Silence Is Golden (A Pet Psychic Mystery No. 3) (2 page)

Will kept his voice calm but urgent. "The captain has told me about your regulations concerning rescue. This isn't a human overboard, it's a dog. The only way to save it is for me to go out there in the raft. You're not allowed, I understand, but there's nothing stopping me."

She shared a confused glance with her coworker, and they both scanned the water further out until they saw the distressed animal.

"Oh!" she said in surprise. Turning back to Will, she nodded and they lowered the raft into the water. Will removed his jacket, shoes and watch, handing them to me.

"Hurry," I said. We were close enough now that I could see the dog's head disappearing beneath the surface. His energy was depleted. We weren't going to reach him in time.

There was only one thing to do.

As Will climbed down into the raft, I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing, following the salty air in and out of my lungs and moving my attention to the place where I could connect with the water. When I reached my center and felt my mind flow in sync with the water, I opened my eyes and concentrated on the area around the dog. Gathering the water around it and beneath it, like a cradle, I watched the dog's body bob up to the surface. Then I pulled the water toward us with everything I had. The boat rocked gently.

Come on, boy. Just hang on a little bit
longer
. I pulled back slowly, being mindful to concentrate on keeping his head above the surface. Energy dissipated from me at an alarming pace.

 I had been practicing, doing small exercises since I had decided it was irresponsible to shun my gift, but this was my first big test of control. My legs felt heavy and began to tremble. I held on tighter to the edge of the ship for support and made an effort to refocus. A surge of energy flowed out of me. Fifteen feet. We could see him clearly now, floating limp, barely treading with his front legs. Ten. My eyes watered with the effort and the wind. The crew had gathered around us, their voices escalating as the gap between Will and the dog closed. Five feet.

 The light had faded fast. The captain shined a powerful flashlight on the dog as Will used his hands to paddle toward it. Almost there.

When Will slipped his arms underneath the soggy, limp animal and dragged it onto the raft, cheers erupted around me. I collapsed against the railing, pulling my energy back inward to feed my exhausted mind and body. Will's phone buzzed in his jacket at my feet.

Leave a message. He's kind of busy at the moment
.

The crew hurried blankets over as Will cradled the wet, shaking dog in his arms. I grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around Will's shoulders while someone wrapped another one around the dog.

"He's alive. That's a miracle. Any tags?" I asked, gently drying its head with a corner, being careful not to make contact here in front of all these people. A dog in the middle of the Bay had surely suffered some trauma.  I needed to get the dog alone to find out what happened, and see if we could get him back to his owner.

"Nope. No collar. It's okay now, you're safe," Will cooed to the dog as he joined me in rubbing it with the blanket. I was grateful for the bodies gathered around us as they blocked the wind. Some of Will's police pals, giddy from the rescue and all the champagne, were already giving him a hard time about being a hero. He tried to act annoyed but I could tell he was happy this little guy was okay.

"It's a golden retriever," I said to Will. "Looks well taken care of. Somebody's gotta be missing it." The poor thing was panting and shaking, the whites of its eyes showing as it gazed off in shock. But it was alive.
I briefly glanced up and thanked the stars for that.

Will carefully checked each of its legs for injury, moving each one slowly. No yelping. That was a good sign. I watched him move his hands along the dog's body under the blanket. A little flinch.

"Might have a sore rib, but I don't think it's broken." He looked up at a pirate lady. "Let's get him some fresh water." Then he continued gently rubbing the dog's ears and neck with the blanket. He sighed and pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders. "Darwin, can you find my phone? We'll get him to the emergency vet after we dock. I'll let them know we're coming."

I nodded and went to retrieve his things.

When I handed him the phone, he glanced at it and visibly stiffened. As the dog greedily lapped at the fresh water he was given, Will listened to a message and dialed a number. But, it wasn't the emergency vet he was calling. He was the homicide detective on call, and a body had been found.

CHAPTER THREE

While Will struggled to change quickly into a dry pair of clothes from the trunk of his car, I took the opportunity to finally be alone with the dog.  

