Puppy Love and Panic, page 4
Once the transaction was completed, I picked up my coffee and pretended the cup slipped through my fingers. As it crashed to the floor, I gasped and cursed while the hot coffee splattered up on me and the counter. Based on the colorful language from the man behind me, he also got splashed.
“Oh, no!” I yelled. “Oh, my gosh. I’m so sorry!”
As I helped the barista clean up the mess, I hoped the stain would come out of my white sweatshirt.
But at least I had solidified my alibi.
Chapter 5
After cleaning the mess and buying a cappuccino for the man behind me in line, I returned to the hospital with two coffees, figuring Trevor would appreciate my trip.
As I walked down the hall toward Jacob’s room, I heard yelling. I took a deep breath and prayed that my son and Vic had escaped undetected.
“Where have you been?” Mallory screeched at me as I entered the room. Trevor and Colin Breckshire were also present. “And where is my murder suspect?!”
Instead of screaming right back at her, I walked over to Trevor and handed him the coffee. “What are you talking about?” I asked, then glanced past them to the bed. “Where’s my son?!” I set down my coffee. “Did you take him to jail?!”
Mallory seemed perplexed by my questioning. “N-no! I came to get him and he’s not here!” She placed her hands on her gun belt and narrowed her gaze. “What did you do with him?”
“Do with him? What does that mean? Where… where is my son?” I met the gaze of everyone in the room. No one answered. “None of you know?”
Trevor put his hand on my shoulder. “We thought maybe you had something to do with his disappearance,” he said softly.
“Now how would I do that?” I asked. “He was chained to the dang bed like a dog! Do I look like I can chew through metal?”
“Sometimes, yes,” Mallory sneered.
“Where have you been?” Trevor asked, shooting her a glare.
Ignoring Mallory would be in my best interests. She was only trying to goad me and I wouldn’t take the bait. “I went to get coffee,” I said. Then I remembered he’d brought me one from the hospital not too long before I left. “The stuff here is awful, so since Jacob had gone back to sleep, I thought I’d slip out and get something from Cup of Go. It’s already been a long day, and I needed some fresh air and good coffee.”
“What’s he doing here?” Mallory asked, pointing at Colin, who admittedly looked quite dapper in his grey suit and matching fedora.
“I called him,” I replied. “You’ve accused my son of murdering a poor girl, and whether you think so or not, he deserves a defense.”
Her cheeks reddened. “So you called him and then you left? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Colin cleared his throat. “If I may interject, I arrived here much quicker than I anticipated when I spoke to Ms. Dunner on the phone. If my appointment hadn’t been canceled, I would’ve come later.”
The old lawyer hadn’t said anything about an appointment when we talked, so I appreciated his quick thinking. I hadn’t given any consideration to the time between my phone call with him and his arrival, which would be an important detail for Mallory. Because why would I call an attorney, then leave when I was expecting him?
“I don’t believe any of this,” Mallory snarled.
“That’s okay,” I shot back. “I don’t believe half the stuff that comes out of your mouth, either.”
She narrowed her gaze. “Maybe we should go down to the station and discuss what you’ve done with your son.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Colin said. “It’s apparent that Ms. Dunner has had a very difficult morning, and now to top it off, her son is missing.”
Suddenly, all the stress boiled up within me and tears started falling. The last thing I wanted was to cry in front of Mallory, but I couldn’t hold them back. “He’s right. You’ve accused my son of murder, cuffed him to a bed, and all I wanted was a decent cup of coffee. My nerves are so shot, I dropped my latte and stained my white sweatshirt.” I held the still damp clothing from my body. “Then I came back here only to find my son is missing.” Trevor handed me a tissue as I swiped at my tears. “This has been a horrible day.”
And I meant every word. The total breakdown that sat just on my peripheral vision began closing in. I took a deep breath and fought it. Collapsing under the weight of my anxiety and worry over Jacob’s future wouldn’t do him any good.
