Woof at the Door (6 page)

“The male jaguar was taken to a rescue facility in Kentucky. The female had been dead
for at least three weeks, as were two of her cubs. The only other animals that made
it where a couple of male dogs, a female timber wolf, two of her pups, and a jaguar
cub.” I looked over at Kai, watched as he pieced it together. I shouldn’t have been
surprised. After all, he was an investigator.

“So that’s where you got Moss.”

“And that is where LaBryce got Charm.”

Kai looked at me with raised brows. “Charm? As in Lucky?”

“Hugh Murray, the zoo vet, came up with the name because she was lucky to be alive.
Somehow, she’d managed to squeeze through a gap in her cage and had gotten out to
where the timber wolf had been tied to a tree and had been nursing with the wolf pups,
but she was still very sick. She had a severe respiratory infection and was blind
in one eye. Zoos wouldn’t take her, and the rescue centers couldn’t take a cub with
so many problems. A group of volunteers took turns looking after her.”

“I don’t get it. How did Walker end up with her?”

“The local news ran a story on her. LaBryce saw it. He called and asked if he could
adopt her.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered.

“Why would you go into LaBryce’s house anyway?”

“We have a search warrant.”

“You think LaBryce had something to do with Mark Richardson’s murder?” It was hard
to imagine. I’d known LaBryce for years; he’d never shown even an ounce of temper,
especially to his friends.

“You look shocked,” Kai said.

“I am.”

“Can’t picture LaBryce as a killer?”

A yes or no would be too simple. I thought for a moment and asked, “Why do you think
LaBryce wanted a jaguar? Aside from it being his team’s mascot.”

Kai lifted a shoulder. “Because he’s a macho football player who wanted a cool status
symbol?”

I shook my head. “I thought the same thing when I heard he wanted her, but no.”

“To get chicks?”

That made me smile. “Maybe some. But truth is, he cares.”

“Are we talking about the same guy?” Kai’s voice was dripping with skepticism. “The
LaBryce Walker who stars in gangsta rap videos and hangs out with thugs?”

“That’s just publicity stuff. He sells a lot of merchandise based on an image that
isn’t real.”

Kai scoffed. I ignored it. “The first time he came to see Charm, I knew his thug persona
was just an act. You should have seen him.” I smiled, remembering how enamored the
giant running back had been with the sickly cub. “He didn’t want to make a big deal
of it. Didn’t want a lot of people to know he had adopted her. LaBryce wasn’t just
thinking about how cool it would be to own a pet jaguar. He was moved by the whole
situation, donated thousands to the ASPCA. He went to extra lengths to make sure Charm
had an enclosure that mimicked her natural habitat. He spent months learning how to
handle her. If you own an exotic pet, the USDA has the right to inspect your home.
It’s not like having a big tabby cat. Not even close.”

Kai pulled onto J. Turner Butler Boulevard, where several billion-dollar subdivisions
had popped up during the building boom. He seemed to be mulling over this new information
as he drove.

He looked at me. “Okay, so if LaBryce is so enamored with this animal, why would he
leave her out? He must have known that there would be a chance one of the officers
would shoot her.”

I frowned and shook my head. He wouldn’t. There was no way. “It must have been an
accident. I think you should find out who was supposed to be taking care of Charm
tonight. I know you believe that LaBryce left her out on purpose, but I don’t think
so. “

Kai scoffed. “Right.”

“I’m serious. LaBryce has to have someone care for her when he’s out of town.”

“We have people who will be looking into it. Believe me, we’re investigating everyone
who might have been involved in the murder. But right now, we have to concentrate
on our most viable suspect.”

We turned off JTB and sped toward the end of a cul-de-sac, finally pulling up to a
long drive. Kai turned off his light and held up his badge as we slowly passed two
officers in a squad car. We rolled to a stop about fifty feet from the front of the
house.

I slid out of the truck and my sister’s high-heeled sandals sank into the grass. I
noticed Jake Nocera eyeing the front windows of the house as he talked on his cell
phone. “Yeah, we got someone on the way. No one was hurt. I opened the door, nearly
shit my pants, and closed it.” He noticed me and Kai and walked toward us. “You make
sure Walker stays in custody until I get back. We’re gonna have a little talk. I’ve
gotta run.” He slapped the cell phone closed and paused to look me up and down. “Not
quite dressed for big-cat wrangling.”

