Karma's A Bitch (A Pet Psychic Mystery) (3 page)

“All right.” I frowned. “I guess I should say thank you, then. See y’all tomorrow.” Karma huffed after Mad Dog as he crossed the street. I picked up the twenty and sighed. He should have used it on something he needed. Well, I’d just buy some supplies for Karma and give them to him tomorrow. I considered his injuries as I walked back to the boutique. Maybe I should buy him some aspirin, too.

CHAPTER FOUR

We were in the last hour of a busy day when Sylvia strolled up to greet a new customer.

“Aí what precioso bebês!” She plucked a tiny long coated Chihuahua from the girl’s pink croc doggie purse. Another one popped her head up. Soon other customers had surrounded them, ooooing and ahhhhing over the puppies. “What you need for these babies?” Sylvia asked, cuddling one under her chin and stroking the one huddled in the purse.

The girl flicked a curly, auburn lock off her shoulder. “Well, my boss, Frankie Maslow, these are her new puppies, and she heard about the flower essence therapy you have here. She wanted me to get something that would help them adjust to their new home. Little buggers whine all night.”

“Ah, Frankie. Okay. This, you would need Darwin for. Darwin!” Sylvia called.

“Yes?” I stepped out from behind the counter, where I had been watching the exchange while opening a fresh shipment of botanical shampoos and flushable poop bags. “Cute babies! What can I help you with?”

“Eu sei, couldn’t you just eat them up?” Sylvia kissed the one in her hand on her glistening nose and placed the pup reluctantly back in the purse. “This lady needs something for her boss’s pups to help calm the bebês, help them adjust to their new home and sleep at night.”

“Sure, no problem.” I eyed her leather mini skirt and biker boots. “Why don’t you have a look around, see if there’s anything else you need while I get that for you.”

On my way to the back, I plucked a bottle of fish oil from the top shelf for an elderly lady cradling a plump poodle who was about to bring the whole shelf down on herself. Mental note: People shrink with age, and St. Pete did used to be known as “God’s waiting room.” I needed to lower the shelves.

“Here we go. Honeysuckle, Mariposa Lily and Cosmos.” I showed the girl the bottles before wrapping them in tissue, timing my words between her gum snaps. “Four drops a few times a day, massage into the pups’ skin. Should have them sleeping like babies by the end of the week. I’ll put a discount card in your bag. When they’re ready for a grooming, Sylvia will be happy to take care of them.”

“Sure. I’ll take these, too.” She dropped some organic chews on the counter along with two tiny, glow-in-the-dark t-shirts.

“Those are fabulous!” Sylvia swooned. “Please tell Frankie Sylvia Alvarez said ‘hi’.”

“Will do, thanks.” After one last cuddle from Sylvia, the pups disappeared out the door.

“Charming girl. You know her boss?” I asked.

“Everyone knows her.” Sylvia moved closer and lowered her voice. “Frankie Maslow was homeless then she won the lottery four years ago. Thirty million, I think. Afortunado! Took a lump sum of seventeen million. Now she look down on St. Pete from the Vinoy. But,” she held up a finger. “She has not forgotten. Every Sunday morning, she go to Mirror Lake and hand out hot meals to the homeless. She has a good heart but some, they try to stop what she is doing. They say she is encouraging them to sleep downtown and residents are apreensivo…afraid of them.”

“Sounds complicated.” I’d like to meet this woman. Maybe we could pair up and do a charity dog wash or something to raise money for the homeless. Ever since I’d met Mad Dog, I’d been brainstorming for ways to help.

***

Friday had finally arrived. I watched Mad Dog limp across Beach Drive and frowned. The chores could wait. I stepped out into the morning sunshine, locked the doors behind me and crossed my arms. Karma spotted me and lumbered in my direction, his large rump and tail wagging slowly.

“Good Mornin’.”

“Don’t you good morning me, Mad Dog.” I shook my head at the purple knot on his right cheek bone. I had watched all week as he arrived with fresh injuries and I’d had enough. “I’m taking you to the police station and you are going to report whoever is doing this to you.”

“Can’t do that,” he sighed. “It’s my own fault.”

“I don’t understand.”

He dropped his head. “Maybe I shouldn’t come around anymore. I don’t want to upset you.”

