Three Dog Day (26 page)

“
I still think she's going to be lonely.”

“
I worry about puppies feeling abandoned, too,” Mae confessed.

Despite having True in her life, Dory was lonely too. Her date had said he would call, but she hadn't heard from him. True had helped, of course, but she still wished Al would call. A mid-winter break at his Caribbean condo would definitely be a spirit lifter.

“
Can you come home from work at some point during the day?” Mae asked.

“
I usually don't.”

“
Then you need to find someone to check in on her at least once while you're gone. Otherwise she'll develop some bad habits.”

Dory had followed up on Mae's suggestion. One of her neighbors, Mrs. Lottie Powell, was home-schooling her lovely granddaughter who was living with her while her son and his wife continued to work out their convoluted relationship. The granddaughter was twelve, a slip of a girl named Nell who had been begging for a puppy of her own.

“
Nell will be tickled to help you with the puppy,” Lottie said. “I'll have her go over around ten and then again around three.”

“
I'll pay her five dollars a day,” Dory offered.

“
Not necessary. She'll do it for free.” Lottie smiled. “But thanks, she can use a little spending money. They key word is
little
. I think ten a week is enough. No kid that age needs too much money.”

The arrangement had worked well and Dory felt somewhat relieved of the guilt she felt hearing the puppy whimper when she put on her coat to leave for work. Knowing Nell would be at Dory's house by around ten a.m. was a comfort.

On her way to work this morning, she was congratulating herself on getting this ‘puppy mothering' down, when Mae had called with another set of ideas.

“
I've been looking into puppy obedience classes for True,” Mae said. “She's almost four months old. It's time for puppy kindergarten. True needs to learn some basic commands—mostly sit, stay, and to come when she's called. And I'd get her chipped too.”

“
Goodness,” Dory said. “She has to go to school and get chipped? What the heck is a chip?”

“
It's a subcutaneous microchip that's embedded in the dog. A vet needs to do it, but then if she ever runs away, you can get her back. Anyone who finds her can take her to a vet, who can scan her. Your name and contact information will come up. Also, while you're at the vet, you need to see whether True needs more shots. And you'll want to get her spayed right after she has her first heat. It's like a girl's first period, signaling she's capable of reproduction.”

“
Good Lord! She's just a baby.”

“
I know, but a puppy ages one year for every month of life during their first year. At the end of twelve months, she's like a twelve-year-old girl. I'll get you the information about the puppy obedience class. Bye.”

Dory opened the back door of the sheriff's office building to the lab. The wind almost ripped it out of her grip. Hadley Johns, their lab technician, was working in the glass-walled space created for DNA analysis. The lab bench he was working at was covered with little glass tubes, racks, and a large silver box that looked like a computer on steroids. The office had recently purchased polymerase chain reaction (PCR) equipment for the lab and Hadley had been like a kid at Christmas.

Behind the glass partition, Hadley was virtually invisible. He was dressed in a white suit, hood, and booties. Dory was about to rap on the glass when Emma Peters appeared. She was a pleasant girl with a curvy figure that met with Dory's approval, having a similar shape herself. Emma had dark curls and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a lab coat over jeans and a T-shirt.

“
Hi, Dory. What can I do for you?” she asked.

“
I wondered if Jerrod Clifton's truck had been gone over. Sheriff Bradley's hoping Clifton had a GPS. We're trying to figure out if he was in Knoxville the whole time he says he was.”

“
Yes, there was a GPS. We just got that report back from wonder boy.”

“
Who?” Dory asked in confusion.

“
Mark Schneider, the one who works for Captain Paula,” Emma said with a little grin. “I'm going on my third date with him this weekend, so I might find out just how wonderful he is at something other than computers.”

“
Is that how long you girls make them wait these days? Three dates? When I was your age it was a lot longer than that.” Dory shook her head. “Mark's report should be a big help. Could you forward it to me? And is Hadley working on the DNA from the knife and the rag I found?”

“
Hadley's working on the rag now, checking everything again. I'll forward Mark's report to you and tell Hadley to let Sheriff Bradley know as soon as he's got the results.”

“
Thanks, Emma. Let me know how your date goes.” With a little wave, Dory went out the door. Unfortunately, the one and only time the building had been remodeled, the addition that housed the lab had been slapped on without interior access to the sheriff's office. She trudged back around the building, avoiding puddles as she went. Opening the door, she saw Cam making a fresh pot of coffee and gave her a grateful smile. As soon as the coffee was ready, Dory helped herself to a steaming cup. She checked her email before buzzing Ben's office.

Mae called later that afternoon to say there was a puppy obedience class in the Rosedale Middle school gymnasium. It was starting that evening at seven.

“
I registered True and emailed proof of her shots to the instructor. You're all set to go, Dory. The woman who runs these classes is named Marcia Conklin. I think you'll like her. You have to bring plastic bags for puppy poo in case of an accident. The class is an hour long, but because it's a puppy class, they give the pups a break. You can walk True outside midway through the session. You need to bring your leash and put True's collar on for the class. ”

Dory got home from work at six. By six-thirty she was climbing back into her car. She drove to the middle school with little True sound asleep on the front seat. She carried her sleepy puppy inside, wanting to get her out of the weather. Just inside the gymnasium she stopped to see who else was in the class. There were five other puppy owners and a range of puppies from thoroughbreds to rescues. Before she put True down on the floor, Dory cuddled her tight against her chest, smelling that wonderful puppy smell.

Marcia Conklin, the instructor, was a whip-thin girl with short straight hair. She introduced herself and the members of the class to each other. She didn't share the names of the dog owners, only the puppies, which Dory found amusing.

