Daddy's Home (12 page)

“Shannon’s?”

“Or Sara’s.”

“Where to?”

She gave him Brendan’s office address. He put the flashing light on the roof of the car and sped down Washington and onto the Pacific Coast Highway, leading into Point Loma. Five minutes later, the downpour not letting up, they pulled in front of the vet’s office. Holly got out and charged through the door with the pup still under her jacket. There was only one person in the waiting area with a caged cat that was loudly complaining about his visit to the vet’s.

She felt the dog squirm under her jacket. “Shh, shh, it’s okay.” He obviously wasn’t too pleased about being there either. Funny how dogs and kids had that sixth sense about doctors and vets.

“Can I help you?” A young, high cheek-boned, blonde-haired woman looked up from behind the front desk. The door closed behind Holly as Chad came in out of the rain.

“This dog is hurt.”

“Is he your dog? Do you know how he was hurt?”

“No, and no. Listen, Dr. O’ Neil is a friend of mine. I’m a police officer, and I think the dog might actually be able to help us in a case, and we need to see the vet immediately.”

“Oh. You’re Holly,” she said knowingly. What was Brendan saying to people in his office about her, or people in general? Well, it didn’t matter right now. What mattered was the dog. “Come on back with me. I’ll get the doctor.”

“Thank you.”

Chad and Holly followed the woman who reminded Holly of an Amazon—tanned, beautiful, and at least six feet tall. She towered over Holly, who on her best day with heels stood 5’6. She realized that she often used her loud mouth to compensate for her size.

They entered an exam room, and Brendan immediately came through the opposite door. He looked at Holly a bit startled. “What have we got here?”

Holly set the terrier down on the table.

“Oh, my. What happened to you, poor boy?” Brendan asked. The dog whimpered as if answering him. “It’s gonna be all right, darling. Let me have a look.”

“We don’t know what happened to him,” Chad said. “Actually we’re hoping you might be able to tell us.”

“And you are?” Brendan looked up from his patient and glanced at Chad.

“I’m sorry,” Holly replied. “This is my partner, Detective Chad Euwing.”

“Nice to meet you, Detective.” Brendan kept one hand lightly on the dog and reached his arm out to shake hands with Chad. “Okay, the pup is definitely in shock and dehydrated. We need to get him on some IV fluids. My guess is he’s also got himself a broken shoulder and maybe a rib. By the state of dehydration he’s in, I’d say he’s been hurt like this for a couple of days at least.” Brendan reached up to an overhead cabinet and pulled out a syringe and some medication. He loaded the needle and shot it into the dog’s hip. The dog snapped at him. “You are a tough boy, aren’t you? You still got some fight in you, even after what’s been done to you. I’m impressed.”

“What did you give him?” Chad asked.

“A little kicker to take the edge off. In about a minute or two he’ll feel like he’s shot back some fine whiskey.” Brendan smiled at them.

Holly couldn’t help but smile back. Brendan’s expression warmed her all over, and, God, did it feel wonderful, as she was still wet from the rain. Seeing him in his element, she noticed his Irish brogue was a bit stronger than at home. She was very impressed with how gentle he was with the dog, as gentle as he was with his daughters.

Holly was indeed falling for Dr. Brendan O’Neil.

“Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do with the chap. He needs some x-rays, but I want to immediately get fluids into him. I’m gonna take him into the surgical area, get the pictures I need, and have my assistant Lucy start his IV. She’ll also get him nice and cleaned up.”

“What do you think happened to him?” Holly asked.

“I’d say somebody took him for a soccer ball. I don’t know where the blood came from, though.” He pointed to the caked-on patch of blood on the dog’s side.

“We have an idea,” Holly said. “If he belongs to who we think he does, then his owner was murdered, and that blood could be hers. Do you mind cutting off that piece of fur so that I can send it to our lab for DNA evidence?”

“Not at all.” The dog had fallen into a near coma and barely fluttered his eyes as Brendan clipped off the piece of fur. Chad reached into his coat pocket for a plastic baggie and put into it what they hoped would prove to be evidence.

“Thanks,” Holly said. “Is he going to be all right?”

“I think so. He’s a tough little bugger. Do you know his name?”

“The dog that the ex-husband talked about is in the police report,” Chad said. “And I believe he matches the description. But I can’t remember the name. Can you?” He looked at Holly.

“No.”

“I’ll go and make a call to the station and find out.”

“Good, I like to have names for my patients.”

Brendan smiled again, and Holly thought she might melt. Cops were not supposed to feel giddy with butterflies in their stomachs! How stupid. She was acting like a lovesick teenager.

Chad left the room, and Brendan took the dog back to his assistant to give her instructions, returning a few moments later. “Poor pup. Whoever did that to him ought to be shot.”

“That’s what I’m hoping for. He’s a sick S.O.B.”

“So you think it’s the same man who killed the woman and her daughter who I read about in the papers?”

“Off the record, yes.”

“Ah, geez, Holly, I don’t know that I like this.”

Now it was her turn to smile. “What do you mean?”

“This doesn’t sound like it’s safe for you. He’s a madman, for goodness sakes. I read what he did to that poor woman and her child, and it about made me ill. To think that you’re chasing after him . . . Well, dear, I don’t know that I can take it.”

“Brendan, I carry a gun. I’ve been well trained, and believe me, I know what I’m doing. Besides, what’s all the concern? You’d think we’d made a commitment or something.”

His face turned red. “I . . . I . . . I only worry ‘cause I care for you. And I care for Chloe. It must be hard having her mom fight the bad guys day after day.”

