Doggie Day Care Murder (9 page)

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Authors: Laurien Berenson

BOOK: Doggie Day Care Murder
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Davey wasn't happy with the results. He pushed out his lower lip.
“I wanted to win,” he said.
Aunt Peg wasn't having any of it.
“You didn't deserve to win,” she told him. “At least not today. With more work on your part, that could change. In time, with practice, you might be as good a handler as Sam.”
Davey shot me a sly look. He made it perfectly obvious that he had to look back over his shoulder to do so.
“I'm already better than Mom.”
“Hey!” I cried. “No fair. I'm a little out of practice.”
“Your technique needs working on,” said Aunt Peg.
“I'm rusty.”
“You've let yourself get careless. You can do better.”
Like I'd never heard that from Aunt Peg before.
Up on the deck, Kevin's swing had stopped moving. The baby opened his eyes and looked around. Then he gave an experimental wail. Casey quickly sat up and pushed her warm nose into his small hand. Immediate response, canine style.
I handed Eve's leash to Sam and went to pick up the baby. Kevin's diaper needed changing, and after that he'd be ready to eat again. I was finished handling for the day.
“There's a dog show at the end of the month,” Aunt Peg mentioned casually.
I'd been on my way inside the house. Now I stopped and turned around. Even Aunt Peg's most offhand comments usually have an ulterior motive.
“There's a dog show at the end of every month,” I said.
You know, just to goad her. That comment about my being careless was really uncalled for. Even if it was true.
“I was thinking we might put in an entry,” said Peg.
Davey's head jerked up. His gaze spun back and forth between us. Even from across the yard, his excitement was palpable. How could I ever have doubted that this was something he wanted to do?
“For me?” he asked.
“For you and Custer in the Novice Junior Class,” Aunt Peg confirmed. “Think you can be ready by then?”
“I'm ready now!”
“Not quite,” Sam said with a smile. “But we like your enthusiasm. And that gives us three more weeks to work on things.”
“Great!” cried Davey. Then he looked back at me, holding the new baby in my arms. “But what about Kevin? He keeps you guys pretty busy.”
“Are you kidding?” I asked. “Kevin's going to come with us to the dog show and watch you handle Custer in your class. Think how proud he's going to be of his older brother.”
“You mean me?”
I walked back out to the yard, leaned down, and gathered Davey into a hug so that I had both my sons encircled in my arms. Davey squirmed as I knew he would; he's at that age where mothers are an embarrassment. Kevin laughed and tried to grab his brother's nose.
“Of course I mean you,” I said, stepping back and disentangling the two boys. “Kevin's just a baby, he doesn't know anything yet. He's going to learn lots of things by watching you. So you're going to have to be sure to set a good example.”
“I'll try,” Davey said solemnly.
“I know you will. I'm counting on you.” I looked over at Aunt Peg. “Go ahead and send in the entry. We'll be there with bells on.”
“Aww, Mom,” cried Davey. “That's not fair. Can't I just use a leash like all the other kids?”
9
“G
uess what?” said Alice, two days later.
I was out in the yard, weeding our fledgling vegetable garden, when my cell phone rang. Truth be told, I'm not much of a gardener. This was my first attempt to grow something that people might actually be expected to eat.
Having a baby had ramped up my nesting instincts and this was the result. So far, however, I wasn't sure whether my weed-pulling was helping or hindering the tomatoes I was trying to grow. So frankly, I was perfectly happy to be interrupted.
I removed my gardening gloves and sat down in the grass. With luck, this might take a while.
“Candy Pine called me,” Alice said. “Apparently she's been touching base with all the Pine Ridge clients after . . . you know, what happened. She wanted to assure me that business is going to proceed as usual at Pine Ridge and that I shouldn't make any other dog care arrangements for Berkley.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I don't know. It would feel really weird to go back over there.”
Faith had been lying nearby, chewing on a stick, while I worked. Now that I was taking a break, she got up and came over. The Poodle lay down beside me and rested her head in my lap. I tangled my fingers in her topknot absently as I spoke.
“Then maybe you want to choose another place,” I said. “It's not like you'd made a commitment to Pine Ridge. The way things turned out, you never even filled out an application.”
“In theory you're right, but here's the problem. There
are
no other places. At least none that are conveniently located. Land is at such a premium in lower Fairfield County that the other similar facilities I managed to find are all pretty far away. We're talking Ridgefield or Milford.”