Will had carried her—we'd discovered it was a female—through the parking lot back to his car and laid her on the blanket in the backseat. I knelt down in front of the open door now and looked into her scared, brown eyes. My heart twisted in my chest.

 "Okay, girl, let's see what you have to tell me about your little evening swim." Taking a deep breath, I exhaled and rested my palms gently on either side of her head.

Zap!
A force hit me like I had just bounced off a brick wall. I raised an arm to my face as blinding white light assaulted my senses. An impact like a bomb exploded in my head. The world spun as I tumbled. Panic. A sweet smell. Lilacs? The need to run consumed me.
Splash
! Cold water surrounded me.

 I fell back on my bottom and immediately jumped back up and jogged away from the dog so I wouldn't startle her.
Shoot. Jumping jacks weren't helping.
My skull throbbed from the energy building inside my head. I took off, sprinting back and forth in front of the car. After about the tenth lap, I felt the energy disperse.
Pop!
As I collapsed on the ground, a street light overloaded above me and blew out.

Well, I patted myself on the back, that wasn't too bad.

"Darwin?" Will stood by the open driver's door. While he slipped into a dry jacket, he stared at me with one eyebrow raised. "You okay?"

I pushed myself off the ground, dusting off the new pale yellow pantsuit that Sylvia—my friend and business partner at Darwin's Pet Boutique—had helped me pick out for the wedding. My cheeks burned. "Yep, hunky-dory. I'll explain in the car."

 I slipped into the back seat of the sedan and snuggled up next to the dog. "Okay, girl. We're gonna do everything in our power to find your family, don't you worry." As I tucked the blanket around her, she plopped her head down in my lap. Her body was stiff, and she was still trembling. I cracked a window to try and lessen the wet dog smell permeating the car.  

Will flipped the siren and lights on to push through the Saturday evening traffic which, it turned out, was a nightmare.

"Come on, move it," he grumbled.

The more time I spent around him while he did his job, the more I admired him. I mean, yeah, I was all for needing justice and doing some amateur sleuthing when it was necessary, but every part of Will's job was a challenge to say the least. From solving a murder to just getting to the crime scene.

Crossing the packed bridge was really slowing us down. He glanced in the rearview mirror as he expertly maneuvered around the cars trying to squeeze over to the side. "So, what happened back there?"

Oh. Yeah that.
I bit down on my lip. "Well, remember how I told you I get visions from animals that have suffered recent trauma?"

I saw Will's knuckles go white as he gripped the steering wheel harder. "Yeah?"

I ignored the fact he still wasn't comfortable with my psychic abilities. "Well, the information I get from them comes in the form of energy. Negative energy that is usually pretty strong. So, I have to purge that energy after the vision. Get it out of my body in a controlled manner. Otherwise bad things happen."

His eyes flicked back to me in the mirror. "That's what all the running around was?"

"Yeah." I frowned. I could only imagine how ridiculous I had looked. "Usually it's light bulbs that absorb the energy and burst."

"Wait—" Will's eyes narrowed. "That time we found Karma with Mad Dog at the lake... the cruiser headlights blew out. That was you?"

"Yeah. Sorry."

"Huh." He was silent for a moment and then nodded. "So you got a vision from this dog, too?"

My hopes soared that he was accepting my gift.  Plus, I had no prior knowledge of this dog, so if I could give him information that proves I received a vision from her, then he would have no choice but to believe me. This could be a blessing in disguise.

 "Yeah, I got some information from her. She hit something hard. Probably why her ribs are sore. There was a sweet perfume smell present, like flowers. Lilacs. Lots of panic. Oh, and a blinding white light. She felt the need to run. Then she was in the water."

"Interesting. Not much to go on to find her owners, though."

"No." I shrugged. "Not much this time." We finally pushed out onto the highway, and I felt the pull of the sedan speeding up. "So, do you get called to every death in the area?" 

Will glanced at me in the rearview mirror as he sped along I-275. "When I'm on call, yes. Homicides and accidents that could be homicides. We treat hit and runs like a homicide until we can prove otherwise. That's what this one looks like. A hit and run."

"So sad. Will you be there awhile then?"

