Authors: Casey Griffin
There were moments when Aiden could be so approachable, a regular guy she could walk in the park or eat samosas with. But then he would pull a Jekyll-Hyde on her. It drove her crazy. And while she would have thought his smooth, hard-shelled CEO exterior would be a complete turnoff, all she could think about was how to crack that egg.
Once inside the center, she groped her way through the dark to the light switches behind the desk. The dogs were carrying on in the back, alerted by her presence. After she had a chance to say hello and they saw it was her and Colin, they settled down and resumed their normal conversations with one another.
Piper had grown so used to the barks, yips, and occasional growls. They were white noise to her, like the sound of crashing waves to a sailor or organ music to a minister. It felt like home.
Settling in for her normal study session, she put the kettle on for tea and opened the door to the back. Colin liked to come and go as he pleased, exploring and visiting the other dogs. Dropping her textbook down on the reception counter, she plopped herself into the chair and attempted to put Aiden out of her head. To fill it so full of fleas and molting, tapeworms and ingrown toenails, of rabies and lesions, that it would squeeze the thought of Aiden out like an unwanted tick burrowed deep in her brain.
But it wasn’t long before she stared into space, imagining that adorable bedhead hair, the way his one dimple betrayed him when he tried not to smile, how affectionate he was with Sophie and Colin, and that rigid posture that she wanted to bend and contort in all sorts of positions in her bed—
There was a smash, the sound of glass shattering. Something banged on the counter in front of her. Her pencil case exploded, pens flying everywhere.
She held up an arm in front of her face to deflect the ballpoint shrapnel. Strands of her hair shifted in a breeze as something flew by her. A crash behind her, the sound of splashing water.
Piper screamed and whirled around. The chair went spinning across the room. Her heart throbbed in her chest, her legs shaking. She gripped the desk for support.
Colin was at her heels in an instant, shaking himself. In the back, the dogs were all losing it, startled by the commotion.
It took her darting eyes a few moments to see what was wrong. The large fish tank that sat behind the reception desk was completely drained. There was a gaping hole in the glass, cracks spreading from it like spiderwebs. She looked down at the floor. Her feet were soaking wet.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement on the floor. Subtle flutterings and flip-floppings around her Walmart Special shoes. The ladies.
“Oh, my God.”
Tiptoeing over the wriggling creatures, she ran to the dingy little kitchen and filled the first thing she could find with water: the coffeepot.
Scooping up the goldfish, she laid them inside. While she hadn’t come across a chapter in her textbooks on emergency aquatic resuscitation, she didn’t think it was possible to give them CPR. Although, that would give a whole new meaning to the term “fish-kiss.”
“Please be okay,” she said. “Please be okay.”
After a few seconds, though a little lethargic the goldfish began waving their fins, propelling themselves around their new, considerably downsized home. Their eyes seemed to be bulgier than normal, their mouths popping open and closed as if they were scandalized.
“Don’t worry,” Piper told them. “That’s better now, isn’t it?”
They swished their fancy ball gowns indignantly as Piper set them on the counter. It was still possible that she would lose more than one to the toilet bowl by morning due to stress or injuries. She would have to keep a close eye on them.
Now that everyone was rescued and accounted for, she added a couple drops of water conditioner to the coffeepot and went to check on the frantic dogs in the back room. To soothe them, she offered some extra treats and spoke to them in a calm, comforting manner. However, she felt anything but, and she could have used a treat herself.
Once the dogs were more or less settled, she searched for the source of the damage. She found it in the fish tank between the sunken treasure and the pirate ship. It was a bundle with an elastic band wrapped around it.
Cautious of the broken glass, she plucked the bundle out of the wreckage. Surprised by the weight, she turned it over in her hands. It was a brick with a piece of paper wrapped around it.
Piper focused on the front entrance, at the gaping hole in the door window, at the glass scattered across the linoleum floor. The path of destruction continued to where it hit the desk. She’d been inches away from requiring her own first-aid treatment.
Carrying the hefty load to the counter, she slipped the rubber band off and removed the piece of paper. It was soaked through with tank water, but when she unfolded it the message read loud and clear.
