Mutts & Murder: A Dog Town USA Cozy Mystery (12 page)

I took another sip of my Sunrise. I was nearly halfway through it already.

“Yeah,” I said. “And she’s pregnant.”

She crossed her arms and leaned back. I thought I could see steam coming out of her ears.

“You know what I’d do if I were you, Freddie?”

“What?”

“First thing Monday morning, I’d go and talk to that editor of yours,” she said. “I’d tell him that Jimmy Brewer is an unreliable and difficult employee. And I’d tell him that he doesn’t play well with others. And that you’ve seen this first hand.”

I sighed.

I had thought about doing that very thing. But as I thought it through, the prospect of ruining a job opportunity for him felt… I don’t know.
Wrong
.

Because the truth was, Jimmy was neither unreliable nor difficult when it came to work. And aside from that, he was one of the best photographers out there. He had a way of capturing the moment like few in his field. I was sure the only reason he got laid off from
The Daily
was because he was the youngest photographer in the department.

Lou seemed to pick up on my hesitation.

“Freddie – the man drove you from a good, high-paying job. You came here to get away from him, remember?”

“I know,” I said.

“Well, then it’s settled,” she said. “You’ll go in and talk to your editor first thing Monday.”

She drained the rest of her drink.

“Right?”

She looked at me, waiting for my answer.

I sighed again.

She had a point. I’d given up a lot to get away from him. And just because he’d been laid off and found himself in need of a job didn’t mean he was going to find any help from me. Photography jobs were scarce, but that was just the way things were these days. I couldn’t help it, just like he couldn’t. If he was so concerned about supporting his family, then he could get a job doing something else if he had to.

“You’re right,” I finally said.

“Good,” she said. “Now first thing I’m going do tomorrow morning is talk to Milo and set up that date for you guys.”

I let out a stiff groan.

I might have been feeling low, but going on a date with Milo wasn’t going to solve anything.

“Oh, c’mon, Freddie,” Lou said, exasperated. “Milo’s a good guy and he said he thinks that you’re beautiful.”

“He did not say that,” I said, raising an eyebrow.

I knew when my sister was exaggerating.

I’d been called cute before, and on a rare occasion, pretty. But I hardly ever got called
beautiful
. That was something Lou got called a lot more.

“Well, he said something to that effect,” Lou said. “Now I’m setting you up with him and you can’t stop me. All right?”

I let out a sigh.

“Fine,” I finally said.

Maybe she was right. Even if Milo wasn’t the one, maybe it would be nice to get my dating legs back. It had been a while.

“Now let’s change the subject to something more cheerful,” Lou said. “Any news about Myra’s murderer?”

I laughed, inhaling another swig of my drink, which was quickly vanishing.

Lou’s sense of humor always did have a dash of darkness to it.

“No,” I started saying. “But—”

Just then Lou’s phone rang to the tune of
Abba
’s “The Winner Takes It All,” which could only mean one thing: Pete, her ex-husband, was calling. Since the divorce, she’d changed his personalized ringtone to that song.

She sighed.

“Sorry, Freddie,” she said. “Let me just talk to him a minute. We were supposed to talk tonight, but I forgot.”

I nodded as she stood up and answered. She walked away toward the back of the patio where a long row of hop vines were growing, looking for some privacy.

Pete no doubt was upset that she’d forgotten about their talk and was out drinking. Even if the only reason she was out drinking was to cheer me up.

I slurped down the rest of my Tequila Sunrise, eventually hitting air.

There was never a more lonesome sound.

Chapter 29

By the time I decided my legs were too restless to keep sitting there at the patio table alone, I’d finished Tequila Sunrise number three and was feeling a little better.

Lou was still out back talking to Pete. I knew she didn’t mean anything by leaving me to sit at the table alone for half an hour. Lou had man troubles of her own to deal with, including the fact that Pete was still in love with her. Something that I knew she felt bad about. Consequently, she indulged him whenever he wanted to talk about the current state of their relationship.