At that moment, all I wanted was my dog.
“I have no idea where my son is,” I said, meeting Mallory’s gaze.
“I’m going to check with Cup of Go and see that you were really there,” she hissed.
“That’s fine.” I pointed to my cup I’d set down when I first arrived, then to the one Trevor held in his hand. “If that isn’t enough evidence for you, then please, conduct your due diligence on this big mystery. And after that’s done, find the real killer because I can promise you, it’s not my kid.”
With that, I marched out of the room and down the hallway. A few steps later, I remembered Trevor had driven me. Dang it! So much for my grand exit. But then I recalled Ava’s friend, Bianca, had also been drugged and was behind one of the doors…
Names had been written on a white board outside each room. I discovered hers quickly and slipped in. Thankfully, I found her alone because I had no idea what I would have said if she’d been with family.
“Hi, Bianca,” I said. “I’m Gina. My son was at the party with you last night.”
Her long blonde hair sat in tangles around her shoulders. Red-rimmed eyes indicated she’d been crying.
“Who’s your son?”
“Jacob Dunner.”
She nodded. “He’s very nice. Is he here, too?”
“Yes. I’m really sorry about Ava.”
Tears welled in her eyes and tracked down her cheeks. “Me, too.”
Realizing she had no idea Jacob was the suspect in her friends’ killing, I walked over to the bed. “I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute about what happened?”
“I already told the police everything I know.”
“I’m sure you did. But I’m Jacob’s mom, and I’m scared, Bianca. Who would drug the four of you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“My son said that someone gave him water, then he didn’t remember anything after that.”
“That was my experience, too.”
“Do you recall who gave you the bottle?” Jacob had mentioned someone named Terry, but he hadn’t seemed very sure of it himself. I needed Bianca’s version of events.
“Terry Burnell was the one who brought out the waters.” She shook her head. “She’s such a snot.”
“Why is that?” I asked.
“She’s always been after Ava’s boyfriend, Oliver. I guess now she can make her move. Why she’d want him, I don’t know.”
Bile rose in my throat. Had Terry drugged Ava, then killed her, and was now after her boyfriend? Could it be that simple, that childish?
Bianca apparently wasn’t a fan of Oliver. “You don’t like him,” I said gently.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I think he was cheating on Ava, but I couldn’t prove it.”
“What gave you that idea?”
“Just different things,” she replied, shrugging. “I heard him on a phone call saying sweet nothings to someone, but it wasn’t Ava because she was in class.”
“Maybe she skipped?”
“No. Not Ava. Did you know she had perfect attendance from kindergarten through high school? Perfect. She even got an award at graduation for being the only one in our school district who never missed a day. It wasn’t in her makeup to skip. Besides, that day I heard Oliver, it was a test day for her, so I know she was in school. She came back to the dorm and claimed she’d received an A. She wasn’t taking calls from Oliver during her test.”
“What else has Oliver done that made you think he was cheating on Ava?”
“We have English together and he sits in front of me. He was texting someone and I read it over his shoulder. They were making plans for dinner. At first I assumed it was Ava, but when she was home at that time, I mentioned that I thought she and Oliver were going out. She said they didn’t have any plans because Oliver had a group project meeting he needed to attend.”
“Do you think he was seeing Terry on the side?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“Did you ever mention anything to Ava about him?”
“No.”
“Why not, Bianca? It would seem like something you’d do if you cared about her.”
“Because Ava wasn’t exactly a saint either,” she snapped. “She was cheating on Oliver with Gabriel.”
Ah… the plot thickens. The rumors had been true.
“I just decided to keep my nose out of it.” She sighed and laid her head back on the pillow. “But maybe I shouldn’t have. Maybe then she’d still be alive.”
We sat in silence for a long moment, then I asked, “Who do you think killed her?”
