Three Dog Day (5 page)

“
And Deputy Phelps and Deputy Fuller are my superiors, right?”

Ben stood up, walked around to his office door and closed it. “Technically, yes. George Phelps has been here a long time too. Not as long as Dory.” He sat back down. “Is he on phones right now?” Cam nodded. “He doesn't aspire to be anything but a deputy, and doesn't seem anxious to advance his career, although there are times when he is a big help. Rob, on the other hand, is a real go-getter. Does that clear things up?”

“
I think I've got it, except for CSI. We haven't had a major case since I started and I realized last night I don't know what crime lab we use.”

“
Good question. Hadley Johns and Emma Peters are the lab techs. Our lab is in the building, but you have to use the other entrance to get there—from the rear parking lot. And Dr. Estes is our medical examiner. He works for Rose County as well as the Mont Blanc Police Station. Hopefully you won't be meeting him right away, since that would mean we had a murder to solve. Until recently it had been a decade since we'd had a murder in Rose County. This past year we've already had two cases.”

Her brown eyes widened. “So the sheriff's office doesn't have a major crimes unit?”

“
That's correct. We're a one-stop crime shop around here, but you'll get the hang of it.” He looked at his watch. “Sorry to cut this short, but I've got lots of paperwork to get to. Please check with Dory, if you don't mind, and tell her you'll be sharing phone duty with George until she gets this deputy exam out of the way.”

“
Thank you, Sheriff. And thanks again for hiring me.” She gave him a shy smile and slipped quietly from the room.

W
hen Ben arrived at the office early in the morning, he was pleased to see that Dory was already at her desk. He immediately asked her to assemble everyone for a staff meeting so he could hand out assignments for the current cases. Ben was still standing by Dory's desk when young Rob Fuller, sheriff's deputy, drove into the office parking lot. He climbed out of his car carrying a white paper donut box and grinning from ear to ear.

“
George,” Ben called, as Rob headed toward the door, “Come on out here. You too, Cam. I believe our brand spanking new detective, Mr. Rob Fuller, has arrived.”

When Rob walked through the office door moments later, all of them gave him a standing ovation. He raised both hands overhead in Vs of victory.

“
Let's get this meeting started,” Ben told everyone after the congratulations died down. They walked to the conference room and took their seats. “Our major case at the moment is the loss of construction materials for a development of million dollar homes. Mr. Logan Yancey, the developer, reported the theft. Since then I've checked with
Chief
Granger over at Mont Blanc and found that several contractors in the area have lost materials, in particular copper piping. I talked to Wayne at home last night. He called one of his CIs, a guy he called Jacko. According to Jacko, there's a copper theft ring operating in the area. Yancey's stolen materials included copper piping. Rob, you'll be lead on this one. George will be second.”

“
Did Detective Nichols give you any contact information for this Jacko?” Rob asked, poised to write down the information.

“
Sure did. He lives in one of the old run-down apartment complexes on Charlotte Pike in Nashville. Dory has the address and phone number.”

“
Could you pass those donuts, please, Sheriff?” George asked. Ben handed the box to Dory, who was seated between them.

Dory ostentatiously withdrew a small plastic baggie of celery and carrot sticks from her purse, helped herself to a few, and pushed the white donut box down the line to George. She eagle-eyed George as he pulled three donuts from the box. When Rob pulled out two of her former favorites, blueberry, Dory could stand it no longer.

“
You keep eating like that, Rob, and your belly's going to be bigger than George's.” She gave him a disapproving stare.

“
Jeez, Dory, do you have to start in on me so early in the morning?” Rob asked.

“
If you keep eating donuts at that rate, your gut will get so big you won't be able to find your own man business,” Dory said. Rob colored and everyone else cracked up.

“
Okay, enough with the comedy. Let's get back to work,” Ben said. There were a few more snickers, but Ben kept a straight face and the mood grew serious again. “Do you have the paperwork from Mr. Yancey yet, for his stolen building materials?” he asked Rob.

“
His wife emailed the receipts to me this morning. She apologized for how ‘difficult' he can be, nice lady.”

“
Difficult is one way to put it. When I left the office yesterday, I drove through a new subdivision near Mr. Yancey's project, and I think I might have spotted at least some of Yancey's missing materials. Look at this,” the sheriff said, pulling out his phone. He enlarged one corner of the image on his camera. “See? There at the bottom of the hill. What does that look like to you, Detective?” Ben pointed to several bulky snow-topped cubes covered with tarps.

Rob Fuller looked down at the picture and back at his boss. The corner of his mouth quirked up on one side and he nodded.

“
Someone hid those stolen materials in plain sight,” Rob said. “I'll check out who owns that property.”

“
It might not be all of Yancey's missing materials, but it's probably the pallets of marble flooring,” Ben said.

“
Sheriff, where is Detective Nichols this morning?” Dory asked. “I thought he'd be here.”

“
He's working at home today,” Ben told her.

Having worked with the man now for several years, Ben knew that Detective Wayne Nichols often came in late to the office, unless there was a major crime to investigate. Since he often worked nights in bars and on the streets meeting with confidential informants, and was so good at nailing the perpetrators, everyone gave him the benefit of the doubt when he didn't show for routine staff meetings.

The sheriff continued handing out assignments for other lower level thefts, checking on the drunk tank, DUIs, spouse abuse complaints, and an assortment of other matters. As the meeting was coming to a close, Ben said, “I wanted all of you to know that Dory got a tip on a puppy mill from an anonymous whistle blower. She called the ASPCA because there may be animal cruelty involved. The property belongs to a guy named Jerrod Clifton. Dory, did you find anything in the system on him?”

“
Couple of speeding tickets. The guy has a heavy foot, but that was all.”

