Play Dead
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2007 by David Rosenfelt
Excerpt from
New Tricks
copyright © 2009 by David Rosenfelt
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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First eBook Edition: August 2009
ISBN: 978-0-446-54428-3
Contents
ACCLAIM FOR
DAVID ROSENFELT’S
NOVELS
“Riveting… No shaggy dog story, this puppy’s alive with reliable Rosenfelt wit and heart.”
—Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
“There is no way you can read this novel without becoming completely caught up in the story. As always, Andy’s offbeat, outspoken personality shines on every page, and the balance of humor and mystery is dead-on.”
—Booklist
(starred review)
“Enjoyable… Carpenter continues to amuse and engage.”
—Library Journal
“The customary humor abounds in this entertaining novel.”
—Midwest Book Review
“A steadily absorbing journey through layers and layers of deceit.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A fun mystery novel… entertaining.”
DEAD CENTER
“Entertaining… witty… perfect.”
—Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
“Enjoyable… entertaining.”
—Portland Tribune
“Rosenfelt is a very funny guy who’s got the gift of glib.”
—Kingston Observer
(MA)
“Rosenfelt adroitly mixes drama with humor… Those who like the added complexity of character-driven mysteries will find much to enjoy in this award-winning series.”
—Booklist
“Written with flair and humor… If there aren’t any real-life lawyers as entertaining, as witty, and as willing to tilt at windmills as Andy Carpenter, Edgar
®
-finalist Rosenfelt’s engaging hero, then there should be.”
—Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
“A terrific tale… Fans of the series will enjoy
Dead Center
.”
—Midwest Book Review
“Witty… cleverly plotted… very enjoyable.”
—About Books
SUDDEN DEATH
“The author handles the material deftly, mixing humor and whodunit but never letting the comedy overwhelm the mystery.”
—Booklist
“Another touchdown!”
—Publishers Weekly
BURY THE LEAD
A
TODAY SHOW
BOOK CLUB PICK
“Absolute fun… Anyone who likes the Plum books will love this book.”
—J
ANET
E
VANOVICH
“A clever plot and breezy style… absorbing.”
—Boston Globe
“Exudes charm and offbeat humor, sophistication, and personable characters.”
—Dallas Morning News
FIRST DEGREE
SELECTED AS ONE OF THE BEST MYSTERIES OF 2003 BY
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“Entertaining… fast paced… sophisticated.”
—M
ARILYN
S
TASIO
,
New York Times Book Review
“Suspense just where you want it and humor just where you need it.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Entertaining.”
—Cleveland Plain Dealer
OPEN AND SHUT
EDGAR
®
AWARD NOMINEE
“Very assured… packed with cleverly sarcastic wit.”
—New York Times
“Splendid… intricate plotting.”
—Cleveland Plain Dealer
“A great book… one part gripping legal thriller, one part smart-mouth wise-guy detective story, and all-around terrific.”
—H
ARLAN
C
OBEN
, author of
No Second Chance
“Engaging and likable… The action is brisk.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
For Mike, whom I could never beat
at anything…
And for Rick, whom no one would
ever want to beat at anything.
I’m not a big fan of acknowledgment pages; most of the time I refuse to even acknowledge them. I especially hate when authors drop names of famous people as a way to impress the readers, and then go on to tell heartwarming little anecdotes to show how tight the author is with those bigshots.
Not me; that’s not what I’m about. I make my acknowledgments short and to the point, and I don’t go scrounging around for impressive names. I let my literary achievements do my showing off for me. If someone has been helpful or inspirational, I thank them… if not, I don’t. No one gets a free pass.
So, in no particular order, I would like to acknowledge…
Michael Jordan
Bill Clinton
Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower
Debbie Myers
Jonas Salk
Britney Spears
Clarence and Marlo Thomas
Bob Castillo
Babe Ruth
Wolf Blitzer
Wolfman Jack
Stacy Alesi
Gandhi
Jessica and Homer Simpson
Little Anthony and the Imperials
Derek Jeter
Susan Richman
Wayne and Fig Newton
Puff Daddy
My Daddy
My Mommy
Alex Trebek
Various Rosenfelts
Golda Meir
The Barbara sisters: Bush, Streisand and Walters
Nelson Mandela
Ozzie Nelson
Ozzy Osbourne
Les Pockell
Kevin Costner
Kevin Federline
Robin Rue
George Costanza
Joe Montana
The entire state of Montana
David Divine
Bruce Springsteen
Walter Cronkite
Norman Schwarzkopf
Tony Blair
Tony Gwynn
Tony Soprano
Kristin Weber
Bialystock and Bloom
Ralph and Alice Kramden
Bobby and Gladys Knight
Doug Burns
George Burns
Henry Kissinger
Trixie and Ed Norton
June Peralta
The Taylors: Lawrence and Elizabeth
Cal Ripken
Paris and Conrad Hilton
Tokyo Rose
Al and Nancy Sarnoff
The Bird Brothers: Larry, Charlie and Big
Warren G. Harding
Stephanie Allen
Celia Johnson
Magic Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Johnson & Johnson
Norman Trell
Gracie Allen
Ernest Hemingway
The Jacksons—Michael, Stonewall and Phil
Simon & Garfunkel
Scott and Heidi Ryder
Joe Frazier
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Cross
Sandy Weinberg
Sam and Whitney Houston
Anthony, Bernard and Johns Hopkins
Muhammad Ali
John and Carol Antonaccio
The Rogers: Kenny, Roy and Ginger
Rocky Balboa
Geraldo, Chita and Mariano Rivera
George Kentris
Abbott & Costello
Chief Justice John, Julia and Robin Roberts
Michael, Sonny and Don Corleone
I apologize if I left anyone out.