Her own mouth popped open from the scandal of it.
It read:
Get out! Or I’ll make you.
The police officer’s boots crunched on the broken glass. He assessed the damage, this time from a new angle. Piper didn’t know what was so tough to figure out. Brick fly through window; brick hit fish tank; tank go splash. Seemed simple enough to her.
She knew she wasn’t irritated with him so much as the near head wound experience. Even now nerves shook her hands. But so far, Officer Tucker had proved himself less than empathetic or even mildly concerned. Maybe there were more important crimes to solve or wrongdoers to vanquish. He acted like this was the equivalent of hoodlums spray-painting a garbage can. Well, maybe it was. But it was
her
garbage can.
He took out his phone and typed a few words, probably searching for the nearest coffeehouse for a post-investigation latte. Consulting his notepad again, he wandered back to where she watched from the side.
“So you didn’t see anyone when it happened? No one you could identify?”
“No. Like I said, I was busy studying.” Or staring off into space imagining Aiden without a suit.
“And you said you arrived at approximately nine thirty p.m.?”
“That’s correct.”
“And did you see anyone when you arrived? Anyone loitering around the building? Maybe a car you noticed parked in the lot or on the street nearby watching the place?”
“No. Not that I can remember.” Piper’s skin crawled at the thought of being watched, and she thought of her altercation with Barney Miller a few hours earlier. Of course, she’d mentioned his name first, but she’d never actually seen the culprit.
She could hear Marilyn in the back, soothing the dogs in that “keep calm and carry on” way of hers. Piper had called her right after she got off the phone with the police. The dedicated manager came right away, concerned for her guests, as she called them. She liked to think that they were only staying for a short time before someone came to adopt them.
The bell above the entrance door dinged as someone entered. Piper was trying to read Officer Tucker’s notepad upside down. She figured it was the other cop, so she didn’t turn around until Officer Tucker said, “Sorry, sir. You can’t be in here.”
Piper had been anxiously awaiting the crack CSI team to arrive and bag the evidence, unveil invisible footprints, search for microscopic clues, so when she spun around his face was the last she expected to see.
“Aiden?”
“You know this man?” Officer Tucker asked.
“It’s all right,” Marilyn said, coming in from the back, She was dragging a piece of cardboard to the front with her. “He’s the owner.”
“The owner,” Piper repeated. “The owner of what?”
“The property, dear. What else? Here, Piper, could you help me with this?” Marilyn handed her the cardboard. “We can use it to board up the window once the officers are all finished here.”
Piper took the board numbly. “You own this property?” She almost sounded indignant, like they were possibly lying to her.
“Thank you for coming, Mr. Caldwell.” Marilyn shook his hand. “But you didn’t need to concern yourself at an hour like this.”
“Oh, it’s no problem at all. I just thought I’d come by and take a look.”
“Well, how about I make us all a pot of coffee?” Marilyn hurried off to the kitchen.
Once she left, Aiden turned right back to Piper, his expression full of concern and surprise. “I didn’t know you would be here.”
“Sir,” Officer Tucker interrupted. “May I have your full name for the record, please?”
Both Piper and Aiden spoke at the same time. “Aiden Caldwell.”
“I was studying.” Piper still stared at him like he’d claimed to be the king of England. “You’re the new property owner?”
The officer cleared his throat to get attention. “I’d like to ask you a few questions too, Mr. Caldwell. If you have some time.”
“Yes, certainly,” Aiden replied without looking away from Piper. “That’s why I came to the center in the first place,” he told her. “My company recently bought this land. A few weeks ago, I came to renew the lease and discuss some future business with Marilyn. That’s when I met Sophie.”
Officer Tucker’s pen hovered readily over his notepad. “And who’s Sophie?”
“My dog,” Aiden told him, and then to Piper, “Were you hurt?”
“No. I’m fine.”
“That’s good.”
“Do you two need a minute?” the officer asked, although it didn’t sound like he was offering so much as making a point.
Aiden didn’t seem to notice. “If I’d known you were here, I would have come sooner.”