“My guess would be Gabriel. She’d broken it off with him after deciding Oliver was the one for her. She decided she’d made a mistake by getting involved with him. He’d left a couple of nasty voicemails, telling her she’d regret her decision.”
I really wished I had a pen and pencil so I could jot down notes. Instead, I attempted to commit everything to memory.
“Like a threat?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe? I didn’t see them.”
Had Gabriel killed Ava because she’d chosen Oliver?
“But you said Terry brought out the waters,” I said. “How does that correlate with Gabriel killing her?”
“I don’t know,” she huffed. “Now that you say it though, it doesn’t make sense.”
“It’s my understanding that Gabriel was at the party last night. Did he stay long?”
“Yeah, he showed up. I couldn’t believe it. I’m not sure how long he stayed. I wasn’t paying attention. The guy’s a slimeball to do that.”
“Did he and Oliver have words?”
“Oh, yes. Unfortunately, that’s when Gabriel let Oliver know Ava had been cheating on him. Oliver was furious.”
This young adult drama kept getting more and more interesting. “So, just to clarify, Oliver was upset with Ava for cheating, even though he’d been seeing someone behind her back.”
“Yes. Total double standard if you ask me.” She sighed and shook her head. “I hate men. I’m never going to get married.”
Instead of launching into a lecture on how if you find the right man life could be very good, I said, “And Gabriel was upset with Ava because she’d broken it off with him.”
“Exactly. She was like the center of a tornado. She sucked up everything and everyone around her and then spit out whoever she didn’t want to keep.”
Jacob had referred to Ava in a similar way, calling her the ‘center of everything.’ He’d never been in her inner circle, but Bianca had. Perhaps Ava had spit her out and she’d killed her out of spite?
But that didn’t make any sense because Bianca had been drugged. She wouldn’t have been able to wrap a rope around her friend’s neck.
It all came back to Terry, the one who had brought the water. I was going to track her down and wring the truth out of her.
“Thanks for your time, Bianca.” I said. “Hopefully, you’ll be out of here soon.”
“I hope so, too. I hate it here.”
After giving her hand a quick squeeze, I glanced out into the hallway before slipping out the door. The hum of voices indicated the emergency clinic was still quite busy, but the hallway was clear. Right across from Bianca’s room was Eric’s. I peeked in to find him with his parents. He was awake and talking, so I assumed he’d be leaving the emergency clinic at any time.
As I rounded the corner toward the backside of the building, I was relieved to find the service door open.
I’d escaped.
And now I needed to find a killer.
Chapter 6
I hurried past the dumpster and decided to take the back streets home. When I arrived, I wouldn’t be surprised to find Trevor waiting for me. I’d deal with that later. For now, I had a bunch of kids who’d found themselves in a very bad situation and one had died.
Jacob wasn’t going to take the fall for it, though.
Suddenly, I heard little cries. As I turned slowly, they sounded again. “What the heck?” I whispered. The sounds were coming from the dumpster. I dropped to my hands and knees and looked under it, then walked around it. I waited.
When they sounded again, I realized the noise was coming from inside the dumpster. Cursing, I flipped open the top and hauled myself up to the rim. Below me, a puppy stared up at me, its big brown eyes pleading for help.
Someone had put a puppy in a dumpster.
I swore some more. There wasn’t any garbage surrounding the ball of blonde fluff, so this had happened very recently.
“Hello, my little friend,” I said gently. “Who did this to you?”
More cries. I didn’t have time to waste, so I dropped to the inside with a loud thud. Thankfully, my wild childhood had taught me how to climb all sorts of fences. I’d been in and out of a few dumpsters in my time as well.
My new friend barked twice, then slowly came toward me as I crouched down. “Hey, there,” I said softly. “What do you say we get you out of here?”
The little tongue licked my fingers, so I took it as a “yes.” I grabbed the puppy and held it to my chest, quickly checking for a sex. “Well, little girl, you’re stuck with me. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing for you right now, but it’s better than being in here.”
