Maximum Security (A Dog Park Mystery) (19 page)

Peter heard Cynth snort.

“No coffee, Esmerelda, I’ll float
away,” Lia said as she sat down on the leather sofa. “Thanks,
though.” Max lay down on the floor beside her and pretended there
was no leash restraining her.

“I didn’t expect to see you again
so soon,” Renee said. She bent down to pet Max. Dakini nosed in,
jealous. “What happened? Did you find anything out?”

“I wanted to talk to you before
you put Esmerelda to work for the cause. We’re not exactly busted,
but I got a strong hint or three from Monica that further culinary
goods were not desired.”

“Drat. What if we send someone
else? Someone from the park?”

“Who would you send? We can’t send
Bailey, Stacy saw her walking Max today, so she might wonder why
this person who was on her street is now knocking on her
door.”

“I see what you mean,” Renee said,
tapping her chin. “What about Jim?”

“I’m not sure how Jim would feel
about what we’re doing. I can’t imagine Monica telling him anything
significant, can you?”

“You may be right, though he has
such a kind look about him. I remember Catherine saying how much
she loved talking to him. It wouldn’t hurt to ask, would it? What
were you able to accomplish today? Anything good? Did you find out
when the funeral is?”

“Funeral?” Kitty stood in the
doorway, her eyes bleak. Her clothes were bagging. Lia wondered if
she’d lost weight. “Is there going to be a funeral? I’d wondered,
after what you told me about the condition of the body.”

Lia and Renee exchanged
glances.

“It’s being scheduled,” Lia said.
“I don't know the exact time or any of the details, but she said
Tuesday.”

Kitty perched on the edge of a
chair. She sat straight, with her hands clasped in her lap, hope
battling with nerves. Her eyes darted between Renee and Lia,
uncertain. Max stood up and wandered over to Kitty, at the limits
of her leash. She sniffed at the woman’s fingers. Kitty responded
reflexively, stroking Max’s head. “I would love to say good-bye to
George. If you find out where it is, maybe I can visit the grave
after the service is over.” Lia let go of the leash. Max laid her
head on Kitty’s knee and sighed.

Renee waved dismissively. “Don’t be
so cliche, Kitty. Nobody knows who you are, except a few people at
the dog park. I think you should go. Lia can take you. You’re
going, aren’t you?”

“Well, I, uh . . .” Lia said as
Kitty continued petting Max.

“Of course you are! Doesn’t the
killer always go to the funeral? You have to be there, and there’s
no reason not to take Kitty along.”

Kitty’s mouth trembled, hinting at
a smile. “Do you think I could go? It would mean so much to
me.”

Lia saw the tiny spark appear in
Kitty’s eyes.
I’m doomed. Totally doomed.
She shoved the
thought aside as a brainstorm occurred. “Max seems to like you,”
she said.

“. . . I cleared it with the
rescue, so for the time being, Max is staying with Kate, and
Renee’s going to show her how to do basic obedience with Max. It’ll
give Kate something to do, and provide Max with attention I just
can’t give her right now. I’m hoping Renee’s rescue and my rescue
will rescue each other.” She and Peter sat on the back stoop,
watching their dogs nose around the yard. The sun had passed behind
the trees and the air chilled. She leaned against him for a bit of
body heat.

Peter tapped her cup of tea with
his beer bottle. “Pure genius. Have I ever told you that I think
smart girls are sexy?”

Lia laughed. “Oh,
really?”

“Really. Seriously, you seem much
more relaxed now that you don’t have to worry about Max
escaping.”

“It’s true. So how was your day,
Dear?” She fluttered her eyelashes teasingly.

“A lot of i-dotting.”

“Sorry?”

“Dotting i’s, crossing t’s. Brent
and I have been chasing down hunters to find out if any of them saw
anything. Brent’s making eyes at Cynth in IT.”

“Cynth? Isn’t she a little . . .
umm . . . geeky for Brent?”

