John climbed onto the lighthouse dock and I followed. I stopped when I saw the worried expression on his face.
“Let’s hurry,” he said. “No one in law enforcement believes in coincidences.”
“You’re thinking if you weren’t lured here, there must be something going on in Lewes?” I asked.
Chapter 4
The Pug came when I had reached my hand out to him. I had picked him up and after a long, sweet sigh, he slumped against me. Transferring him from the lighthouse dock to the boat was going fine—until he saw Captain Sandy. The tired dog was no longer docile. He snarled at him, adding a low growl just to be sure he was understood. His ears were pinned back to his head and his body was a ball of spring-loaded tension.
“Settle!” I said, not raising my voice but making it sound like the command it was.
Time froze. Until that point I had been only vaguely aware of Chief Turner watching all this. The volume of the growl was lower, but the dog was trembling in my arms. Both told me this dog wasn’t acting aggressively, instead he was fearful. He was afraid but not scared straight. He would defend himself if he had to. I held up a hand to let Chief Turner know everything was under control. “It’s okay,” I whispered to both, the dog and the man.
I needed the dog to trust me enough to take his mind off whatever he was afraid of. Children can stress dogs, but second on the list are big men. A crewmember had thoughtfully brought a bowl of water to us. The dog was exhausted and maybe dehydrated so I moved the water bowl closer to him with my foot as a distraction and a bribe. He took his eyes off the captain and looked down at it for a brief second. The growling stopped. He squirmed which I took as a request for me to put him on the deck, which I did. He stood by my foot, but didn’t allow himself any water.
“Good boy,” I said. He looked at me again then went back to eyeing the boat captain, all the while keeping his guard up. “Can we get underway now?” I asked, mostly to get the man out of the dog’s line of vision.
“Sure thing,” Captain Sandy said and returned to the wheelhouse.
The Pug drank the bowl dry, as I stood near the rail and watched. “Who are you?”
At the sound of my voice, he looked at me with that wistful and vulnerable look Pugs’ faces have. I went to the bench and sat. “Come.” The dog joined me and I petted him as a reward for obeying the command.
Neither Chief Turner, now standing at the bow, nor I, spoke. I was thinking about the lack of rabies and registration tags on the dog’s collar. I kept Abby’s identifying jewelry on a key ring. Personally I wouldn’t want constant jangling near my ears and I projected this need for calm onto her. Did the Pug’s owner agree, or was the dog unvaccinated and unregistered? From there I went to wondering if the dog had a microchip we could scan to get him reunited with his family.
The chief was thinking whatever police chiefs think about. Then he turned to face me and said, “You’ll need to come to the station to give a statement on your break-in.”
I thought back to the mess I’d left my staff to clean up. “Oh, no. I have to get back to Buckingham’s.” I took my cell phone out of my pants pocket and held it up. “I’ll text-ify.”
“No such thing.”
“I’m pretty sure it is a thing.”
He shook his head, but couldn’t stop himself from grinning.
I held my phone higher like it was evidence. Then it rang. I casually answered it, trying to cover up how it had startled me.
“Sue?” It was Shelby and she was whispering.
“I can hardly hear you.”
“I came to your house to take Abby out for her walk and bring her to Buckingham’s. I’m parked in your next-door neighbor’s driveway. You know, the people who are never here.”
“Why aren’t you parked in my driveway?” I asked.
“That car—you know, the worst getaway car, ever—it’s in your driveway.”
The stunned look on my face brought Chief Turner to my side. Mystery dog or no mystery dog by my foot. “That car from this morning’s robbery is at my house,” I whispered. Actually, it was more like a stage whisper because anything less on the open water is audible only to dogs.
“Is there anyone in it?” he asked, as he pulled his own phone out of his jacket pocket.
“Shelby, I’ll put you on speaker.”
“I don’t see anyone. Sue, I’m worried about Abby. If he’s broken into your house, she’s being held hostage.”
John looked straight up at the sky and then shook his head before speaking again. “Tell Shelby to get away from there,” he said through clenched teeth. “I’ll send officers.” Then he told them to go to my address, which he knew. By heart. I’d have to ask him about that later.
“Shelby, did you hear what he said about leaving?” I asked.
“You’re breaking up.” Knowing what it means when I tell someone that, I took her off speaker.
“You there?” I asked.
“Yeah. Sue, don’t worry about Abby. Bernice and I are going around back.”
“Be careful!” I wanted her to wait for the police, though I probably would have done just as she had. And let’s face it, if you were going into a possibly dangerous situation you could do worse than have a hundred-pound dog for a bodyguard.
That got a look from John and I twisted away from him. I heard Shelby say, “Let’s go, girl.” Next I heard her car door open and close. I heard Bernice’s heavy panting. They were on the move.
In another minute Shelby said, “There’s no one on the screened-in porch. I’m going to look in the window.”
“Ieeee,” Shelby screamed. Bernice barked twice, loud but she almost sounded playful.
“What happened?” I yelled.
“I’m okay. Abby jumped up at the window and scared me. I’m looking in.” I waited and imagined her scanning my family room. “I don’t see anyone and Abby looks fine. Wait, what’s that noise?” Then she said, “That car just started.”
“Shelby, what’s going on?” No answer. “Shelby?” I became aware of something near, almost touching, my shoulder.
“She didn’t get the hell out of there like I said, did she?” Chief Turner demanded.
I shook my head, and brought him up-to-date. I put the call back on speaker as a peace offering, though I wasn’t sure it was seen as such, what with certain people not knowing how to express gratitude. Then I heard the sound of a siren over the phone.
“Sue?” It was Shelby.
“I’m here,” I said, relief flooding through me that she was okay.
“The car’s gone.”
“That’s great!”
“Not really,” Shelby said. “There’s a body in front of your garage door.”
John and I looked at one another.
“We’re on our way,” John said.
I verified that she had heard him. My phone beeped that I had a new text, and I swiped the screen to read it. I read it aloud because I wanted both Chief Turner and Shelby to hear the latest. “This is from Rick Ziegler. He says he can’t supply our raw dog food until this afternoon. Someone broke in at Raw-k & Roll and…well, they either burgled or robbed him. Either way, his stuff’s gone.”
“Not my jurisdiction,” Chief Turner said.
“His dog food