“Well, that won't work,” I said flatly. The whole point was for Alice to drop Berkley off on her way to work, not commute an extra hour out of her way.
“Tell me about it.”
“So now what?”
“I guess I'm thinking that I should give Pine Ridge another try. Um . . . Mel?”
It wasn't like I couldn't guess what she was going to ask next.
“I don't want to go back there alone. I mean, who would? So how busy are you today? What would you think of going with me?”
I surveyed the yard and sighed. “Here's how busy I am. I'm gardening.”
Alice snorted into the phone. I was pretty sure she was trying to cover a laugh.
“You hate plants.”
“I don't hate them exactly. I just never seem to have much luck keeping them alive. I thought maybe outdoor plants were different. You know, like grass. That stuff pretty much grows itself. I figured tomatoes could do the same thing.”
“And are they?” asked Alice.
“Not so far,” I admitted.
“What about Kevin?”
The change of subject threw me for a moment, but I rallied.
“He's growing just fine.”
“That's not what I meant.” Now she was laughing. “Do you want to bring him with us?”
Notice how she'd moved us smoothly to the assumption that we both were going to Pine Ridge. As if I'd already agreed to that. Which I was pretty sure I hadn't.
What the heck, I thought. I wasn't accomplishing anything constructive in the garden. My assault on the weeds, or the tomatoes, or whatever it was I'd been pulling out of the ground could wait.
“Sam's here,” I said. “I'm pretty sure he can cover for me. Why don't you come and pick me up?”
“I'll be there in ten minutes.”
That was fast for Alice. She must have already had one foot out the door.
Inside the house, I found Sam holed up in his office. He was playing around with a new software design for some clients he'd had for years.
Everything else was quiet. That in itself was unusual in my experience, but it felt kind of nice. Soccer camp had started and Davey wouldn't be home until late afternoon. Kevin was upstairs napping in his crib. The baby monitor on Sam's credenza was blissfully silent.
“Think you can hold down the fort for an hour?” I asked.
Sam looked up from his computer screen. “Shouldn't be a problem. Where are you going?”
“Alice is picking me up. She still needs a place for Berkley and Pine Ridge is open for business again. She wants to go have another look.”
“Sure,” said Sam. “That's fine.”
He sounded distracted and probably was. Otherwise, having uttered the Pine Ridge name, I might have been subjected to more questions. Sam was looking in my direction, but I was willing to bet that his thoughts were still centered on the application on the screen.
“I shouldn't be long,” I said.
“Right. See you later.” He was back to work before I'd even left the room.
I let myself out and walked down to the end of the driveway to wait for Alice so that the Poodles wouldn't bark at her arrival and wake up Kevin. True to her word, she appeared a few minutes later.
“I called Candy back and told her we were coming,” she said as I climbed in the car.
I reached around and fastened my seatbelt. Alice was already pulling away from the curb.
“Good. Let's hope this visit works out better than last time.”
Alice lifted her foot from the gas pedal. Immediately, the Honda began to slow. She took her eyes from the road and turned to look at me.
“If you think for one minute that it won't, you had better tell me now. Because if there's even a remote possibility of something else going wrong, I'm not going.”
“I was kidding,” I said quickly.
That wasn't strictly true, but I figured it probably made Alice feel better. At any rate, she resumed driving.
“When you were talking to Candy, what did she say about Steve?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“
Nothing?
”
“Not one word about the whole business. She never even mentioned his name. And it's not like I was going to bring it up.”
“I wonder if the police know who killed him.”
Alice spared me another look. “She probably would have said something about that.”
“The newspapers haven't. I've been reading the coverage and it hasn't even mentioned any suspects. But Candy is family. She must know more than
The Advocate
does.”
“It's only been a couple of days. Maybe there's nothing to know yet.”
Arriving midday, Alice and I found Pine Ridge looking much the same as it had on my first visit. There was only one other car in the front parking lot. Things appeared relatively quiet.
That illusion didn't last long, however. As we approached the door to the building, it flew open and a man came striding out. Candy filled the doorway behind him.
“Don't come back here,” she said angrily. “We have nothing to say. Nobody here will talk to you.”
Body blocking the doorway, hands on her hips, she watched until the man climbed into the other car. Then she turned away and noticed us for the first time. Her expression softened slightly, but she still looked annoyed.
