The Great Shelby Holmes (12 page)

“He doesn't sit well with me, either,” I confessed. “But if he's Daisy's trainer, what would he have to gain by stealing her? Wouldn't he make more money training a winning dog?”

“It depends on who he's betting on.”

I couldn't help but laugh. “You mean, like,
gamble
? Do you really think that people gamble on a dog show? I mean, come on!”

“Well, there's really only one way to find out.”

Before I had a chance to ask her how she was going to do that, Zane came into the room. “I can't take much more of this missing-dog drama. And you have to believe me when I say that there's no way Zareen took her. Just no way. I know her better than anyone, and she didn't do it.”

Maybe Zane was right. Yeah, just a couple minutes ago, I was convinced it was Zareen. But now we had the trainer, who'd been caught in a lie. It was crazy how quickly things could change in this investigation (and in life).

Shelby, however, didn't seem swayed either way by Zane. “We shall see where the facts lead us.”

“Do you really think you can find Daisy? Because I know if you do, Zareen's innocence will be proven.”

Shelby nodded. “Of course I'll find Daisy.” She said it like it was a fact. But we hardly had any evidence to tell us who took Daisy, let alone where she was being held.

“I hope so.” He slumped down on the couch next to Shelby.

“So where do you play ball?” I asked. As much as I was enjoying this case and watching Shelby work, I wasn't going to waste an opportunity to make a new friend, especially a guy friend.

Most of my friends back on the post were guys. I liked being around other dudes. No offense to girls, but my guy friends were always a little more chill. There was no
judgment. There were no expectations. My old buddies and I would just play some ball, watch some movies, and hang. I missed that. I really wanted that again. The only people I knew here were Mom, Shelby, and Mrs. Hudson.

I so needed to hang with some dudes.

“We play over in the park,” Zane answered. “You should join us sometime.”

“Yeah, that'd be cool. Thanks.” I tried to be cool.

“You know”—Zane turned his attention to Shelby—“I like Emerson and all, but it bothers me that we've been trying to get ahold of him for over a day and he's been unreachable.”

See!
Even Zane thought the trainer did it.

Shelby's head jerked as if something had snapped into place in her head. “Interesting. Tell me, you're a year older than Zareen?” She moved forward so she was practically on top of Zane.

He leaned back into the couch cushions with an alarmed look on his face. “Uh, no, I'm fourteen minutes older than her. We're twins. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Simply curious,” Shelby stated coolly.

“Well,” Zane said as he got up from the couch (before Shelby could fall over him), “I better check in to see if there's anything I can do. Please find her, Shelby.”

“I will.”

He took a few steps but then stopped and put his hand in his pocket. “What on earth?” He pulled out the trainer's phone.

I stared at Shelby, who looked blankly back at Zane.

How did she get it in his pocket?

The close call on the couch now made sense.

Zane shook his head as he walked away. “Here I thought this day couldn't get any more bizarre.”

Yeah, me too
.

Shelby stayed quiet with her eyes closed until Tamra appeared back in the living room. It didn't take a face expert to tell that she'd been crying. “I don't understand why you're not interrogating Zareen. She clearly did it.”

“She is a suspect, yes,” Shelby admitted. “But
clearly
is not a word we can use at this juncture. There are too many elements in play.” She then stood up. “Tamra, I think it's time you take me to the scene of the crime.”

CHAPTER

14

T
his
was
cruel
. I
certainly
hoped
it
was
also
unusual
.

The dog room off the foyer in the main hallway was twice the size of my bedroom at our new home. I was also pretty sure that the two dog-sized couches and beds probably cost more than all the furniture in our apartment combined.

Shelby dropped down to her knees and started climbing around, talking to herself as she inspected every dog toy, bowl, and chew stick.

“Is anything missing?” Shelby asked as she scratched behind her ear. (She was taking this whole putting-herself-in-the-victim's-shoes act a tad too far.)

“I don't think so,” Tamra replied.

“What about the stuffed bone? You said that Daisy took her favorite toys—the stuffed Chihuahua and a stuffed bone—with her to bed. Caruso was in the hallway being chewed on by Roxy that morning and is over there in the corner. I didn't see a stuffed bone in your room or in this room. Where is it?”

Tamra started searching around the space. “You're right. It's missing!”

Shelby groaned loudly. “Honestly, do I have to do everything here? I asked you to tell me everything that happened, yet you failed to notice that one of Daisy's favorite toys was also missing.”

“I—I …” Tamra broke down in tears. “I'm sorry. All I want is my dog back.”