Even though my sweatshirt was still slightly damp from the coffee, I tucked it into my jeans and gently placed the puppy inside. Before she could squirm too much and dislodge my makeshift baby carrier, I scrambled up the side of the dumpster. Once on top, I straddled it, then pulled her out. My knees and ankles whimpered when I jumped to the ground. “That was a lot easier to take when I was twelve,” I muttered.
She licked my cheek, her blonde tail thumping against my ribs. “You are cute as heck,” I said, stroking her little head. I figured she was probably about two to three months old.
As I walked home, she settled in my arms and seemed perfectly content. The last thing I needed was a puppy, especially with Jacob being accused of murder. I had to find out who really killed Ava, and caring for a puppy didn’t allow for a lot of free time. And then there was the fact that Daisy hated puppies… well, she said she did, anyway. When we’d had that whole litter at Christmastime, she’d had fun with them while complaining.
“I guess we’ll just have to see what happens,” I said. “My son is in a lot of trouble and I need to help him.” She licked my face again. “If you keep being this cute, we’re going to get along just fine.”
My new charge and I walked the rest of the way home in silence. Once again, I wished I had a pen and paper. There were so many thoughts swirling in my head, I needed to jot them down.
I had been right. When I arrived home, Trevor’s truck sat in my driveway. Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself for his anger. He had to know I was behind Jacob’s disappearance. If he didn’t, he wasn’t as smart as I thought he was.
I approached the rear of his vehicle and he exited. “Where is he, Gina? And why are you carrying a puppy?”
“I swear to you, I don’t know where Jacob is,” I replied. “And I found this little one in the dumpster. I’d like to tie a rope around the neck of whoever did this and pull tightly.”
Trevor winced. “Kind of a bad choice of words there, Dunner.”
Right. That’s exactly how Ava had died. A bad choice of words, indeed. “Sorry about that. Do you want to come in?”
He sighed and shook his head. “Sure.”
I grinned, pleased he wasn’t that angry with me.
“Speaking of ropes, did you find out anything about the one around Ava’s neck?”
“Nope. It looks like it came from their boat. Every boat in the area will most likely have one. It’s nothing special.”
I didn’t know what I was hoping for. Maybe some unique rope only used in a certain profession that would narrow down our list of suspects.
As I unlocked the door, he said, “Quick change of subject… I know you’ve told me you don’t want to know anything about your mother—”
“Stop right there. She’s the last thing I can think about. I’m focused solely on Jacob, Trevor.”
He mumbled something about how sorry I’d be, but I ignored him as Daisy started yelling from inside. “Gina! Gina! You’re home! It’s been forever! I missed you!”
I opened the door and her tail stopped wagging almost immediately. “Who is that?!” she screeched. “You went to help Jacob and you brought home a puppy? How does that work, Gina?! You’re cheating on me!”
Reaching down, I stroked her head. “Smell the puppy, Daisy. She’s going to be staying with us for a while.”
“I hate puppies,” she muttered as she buried her nose in puppy fur. When she received a lick on the tip of her nose, Daisy giggled. “Okay, maybe this one isn’t too bad. Put her down.”
After I set her on the floor, Daisy did a full nose-to-tail exploration. “She’s cute, Gina. Almost as cute as me.”
“Maybe you two can be friends,” I suggested. “She needs everyone to be nice to her.”
Trevor chuckled behind me. “She can’t understand a word you’re saying to her, Gina.”
If only he knew. If only I was brave enough to tell him the truth. I stood and smiled. “I can hope she does. Let me get the little one some food.”
Everyone followed me into the kitchen.
“If you’re going to feed her, it’s only fair that you feed me, too, Gina.” Daisy sat at my feet. “I’ve been a very good dog since you left this morning. And you didn’t feed me.”
My departure had been quite hasty, so I prepared two bowls, set them down, and then leaned against the counter to monitor them. To my surprise, both dogs stuck to their own bowls.