“
We're going to start tonight with the command ‘sit.' Please put your puppies on the floor in front of you and begin with them in a standing position.”

When Dory put True on the floor, she puddled into a sleepy heap. Dory knelt down and lifted her hindquarters into a standing position. Almost as soon as she got True standing, the puppy lay down again. Dory tried twice more before the instructor spotted them.

“
No, no, no,” Marcia said. “Here, let me help.” She grabbed True under her tummy and lifted her back legs up in the air before setting them down in a standing position. When the pup started to sit back down, Marcia said, “Stand!” in a commanding voice. Little True looked bewildered and lay back down. Dory feared her smart little puppy was going to be a kindergarten dropout.

“
True, stand up,” Marcia lifted her into a standing position again. This time it worked and Dory heaved a sigh of relief. “Now, sit.” The instructor pushed True's little bottom down in a sitting position.

The class progressed, with owners of slightly older retrievers and pointers who were already old pros at this obedience stuff walking on lead. Dory looked at the woman standing next to her. Her cuddly golden cocker puppy looked as clueless as True.

“
My name's Dory. This is True,” Dory said.

“
I'm Bailey Cartwright and this little girl is Penny.” Dory reached down and petted Penny's soft, curly fur. “I sell real estate if you happen to be in the market,” the woman said, reaching for her card.

“
No thanks,” Dory said. “I live in the flower pot district and I love my house. I'm getting a fence put around the back yard for True.” Struck by inspiration, Dory said, “Do you sell foreclosed properties by chance? I work for the sheriff's office and I was wondering if you had had any trouble recently with copper theft?”

“
Yes. There was just an article in the weekly paper about that, wasn't there? I thought they said a copper pipe ring was busted,” Bailey Cartwright said. She looked down and said, “Sit, Penny.” Obviously surprised at seeing the pup sit, she bent down and gave Penny a brightly colored M&M for a treat. Dory wondered what Mae would think about that.

“
Do you know anything about an auctioneer who might be unethical?” Dory knew Rob was checking into one guy he thought was suspicious but had gotten nothing to date.

“
I sure do. His name's Junior Barnes. I'm friends with his wife. She already regrets getting married in such a hurry right after her divorce. He told her he made a lot of money, but his income seems to have come to a screeching halt. In fact, just yesterday he asked her for her engagement ring back. Said he might have to pawn it.”

“
One of our detectives would be interested in asking him some questions.”

“
If you want to get more on the guy, talk to his wife. Her name's Cindy. Rumor has it that some architectural elements went missing from the houses he auctioned off. She wanted to replace a fireplace surround at their house, but the installer asked a question about whether they had the right one. Turns out, on the back of the surround someone had written ‘Pine Lodge Estates, main floor living room.' ”

“
What did she do about that?” Dory asked.

“
She called her husband, who said there'd been a mistake made by the delivery people and to have the workmen put the surround in the garage. He would make sure it got back to the developer.” Bailey winked. “But I doubt it ever did.”

“
Thank you for the info,” Dory said just as Marcia called them to leash up their dogs. They were going outside for a potty break.

True was a star in the second half of the class. She got ‘sit' and ‘down' and even came when called from a distance of about four feet away. Dory emerged from the class into the wintry rain feeling quite satisfied with her evening's work. Her puppy was a natural at obedience, and retrieving Logan Yancey's fireplace surround might just get her reinstated as an investigator.

D
etective Wayne Nichols and Sheriff Ben Bradley were at their usual two-top in the Donut Den. It was cold and clear; the rains had stopped. They were discussing whether Jerrod Clifton should still be considered a suspect in the murder of Web Johnston. Jerrod was being held in their jail for the duration of his sixty-day sentence for the puppy mill offense and would be charged for his participation in the copper theft ring as well as attempting to flee and drug possession. Ben was stirring his coffee, looking discouraged.

“
I think you need to drop the murder charge against Clifton, Ben. Of the three big markers for murder—means, motive, and opportunity—he hasn't got a one. Jerrod didn't have a motive to kill Web. The man was doing him a favor in getting rid of the dogs. We thought Jerrod had the means—the knife—but after we got the search warrant, we located the knife Jerrod bought from Meeker's inside his own house. It was a different knife from the one Dory found. Same model, but different, and none of the DNA on the murder weapon was Jerrod's. His DNA wasn't on the rag either.”

“
I know. Hadley finished retesting yesterday. And Mark Schneider got the records from Jerrod's GPS. His car was in Knoxville when he claims, so unless he used someone else's to come back, he didn't have the opportunity either.”

“
Then he didn't do it, Ben. He isn't our guy.”

“
Damn it. I wanted him to be the killer.” Ben slapped the scarred Formica table with his hand. “We have nothing. It took us all that time to identify Web Johnston, and it led us nowhere.”

“
I wouldn't say we have nothing,” Wayne said, after a pause. “What we know is that the supply of puppies was coming to an end. Web was selling off every last dog. So whoever needed those puppies had his pipeline cut. What's Rob gotten from the veterinarians in the area?”

“
Nothing much. We're going over to the vet school later today, following up on a lead from Mae. But for the most part, researchers don't do studies on puppies. Dogs, yes, but puppies, no. I called the University office that handles approvals for doing animal research. There's an Animal Use committee that has to review every application from a scientist to work on animals. I had them go back several years in their files. They didn't have a single approved project using puppies.”

“
Okay, then we're down to
unapproved
projects—pilot studies and the like. I was talking with Lucy about this, and she said no grant applications are allowed to leave campus, headed for consideration by a funding agency, without the signature of the University Animal Use Committee. She said that when she was a medical student, they were just starting to require medical students to have their projects go through that committee. What about a student project at the vet school?”