“I think he’s having sexy
librarian fantasies since we gave her the job of tracking down
George and Kate’s love-notes to each other. He says he wants to be
handy in case reviewing their communications sends her into a fit
of unbridled lust.”

“Why that opportunistic cad!” Lia
huffed, outraged.

“I wouldn’t worry about it. Cynth
likes the IT stuff, but she can take care of herself out on the
street. She excelled in hand-to-hand in the academy, and she takes
off every year to play sword mistress at the Renaissance festival.
Brent is no match for her. Near as I can tell, she finds him
amusing. I haven’t shared that with Brent. It’s too much fun to
watch.”

“You should be ashamed of
yourself.”

“They’re both adults. They can
handle it.” He took a deep breath. “Have you given any more thought
to our conversation the other night?”

“About living together?” Lia
examined his face in the failing light. “Peter, why do you want to
live with me?”

“You sound just like Alma. She
grilled me about the same thing today.”

“Oh? You ask her to move in with
you, too? And I thought Brent was a cad.” She made a disgusted
sound.

He shoulder bumped her. “I confess,
I’d dump you for her in a minute, but she says I’m not old enough.
Yet.”

“Cute. So answer the question,
Dourson.”

“We don’t have to live together.”
He searched for words. “It’s just, my place seems lonely without
you. I think of things I want to tell you, but you’re not there. I
like my place a lot. At least I used to. I don’t enjoy being by
myself as much as I did before we started seeing each other. It
feels like my life is over here, with you.”

“Oh, Peter.” She leaned against
him, wrapped her arms around his waist. “I know I have issues. Part
of it is trust. You’ve never done anything for me not to trust you.
I just find it hard to rely on someone else. But only part of it is
trusting you. The rest of it is trusting me.”

Peter beetled his brows. “What are
you trying to say?”

“Look, I like people to be happy.
That’s one reason why I like doing commission work. It allows me
the pleasure of giving someone what they want. But I get to go home
at the end of the day, and so it balances out. Do you
see?”

“I’m not sure I get
you.”

“When I’m in a relationship, I
want the other person to be happy. Sometimes I do too much to make
them happy and forget about myself. I’m so much better with you,
but I don’t know if I’ve figured out how to balance it out
yet.”

“There you go, trying to figure
things out by yourself again.”

“I do that, don’t I? I guess I do
that to make sure I’m not being influenced by anyone
else.”

“I can see that. I wish you
trusted me to have your needs at heart. I’m not totally selfish, am
I?” He wrapped an arm around her.

“No, you’re not, not at all.
You’re the sweetest, most generous man I’ve ever dated,” she
admitted, leaning into him.

“I think we could build a life
together. I’m not sure what it would look like. We have to deal
with two demanding careers. I’m not saying it has to start
tomorrow. I’m just wondering if you can start thinking about what
it would take for us to do that, and if that’s something you might
want. Not today, not tomorrow, but sometime.”

“Wow. You sure know how to blow a
girl away. Bailey wants to do synastry on us,” Lia blurted
out.

“Bailey wants to do
what?”

“Synastry. Compare our
astrological charts to determine our relationship potential. She
thinks she can tell us how we are in a relationship, and how to
make it work.”

“Sure, why not.”

“Huh?” Lia blinked.

“It’ll be interesting.”

“I can’t believe you’re going for
this nonsense.”

“You’re calling it nonsense? She’s
your friend.”

“That doesn't mean I believe in
all the stuff she gets into.”

“C’mon. It’ll be fun. Besides, I
already know what she’s going to say.”

“What’s that, Kentucky
Boy?”

He tapped the dent in her chin with
his index finger. “That we’re meant for each other.”

“You’re that confident, are
you?”

“Yep. Who knows, she might say
something useful. And if it’s all a crock, I think we’re smart
enough to let it go. One condition. She has to tell both of us what
she finds at the same time.”

