saw a man standing a few feet away
with an expression of absolute, mad glee on his face.

A single fleeting thought
played across her mind.
I knew I should
have installed bars over those windows
.
Then it was gone as the man took a step forward with his eyes wild
and his arm raised.

He couldn't have asked for a better
gift! Imagine that, the vet herself lived right here on the
premises. He'd missed that little detail but now it was working for
him as his mind fell into an abyss. Without mercy the garden shears
became an instrument for the need, slashing, stabbing, slicing. One
final, vicious poke and the shears were stuck, imbedded in
bone.

He panted, waiting for his breathing
to slow, for his heart to stop hammering. He'd been blinded, his
eyes rolling back in ecstasy with each thrust of the shears.
Reveling in elation, he hugged his body and rocked to and
fro.

The war raged. A part of his mind
screamed with shock, another rejoiced with profound pleasure. The
buzzing in his brain subsided and his ears now registered what had
been going on all along. Loud barks emitted from the two cages
along the wall. He moved to the terrier and opened the door. The
small dog cringed inside, eyes wide with terror. He reached in.
Quick as a viper it bit him!

Sirens sounded in the distance.
Someone must have heard the commotion and called the police. There
was no time to deal with the fur ball.

He'd had the forethought to wear a
disposable rain coat and discarded it in a garbage bin in the alley
along with the plastic shoe covers he'd put on. Not the gloves
though. Those he'd burn. He'd watched enough true crime on TV to
know that prints could be obtained from the insides of the
fingertips, never mind that the dog had bitten clear through one of
them.

Pleased with himself, Drew disappeared
into the night while a cruiser pulled up in front of the clinic,
another in the alley.

Dino's cage was open and the intruder
had gone. Tentatively he poked his head out through the opening and
detected the metallic odor of blood. Hopping onto the floor he
limped to the figure lying there and howled in mourning.

At the sound of banging on the door,
then a loud smash of wood and glass as the police broke in, Dino
dashed through their legs and out into the alley, running as fast
as his feet would take him despite his bandaged paw.

*

Like a large percentage of the working
class, Kim took a while to get his mind in gear in the mornings.
But at least he had the pleasure of knowing he was going to a job
he loved and not to a daily grind.