Howl Deadly (19 page)

Eventually, I had to ask Megan, who absolutely agreed: I could once again cradle and feed a baby wolf. We headed in that direction. “I’m about to publicize the pup-naming contest,” she said. “People will need to donate a couple of dollars for each name they submit. I’ll send the information to our members and donors, and give them a short while to try, until someone submits names I can’t resist.”

“Sounds good,” I said. “I’d rather call them by name than by ‘hey, you wolf!’”

I soon checked to ensure Lexie was still doing okay without my ongoing presence.

I pondered possible names as I helped to feed the wolf pups. Krissy joined Megan and me, and the three of us smiled silently as the little ones took their formula from the bottles we held.

When they were done, so was I. “Thanks for letting me do this again,” I told Megan. “And I’ll be in touch.” I aimed a pleasant glance her way, as if assuring her that I’d keep her informed about my investigation, which I of course wouldn’t do.

Lexie and I soon headed out of the sanctuary toward where I’d parked the Escape. Time to head back to L.A.

Only . . . there was a piece of paper stuck into the well where my windshield wipers lay. I pulled it out before opening the car doors—and stared.

Damned if it wasn’t a computer-generated warning: “Stay out of HotWildlife, and don’t worry about who killed Jon Doe unless you want to join him.”

 

 

OKAY, THIS HAD happened to me before. Was I becoming a threat-left-on-windshield woman?

The other time had been in a store’s parking lot, and Lexie had been inside the car. Since I didn’t speak Barklish, she hadn’t been able to tell me who’d left it. I’d learned later that it was the killer.

Had the same happened this time? I held the piece of paper by the edges and carefully slipped it onto my Escape’s floor on the passenger side. That way, no one could steal it back easily after I locked the door, and its evidence value wouldn’t become more tainted, as it would if I folded it to slip into my purse.

“Come on, girl,” I told Lexie, and we headed to the entrance booth. But the volunteer who staffed it only shook her head when I asked if she’d happened to notice who’d left something on my windshield. “Sorry, but it’s been really busy here.” I noticed a fashion magazine on the floor beside her, and figured what besides visitors might be keeping her busy.

I could ask others who’d come to the sanctuary within the past hour or so, if I happened to know who they were, but the only log they kept at the entry was of people who were either members or wanted membership info. The young lady didn’t hand me the list, but she waved it so I could see that she at least appeared diligent in ensuring it was kept up to date.

Next thing I knew I should do was call Sergeant Frank Hura. And I would call him . . . soon.

But there was someone I wanted to talk to first. I knew I’d get completely chewed out, but at least I might also be sent some sympathy over the cell phone connection. Standing just inside the sanctuary gate, not far from the building housing Megan’s office, I pressed in the number I’d programmed in for Dante. Lexie lay at my feet, looking up as if in concern. I could see through the chain-link fence toward the parking lot and my car, in the unlikely event whoever left the note attempted to retrieve it. But none of the few people around even glanced in the direction of my Escape.

“Hi, Kendra.” Dante’s deep voice was warm, sexy, and welcoming. I mustn’t have caught him in the middle of a meeting. “I assume you’re returning my call from earlier.” Oops. I’d forgotten about his message. Oh, well. “So how are your plans coming along for our . . . meeting next week?”

Meaning our trip to the area where I now was. “Well, that’s one thing I called about. I had an idea and decided to follow through on it today.” I inhaled the air from the near-mountain environment, getting only a faint whiff of animal aromas. “I’m standing in the parking lot at HotWildlife right now, and—”

“What! I thought I told you not to do anything on . . . this matter without my being with you.”

“Yes, that’s what you
told
me.” Unlike him, I remained calm. “Only, I’m not one of your employees or in any other position where I have to follow your directions.”

“Excuse me.” That was muffled, so I figured he had his hand over his phone and was talking to whoever else was with him. And then he must have gone off by himself, since the next thing I heard was his angry voice in my ear. “I wasn’t trying to control you, Kendra. Like I said, I’m concerned about your safety. I figured I could protect you when you dug into whoever killed Jon Doe if I was with you, and I knew I couldn’t convince you to keep your nose out of it. Knowing something about Doe’s background—well, that pretty nose of yours could be in real danger.”

