Who Let the Dog Out? (27 page)
Read Who Let the Dog Out? Online
Authors: David Rosenfelt
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #United States, #Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, #Mystery, #Thrillers & Suspense, #Suspense
We have our traditional victory party at Charlie’s, even though it wasn’t a traditional victory. Tommy is of course here, as is Stephanie Manning. Our whole team is present: Willie and Sondra, Laurie, Hike, Edna, Sam, Hilda and Eli Mandlebaum, Morris Fishman, and Leon Goldberg. Marcus is here also, bearing no apparent ill effects of a gunshot wound. Marcus is a tad unusual.
Sam said that Hilda, Eli, Morris, and Leon are usually in bed by eight, so in deference to them we start the party at six o’clock. Vince and Pete are here as well, and Vince complains about the early start. “What the hell is this, the breakfast club?”
“The beer and food are on me, Vince.”
“On the other hand, time is not important. In China it’s tomorrow already, right? Or yesterday?” Vince says. “Anyway, I’m a morning person.”
Tommy spends most of the night thanking everyone, and near the end of the night, meaning almost eight o’clock, he corners me. “How did you get them to clear me?”
“The Feds knew much more than they let on,” I say. “Hernandez lied to me when he said Turner was clean; they knew he was dirty and they were hoping he’d run. They just screwed up; they wanted to be the ones to follow him. They knew something big was going to happen on American soil, but they didn’t know it was going to be Ashby. They needed to know where the arms were going, so I struck a deal with them.”
“Did they know I didn’t kill Downey?”
“I believe they did, but I’m not positive. But they were certainly fine with pressuring the DA to dismiss the charges. I think the order came down from the office of the goddamn attorney general.”
“If they didn’t make the deal, would you have given them Turner?”
I think about it for a few moments; it hadn’t been a decision that I had made. “I would have, yes. People were going to die. But I would have gone public with everything and made them look stupid.”
“Man, I lucked out when you showed up,” he says. “And all because of that dog.”
“How’s your daughter?” I ask.
“I talked to Jenny and her mother a few minutes ago. I think she’s going to be okay, but it’s day to day.”
Stephanie comes over with a cell phone full of pictures of Zoe. “Zoe’s doing great,” she says.
“What about you?” I ask.
“Getting there, Andy. I’m getting there.”
“I’m glad to hear that, and I’m here if you need me.”
“Eric wasn’t a bad person, Andy. He just made a mistake.”
“I’m sorry it ended that way,” I say.
Hilda has made some of her rugelach for the party, and I think Vince would eat four hundred of them if he could. He keeps coming over and saying, “Have you tasted these? Have you tasted these?”
Hilda and Eli are having a great time; they are obviously party animals. I think they’d stay and close the place, as long as the place closed at eight-thirty.
Laurie and I have to get home; our sitter can only stay until eight o’clock.
And tomorrow is a big day.
Opening day is always special. I remember going to opening day at Yankee Stadium with my father when I was no more than eight years old. The green grass was stunning in its beauty, and even though we were sitting fairly far down the left field foul line, I felt like I was on the field with the players. I brought my scorebook, and dutifully recorded every play.
Today’s experience is somewhat different. We’re on the Little League field at Eastside Park, for an arranged game between Ricky’s School Number 20 team, and the hated rivals from School Number 26. It’s Ricky’s first semi-official game, and he’s all excited, as are Laurie and I.
We sit in the stands with about forty other parents, and the first thing I notice is that there is no scoreboard. I point this out to Laurie, and she says, “Didn’t I mention that? They’re not going to keep score. They want to emphasize the fun aspect, not the competition.”
“Not going to keep score? How do you know who wins?”
“Nobody wins,” she says. “And nobody loses. That’s the point.”
This is bizarre. “So who gets mocked afterward?” I ask.
“Andy—”
“I’ll keep the score myself.”
“You do that,” she says.
A few minutes before the game starts, Ricky comes over to us, all excited. “I’m playing shortstop! That’s good, right?”
Finally, talent has been recognized. “That’s great, Rick!” both Laurie and I say, simultaneously.
The game begins, and the first batter for the other team hits a dribbler to third, and winds up on second base. The next batter hits a slow ground ball to Ricky’s right. He smoothly ambles over, looking like Derek Jeter on his best day. But instead of fielding the ball with his glove, he accidentally kicks it with his right foot.
The ball heads straight for the third base bag, and the third baseman grabs it and tags out the runner trying to advance from second.
It was a perfect kick by Ricky.
Maybe soccer is his thing.
David Rosenfelt
is the Edgar Award– and Shamus Award–nominated author of stand-alones and twelve previous Andy Carpenter novels, most recently
Hounded
. After years living in California, he and his wife moved to Maine with twenty-five golden retrievers that they rescued. Rosenfelt’s hilarious account of this cross-country move,
Dogtripping
, is available from St. Martin’s Press. You can sign up for email updates
here
.
ALSO BY
DAVID ROSENFELT
ANDY CARPENTER NOVELS
Dog Tags
New Tricks
Play Dead
Dead Center
Sudden Death
Bury the Lead
First Degree
Open and Shut
THRILLERS
NONFICTION
Lessons from Tara: Life Advice from the World’s Most Brilliant Dog
Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross-Country Adventure
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CONTENTS
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
WHO LET THE DOG OUT?
Copyright © 2015 by Tara Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein
Cover photograph © Heather Paul/Getty Images
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-05533-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-5991-3 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466859913
First Edition: July 2015