 "Yeah. I'm sorry. I'll see if I can get someone to drive you two to the emergency vet after I assess the situation."

I ran a hand over the dog's damp, floppy ear. She glanced at me sideways, the whites of her eyes showing. "You're safe, baby," I cooed. Then to Will, "That's okay. I can call a cab."

We sped off the exit ramp and down 2nd Avenue toward The Pier. As we crossed Bay Shore Drive, Will made a sharp right into the marina parking lot. Blue lights were flashing off the line of boats at the water's edge. Emergency vehicles filled the narrow lot. He pulled up right beside the yellow crime scene tape barrier. "Stay here. I'll be back in a minute."

I rolled the window down all the way and watched him walk a few feet to the policeman standing in front of the tape. He handed Will some kind of clip board, and Will scribbled on it.

"What do we have?" His voice carried on the crisp night air.

"Female victim, DOA. ID... forty-five." I could only hear snippets of his side of the conversation.

Will's hands were on his hips. "Coroner notified?"

"Yes, sir. He's on the way."

I strained to see around the ambulance to where all the activity seemed to be. Camera flashes were going off. Will glanced back at me and then stepped under the tape. I sighed and settled back into the seat.

Glancing down, my heart sank.  Blood had seeped through the blanket. I lifted the blanket carefully off the dog's hip. Yep, the wet fur was matted with blood. Her jagged breathing showed no sign of calming down. She was probably in shock.

"All right, girl. Time to get you to the vet." Digging through my straw bag, I found my phone and dialed the Emergency Vet Clinic to let them know we were coming and then called a cab. I wrote a note for Will asking him to pick me up from the clinic when he was done here.

While I waited, I watched Will talking to a small, thick woman with long dark hair. She seemed very upset. I wondered if she was a relative of the hit and run victim? The cab came barreling up.

"Hi." I approached his window. "I have an injured dog I need to get to the vet. Do you think you could help me get her into the cab? I'll pay you extra," I added as I saw his eyebrows shoot up.

Mumbling in a language I didn't understand, the driver helped me lift her and slide her onto the backseat.

We arrived in record time. The driver seemed happy to get us out of the cab. I tipped him extra as promised, and he finally smiled.

Luckily Dr. Messing was there. She had been the one to help me with Karma, a mastiff I befriended last summer, so I trusted her completely to give this dog the best care.

Time dragged as I sat in the waiting room, damp and shivering, my new outfit covered in dog hair. I tried to make the most of my time by reading the pet magazines on the table but my mind kept drifting back to the woman who had died tonight. Did she have kids? A husband? Friends who were going to be devastated by her death? I couldn't even imagine losing one of my friends or sisters like that. I hoped, at least, she didn't feel any pain when it happened. And who could hit someone and just drive away without trying to get them help? One thing was for sure. Will wouldn't rest until the driver was locked up.

"Hey, you." Will hurried through the vet clinic doors and over to my crumpled form molded to the plastic chair. "Sorry, got here as fast as I could." He held out his hand and helped me out of the chair. "How's the dog?"

I stretched my back and grimaced. "She's sedated and resting."

"That's good. She's going to be okay then?"

"Physically, yeah." I slipped an arm around his waist, under his jacket, as we walked out to his car. "The office manager told me her registered name is Baywater's Silence is Golden, apparently she's a show dog and was microchipped. Her call name is Goldie. She notified the owner, a Victoria Desoto-something—" I glanced up at Will. He had stopped walking. "What's wrong?"

"Victoria Desoto-Roth." His lips tightened. "That means the leash and collar found nearby did belong to her." He glanced down at me and sighed. "The victim of the hit and run. Come on."

My mouth fell open. "So, she was that poor woman's dog? Was she with her when she was hit by the car?"

"Looks like it."

I slid into the seat, trying to fit this information into the puzzle. The blinding light. The impact. Made sense. "So, someone hit this woman and the dog jumped into the water and just swam out to the middle of the bay?"

"Yes."

"Wow. Poor thing. She must have been really traumatized." I suddenly realized what this meant. "Oh no. The clinic will try to call Victoria." But she can't answer. "I wonder if she was married?"