Gee. Despite his temper, he’d complimented me.

And . . . “In a way, that’s why I called,” I said, my tone subdued.

A silence. Then, “What happened, Kendra?” He spoke so softly now that I barely heard him, and all kinds of concern seemed to radiate from his voice.

I told him.

“Damn!” he whispered. And then, “Okay. Wait right there. My first meeting is about to start, but I’ll reschedule. For now, stay with Megan. And make sure other people are around, too, in case she—no, I don’t think it’s her. Even so—”

“No, don’t reschedule your meeting. I’m going to call the sheriff’s department, and once they’re through with me, I’ll head back to L.A.”

“Then I’ll see you tonight,” he said. “Call as soon as you’re back. And drive carefully. Watch everyone around, and if you see anything that makes you uncomfortable—”

“I’ll call 911 first, and then you,” I assured him. And then we said our goodbyes and I hung up, a smile on my face.

Temporarily, since the next thing I did was call Sergeant Hura. “Hi, Frank.” I attempted to sound friendly and at ease. “I’m at HotWildlife right now. Guess what happened to me here this afternoon.”

“Twenty questions?” His sarcasm made me wince. Although we’d started out on affable terms thanks to our mutual friend Ned Noralles, that had obviously deteriorated, at least to some extent. “I assume,” he continued, “that you weren’t stabbed, like our victim.”

I was becoming tired of irritable phone conversations, so I immediately told him what had happened.

“Stay right there,” he commanded. I was receiving a lot of orders today, and I didn’t like his any better than Dante’s—although it made more sense. “I’ll have someone there in a few minutes to check things out.”

Megan came out to ask if everything was okay. I told her I’d had some car trouble and was waiting for someone to take a look—only partly a lie, since I was waiting for someone from the sheriff’s department instead of the auto club. She went back inside the sanctuary.

A deputy more junior than Hura, not part of the Homicide Detail, zipped into the parking lot in less than half an hour. Meanwhile, since I figured they’d want possession of the piece of paper, I photographed it with my cell phone.

Since I hadn’t any information to impart about who might have left the note, other than to say it could be whoever killed Jon Doe, we hadn’t a lot to talk about. The deputy indeed decided to keep the note, placing it into a plastic evidence bag and labeling it. He didn’t seem inclined to send a crime team to check my vehicle for fingerprints or anything else.

As a result, Lexie and I were soon on the road back to L.A.—with me scrutinizing every other car on the road.

 

 

 

WE GOT BACK in plenty of time for me to perform my pet-sitting perfectly after I dropped Lexie at home, behind the security gates. As I always liked to do, I spent a lot of time with each of my charges, ensuring that they ate their dinners. With the dogs, I enjoyed a walk or a game or both. The kitties were, of course, another issue—too adorably arrogant to enjoy playing with me.

Eventually, I headed back home. My intent was to call Dante from there.

But he’d already arrived and been let in by Rachel. He sat in his Mercedes, his cell phone against his cheek. He looked so cute and official sitting there in a white shirt. I assumed he’d headed straight here after his meetings, rather than going home to change clothes.

I didn’t intend to bother him, since he seemed to be talking to someone in his professional capacity as a megamogul, so I just smiled and waved. But Dante joined me nearly immediately.

Just inside my apartment door, he swept me into his arms and gave me one of his hottest Dante kisses as Lexie leaped around our feet. “Thank God you’re really okay,” he whispered against my lips. “At least—” He pulled away, and his gaze swept over my body. I’d worn a nice yellow blouse and beige slacks that day to look like a lawyer while confronting Warren Beell and Megan Zurich. His dark mahogany eyes started to smolder. “Yes, you’re more than okay.”

Need I say that we satisfied one appetite before we headed out to dinner?

Later, when we got back, Dante called Alfonse, his personal assistant at his Malibu house, to assure himself that Wagner would be well cared for that night before he allowed himself to fall asleep.

