Three Dog Day (14 page)

“
Rob, C'mon! We're going out to the Clifton property. It sounds like Jerrod showed up.”

Detective Fuller put his coffee cup down, stood up, and threw his coat on in one fluid motion. Walking quickly toward the office door, he asked, “Am I driving?”

“
Yes, pull up in one of the patrol cars. I'll be right out,” the sheriff told him.

“
Boss,” George spoke up, “what am I supposed to do now?”

Ben shot him a glare. “Call Dory and tell her we're on our way. And you're on phones at least until she gets back. If anyone calls in a complaint, send Deputy Gomez to take care of it. And no computer games!”

Rob hit the siren as soon as Ben shut the passenger door and buckled his seatbelt. He drove slightly over the speed limit until they were out of the downtown area of Rosedale and then he floored it. Flying down the narrow, twisting country roads, he gave his boss a daredevil grin.

“
Where'd you learn to drive like this? I know it wasn't the police academy.”

“
Gran Turismo.” The young detective's smile grew even wider. “It's a videogame.”

Great.
“Well, we're getting close. Kill the siren and slow down. I need to call Dory.” He hit the speakerphone and called Dory's cell.

“
Hi, Ben,” Mae answered Dory's phone sounding a little breathless.

“
Everything all right there? We're getting close. Is Dory okay?”

Mae giggled. “It isn't Dory you need to worry about. She's fine, but she um, I guess
subdued
would be the word. She
subdued
the suspect and she can't talk on the phone right now. What did you say, Dory?” Ben heard Mae and Dory talking. “Right. She's sitting on his back.”

Ben was at a loss for words. He looked helplessly at Rob Fuller, who was shaking with laughter.

“
Where is the suspect?” Ben finally asked. “The one she's sitting on, I mean.”
May as well keep the comedy rolling.
Rob was laughing so hard, he started to cough.

“
We're in the field behind Jerrod Clifton's house,” Mae said. “We wanted the suspect to stay in the garage so we could tie him to something, but he's been very uncooperative. He tried to get away and then he sassed Dory, so she tripped him and sat on him. Just drive past the house and the barn and you'll see us out here.” He heard a dial tone.

“
The garage?” Rob looked at the sheriff. “I didn't think there was a garage at the Clifton's. Not by the house anyway.”

“
I didn't notice one either.”

Rob turned into the long gravel drive that started at a thick tree line and continued into open fields up to the house and barn where Jerrod Clifton had been running his puppy mill. He drove past the house and out into the field, which was rutted and still held traces of snow. Ben could see Mae standing in the distance. Her hair was blowing away from her face like a bright flag tossed in the wind. There was a building even farther beyond her that Ben thought must be the garage.

“
Over there. Do you see her?” Ben pointed to the right.

Rob aimed the patrol car toward Mae and rolled to a stop a little ways away. She was standing close to Dory, who was, indeed, sitting on the broad back of what looked to be a full-grown man.

Ben got the cuffs out and he and Rob exited their vehicle.

“
How's it going there, Investigator Clarkson?” the sheriff asked. He winked at Mae. Rob was chewing his lower lip in an effort to maintain his composure. Ben knew he could not make eye contact with him or it would be all over.

“
It'd be going a whole lot better if you'd cuff this man.” Dory gave him a look reminiscent of his ninth grade algebra teacher—an ogress of a woman who'd been known to reduce Varsity football players to tears. “While you were taking your sweet time about it, your girlfriend and I had to apprehend this fool on our own.”

Dory rose to her feet, Rob hauled the suspect to a standing position, and Ben put on the cuffs. He was a stocky man with dirty-blond hair and a short beard.

“
Jerrod Clifton, you have the right to remain silent,” Ben started to Mirandize him.

“
I'm not Jerrod!” the man burst out. “I tried to tell these crazy women, but they wouldn't listen. They cornered me out in the garage and then the old one called your office. I tried to get away and then she pulled some judo move on me. I'm gonna lodge a complaint for police brutality.”

“
Don't make me laugh,” Detective Rob Fuller said. “You're a big guy. Nobody will believe that Dory Clarkson, who isn't even an officer of the law, brutalized you. With the help of a woman in a cast! And if you're not Jerrod, who are you?”

“
I'm Jerrod's brother, Mike. My ID's in my car over yonder. I was looking for Jerrod out by the garage back there. He wasn't in the house or the barn. Then these skirts showed up and chased me out here. She tripped me and threw me on my face in the field.” He glared at Dory, who had started toward him at the word “skirts.”

“
Stand down, Investigator Clarkson.” Ben turned to his scrappy investigator and his lovely girlfriend, both of whom were giving him guilty looks. “Is that true? And why were you all the way out in that garage anyway? That's way outside the scope of the animal cruelty investigation.”

The two women glanced at each other and then started to speak at the same time.

“
One at a time, please,” Ben said, looking at Mae. His head was starting to pound.

“
We were done looking around the house and getting ready to go when we noticed a car parked behind the barn,” Mae began after another glance at her accomplice. “Then I saw the garage from across the field. It looked familiar and I convinced Dory we should go check it out.”

“
That's right.” Dory nodded her head. “And we found this guy out there skulking around.”

“
Just a minute.” Ben looked back at Rob, standing patiently beside Mike Clifton. “Detective Fuller, why don't you take Clifton to the patrol car and put him in the back seat. You can wait in the car with him. I'll just be another minute.” He turned to Mae once more. “So the garage looked familiar?”

“
It's the one I came across when I got lost during the snowstorm. The visibility was so bad that day I never saw the house or the barn,” she said with a little frown. “I thought it might be the same one when I saw the outside, but when we went inside I knew it was—same place, same pile of copper pipes near the door. Then we saw Mr. Clifton. We were both so mad about the treatment of those poor dogs, and we thought he was Jerrod. I guess we didn't give him a chance to say who he was ….” she trailed off.

