Through the Shadows (14 page)

“Hi, my name is Victoria Stanfield and I’d like to see your dogs.” Tori felt the tendons of her face contort into a grimace that she hoped passed for a smile.

His hand was cold, grainy, topped by nails yellowed by nicotine and seldom washed. Once he released his grasp, Tori resisted the urge to wipe her hand on her jeans.

“Name’s Clarence Miller, Head Dog Catcher. What kinda dog you lookin’ for?”

“I don’t know, really. I ’spose I’ll know when I find him or her.”

Clarence let his gaze travel over her body and Tori felt dirtier than when she’d shaken hands with the slug.

“The dogs, Mr. Miller?”

“Oh yeah, you wanna see our collection of mangy mutts. Right this way. Watch out for the poop. My assistant’s been out sick for a coupla days and the stuff is really piling up around here. If she don’t come back tomorrow I’m gonna hafta fire her.”

Tori could feel her fingernails pressing half-moon shapes into the palms of her hands. She was getting a headache from clinching her teeth so tightly together. She stayed several feet behind Clarence as he took them down another hall that led to loud barking. The closer they approached the dogs, the louder and more frantic their barks and whines became.

O Lord, the smell! I didn’t know that the odor that lingered at the front door was only a prelude to the real assault. O God, these poor animals!

The stench she smelled was nothing compared to the way the spasms slammed against her ribs when she saw the dogs in their cages. Flies swarmed the area, settling onto the open sores that covered many of the animals. Green matter crusted over half-closed eyes in nearly half of the dogs. Both water and food dishes were empty. Small dogs and large dogs occupied the same cell, the smaller canine paying for that cruelty with their bodies. The feces was so plentiful that some of the dogs were lying in it. They had no choice; there was no room for all of them.

“Dear God in Heaven! Why are these dogs in this condition? What’s wrong with you? Why isn’t this place cleaned up and the dogs’ wounds and infections medicated? I can’t believe how horrible this is!”

“I told you I ain’t had no help around here! They don’t care if I have to do it all on my own. It ain’t my fault. I do the best I can.”

Tori ripped open her purse and pulled out her cell phone.

Clarence’s eyes became enlarged and his attempt at a smile displayed long-neglected teeth, much the same way he neglected his job.

“Uh, who you calling, Missy? I’ll take care of this mess and get their food out to ‘em. I’ve just been overworked, ya know.”

“I understand, Mr. Miller, and I’m going to get you some help right now. You poor man, having to do it all by yourself. We’ll just take care of that lil’ problem. Don’t you worry, you’ll get all you deserve.”

Tori didn’t try to soften her stony glare. Her call was answered within seconds.

“911. What’s your emergency? Do you need an ambulance or police?”

“I need the police.”

Clarence reached for her phone as he pleaded, “Please don’t, Ma’am. I’ll take care of them, I promise. Please don’t do this to me!”

“Yes, send the police to 323 West Walker Street. Yes, the animal shelter.” The word
shelter
was forced through clinched teeth. “Please, hurry. I’m afraid there’s going to be a violent act committed any minute now.”

Even Clarence’s lips had turned gray. “I wouldn’t hurt you, lady.”

“I didn’t say
you
were the one who was going to turn mean. Did I, Clarence?”

The officers arrived shortly and appeared justifiably appalled when they surveyed the grisly concrete and chain-link fenced squares. The first order of business was sliding the handcuffs on one Mr. Clarence Miller. A call was placed to the state headquarters to try, in vain, to give a description of what was going on, or rather, what wasn’t going on. The head officer promised to have someone there within the hour.

Tori grabbed a long length of water hose with a pressure nozzle that was lying at the side of the building in plain view. When the policemen saw her spraying the animal habitats clean, they joined in her efforts. All the dogs were taken inside and, one by one, given food and water.

When a call came in saying that help would arrive within fifteen minutes, Tori decided to leave. Whoever came in to take over was going to have a madhouse to contend with, but at least it was clean and the dogs would be taken care of with the help of two area veterinarians.

As she was falling into the driver’s seat, Tori stifled a scream when something touched her leg. Quickly pulling her legs into the car, she looked down to see a black and white dog gazing up at her. He placed one paw on the doorframe as if to ask her to not leave. Tori leaned over to stroke the dog’s head.