Lia’s mind raced, looking for an
out. She hadn’t expected Peter to go for Bailey’s offer. She should
have remembered about his granny, the one who claimed to have “the
sight.” She was stuck, she admitted to herself, and it was her own
fault for bringing it up. Philosophically, she acknowledged defeat.
“Okay, I’ll tell Bailey. So you look up your birth certificate and
I’ll look up mine and we’ll let Bailey do her woo-woo act on us.
Agreed?”

Peter kissed her to seal the deal.
“Agreed.”

“Did you lose Max? I don’t see her
anywhere.” Jim was sitting at the usual picnic table, Chester at
his side. Lia clambered up on the table next to Chester. Chester
sat up on his haunches, showing off for a pet. Viola jumped up and
sniffed noses with Chester. She snapped at him, then lay down,
satisfied that she had sufficiently clarified her proprietary
rights regarding Lia. Honey and Chewy meandered away.

“Viola! Be nice!” Lia admonished.
“I left Max with Kate. I thought they needed each
other.”

“That was sneaky.”

“I guess I’m a sneaky kind of
girl. Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Depends. How
personal?”

“You and Mary were married all
your lives. What do you think made it work?”

Jim scratched his beard and
pondered. “You have to cooperate. You both have to adjust. You
adjust, he adjusts. It doesn’t work if the other person isn’t
adjusting, too. Neither one of you can say, ‘that’s the way it’s
going to be and that’s it!’”

“Doesn’t that mean that neither
one of you gets what you really want?”

Jim scratched his beard again. “I
never thought of it that way.”

“Did Mary work?”

“She did before Jim, Jr. was born.
Then she tried going back to work, but that didn’t work
out.”

“What happened?”

“I was really unhappy about
dropping him off at daycare every day, so we had a talk and she saw
that staying at home was worth more than the extra money she’d
bring in working.”

“What if she had really wanted to
work? What then?”

“Well, uh, I don’t know about that
. . . .”

“Uh-huh. You’re not
helping.”

Bailey walked up with Kita. “What’s
on today’s skullduggery agenda?”

Jim gave Lia a betrayed look.
“You’re up to skullduggery? I thought I was your skull-whatsis
partner.”

Lia shrugged. “Renee thinks
George’s wife is behind his murder and Peter’s not looking at her.
So she’s been sending me over with food to check her out. I had
Bailey on surveillance yesterday.” She turned to Bailey. “I think
I’ve worn out my welcome with Monica. I need to get some painting
done, anyway.”

“I can deliver food just as well
as anyone,” Jim volunteered. “I can make a crazy cake. I can be
just as dupla . . . duplia . . . duplis. . .”

“Duplicitous?” Bailey
offered.

“Duplicitous. What you
said.”

“You want in on this?” Lia was
amused. “I’m not sure how much we can find out by snooping around
Monica. By the way, Bailey, did you hear from Trees?”

“Stacy’s a straight A student, a
member of student council and an all around busy girl. No
disciplinary issues. Jacob, on the other hand, has precarious
grades and a handful of substance abuse and truancy related
suspensions. No police record on either of them. Trees said he had
a vision of a dog, a German Shepherd.”

“Bailey, surely you don’t
believe–” A faint wolf-whistle emanated from the vicinity of Lia’s
hip. Viola and Chester pricked up their ears.

“What was that?” Bailey
asked.

“That has to be Peter,” Lia said,
reaching for her phone. “I must have sat wrong. Hey, Kentucky
Boy.”

“As much as I love your ass, it
doesn’t have much to say.”

“Sorry. I’ve got to figure out how
to carry this thing so it doesn’t happen so much.”

“I enjoy getting these random
peeks into your life. It’s like surveillance without the guilt. I
gotta go. Love you, Babe.”

“Babe is a pig,” Lia told the dead
phone.

“How long do you think he was
listening?” Bailey asked.

“I don’t know, but he already
knows about the food offerings. I think he finds our investigation
amusing.”