“Oh, but the ladies were hurt,” Piper said.
“And who are these ladies?” Officer Tucker asked. “Do they require medical attention?”
“Why are the ladies in the coffeepot?” Marilyn called from the kitchen.
The officer’s forehead creased. “The ladies are in the coffeepot?”
“The fish tank broke!” Piper called back. “They’re our goldfish,” she explained to the officer.
“Tea then?” Marilyn sang back.
“Yes, thank you,” Aiden replied.
“Excuse me,” Officer Tucker snapped. “May we continue, please?”
Piper had answered the cop’s questions three times over Aiden’s sudden appearance was a lot more interesting at that moment, but Officer Tucker’s tone of voice sobered the CEO up.
“Yes, of course,” Aiden said. “Go ahead.”
“Do either of you know of anyone who would possibly have a vendetta against the rescue center? Anyone with a grudge? Disgruntled employees?”
Marilyn shuffled out of the small kitchen with a tray of four mismatched mugs. “A grudge? Oh, dear. Do you think this was a personal attack?”
“Well, I can’t say conclusively, but considering the note attached to the brick, I would speculate so.”
“Well, there are the neighbors,” she said. “They’ve been complaining about the noise for some time.”
“The noise?”
“Yes. We only have a small courtyard in the back and dachshunds can be noisy for such a small dog, on account of their large lungs, you see. That’s where they get that barrel chest from.” She stuck out her own chest, mimicking it. “There are a lot of residential buildings surrounding us and my little guests can make quite the racket during playtime.”
“Any neighbors in particular?”
“I don’t have any names specifically. A whole group of them, I suppose. They petitioned for the city to do something about it on several occasions. We would build a sound-reducing fence, but they’re rather expensive.”
As Piper thought about potential suspects, she recalled her run-in with Laura earlier that day. “There’s someone else. A local animal rights activist that belongs to a group called SFAAC.”
“Why would an activist have a problem with a dog shelter?”
“It’s a personal issue. I had a confrontation with her during a rally in the Presidio today.” She relayed the events of that afternoon, remembering Laura’s parting words to her.
“She threatened you?” he asked. “Did you report this to the police?”
“No. I didn’t really think anything of it. She’s made plenty of personal threats against me over the last few years. Just figured she was full of crap. I’ve lodged previous complaints about her with the police.”
“Oh, I see.” The officer made another note. “Do you have a restraining order against this person?”
“No.” She scowled. “Not yet, anyway.”
Marilyn frowned, watching the pen scribble across the page. “Do you think she should take out a restraining order against this girl? I mean, if she’s a possible suspect. Maybe it could be a way to prevent further harassment.”
“I can’t say for sure, ma’am. Unless you know for certain it was her. Don’t worry, I will let you know if you need to take further action,” he assured her.
She didn’t look assured, so Piper reached out and squeezed her shoulder. Marilyn mumbled something about sugar and disappeared back into the kitchen.
He jotted a few more notes down. “Mr. Caldwell, do you have anything to add?”
“Well, the company is always receiving threats. It wouldn’t be the first time my property has been vandalized simply due to the association with my company.”
“And what company is that?”
“Caldwell and Son Investments.”
Another note. “Can you think of any reason why someone would target this property specifically?”
“Well, the recent property sale would have been pubic record, but…” He hesitated, turning to Piper. “The briefcase.”
“The one in my taxi?” Piper asked.
“You drive a taxi?” Officer Tucker asked.
“I did. Before it was stolen.”
“With my briefcase inside,” Aiden added. “Which contained the recently signed documents for the property transfer.”
Piper frowned, thinking back to the day before—although it seemed much longer. “You think that whoever stole my cab might have done this?”
“Or,” he said, “maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that your cab was stolen with my briefcase.”
Piper wondered if he might be right. Sure, she’d been pushing her luck that day with all three jobs, but she still found it hard to believe she was unlucky enough to have her cab stolen too. Maybe it was his bad luck and not hers.
“But that still doesn’t explain why the car thief would want us to get out of the neighborhood,” she said.