“Hey there, boy! How’d you get out? Are ya on the lam? I’ve got an escaped jailbird, or maybe I should say escaped jail dog, on my hands, here. What’re you doin’, trying to hitch a ride out of here? You asking me to be your get-away driver, are ya?”

At her soft voice the dog jumped into her lap, having to mash his little fat butt in between Tori and the steering wheel. Once on her lap, he leaned against her chest and looked into her face with adoring eyes. It was Tori’s undoing.

“Well, it looks like I got a dog, after all. I don’t know if you’re housebroken or not, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough, won’t I? How about… um, Max? You like that? Yeah, Max. That’s a good name. Ready to go home, Max?”

Max was, indeed, ready to go home. He didn’t even mind when Tori had to stop to buy him food and a collar. He seemed just as happy as he could be. The little Boston terrier didn’t seem to mind anything now that he had a master to love.

Ah, Victoria is home! I hear her vehicle in the drive. What is that noise I hear? A dog? You have a dog, Victoria? And what manner of dog is this one? I’ve never seen such an animal. Black and white with streaks of red? I can already tell he’s a feisty little guy.

Max ran into the house as if he had always belonged there. He began to sniff the carpet then abruptly stopped and ran to the corner of the room. He sat back on his haunches and cocked his head as he stared into the shadows. His tilted his head from side to side, a little frown between his big brown eyes. He’d periodically lift his bottom to shake his stub of a tail, then sit back down and appear to be listening to something.

“Who you visiting with, Max? Have you found my ghost that no human being could find? Tell him to be a good boy like you, Max, and stop scaring me.”

Max, please tell your mistress it isn’t my intention to frighten her. I’m here because she needs and wants me here. It is my fervent wish that she will soon be aware of my presence. For you see, I only want to love her.

Max turned his head around to look thoughtfully at Tori. His expression was so earnest, she felt that if he could, the dog would tell her something that would shake her very foundation.

Chapter Fifteen

It proved that her nerves were stretched as tight as a piano wire in that she dropped the screwdriver when the phone rang.

“Next thing you know, Max, I’m going to be hanging from the ceiling by my claws, I mean nails. Bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” She found the phone beneath research notes she’d been reading when she decided to begin a new project.

“Hello, Lydia. How’re they hanging?”

“At my age, pretty low unless I go get them lifted, my
young
author. What are you up to this fine, glorious day?”

“Fine and glorious day? Who is this and what did you do with Lydia?”

“Oh hush, Victoria. You can be such a brat sometimes. Now tell me, are you quite busy?”

“Well, I’m doing a bad impersonation of Bob Vila. I’m not a carpenter and I couldn’t even play one on television.”

“What in the world are you talking about, Tori? I swear there are times I truly think you’ve lost your mind.”

“Don’t doubt it, Lydia. I lost it years ago. Now to answer your question: I’m putting in a doggie door.”

“A what? Why are you putting in a bloody doggie door?”

“Oh, just in case a rabid skunk may want to slip in to spend the night with me from time to time. I’m a gracious hostess for creatures large and small and word is spreading throughout the animal kingdom.”

“Victoria Lynn…”

“Sheesh, I know when I’m in trouble. It’s like having two mothers. I got a dog yesterday. Yes, a dog I said. But not before I got into a brawl at the animal shelter involving the cops and a few dozen of my closest canine friends. One of the dogs was wily enough to slip under the radar and make his escape. I helped him evade capture by secreting him away in my car. Yes, I know it was brash, foolish, probably detrimental to my future, but I don’t care. I love him, I tell you!”

“O God, now what have you done, Tori?”

“Not a whole lot, really. My name may wind up in the newspaper, though. If you see it there, will you buy me a couple extra copies? You know, for Christmas cards and so forth. I have so many friends and relatives it’s always hard to come up with a different card every holiday season.”

Lydia’s sigh spoke volumes. “I’m calling to say that your mother and I miss you and want to take you to dinner.”

“Tonight? You want to go tonight?”

“No, I want to go next Tuesday, but I thought we could get in line tonight.”

“As they said on Steel Magnolias, ‘Spoken like a true smart-ass’. I like that about you, my British friend. I appreciate the offer but I think I’ll pass. I need to spend time with Max.”