I stood up, my skin peeling away from the wooden bench, reminding me what a warm night it was. I went over to the bar and settled up our tab, then I sent Lou a text message, telling her I’d meet her back at home and to take as long as she needed on the phone with Pete.

Part of me wished the two of them would just get back together. I liked Pete. He was a good sort, even if he was a little high-strung. But I also knew things weren’t all that easy. Lou had wanted more out of their relationship: things that Pete couldn’t give her. Despite the fact that he was insanely in love with her, it wasn’t enough.

I knew as good as anyone: sometimes, love was just a real pain in the behind.

I left the crowded patio and took a right on Constellation Road, meandering along its cracked sidewalks, heading west toward our house. The ache that had been at the bottom of my chest all day hurt a little less, having been replaced with a warm and hollow buzz. I inhaled the fresh night air. It smelled like pine and honeysuckle and every once and a while, there was a cool breeze that smelled damp and woodsy, like it was blowing straight off the river. Above, the stars were shining brightly, inhibited only by the occasional silver cloud.  

I walked and thought, working out my restless legs. Thinking about Jimmy, mostly.

About that night when he showed up on my doorstep last year. What he’d said to me.

“She left me because she knows I love you,” he had said. “It’s always been you, Red.”  

At the time, those words had been everything I’d wanted to hear. I never told him that I’d fallen in love with him, but I suppose he was able to tell just the same. I was never good at hiding the way I felt.

When he showed up that night, I thought it was the beginning of something special.

But a few weeks later, he began acting strange. Avoiding me, not making eye-contact on stories we were both assigned to. He finally told me that he was getting back together with Kathryn, his girlfriend. That he was ashamed at how he had treated me, but that he couldn’t just throw away five years of a good relationship with her. Especially since, he said, he realized that he really was in love with her.  

Those words had practically killed me.

I had loved him. But to him, I wasn’t much more than a vacation away from his girlfriend.

Not surprisingly, I didn’t get an invite to their wedding.

I shuddered.

I had done a better job lately of not thinking about any of this. It had been more than a year since all of it had happened, and I had made steps to move on with my life.

But him showing up today had just—

My voice caught in my throat suddenly as I saw a dark creature running toward me in the night.

Running at me like I was a hunk of meat left out on the sidewalk.

Chapter 30

“Mugs!”

I heard a voice from across the street yell just as the little ball of fur jumped up onto my leg, panting as his tail wagged wildly.  

After I’d gotten over the shock of nearly being mauled by a small creature in the dark, I found that I was overcome with emotion.

I hadn’t known it, but the puppy was exactly what I needed at that moment.

I bent over and scooped the little mutt up into my arms, coiling up the leash that was attached to his collar in my hand. He licked my face, his rough little tongue leaving behind drool traces. But I didn’t much mind. I was just happy to see him.

By the light of the streetlamp, I peered down into his little face. I suddenly felt the same way I’d felt at the dog park the day the little ball of fur had run smack into my leg.

I laughed slightly as he licked behind my ear, hitting a ticklish spot.

“I’m, uh, I’m sorr…”

The voice trailed off as the man stepped into the light of the streetlamp.

I looked over.

Lt. Sam Sakai was as surprised to see me as I was to see him. In fact, he appeared to be speechless, losing his train of thought at the very sight of me.  

He was dressed casually and was clearly off duty. His shaggy black hair was slightly disheveled and glistened under the streetlamp.

It took me a moment to realize he wasn’t alone.

The lieutenant had four others with him. Three of them were pretty large, but the smallest one wasn’t much bigger than a squirrel.

In fact, as I looked closer at the small one, I recognized him. It was Bonedaddy – the dog I had just featured in the
Pet Pals
feature section.

I almost started laughing, but held back when my eyes drifted up to Sakai’s.

He appeared to be thunderstruck.

I stroked the soft head of the puppy in my arms and smiled.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were stalking me,” I said as ‘Mugs’ crawled onto my other shoulder and started licking that side of my face.

“I’m not. I mean, I wasn’t,” he said defensively.

“I know. I was only kidding.”