“What? No!” My chest squeezed at the thought. “All right. I’ll stop asking you to go to the police if you promise that you’ll think about telling me what’s going on with you. It’s just hard seeing you like this every day.”

“I’ll think about it.”

I glanced down at Karma. He didn’t look very happy either. “All right. Let’s go get breakfast.”

When we were situated with our food at the table, Mad Dog turned to me. “So, what’s your story?”

“My story?” I plopped my chin down on my hand.

“Yeah, everyone’s got one, right?” He brushed an ant off the table.

I raised an eyebrow as he gave me a rare smile. “Are you teasing me?”

“No, I really want to know.”

I stirred my tea and shrugged. “All right, what do you want to know?”

He watched a group of bicyclists navigate Beach Drive and then turned back to me. “Well, for starters, how’d you get a name like Darwin?”

“Oh, going right for the jugular, huh?” I grinned. “Well, if you really want to know, my mom got knocked up with me at seventeen and named me Darwin to be spiteful to her overbearing, religious parents.”

He stopped chewing and stared at me. “Seriously?”

“Yep.”

A laugh escaped him that startled Karma. “That’s great. I think I’d like your mom.”

I hadn’t ever heard him laugh before. It was nice. “Glad I could be your entertainment this morning.”

“Where’s your family? Carolinas?”

“My mother was raised there, yeah. But I grew up in Savannah. The southern twang gave me away, right?”

He nodded. “So, what brought you to St. Pete?”

“Sylvia.” I chewed and swallowed a bite of omelet. “We met on a bulletin board. We were both attending an online business school. Just hit it off and kept in touch. When she had an idea for a pet boutique, she ran it by me. I had the money to invest in it with her and so, here we are.”

“And your family was okay with you leaving?”

“You mean escaping?” I frowned. “No. But, I’m hoping they’ll forgive me eventually.” I downed the last of my tea and wiped at the sweat trickling down my bare neck. I may have to switch to iced tea tomorrow. “So, what about you? Your family from here?”

A haunted look gripped him, like he had just remembered something terrible. “My parents are gone. No siblings.” He reached down and picked up Karma’s empty plate. Karma took this as his cue and grunted as he pushed himself off the ground and stretched.

Oh, I forgot. “Hey, Mad Dog? You know Frankie Maslow?”

“Mama Maslow? Yeah, sure. Good lady. Millionaire and still takes time out to feed people. Why?”

“Oh, I met her assistant yesterday. She brought in Frankie’s new puppies. I was thinking about asking if she wanted to team up for a fund raiser for the homeless. Is that something you think she’d be interested in?”

Mad Dog rubbed his buzzed scalp and stood. “Sure, I guess. Just stay clear of her boyfriend, Vick. Guy’s bad news.”

“Thanks for the tip.” I watched him shrug a shoulder into his backpack. “Hey, you be careful.” He waved without turning back. I did realize how ridiculous it sounded. Me telling this military trained tough guy to be careful, but I really was worried. What’s going on with all the injuries? And why were they his fault? I had to find some way to make him open up.

CHAPTER FIVE

I rose with the morning sun and decided on a bike ride to Mirror Lake to see if I could talk to Frankie Maslow. I missed my sisters more on Sundays. Sundays back home had been something we always looked forward to. No work, just pancakes and gardening and girl talk. Neither one of my sisters were speaking to me right now, though. They couldn’t understand why I needed to leave, why I wanted to leave. Being “different” had never been a problem for them. I, on the other hand, wanted a normal life surrounded by people who considered me to be normal. I could only hope that one day they would understand.

It was another gorgeous June morning, filled with the sounds of light traffic and bird songs. The sky was a soft metallic silver, brushed with wispy gray clouds as I steered onto the Third Avenue sidewalk. A few early risers perused the area. The ride to Mirror Lake should only take fifteen minutes but I had packed an iced water bottle, a bagel and some fruit in case I had to wait for Frankie to show up.

As I approached the road that circled around Mirror Lake, a ferocious barking echoed off the surrounding buildings from the other side. My muscles tensed. Could I outrun an angry dog on a bike? I hoped so. I steered off Mirror Lake Dr. and onto the sidewalk, my curiosity piqued as the barking grew more insistent.