On a serious note, please e-mail me at
[email protected]
with any feedback on the book. Many people have done so in the past, and I very much appreciate it.
“A
NDY
,
YOU’RE NOT
going to believe this.”
This is the type of sentence that, when said in a vacuum, doesn’t reveal much. Whatever it is that I am not going to believe might be very positive or very negative, and there would be no way to know until I see it.
Unfortunately, this particular sentence is not said in a vacuum; it’s said in the Passaic County Animal Shelter. Which means that “positive” is no longer one of the possibilities.
The person speaking the words is Fred Brandenberger, whose job as shelter manager is an impossibly difficult one. There are far more dogs that come through his doors than potential adopters, and he therefore must helplessly supervise the euthanasia of those that are not taken. I know it drives Fred crazy; he’s been in the job for two years, and my guess is he’s not going to last much longer.
It bothers me to come here, and I rarely do. I leave this job to my former legal client, Willie Miller, who is my partner in the Tara Foundation, a dog rescue operation. We rescue a lot of dogs, over a thousand a year, but there are many more worthy ones that we simply do not have room for. I hate making the life-or-death decisions on which ones we will take, and Willie has been shouldering that responsibility.
Unfortunately, Willie and his wife, Sondra, are in Atlantic City for a few days, and we’ve got some openings for new dogs, so here I am. I’ve been dreading it, and based on what Fred has just said to me, I fear that dread has been warranted.
Fred leads me back to the quarantine room, which houses dogs who are sick or are unavailable to be adopted for other reasons. The other reason is usually that the dog has bitten someone; in that case they are held for ten days to make sure they don’t have rabies, and then put down. “Put down” is shelter talk for “killed.”
Fred points to a cage in the back of the quarantine room, and I walk toward it, cringing as I do. What is there turns out to be far worse than expected; it’s one of the most beautiful golden retrievers I’ve ever seen.
Golden retrievers do not belong in cages. Ever. No exceptions. The dog I’m looking at is maybe seven years old, with more dignity in his eyes than I could accumulate in seven hundred years. Those eyes are saying, “I don’t belong in here,” and truer eye words were never spoken.
I can feel myself getting angry at this obvious injustice. “What the hell is this about?” I ask as Fred walks over.
“He bit his owner. Eleven stitches,” Fred says. “Not that I blame him.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, for one thing, the owner is an asshole. And for another, he might not even be the owner.”
“Tell me everything you know,” I say.
It turns out that Fred doesn’t know that much. A man named Warren Shaheen, who had just come home from the hospital, called him to a house in Hawthorne. He said he had been bitten by his dog, Yogi, for no reason whatsoever. He wanted the dog taken to the shelter and put down.
As Fred and Yogi were leaving the house, a young boy who claimed to live next door approached. He said that Warren was always kicking the dog, and he was sure that the dog bit him in retaliation. Further, he claimed that Warren had found the dog wandering on the street less than three weeks ago and apparently made no effort to find the real owner.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
Fred shrugged. “You know the drill. After ten days, we put him down. We’re not allowed to adopt him out.”
I ask Fred if he’ll open the cage and let me take the dog out. He knows he shouldn’t, but does so anyway.
I take Yogi into a small room where potential adopters go to get to know the dogs they might take. I sit in the chair, and Yogi comes over to me. He has cut marks on his face, clearly visible in this light. They look old, perhaps remnants from some long-ago abuse. It’s likely that Yogi has not had the best life.
He puts his paw up on my knee, a signal from goldens that they want their chest scratched. I do so, and then he rests his head on my thigh as I pet it.
Fred comes over to the room, looks in and sees me petting Yogi in this position. “Pretty amazing, huh?”
“Fred, I’m aware of the regulations, but there’s something you should know.”
“What’s that?”
“Nothing bad is going to happen to this dog.”