“Sorry about that. Those damn reporters are everywhere. They're like ghouls, trolling around and searching for bad news.”
Then abruptly, she stopped talking and stuck out her hand. “And they're making me so crazy that I've forgotten my manners. You must be Alice, Berkley's mom. It's nice to meet you. I'm Candy.”
Considering what she'd been through recently, Candy was looking pretty good. No dark shadows or red-rimmed eyes. She smiled as she shook Alice's hand. I guessed she was working on keeping up a good front for the customers.
“Come on,” she said. “Let's go inside and talk.”
Madison glanced up briefly as we passed through the reception area, then went back to perusing her magazine. When Candy opened the door in the far wall that led to the offices, Alice hung back. I slowed my steps and waited for her.
“I'm sure there won't be anything to see,” I said under my breath. Indeed, I could already see that the door to Steve's office was firmly shut.
“Even so . . .” Alice's voice squeaked.
Already halfway down the hall, Candy noticed for the first time that we hadn't kept up. She stopped and turned.
“I thought we'd talk in my office,” she said. “Would you rather we went somewhere else?”
Even as I started to shake my head, Alice said, “Yes, please.”
“No problem.” Candy retraced her steps. “Let's go back outside.”
With Candy leading the way, we took the path that circled the building and ended up on the back walkway that led to the outdoor paddocks. Dogs, some by themselves, others in groups, were frolicking in several of the enclosures.
The nearest paddock held Cookie, the English Springer we'd met the other day. The black and white spaniel had flopped down in the shade, panting. A red rubber ball was balanced between her front legs.
Candy glanced over at the dog and smiled. “Coming out here was a good idea. Now you can see for yourselves that everything at Pine Ridge is proceeding absolutely normally. Of course, Steve's death was a huge blow to us all, but I want you to know that the quality of our care and our customer service will remain unchanged.”
The speech sounded like something Candy had repeated many times over the last couple of days. Days she should have been able to spend taking care of herself, rather than reassuring customers and tending to business.
“I know you said you had some questions for me,” she said gamely. “Go ahead. Feel free to ask me anything.”
I looked at Alice. She looked at me. I could tell we were both thinking the same thing. All at once, Aunt Peg's concerns about emergency vets and the quality of kibble just didn't seem that important anymore.
“I'm really sorry we took up your time,” I said to Candy. “It looks like you're doing a great job. We don't have any questions. Alice just needs to fill out an application, and then we'll be on our way.”
“All right. If you say so.” Candy looked confused, but she recovered quickly. “We'll have to return to the front office then. Madison has the application forms at the check-in desk.”
“I do need to know one thing,” Alice said as we resumed our stroll. “How soon will you have an opening for Berkley? I'm going back to work and I need to be able to make plans.”
“That's easy, we can take him right away. You can start whenever you're ready.”
“Really? That would be great. I'd had the impression that you were full and there might be a wait involved.”
“That was true before,” Candy said slowly, “but now things have changed somewhat.”
“You've lost clients in the last few days,” I said.
A short, sharp nod betrayed her annoyance.
“For some reason, people seem to think that Steve
was
Pine Ridge. That without him, we'll be utterly unable to cope. And nothing could be further from the truth. Of course he was important here, on both a personal and a professional level. But this place has always been as much mine as it was his.
“Steve will be missed terribly in every aspect of what we do,” Candy said fiercely. “But the business will go on. It has to. We've worked much too hard to lose everything we put into it now.”
She turned her head away, and I got the impression that she was blinking back tears.
“Don't worry,” I said gently, “you'll recover. It will take time, but eventually everything will get back to normal. Your good clients will remember what a great job you did for them and come back. And as for the others, they're just idiots. Who needs them anyway?”
“Right.” Candy's voice sounded watery. “Who needs them? You wouldn't believe some of the phone calls I've gotten. People say the most awful things. They tell me that after what happened to Steve, they wouldn't feel safe leaving their dogs in my care.”
“Surely they don't blame you for what happened?” Alice said incredulously.
“Who even knows what they think anymore? These last few days have been totally surreal. My whole life has been turned upside down. As if what happened to Steve wasn't bad enough, now I have police and reporters nosing around everywhere. Everybody keeps asking questions but nobody has any answers. Those people who are worried about their dogs, how do they think
I
feel? This place is my business, my life, and now the worst thing is that I don't feel safe here anymore either.”

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