Chapter Four
Izzy snuck a grape from the grocery bag on the SUV’s passenger seat and popped it in her mouth. The sun was just beginning to lower in the sky, and for once she didn’t have anywhere to be except home with her daughter to help her work on her homework. She’d finished her proposal on Bob Burker’s properties and put out feelers to interested parties. A condo she’d worked on had closed, and she’d just signed a contract to represent a newly wed couple looking to buy instead of rent. But as their lease didn’t end for another four months, Izzy didn’t have to work nights trying to find them a new home.
She ate another grape and enjoyed the feeling of an evening with no work ahead of her. Ana was singing along to a pop song in the backseat, holding a purple comb up to her mouth like a microphone. Izzy smiled in the rearview mirror. She didn’t get many moments like this.
Her phone rang, an unwelcome interruption. She didn’t recognize the number. Turning down the music, she glanced into the backseat. “I’ve got a call and it might be a client. Can your audition for Idol hold on a sec?” Ana made the motion of zipping her lips and throwing away a key.
Izzy grinned as she pressed the button on her steering wheel to answer. “Izzy Lopez. How can I help you?”
“Hello, Izzy Lopez. It’s Brad Cohen with Forever Friends. How are you doing today?” His voice filled the interior of her car, as warm and sweet as honey in July.
“I’m fine,” she said, wary. He couldn’t know that she was trying to sell the building his shelter was housed in, could he? Maybe she shouldn’t have taken the pictures of the kennels, but the opportunity for interior shots had been too good to pass up.
He laughed. “You don’t have to sound so scared. I won’t grab you again. Not unless you want me to.”
She glanced in the rearview, but Ana was looking out the window, seemingly not paying attention to her mother’s conversation.
“I’ll take a pass on that,” she told Brad. “What’s up?” Please don’t say you called the police.
“Well, Gabe and I decided that you deserved recognition for what you did, and we want to give you an award for outstanding service to the community. Not many people would climb through a window to investigate barking.”
A twinge of guilt fluttered inside her chest. She didn’t think she would have climbed through a window to investigate some barking dogs, either. “An award is completely unnecessary. And besides, you know why I don’t want to call attention to what happened.”
“I’ve thought about that,” he said smoothly. “And whoever left the dogs in the apartment probably left the door unlocked as they left. If you get what I’m saying.”
Ana’s head perked up at the word “dogs,” and Izzy inwardly cursed the man. She fumbled in her purse and pulled out her bag of Goldfish crackers, Ana’s favorite snack. Distraction time. She handed them back to her daughter. “Be that as it may, I don’t want the recognition. If that’s all—”
“You’d also be helping out the shelter.” His voice took on the quality Lydia’s got when she tried to convince Izzy to split a dessert with her. “I thought we could have a little ceremony slash fund-raiser. Put out some food. Get the press involved. Forever Friends could use the support that kind of media attention would give. You wouldn’t want to have saved those dogs just to see them starve, would you?”
Ana gasped in the backseat. The Goldfish hadn’t worked.
Izzy stopped at an intersection and turned. “No one’s starving,” she told her daughter.
Brad thought she was talking to him. “Technically that’s true. I wouldn’t let that happen. But we could use the help.”
Izzy was saved from a response by her call waiting signal. “Brad, I have another call coming in. I’m going to have to let you go.”
“No, I’ll wait.” He sounded confident. Too confident. And Izzy grew suspicious of who was on the other line.
She pressed a button. “Izzy Lopez. How can I help you?”
“Izzy, it’s Liz.”
Her heart sank. So much for a work-free night. “What’s up?” she asked, trying to sound cheerful.
“I just spoke with a Brad Cohen. He said he runs that shelter that’s in Burker’s building.”
“Yeah…?”
“He told me his idea to have a little awards banquet in your honor. You didn’t tell me you found some dogs in the foreclosed apartments.” Liz’s voice was more curious than accusing, but her boss definitely didn’t like being kept out of the loop.
“It wasn’t a big deal.”
Ana jumped up and down in her seat, her lips pressed together tight, looking like she was ready to burst. Izzy shot her a look.
“Maybe not, but this Cohen guy seems to think so.” A stapler thwacked loudly over the line. “I think the award thing is a great idea. You should do it.”
Izzy blinked. “You do? But…you know the deal with Burker has to be secret.”
“I don’t see why that issue would have to come up.” Another staple bang. “It would be great publicity for you and Goldstar. Everyone likes dogs. And a story of you rescuing some…Think of all the potential clients who will know your face if it’s plastered in the papers next to a cute dog.”
“Take the picture with the dogs, Mom.” Ana leaned forward and grabbed her shoulder. “I’ll take it with you.”
“That wouldn’t hurt, either,” Liz said, thoughtful.
Izzy might use animals to make a sale, but not her daughter. “Sit back, Ana. Liz, I have to go. I have another caller on the line.”
“Of course,” she said. “Think about the dog thing. I’ll see you tomorrow.” The call clicked off, and Izzy switched back to Brad.
“Hi. You still there?” Maybe he’d hung up and she wouldn’t have to think about it. She liked recognition and free publicity as much as the next person, but the situation just seemed sticky, what with her B&E and her connection to Burker. Also, it was an honor she didn’t deserve, and that never sat right.
Luck wasn’t on her side. “Yep,” he answered. “Was that your boss?”
Izzy turned onto Mayfair Lane, where her house sat. She lived in Pineville, about a ten-minute drive from her office. Her street consisted of tidy two- and three-bedroom single-family residences. Rows of beech trees lined the sidewalks, their branches stretching overhead to form a canopy over the street. “Are you trying to strong-arm me into taking the award? Talking to my boss first wasn’t cool.”
“Your office number is listed first on your business card. She picked up.” There was a smile in his voice. “But she seemed most enthusiastic about the award ceremony once I laid it out for her.”
Sneaky bastard. Izzy turned into her driveway and put her SUV in park.
“Come on down to the shelter and I can explain my idea more fully to you. And if you’re still not convinced, I’ll take you out to dinner and use a different set of persuasive skills.”
A squeal came from the backseat. “Can we go see the dogs, Mom? Can we, can we, can we?”
Izzy winced. Brad laughed. “That must be Ana. I didn’t realize I was on speakerphone. If you’re in your car, point it toward Forever Friends. I have lots of furry companions to introduce to your daughter.”
Ana bounced up and down. “Turn around. Turn around. Turn around.”
Brad joined in the chant until Izzy couldn’t take it anymore.