Murder Strikes a Pose (33 page)

“Bella,
come
!” I yelled, louder than I’d yelled anything in my life.

I couldn’t believe it. Bella came.

269

thirty

The police broke down that odious front door a few seconds

later and found me holding a gun on Jake with one hand and grip-

ping Bella’s collar with the other, hysterically sobbing and laughing at the same time. I couldn’t stop repeating, “I can’t believe she came. I can’t believe she came.” I must have looked like a mad-woman.

Jake, on the other hand, simply looked pissed. Blood poured

from his nose as he cradled his purpling hand. He told the re-

sponding officers that I held him at gunpoint while my vicious

dog attacked him, all for no apparent reason. “Just look at her,” he said. “She’s obviously nuts.”

It took some explaining, but John O’Connell and Detective

Martinez eventually convinced the officers not to arrest me. And

when the police traced the serial number on the gun back to Jake, well, his fate was pretty much sealed. Pretty boy Jake wouldn’t be seeing the outside of Monroe Correctional Facility for a very long time.

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Bella survived the incident with no bites on her record. The

blood covering the yoga room’s floor came from Jake’s shattered

nose, not Bella’s incisors. She must have head-butted Jake when

she tackled him, or perhaps Jake smashed his face against the floor in their struggle. Either way, she never laid a tooth on him. I was obviously the biter of the family.

Ten days later, life was finally returning to normal. Alicia had

replaced the studio’s front door and retrofitted its electrical system. I’d started physical therapy for my shoulder and arranged for substitute instructors to cover my yoga classes. But I still had to face one final trauma—coffee break torture with Rene at Mocha

Mia. She waved the week-old
Dollars for Change
through the air, smiling evilly. Her canine teeth sparkled. She was the alley cat; I was her sparrow.

She slapped the paper in front of me like a demented placemat.

“Can I get your autograph?”

I threw the infamous article back at her. “Get that thing away

from me. It’s not funny.”

I’d finally gotten my headline: “Stray Dog Saves Mentally Ill

Woman from Attack.” Directly underneath it was a quarter-page

photo of Bella and me posing in front of Serenity Yoga.

“I ought to sue Tali and Ralphie for defamation,” I grumbled.

Rene grinned. “Come on, Kate. Where’s your sense of humor?

The headline’s a joke, but the article’s not half bad. At least they got the link for Bella’s adoption page right.” She paused to slurp a thick layer of whipped cream off her cinnamon-orange mocha.

“Besides, after the way we tricked Ralphie and Tali, we owed them a good laugh.”

“I suppose,” I replied drolly. I paused a half-beat for emphasis.

“That headline was right about one thing, you know.”

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“What’s that?”

“I must be crazy. I chose you for a best friend.”

Rene laughed. “Good one, Kate.” She licked her finger and drew

a “one” on an imaginary scoreboard.

I lifted my soy cappuccino, careful not to spill the hot, sticky

liquid down the front of my shirt. For the twelfth time that morning, I wished I was left-handed. Rene pointed to my right arm, still wrapped in a sling. “How’s your shoulder?”

“Not bad. I’ll get out of the sling in a couple of days. The wrist is worse.” I wiggled my fingers. “The doctor says I have to wear the cast at least six more weeks.”

“How will you teach?”

“I won’t be able to, for a while. But if I don’t do poses like

Downward Dog or Plank, I can try to start teaching again in a

month or so.”

Rene looked concerned. “A month’s a long time. Are you going

to be all right, moneywise? I talked it over with Sam, and we can help if you need it.”

I reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “Thanks,

Rene, that’s really sweet of you. But I’ll be OK. Alicia’s paying my medical bills and covering rent for a while. I told her it wasn’t necessary, but she insisted. I think she feels responsible for what Jake did to me.”

“I don’t blame her,” Rene replied. “How could she sleep next to

that cheating scumbag every night and not know he was a mur-

derer?”

“Don’t be so hard on her. In a way, she was Jake’s victim, too.

Alicia was blind when it came to Jake.” I shrugged. “But then again, so were most women. Besides, she’s getting revenge for both of us now.”

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“How so?”

“The scans came back; Alicia’s cancer is in remission. So for

now, she’s taking a break from treatment. And she’s using all that new-found energy to give Jake hell.” I smirked. “She completely

cut him off, filed for divorce, and changed her will. Jake’s so broke now that he’s stuck with a public defender. Alicia says making sure Jake rots in prison gives her one more reason to live.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Rene said. We clinked our coffee mugs to-

gether.