“I suppose it is. There are times when I wish I could stay home, bake cookies, even clean the house. Well, maybe not clean the house, but at least be there when she gets home. But this is my job, Brendan, and I love it. I’ve worked really hard to get to where I am, and trust me when I say we will get this bastard. Hopefully the dog’s hair will provide DNA evidence.”

“I pray so.”

Chad came back into the room. “Dog’s name is Petie.”

“All right then. Me and Petie got some work to do. He needs some fixin’ up, so I’ll call you later and give you a report.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it,” Holly said.

“Looking forward to tomorrow, Detective,” Brendan added.

“Me too.”

As Chad and Holly left and got into the car, Holly held up her hand to once again combat any of Chad’s curiosity. “Don’t go there. Besides we’ve got a case to solve.”

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re difficult?” Chad asked.

“Pretty much every day of my life,” she replied, thinking about her dad and wondering if he’d received her e-mail.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Holly and Chad went back to the station and headed for Carpenter’s office. He was sitting at his desk, eyes closed, feet propped up on an open drawer.

“Hey, sleeping beauty, we hate to disturb you, but—” Holly started.

Carpenter jumped, eyes now wide open. “Shit. I was resting my eyes. I’m allowed that on a break.”

“Whatever. What did you and our night man find out about James?” Holly asked.

Carpenter put his feet under his desk and shuffled through some paperwork. “Some interesting info. William James’s aliases include Will James, James Wills, James Williams, William Laine, Laine Williams, and more. But here, you can have the list.” He handed it to Holly. “Mr. James spent three years in jail on a sexual assault charge back in ‘90. He was also arrested on drug possession with intent to distribute, bad check charges, and fraud, all in the ‘80s. He used to make poor-quality porn, even starred in a few of his own films, and was really into the threesome and bondage thing. This is one bad mother. All of this was on the East Coast, back in New Jersey to be exact. He moved to LA in ‘95 and down to San Diego just a couple of years ago. I called a few friends up at LAPD and got some info from them.”

Holly took note of the way he made a big deal about calling the Los Angeles police department. Good. Maybe they’d hire him. One could hope.

“Apparently he pissed off a well-known porn director, and the dude told him to get lost or he’d lose his balls. He was trying to start up his own production company and entice this other guy’s girls into his business. So he moved here and, check this out, not only does he own and operate The Elegance Dating Service, he also owns and operates The Right Connection Dating Service.”

“Where Patricia Collins was a member,” Holly said.

“Yeah. But he’s got a partner at that dating service.”

“Who?”

“Darla Monroe.”

“She was the gal working the front desk the other day,” Holly said.

“And I also got a little more info from one of McKay’s neighbors. She said she saw a silver Mercedes out in front of the McKay house earlier in the evening. They may have voluntarily gone with James and his gal pal before or after they played around. Another hot item is that James is an asthmatic.”

“Okay. Let’s bring them both in. I need to get a warrant,” Holly said.

“I’ve already been by their homes and offices,” Carpenter replied. “You know, to sniff around a bit.”

Holly raised her eyebrows pointedly and crossed her arms in front of her, “You did?”

“Yes, I did. But don’t worry. I didn’t do anything against regulations. I knew that you’d want to get a warrant. I just wanted to make sure they were both around. I figured that you two were busy enough at the medical examiner’s office.”

Holly really could not argue that point. Carpenter had gone on his instincts and done the right thing. When it came down to it, the man was a good cop, but it still didn’t change her personal feelings about him—good cop, total asshole. “So they’re around, right?”

“Nope. The dating services both have signs up saying they’re closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday, and when I swung by each of their residences, no one was around. I’m thinking they jetted off for the long weekend. I doubt they know that we’re on to them, since you went in undercover.”

“What if they put two and two together though, and skipped town?” Holly asked. “We better check airline reservation lists just in case that’s what happened.”

“It won’t necessarily mean a thing. It
is
Thanksgiving weekend. Besides, it’s the busiest airline travel weekend of the year. By the time we get through checking things out, the weekend will be over, and we can walk right into their place of business and take them into custody.”

“Okay, you do have a good point.” Ugh, she hated admitting to Carpenter that he was right, but she was also not above acknowledging the truth here. “Come Monday, I say we take a drive on over to Mr. James’s and his
friend’s
houses and see what they have to say. I’ll make my calls and get that warrant going.”

She looked at Chad, who nodded his head. “Agreed.”

“For now, I’d like to talk with Dr. Madison and see if she can help me get into James’s psyche. It should help when we do bring him in for questioning. Chad, you want to come?”

She saw the heat rise in Chad’s cheeks. Oh, great, the relationship with Brooke
was
going to interfere with his police work. If he couldn’t even hear the woman’s name without getting hot and bothered, well . . . this could be a problem. “Never mind. Why don’t you check out the gyms we talked about, maybe see if James or this Darla might have belonged to one. It could be another link. Then we’ll hook up back here afterwards.”

“Deal,” Chad replied.

“What about me and Maureen?” Carpenter asked.

“Why don’t you continue running background on James and see if we can get a complete profile on him, especially what his family life was like, if he’s ever been married, and if so, find out if we can talk to the wife, that kind of stuff. If he and his girlfriend are the killers, I don’t want to leave any missing pieces lying around. I want to bring them in and seal it up. Case closed. And Maureen, I need you to check out Darla’s past, see where she’s been and what she’s been up to in the past fifteen years. I’m betting she’s got a history in porn.”