“Who’s Max?”

“My dog, Lydia. Haven’t you been involved in the same conversation as I have?”

“I give up. If you change your mind, we’ll be at the Outback at 7
P.M.
”

“Give Mom a hug for me and enjoy your meal. Smooch, smooch. Love ya, Lydia-poo.”

“Hopelessly incorrigible. G’bye dear.”

* * *

Because she wasn’t home repair savvy, it took Tori over two hours to install the small door for her new friend. There was sawdust sprinkled around the opening and it coated nearby furniture.

“Oh dear, I should’ve put a sheet over the couch and tables. ’Sokay, I have a can of Pledge. And who cares? I honest to God put in a doggie door all by myself! And they said it couldn’t be done! Who said it, you ask, Max? Why, they said it, that group of malcontents that are titled simply ‘they’. No one knows who ‘they’ are, but ‘they’ are whispered about throughout all the land, in every level of society.” She laughed at the dog’s quizzical expression as he did his tilted head routine. “It was a great idea to adopt a dog. Now I have a reason to speak out loud.”

For thirty minutes she worked on teaching Max how to use his very own doorway to the great bathroom outdoors. She went out on the porch, bent over and stuck her head in the door, calling for Max to come to her. After several attempts, Max understood her training but seemed to have trouble figuring out how to get back inside. Then Tori knelt on the carpet and stuck her head outside, getting wet dog kisses for her efforts. When Max at long last bounced back into the room, Tori praised him and rewarded him with a dog treat. She sat on the floor and smiled so hard her face hurt.

“Who’s the smartest dog in the world? Max is, that’s who! C’mere and let me hug you so tight you’ll wiggle to get free.”

It seemed like a great idea to Max who bounded across the room and jumped into Tori’s arms. He caught her off-balance and she fell backward, her hand skidding beneath the recliner at her back. Her fingers came in contact with hard plastic. Leaning just a bit further to get a better grasp of the object, she juggled Max so he didn’t slide off her lap.

He seemed as curious as she was when Tori pulled out the small black box. She laughed as Max sniffed the gadget because she had to gently push his nose away to find the buttons.

“Wow, it’s one of those thingies the ghost busters had with them. What is it called? Oh crap, it’s initials… E.V.P. thingamajig; that’s it. A digital recorder. Let’s rewind it and give it a twirl, Max. Let’s see if my ghost decided to communicate, okay?”

Locating the rewind button, she nuzzled Max as she waited. She was still chuckling at his antics when she hit the “play” button. The contents of the instrument brought her laughter to a screeching halt.

“Max, please tell your mistress it isn’t my intention to frighten her. I’m here because she needs and wants me here. It is my fervent wish that she will soon be aware of my presence. For you see, I only want to love her.”

Unceremoniously dumping Max to the floor, Tori lunged to her feet. Still gripping the recorder, she grabbed her purse, scooped up the dog and ran out the door. Sharon was going to have company tonight. Tori hoped her mother would like Max.

She ran from the house like a woman searching for a nervous breakdown.

* * *

Avery held out his hand to her as she ran past him. “Victoria, wait! Please come back. I wish you weren’t so terrified of me.”

With his hand still held in front of him, Avery noticed that he could no longer see the door through a transparent palm. He raced to the mirror that hung on the back of Tori’s bedroom door. Though not a totally solid form, he could see a dim outline of his body. He touched his own face and the man in the mirror duplicated his movements.

“As Victoria would say: ‘holy crap!’ ”

Chapter Sixteen

Sharon and Lydia had been laughing when they saw Tori sitting on her mother’s front porch. They continued to grin when they noticed Max with his head in Tori’s lap as she smiled back at them.

Max put on quite a show when Sharon rubbed his tummy. He wriggled on his back and smiled at her.

“What a precious little dog, Tori! I didn’t know he was a Boston terrier. What did you name him? Oh yeah, Max. Hello, Max. How’re you doing, little guy? I’ll bet you’ll be spoiled rotten in no time flat.”

Mother leaned over to kiss daughter and then frowned.

“What’s wrong, Victoria?”

“I just thought we’d come by to see you. Let Max meet his grandmother.”

Lydia squinted and pulled her mouth down in concentration.