I felt heat creep into my cheeks and noticed more than a few pair of eyes focusing
on my cleavage. Inwardly, I cursed Emma’s fashion sense and sent Jake a frigid glare.
The rest of the oglers didn’t warrant a glance.

I held up my cell phone and turned to Kai. “What’s your number?” He told me, and I
programmed it into my phone. “I’ll call you when I get her secured.”

I hurried quietly toward the large, ultramodern house. It was angular and sleek with
a lot of glass and dramatic lighting. Of course, I’d been there plenty of times. I’d
made it my personal mission to make sure LaBryce was living up to his promise to learn
how to handle a big cat. I was the person who’d taught him those techniques. At first,
I hadn’t liked anything about the big, cocky football player. Except that he clearly
wanted to care for an animal that might have had to be euthanized otherwise.

But much to my surprise, and I’m sure his, LaBryce and I had become friends. We didn’t
agree on everything. I refused to help him with photo shoots where he wanted to use
Charm as a prop, and he couldn’t understand why I was such a hard-ass when it came
to not feeding her people food. Ever. But we both cared about Charm, and when she
was still a cub, I’d bring Moss over and they would play.

During those visits, LaBryce and I would chat. I learned he wasn’t the brainless football
player I’d thought, and he really did love his jaguar. There was no way he’d endanger
her by allowing her out of her enclosure unsupervised. He wouldn’t just set her loose,
though she clearly was.

Through the massive front window, I could see movement, a hint of gold, speckled with
black. Charm was in the living room to the right of the front door.

I heard Kai’s quiet footsteps in the grass. I looked at him—he didn’t look happy.

“Is the door unlocked?” I whispered.

“Yes.”

I nodded and tried to come up with a plan. It had been a while since Charm had seen
me. Though I couldn’t tell from this distance, she might be highly upset about all
the commotion. Or she might not.

Only one way to find out. “Okay, I’m going to go in. If she jumps me, shoot through
the glass window. It might distract her, scare her off.”

I knew instantly that I shouldn’t have said that.

“If she
jumps
you?” Kai whispered as we crept up the front steps. “I thought you helped raise her.”

“Well . . .” I paused, feeling a sudden twinge of nerves. “She might not remember
me.”

Kai followed close behind me as we made our way onto the porch. “But you walked up
to a snarling Doberman without batting an eye.”

“This is different. Dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years.” I inched
up to the huge picture window and peered inside. “It may be hard to believe, but
that
is a wild animal.”

We both gazed into the room. The jaguar lounged benignly on a black leather sofa.
Her tail flicked up and down, and her attention was fixed on the entryway to the room.

I could hear Kai’s breath next to my ear. “Grace, I can’t let you do this.”

I turned and asked, “You have a better idea?”

“Yes, we get someone from the zoo to dart it and you don’t risk your life.”

I reached up on impulse and patted his cheek. “You’re cute when you’re worried.”

His eyes hardened. “You won’t think I’m so cute when I toss you over my shoulder and
haul your ass away from here.”

From the look in his eyes, he meant it. If he really thought I was in danger and I
resisted, he would fireman-carry me back to his truck. Usually, I’d be irritated by
the caveman machismo, but coming from Kai it was . . . sweet.

“Look, I’m sure she’ll remember me, okay? And if someone from the zoo came to tranq
her, they’d have to go inside. I have a much better chance of ending this peacefully.
Trust me.”

Kai seemed to think about it for a long time. Finally, he nodded. “So what are you
going to do?”

I shrugged and moved quietly to the riveted metal front door. “Talk to her.”

I began to turn the handle. The cat tensed on the other side of the door.

My stomach tightened nervously in response. I focused on remaining calm.
It’s okay, Charm. It’s me, Grace
. I opened the door slowly and stepped inside. The living room was to my right. I
tried to conjure up as many memories of the jaguar as I possibly could. Starting from
the time I had cared for Charm for those weeks as a cub. She had been so small and
bony. I always worried she’d get cold. So I’d piled blankets around her, just in case.
She loved for me to cover her with them, with just the tip of her spotted tail sticking
out. With those images firmly in place, I walked cautiously into the room.