As I rounded the final bend, I could see police cars in the gated parking lot and a crowd of people in the grass. When I pulled around behind the police cars, I dropped my bike and weaved my way through the crowd. What was going on? Two of the officers had their guns drawn and pointed at the lake. A few others were trying to get the spectators to back up. I wasn’t real comfortable around guns but I was even less comfortable with an animal in distress.

I slipped deeper into the crowd as another round of ferocious barking began. What had the poor thing so riled up? “Excuse me,” I said, feeling my foot come down on someone else’s. “Sorry.”

Then I froze as I emerged in front of the crowd and could see down the slight embankment. My heart almost stopped. A body lay sprawled out, face down in the grass near the lip of the water. And there, standing over it was Karma.

“Karma!” I cried. Then I ran. Yep, under the police tape, straight to the place where the guns were pointed. Not my brightest moment, I know. But, I’d read enough stories to realize Karma was in danger of being shot. He was big and barking like a slathering, crazed beast. The police were probably scared of him but needed to get to the man.

I heard someone yell, “Stop!” from a distance, but I kept focused on Karma, who was now turned my way, his ears up, eyes alert. My sandals slipped in the wet grass and I fell hard on my knees in front of Karma. I looked up. “It’s okay, boy. It’s okay.” He was hot and panting. He collapsed beside the man and laid his head on the man’s back with a whimper.

“Mad Dog!”

“Ma’am, step away!” Two officers had followed and now had guns pointed at me. “You can’t be here!”

“Stop pointing guns at us and help my friend!” I pointed at Mad Dog. “Please!” They were staring at Karma with skeptical fear.

“Oh for heaven’s sakes, he’s not gonna bite y’all. He doesn’t even have any teeth!” My southern twang really emerged in a crisis.

At that moment, a man in a suit pushed between the officers and told them to lower their weapons. It took my panicked brain a few seconds to realize I knew this man. The detective I had spilled tea on. Perfect. He came forward with a nylon rope and held it out to me. His eyes met mine and sparked with recognition.

“Ma’am, I’m Detective Blake. You seem to know this dog, if you would lead him away from the victim so we can do our job, I’d appreciate it.”

Oh, thank heavens. I took the rope and looped it around Karma’s thick neck. As I did, he licked the side of my head with a dry tongue. Zap!

***

I fell back, landing in the water. As the vision-energy lit up my brain like the Fourth of July, a sequence of shots played in fast forward. A townhouse. Running down streets. Water splashing as I jumped in the lake, Mad Dog’s body floating. The images came with red hot rage and searing white sadness. I cried out as my skin burned from the inside out.

Detective Blake was leaning down, talking to me but I couldn’t hear anything beyond the rush of energy like the ocean in my own head. The lake water began to churn around me. I forced myself up and tried to jog in place. Dizziness threatened to knock me back on my butt. This was bad. Real, real bad.

Once in awhile, an animal’s trauma would hurt slightly, sort of like a jolt of electricity, but this felt like a nuclear explosion. A lake breeze blew over my wet shorts and sweaty face but the heat was still building, scalding me from the inside out.

“I have to go for a quick run,” I heard myself say from inside a tunnel. That sounded rational, right? I tried for some jumping jacks.

“Are you all right?” Detective Blake tried to catch my eye as I bounced up and down. I shook my head. I have to run! But it was too late.

Pop
!
Pop
!
Pop
!

The officers surrounding me spun around and drew their weapons at the series of loud pops. A collective gasp came from the crowd. I didn’t have to look. I had blown out lights before. This time the victims were the police cruiser headlights.

I did feel better though. The chaos in my body began to subside. I stopped jumping up and down like a crazy person and rested my palms on my knees, doubled over, breathing hard.

“Seriously, are you okay? We have a medic on site.”

I waved him off. “Hot flashes. I’m okay now.” I wrapped my arms around Karma and replayed each image, burning them into my memory. “Okay, boy. I saw. I saw and we’re going to figure it out together.”

“What the hell?” The tall officer walked over to join the others as they inspected the cars.

Time to skedaddle before the questions started. “Come on, boy.” He resisted, looking from me to Mad Dog. “Come on, Karma. Let the nice men do their job.” I wiped at the sweat dripping down my chin and the tears blurring my vision. I couldn’t bring myself to look back at Mad Dog. I knew he was gone. I had to concentrate on helping Karma now.

“All right, Ma’am. Please wait by the police cars. We’ll need to speak with you.” Detective Blake waved the team of people over that were standing by.