“Well, you aren't really helping by omitting such important and obvious facts from my investigation,” Shelby stated flatly.

“Hey,” I said in a low voice as I patted Tamra's back. “It's okay. There are so many toys in here I can see how you didn't realize it was missing.”

“You're not helping, either, Watson,” Shelby repri- manded me.

“Come on, Shelby, give us a break.” I tried to reason with her. “Not everybody is a supersleuth like you. It's not fair to think that anybody can compete with your powers of observation. There's no need to lash out.”

“You think
that
was lashing out?” Shelby snorted before returning to her four-limbed investigation of the area.
“Please.”

“Hey!” Zane walked into the room. “It's going to be okay, Tamra.” He wrapped his arms around his sister, who continued to sob.

Zane turned his attention to Shelby, who was currently climbing into the canopy dog bed. “Ah, John, does she always do strange stuff like this?”

I could only shrug my shoulders in response since, in the limited time that I'd spent with Shelby, she'd been
exactly
like this.

Shelby jumped up and went over to the shelves that contained the dog food. “This is what they eat?”

“Yes,” Tamra answered as she wiped away her tears. “They only eat organic dog food, and Miss Eugenia cooks chicken or wild salmon for them every night.”

The dogs even ate better than me. Man, life in New York City wasn't fair.

Tamra approached the clear plastic containers that held the dog food. She patted the one that had the letter
D
in pink cursive. “This one's Daisy's.”

“Thanks for clarifying,” Shelby replied sarcastically.

I shot her a warning glance. If this was how she handled a client, I'd hate to see how she treated the thief once he (or she) was caught.

“Listen, Shelby.” Zane put his hands in his pockets. “I'm willing to do whatever you need to help. We've got to find Daisy.”

“Of course.” Shelby stood up and placed her hand on Zane's shoulder. “You're the big brother. That's incredibly generous of you.”

Wait a second.
Why was Shelby being so nice to Zane? I'd never seen her be … normal to anyone.

Maybe she actually listened to me when I told her to take it easy?

“So, where do you go to school?” she asked. “You're not with us at the Academy.”

“No, I'm not really into arts. I go to Saint Francis and play ball there.”

“And what ball position do you perform?”

What now?

“I'm the point guard.” Zane stood up a little straighter. “Basically, I'm the captain of our team.”

“Are you really?” Shelby shook her head as if she was enamored by what Zane was saying. “That's quite an impressive feat.”

“Yeah, I do all right.”

Shelby then grabbed his hands and started examining them. “I presume you need to have strong hands to play the ball.”

Now everybody in the room was staring at Shelby like she had lost her mind.

“
CAN
WE
PLEASE
GET
BACK
TO
THE
MATTER
OF
MY
MISSING
DOG
?” Tamra screamed.

Shelby looked blankly at her. “But that's precisely what I'm doing.”

“Really? Because it seems like you're flirting with my brother,” Tamra shot back.

YES!
That was what Shelby was trying to do, wasn't it?

Gross!

I had to cover my mouth so nobody could tell that I was holding back a laugh. Here I thought I'd seen it all, and then Shelby attempted to flirt with Zane. So there were now two things Shelby wasn't an expert on: flirting and friendship.

Shelby ignored Tamra's comment. “Who has keys to the apartment?”

Zane replied, “All of the family, Emerson, Eugenia, our cook, and Karina, the maid. Security also has a set, but they would only let in an authorized person who already has keys.”

“And they would have a list downstairs of who's been allowed in?”

“Yes, but they already said that no one was spotted with Daisy that morning.”

Shelby thought for a second. “I know Roxy barks at Eugenia—what about Karina?”

Zane laughed. “I mean, yeah, especially since she can't stand the vacuum.”

“The better question would be who or what
doesn't
that dog bark at?” Tamra stated with a smirk.

“And who in the family does she bark at? You mentioned your father yesterday.”

Tamra nodded. “Sometimes she barks at him, mostly when he's yelling at Zareen about Roxy. So
all the time
.”

“Come on, Tamra.” Zane folded his arms. “Roxy isn't that bad. Zareen does the best she can with him—give her a break.”

“Why should I? She's the one who took Daisy!”

Not this again!
Fortunately, Shelby stepped in before another meltdown could happen.

“I would love to see the list of visitors from the past week. Plus, it would be helpful if I could personally speak to security.”

A thought suddenly hit me. Whenever I saw a movie set in fancy buildings like this, there were always all these cameras
in the elevator and hallway. “Is there video footage of the elevator?”

“Yeah, but security already looked at it.” Tamra looked sad. “They didn't find anything.”