Charm had abandoned her perch on the sofa and was now standing, facing me.

I kept my voice level and quiet. “Hey, pretty girl, remember me?”

The jaguar let out a low growl. Her pupils dilated and she lowered her head, focusing
intently on me.

I knew what Charm was doing; she was getting ready to pounce. I felt her pulse quicken.
I took a deep breath to steady myself and concentrated on strengthening my memories
of her, and bringing them to the front of my mind.

No fear, just thoughts of the jaguar’s time with me as a cub—sleeping on the rug under
all those blankets, wrestling around the house with Moss, the way she would beg for
bottles of milk even when she wasn’t hungry.

The growling slowly subsided. Charm’s head and tail lifted in recognition. She sniffed
the air.
Bottle?

Relief flooded through me, and I let out the shaky breath I hadn’t even realized I’d
been holding. I grinned at the big cat. “Oh, so you remember your bottle, huh?”

Charm loped forward and wound her sinewy body around my knees in indisputable feline
welcome.
Bottle!

I knelt and took hold of the big cat’s round head in both hands. I looked into the
green-rimmed golden eyes, one slightly clouded. “I don’t have a bottle for you right
now.”

Charm butted my head with hers.
No bottle?

I laughed.
Maybe later.
I remained on the floor, stroking the cat. I glanced at the window. Kai stood outside,
gun drawn, watching intently. I nodded to him, and he slowly holstered the gun.

I turned my attention back to Charm, who had stretched out on the floor so she could
lick the scented lotion off my leg. “Ouch! Sandpaper Tongue.”
Quit that!

Charm looked up at me and plopped a giant paw on my bended knee.

“Quit begging. Haven’t you been fed tonight?”

In answer, Charm sprang up and loped across the room. I followed. The big cat led
me into LaBryce’s spacious stainless-clad kitchen. Charm pawed at the refrigerator
door that I knew was reserved just for her food.
Fish.

“Tonight is fish, huh?” I opened the wide fridge. Charm paced in anticipation as I
searched the shelves.

No fish. In fact, except for a small container of ground beef, there wasn’t much in
the fridge at all.

I glanced at Charm.

“Who’s supposed to be feeding you?”

Fish!

Something wasn’t right. If the police had brought LaBryce in for questioning and he
hadn’t warned them she was out of her enclosure, he must have thought she was being
fed and cared for. Which wasn’t the case.

Charm rubbed her head against the back of my knee, making me stumble forward. She
pawed at my ankle and began licking my calf.
Hungry.

Okay, I could ponder the hows and whys later. I needed to offer the jaguar something
other than my leg to munch on.

Opening the freezer, I found a bag of whole herring—but it would take too long to
thaw.

“No fish tonight, girl. We’re moving on to plan B.”

Charm followed me around as I rummaged through the cabinets.

Finally, I came up with an acceptable amount of canned tuna, added it to the ground
beef, and mixed the two together to make a lumpy, fishy meat loaf.

I dumped the concoction onto a stainless tray and said, “Okay, you can eat in your
enclosure, let’s go.”

Charm padded beside me looking up at the tray like, well, like a hungry jaguar.
Go on
. I shooed her forward with my mind. I was sure Kai was wondering what was taking
so long, and I wanted to get her secured as quickly as possible.

She bounded past me out of the kitchen. I hurried behind. The house was dark, and
I had to flip on lights as I went. It had been a while since I’d seen the addition
LaBryce had commissioned to be Charm’s room, and I’d never been there in the evening.

It was a bit eerie at night. In the day, the room appeared to be part sitting area,
part jungle. In dim light, all I could make out was the large couch and exotic stone
coffee table. The far side of the room seemed to be swallowed by the blackness of
a thick tropical forest.

I took a step toward the thicket of trees to my right, looking for a light switch.
After a moment I found one and clicked it on. A gentle glow lit the room. And somehow
didn’t take away from the wild feel. Though I knew the sitting area was separated
from the jungle by a wall of thick glass, it didn’t look like it. The room just melted
into forest. The illusion was aided by several large potted trees and ferns that were
grouped in front of the glass and along the perimeter of the room.