And as I lay in bed after some more fantastic romance, I listened to his gentle breathing and considered putting myself in danger more often, if such excellence was a result.

Not. Especially since I felt a bit frustrated. Oh, not about my love life.

But with what I’d gone through that day, the couple of people I’d confronted. I still didn’t feel much closer to solving who’d killed Jon Doe.

 

 

 

I EVENTUALLY DOZED off, and wakened with Dante still at my side. I snuggled up, but only for an instant. Didn’t want to get too suggestive—not at this moment.

So what if it was Sunday? I had pet-sitting to do, and Dante needed to continue to clear his desk so he could head to HotWildlife during the upcoming week. We separated soon after a quick breakfast. I left a sorrowful-looking Lexie at home and got on the road.

I wasn’t surprised to receive a phone call while parked outside gorgeous golden retriever Beauty’s northern Valley home. What did surprise me was where it came from—the Yurick law office.

“Kendra, it’s Borden,” said my boss’s high voice when I answered. “Hope you don’t mind my bothering you today.”

“It’s never a bother to talk to you, Borden,” I said with a smile that soon disappeared. My planned week of investigating Jon Doe’s death was about to become discombobulated.

I explained it to Dante later that day, when he called to arrange to pick me up early the next morning. I was again at home, this time preparing to take Lexie on a walk to make up for leaving her alone earlier. “I have a couple of law clients who really need to meet with me on Monday,” I said, hoping I could schedule them on the same day. “Borden said they both had left him messages after our receptionist told them I’d be out of the office for a week.”

“Business comes first,” Dante said, spouting what was presumably his philosophy. “But I’ve been able to make arrangements to get away, so I’ll head up to my place in the mountains and do a little snooping around HotWildlife, partly to look deeper into what happened to the mother wolf, and hopefully solve Doe’s murder while I’m at it.”

“But I won’t be there to help you,” I grumbled.

“Exactly,” he said, making me sure that this was at least partly to pay me back for ignoring his orders. “But you can join me whenever you’re able.”

Sounded like a plan, or so I supposed.

But I also knew how much I’d hate it if Dante solved everything without me.

 

 

AT LEAST LUCK was on my side a little. I indeed was able to schedule both my meetings on Monday, one late morning and one early afternoon, so I could do my own pet-sitting that day without assistance. I dropped Lexie at Darryl’s so she could enjoy the day.

I hadn’t spent the night with Dante. He needed to get home to Wagner, and to prepare for his trip. But I hadn’t liked how he rubbed it in that he was leaving without me.

My first meeting was with Ellis Corcorian. We’d agreed to get together this time sans his mother and her youthful fiancé, on the off chance we could come up with a solution without the main players.

He came to the Yurick firm’s offices, and we met in the former bar, which was too big for a meeting of two. But it still seemed more official than my somewhat messy digs.

I got him some coffee, and we sat down at one end of the conference table in the middle of the room.

I hadn’t seen Ellis for over a year. He’d always seemed to try too hard to appear like the perfect film star’s son—his hair, though mousy brown, was immaculately styled, without a hint of receding at his temples. His face, a bit too ordinary to hint of any genuine character, was always well shaved. The only thing exciting about him was the fuzziness of his straight brown brows. And of course he always wore a suit.

“So, Kendra,” he began as we smiled confidently at each other in preparation to spar. “I’m not sure why we’re meeting, but I’m always ready to attempt a compromise, even when it concerns my own mother’s sanity.”

“She’s a cougar, Ellis,” I informed him wryly. “That doesn’t make her insane. It makes her one amazing older lady.”

“But taking up with a guy a third her age, who’s trying to become an actor, with no money of his own . . . doesn’t that strike you more like he’s a leech and she’s an innocent, if confused, lamb? I assume this is all off the record, by the way.”

“Settlement negotiations generally are,” I confirmed. “And I won’t tell Alice you said anything nice about her, I promise.”

His smile widened.

“So tell me,” I continued. “Since you’re looking for a conservatorship over your mom’s estate, I have to assume you’re concerned as much about her assets as about her.”