I looked down at the four other dogs. Most of the time, it would seem like a man walking that many canines would be overwhelmed. But the dogs all appeared to be calm. Sitting down at a distance and not particularly interested in coming toward me.

“I’m sorry if he scared you,” the lieutenant said, nodding to Mugs. “He’s a runner. I’ve been training him to stay, but he’s not quite there yet.”

I shook my head.

“No, it’s okay,” I said.

The lieutenant smiled. A kind of smile like he knew something I didn’t. As a reporter, I, of course, disliked it when people knew things I didn’t.

“What?” I finally said.

“You’re a liar,” he said.

“Excuse me?”

He smiled again.

“You said you didn’t like dogs,” he said. “If that pup hasn’t got you by the gills, then I don’t know left from right.”

I shot him a sharp look, or as sharp of a look as I could shoot three Tequila Sunrises to the wind, then I put the pup down and handed the leash to Sakai. He stepped closer, taking it.

“I see you’ve got Bonedaddy there,” I said, nodding to the smallest of the dogs. “I guess the article I wrote about him didn’t do much good.”

“Well, it did at first,” the lieutenant said. “Somebody adopted him the day the story ran. But then they returned him the next. Bonedaddy’s a biter. But I’m trying to change that.”

I was amazed at how well-behaved the dogs all appeared to be, save for the puppy.

“What are you doing out here?” he said after a moment.

“Walking home.”

“By yourself?”

I nodded.

“Is that a good idea?”

I shrugged.

“I don’t see why not. It’s better than driving right now.”

He looked me over. If he hadn’t smelled the booze on my breath, then he must have realized by now that I had had a few drinks.

He appeared to be sparring with something in his mind.

“I’ll walk you back,” he finally said.

“No, no,” I said, doing my best to sound like I hadn’t had that third drink. “That’s really not necessary.”

“Believe me, you don’t have a choice now,” he said.

I sighed, ready to protest more but he interrupted me.

“Besides, there’s a murderer on the loose, Winifred. Nobody should be walking by themselves at night around here.”

He made a whistling sound, and the dogs started walking along in the direction I was headed.

I crossed my arms against my chest for a second, giving him a hard stare.

He appeared to be determined.

I didn’t put up any more of a fight.  

Besides, him walking me home might give me some time to see what I could squeeze out of him regarding Myra Louden’s murder.

“Fine,” I said. “But call me Freddie. Winifred’s always been too stuffy for my liking.”

He nodded.

“All right.So long as you stop calling me lieutenant.”

I nodded back.

We walked along the cracked sidewalk as a cool breeze rushed through the leafy trees lining the streets.

I was surprised at how comfortable I felt walking alongside Sam Sakai and his five dogs.

Chapter 31

“I know what you’re trying to do,” he said, glancing over at me.

“What is it you think I’m trying to do?”

“You’re trying to get information out of me about the Louden murder,” he said.

“Now why would I go and ruin a perfectly beautiful Friday evening with that kind of talk?” I said, lying through my teeth.

“Because you’re a reporter and you wouldn’t see it as ruining a perfectly beautiful Friday evening,” he said.

Sam Sakai had seen right through my little small talk ploy. I had asked him, casually, that if he was to kill a person with poison, how he would go about doing it. Usually I managed to ask such questions in a way where it didn’t make it obvious that I was digging for off-handed information. However, I had forgotten in all of this that I was drunk, and Lt. Sam Sakai wasn’t. I’d been heavy-handed with the inquiry.

“All right, fine,” I said, holding up my hands. “You got me.”

He looked over, smiling a little bit. One of the dogs stopped for a moment to investigate some bushes, and we stopped walking.

A gust of wind kicked up, a little chillier than the ones before it. Up above, I noticed that much of the sky was now covered in a film of reddish clouds. Only a few stars peeked out from beneath the blanket.   

“What is it you’ve got against reporters anyway?” I said. “I mean, it seems like you’ve got a special hatred for us.”

“I don’t hate all of you,” he said. “I just dislike corruption and easy hand-outs that result from a lack of ethics.”