Rene and I sat for several minutes, sipping coffee and enjoy-

ing the companionable silence. Rare Seattle sunshine warmed my

shoulders as I gazed out the window at Serenity Yoga. The Ashtan-

ga class had just finished. A group of happy-looking students chatted as they walked toward the PhinneyWood Market, yoga bags

slung over their shoulders. Their instructor noticed me watching

and waved before locking the studio’s front door.

I turned back to Rene. “You know, I still miss George, and I

wouldn’t wish these last few weeks on anyone. But in a way, I’ve

been lucky.”

“How so?”

“This forced time off has been good for me. I finally had to

start trusting the other instructors. And you know what? You were right. They’re doing a pretty good job. I think I’ll work part-time from home even after I’ve healed.”

“Good for you,” Rene said. She looked down at the table, silent.

That was it? No smart-assed remark? No “I told you so?”

Rene stared at her plate, chewing her bottom lip and breaking

her peanut butter cookie into tiny pieces. When she finally spoke, her voice sounded hesitant. “Kate, I know this is a sore subject, and 273

you can tell me to butt out if you want to. But I have to ask.” Her eyes met mine. “What are you going to do about Bella?”

Ah, yes, Bella. I hadn’t told her about Bella.

I gazed down at the saying on Rene’s coffee mug. “A friend

loves you no matter what.” I thought I might cry, but I felt myself smile instead. “Michael and I interviewed the top two families last night.”

“And?”

“We found the perfect home.”

_____

When I got back to my house, I slipped off my shoes and headed

straight to the office. My conversation with Rene reminded me: I

had one more task to do before Bella’s adoption was official.

As it turned out, Betty, Melissa, and all the other naysayers had been wrong. It wasn’t at all difficult to find a home for a special needs dog—when that dog was famous.

The day Bella’s and my story was printed in
Dollars for Change
, adoption applications started pouring in. Money was an issue for

some people, of course, but Michael performed more of his Inter-

net wizardry and found a co-op that sold Bella’s medicine at about one-third the cost of retail. He even found an Internet support

group that offered to answer potential adopters’ questions about

Bella’s illness.

Many of the would-be homes were as awful as the ones I’d

evaluated before. But several of them were truly great families

who wanted Bella with all their hearts. Some had kids; several had owned German shepherds. One was even an ex-canine handler for

the Marines. After we finished interviewing the finalists, Michael and I had a long, tearful, gut-wrenching discussion. In the end, we 274

agreed: Bella’s needs had to outweigh all other considerations. We owed her that much.

It couldn’t be easy for Bella to trust. Her first owner abused

her. And although George rescued her from that abuse, all he had

to offer her were love and a shared meal. But for Bella, that was enough. She was completely loyal to George.

Then in an instant, he was gone.

Bella must have been frightened, confused, and frustrated dur-

ing our short time together. But in spite of that, she literally threw herself into danger to protect me. After living with me for less than a month, Bella risked her life to save mine. I couldn’t imagine any human willing to give so much, so quickly, for so little.

Michael and I finally chose an awesome home. One in which

Bella would be loved and accepted for exactly the soul she was,

flaws and all. One that would spend time with her and commit

to her lifelong needs for medication and training. One that knew

the risks of caring for an animal with a twelve-year life span, yet would love Bella fully and unconditionally, nonetheless.

I pulled up the website for Fido’s Last Chance. Bella’s picture

finally had the much sought-after “Adopted” banner across it. One less thing to worry about on my never-ending to-do list.

I couldn’t help but smile as I reminisced about Bella’s and my

adventures together. But as always, time was short and my com-

panion was impatient.

“Bark!”

Lord, did she have to do that right in my ear?

“Hey, Bella girl, is it time for your walk?”

Two more ear-splitting barks answered in the affirmative.

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“All right, already, I hear you. Let’s go harass Michael. I’m sure he doesn’t have anything better to do anyway. And if we’re lucky, we can annoy Tiffany.”

I put on Bella’s fancy new no-pull harness, threw some treats

in my pocket, and wrapped the leash around my uninjured wrist.

Bella excitedly dragged me toward the door, past the twenty-eight-pound bag of dog food sitting precariously on the counter.

“Bella, close! No pulling! Hey, slow down!”

I bumped into the counter, and the bag came crashing down.

Kibble scattered all over the floor, covering every square inch of linoleum.

“Bella, stop! Hang on! We need to clean up this mess!”

She looked at me, took one quick step back, and then leaped

forward, pulling on that harness with the instinct of a sled dog.

No-pull harness, my ass.

It was no use. This was one determined canine. I gave in and

trotted behind her. The mess would still be waiting when we re-

turned.

I’d finally joined the long list of foster failures at Fido’s Last Chance, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I might not ever consider Bella my dog, but of all the people on earth, she chose me to be her guardian. I was most definitely her human.

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