“
Okay. I've appointed Dory as the investigator for this case.”

“
Congratulations, Miss Dory,” Cam said in her soft voice. Dory beamed.

Ben had a lunch appointment at noon to meet Patrick West, Tammy's
boyfriend
, at Nadine's, a little dive on the outskirts of Rosedale. He was guessing that Patrick wanted to discuss the baby, or possibly Ben's own experience being a single dad. Ben had a son named Matthew. He had learned of his son's existence when he was four years old and Katie, Matthew's mother and Ben's former fiancé, moved back to Rosedale and informed him that he was a father. Although Ben's initial reaction had been far from positive, less than a year later, he couldn't imagine life without his little boy.

Wondering how Patrick had reacted to the news of his own impending fatherhood, Ben walked into the restaurant. The full-figured, redheaded proprietor gave him a big smile.

“
Hello, Sheriff Bradley, how're you doing today, hon?”

“
Just fine, Miss Nadine. How 'bout yourself? What's cooking?”

“
Well, I just devilled up some eggs to go along with the sugar bacon we got in. Randy's making some hot chicken back there right now, and we've got biscuits and gravy, of course.”

Ben spotted Patrick West, Noah's younger brother, who waved at him from a booth near the window in the rear of the crowded dining room. “There's my friend. Good to see you, ma'am. I'll try not to order one of each.”

Nadine chuckled. “Go sit down, Sheriff. Shelby will be by with some coffee in a minute.”

Ben made his way past the counter and between the tables, exchanging greetings and complaints about the unusually cold weather with several of Nadine's other customers. He sat down across from Patrick. “Been here long?” he asked.

“
I got here five minutes ago,” Patrick said. Lean, tall, and dark-haired, he wore his familiar wide smile. He strongly resembled his big brother, Noah, who had been engaged to Mae before a traffic accident claimed his life. “Haven't even seen a waitress yet. This place is packed.”

“
Well, I'm glad you wanted to meet here.” Ben looked around the dingy, crowded space. “I love the food, but Mae won't come here. Says she goes up a size just thinking about it.”

“
I know. Tammy won't eat here either. Speaking of going up a size ….” He paused while Shelby poured a coffee for each of them and quickly took their orders. As soon as the waitress was gone he looked at Ben and said, “I just got some big news the other day. Tammy's pregnant.”

“
Whoa. Congratulations, right?” Patrick was smiling, so Ben figured this was good news.

“
Yep. We're getting married, so congratulations are definitely in order. And I'd like to ask you to be my best man.”

“
I'd be honored. Listen, Patrick, I don't mean to pry, but I don't know what you do for a living. And you know kids are expensive, right?” Ben laughed. “At least mine is.”

Patrick looked down at the table for a second, then back up at Ben. “Mae never told you, I guess.” He gave a little sigh. “I'm in graduate school, getting my MFA in creative writing. But that doesn't explain where my money comes from, does it?” His cheeks reddened and he frowned slightly.

Ben was intrigued. “No, it doesn't, but you don't have to tell me if you don't want to.”

“
My grandparents set up a trust fund,” Patrick said in a quiet voice. “In the beginning, Noah and I both had one, but the money in Noah's trust came to me after he died. My mother's family has oil money—tobacco on my father's side. That meant Noah could pursue his songwriting dreams while he was alive, and now I can stay in school as long as I want and then write. And I can support a wife and child.
”

Ben could tell that Patrick was uncomfortable discussing finances and quickly changed the subject. “Well, are you going to want a blowout bachelor party, or something more low key?”

The two men discussed ideas for the bachelor party while eating their delicious, high-fat meals. They had both ordered deep-fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, fluffy dinner rolls, and collard greens with iced tea and sweet potato pie. Finishing the last bite, Ben suddenly realized how long he'd been away from the office.

“
I've got to get back to work, Patrick,” he told his young friend. “But thanks again for asking me to be your best man—and for raising my cholesterol levels.”

He drove back to the office, mulling over Patrick's life-changing news.
Maybe it's time for me to start looking for a ring for Mae.
His phone rang and he saw Mae's face on
the
screen
.

I
t was a cold, clear morning. Mae's dogs hadn't barked, so she slept in until almost nine. After getting dressed, taking care of her own four dogs and having some coffee, she checked on her boarders in the barn. Her aunt and uncle had left their pair of Boston terriers with her and gone to Florida to escape the cold. The condo they had rented didn't allow pets, so Domino and Maggie Pie, their adorable black and white terriers, would be staying with Mae until the weather warmed up and her relatives came home. They were eight-year-old littermates who had never been separated. Domino, the male, didn't stir when Mae walked into the barn. He was curled up next to his sister Maggie Pie, who opened her large black eyes and gave a half-hearted wag of her stumpy tail before going back to sleep. Mae checked their water dishes. She would feed them later, since Aunt Jean never fed them before three in the afternoon.

Lulu was another story. The Louisiana leopard hound, also known as a Catahoula, had checked in yesterday. Her owner, a local sportsman, had trained her to be a retriever. Large and spotted with a short coat, she was typical of her breed in being very high energy—a field dog, not a house pet. She leaped to her feet when Mae came to her kennel, assuming an alert and intelligent expression. She seemed poised for action and not particularly interested in the food Mae put in her dish.

“
Hello, Lulu.” Mae gave her a considering look. “I need some exercise today and I bet you wouldn't mind a walk.”

At the word “walk,” the big dog jumped up and put her paws on the wire mesh of her kennel cage. She stared at Mae and gave a small growling whine that seemed to indicate her approval.

“
Okay, let me go take care of a few things first and then we'll head out.” Lulu's long, spotted tail swooped from side to side.