Dory chimed in. “He sure acted guilty when he saw us. And he looks a lot like the DMV photo of his brother. We thought we'd made a big collar.” She looked abashed.

Ben closed his eyes briefly. “All right, Rizzoli and Isles. That was an honest mistake. But do both of you realize that what you did could have been dangerous?” They nodded, giving him big eyes and looks of sincere contrition.
What a pair.
“Detective Fuller and I will take it from here. I'll see both of you later.” He gave Dory a sharp look, kissed Mae on the cheek, and went to the patrol car. Climbing in on the passenger side, he tried hard not to grin.

Ben watched out the patrol car's back window as Mae and Dory walked across the field, climbed into Dory's red T-bird and drove off. “My apologies, Mr. Clifton,” he said, looking into the back seat at Mike. They really had no grounds to hold him, let alone arrest him, and Mike Clifton had no reason to cooperate with them. Ben had to try, however. “Let's get those cuffs off, Detective.” Rob got out and went around to the back, freeing the man's hands, then returned to the driver's seat. “I'm not going to detain you any further, but it's urgent that we get in touch with your brother.”

“
I'd like to get ahold of him too,” Mike muttered, rubbing his wrists and frowning. “He told me to come up here—said he needed my help with something. I get here and he's not around.”

“
Would you be willing to come to the office and answer some questions?”

Mike's brown eyes were wary. He didn't answer right away.

“
Do you know Jerrod's cellphone number?” Rob asked. “We need to speak with him about leaving his dogs without anyone to care for them, and we need his help with another matter as well.”

“
It's on my phone,” Mike told him. “Along with my ID. I can get you the phone number if you'll let me out of the car. Maybe I'll come to your office tomorrow; maybe I won't. I'd like to wait and see if Jerrod turns up before then, all right?”

“
Sure,” Ben told him. “Drive back over to the barn, Rob, and we'll let Mr. Clifton get on with his day. Are you staying at your brother's house tonight?”

“
Only if my brother shows up. I've got no way to get inside the house without him. Otherwise, I'll get a motel room.”

Rob put the car in park and got out to open the back door for Mike, who stood up and inclined his head toward the old white Pontiac with South Carolina plates parked behind the barn. Rob and Ben followed him over to the rusty vehicle, and Mike grabbed his wallet and cellphone from out of the center console. He flipped the wallet open and presented his driver's license to Rob. The detective read it and nodded at Ben.

“
So Mike, could you give me your brother's number? We need yours, too.” Ben took a business card out of his breast pocket and handed it to Mike Clifton.

“
Yeah, here's Jerrod's.” He read the number off his phone and Rob entered it into his own cell. Mike gave his own mobile number to the detective.

“
We'll be in touch, Mr. Clifton,” the sheriff informed him. “Let us know if you hear from your brother. And don't leave the area.”

B
en called Detective Wayne Nichols on his way to the office. The chief detective was driving back to Tennessee from Michigan, and Ben told him the tale of Dory's first ‘collar.' The two lawmen shared a laugh, then Ben said, “We called the number that Mike gave us for Jerrod, but he didn't answer.”

“
I'm thinking you could take this Mike Clifton to the morgue,” Wayne replied. “He might be able to identify the floater. But even if he can't, it'll probably shake him up. You might learn something.”

“
That's a good idea. Thanks, Wayne. Will you be in tomorrow?”

“
I will as long as the weather holds. These roads are pretty bad today—snowed a lot last night. If it starts snowing again it might slow me down a little bit.”

“
All right. Take it easy and we'll see you soon.” Ben clicked the off button.

He decided to heed Wayne's advice and take Mike Clifton to the morgue, in case he could identify the stabbing victim. When he got to the office, Rob Fuller was already at his desk.

“
Call Mike Clifton back and tell him that I have some questions. We can question him in the car on the way to the morgue.”

Rob's eyebrows shot up.

“
You better get your Dramamine,” the sheriff said.

Rob called Mike, who agreed to be picked up from his motel in half an hour. Ben drove his own truck, thinking the unofficial vehicle might put Mike at ease enough to answer questions without reservations. Rob knocked on the door of room number 17 at the Country Rose Motel, while Ben stayed in his F-150 with the motor running. Mike opened the door and peered out, then followed Rob to the truck after locking the flimsy door. Rob waved him to the passenger side and climbed into the back seat.

“
Good morning. Thanks for agreeing to talk to us.”

Mike Clifton gave Ben a small nod, looking around the leather swathed interior. “Yeah. Nice truck. Didn't know sheriffs made this kind of money.”

“
The bank owns it, not me.” Ben backed out of the parking space and pulled onto the road. “Your brother didn't answer his phone when we called. Have you heard from him since yesterday, Mike?” Mike shook his head and looked away. Ben caught Rob's eye in his rearview mirror. They would check his cellphone later to see if he had lied about talking with his brother.

“
You said your brother Jerrod asked you to come back to town?” Rob leaned forward.

“
Yeah. He said he had a chance to make some big money and wanted me in.” Mike scowled. “Said he could use my help and to get here right away.”

“
Had he found a different way to make money off the pit bulls? Dog fighting, maybe?” Ben asked, clenching his jaw.

“
No. He said he was going to shut down the dog operation. Wasn't making enough money on it and he needed the barn for storage.”

“
What would he have been storing?” Rob's voice was casual; just a friendly conversation.

“
Didn't say. What the hell's this all about, anyway? Should I be worried about my brother? Is he okay?”

“
It's about a murder.” The sheriff gave Mike a flat stare. “We need you to ID a body for us.” Mike's face went white.