‘You heard me. Dog food. What’s the difference between what Evan sells … sold … in his shop and the kind you buy in the market?’
Mary held the phone gingerly against her right ear. The wound on her scalp was a little more sensitive than she’d thought. Maybe she shouldn’t have dabbed at it with that washcloth, but the dried blood around the bandage was sticking to her hair and driving her crazy.
The question seemed to have left Karl speechless for a moment and his reply wasn’t helpful. ‘Why?’
Mary carried the phone into the living room and sat down in her oversized reading chair. She felt the need to get off her feet, but she wanted an answer. Not for the first time, she was grateful for the cordless phone. The dog jumped up and sat beside her. ‘I’m trying to find some connection between Cliff and Evan, something that might have resulted in their murders.’
‘I doubt you’ll find it in dog food.’
‘Maybe not, but lots of people around here bought their dog food from Evan. Is it so much better than the commercial ones?’
Karl’s voice had lost its faintly amused sound. ‘Depends.’
‘That helps.’
‘There are some excellent foods out and there are some full of fillers.’
‘Fillers?’
‘Yes. Stuff that takes up volume but is hard for dogs to digest. There are some that sneak by the government inspectors and are made from ground-up dead animals. That kind of thing.’
‘Yuck. Really?’
‘Most kinds you buy at the store are just fine, but Evan was a fanatic about food. There’s a company in Los Angeles that makes several special mixes. Evan carried four kinds: one for puppies, another for pregnant and lactating dogs, one for most dogs and the last for seniors. He praised the nutritional value in those mixtures to the hilt and sold a lot of people on their benefits. It’s probably the only food Millie has ever had.’
‘So I should continue to feed it to her?’
‘You could switch her over to something else, but slowly. However, if John and Glen continue to stock it, yes, stick with it. She looks great.’
Mary switched the phone to her other ear and scratched behind Millie’s ear. The dog sighed and laid her head on Mary’s lap. ‘You said Evan was a fanatic about feeding. John and Glen said he was very selective about the animals he took into his shop. Made sure they had their shots and whatever else they needed to be healthy. He must have really cared about them.’
‘He did. Evan was a kind man. He even took good care of that blasted lizard, who’d just as soon bite your finger off as look at you.’
‘What lizard?’ Mary couldn’t remember any lizard large enough to put a finger at risk. Only the one who’d been napping under the plastic tree and it didn’t look dangerous to anything larger than a fly.
‘He had him in a glass cage in the back of the store. Evan was afraid a child would get hurt if he put it out front. Nasty creature. Should be in a zoo somewhere, but Evan took good care of it. All God’s Creatures, Great and Small, that was his motto. It wasn’t Cliff’s.’
‘What do you mean?’ Mary’s hand slipped off the dog’s ear as she sat up straighter. The dog raised her head and looked at Mary with reproachful eyes. Her hand dropped once more onto the dog’s head. ‘I thought Cliff loved animals, especially dogs. Bonnie had nothing but praise for how he helped her. Even Luke said how good he was at coaching …’ Somehow those incidents didn’t really translate into universal love of animals.
‘Cliff loved to win. He helped Bonnie because she had good dogs who won. Luke was a talented kid with an excellent poodle who also won. Cliff believed in purebred dogs and the people who bred or owned them. He was nice to his patients and their owners, but he only really cared about the prestigious ones. I don’t approve of his attitude but I have to give him credit. He knew his dogs. Naomi should have listened to him.’
‘What?’ Surprise almost brought Mary to her feet. The dog raised her head and waited for Mary to settle back down. ‘What are you talking about? Listened to Cliff about what?’
‘He wanted her to stand her little dog, Merlot, at stud. He was a finished champion and, according to Cliff, an especially fine dog. He told Naomi she could make a lot of money standing him and if she didn’t want all of the hassle, boarding the bitches, paperwork, all that kind of thing, he’d manage it all.’ Karl paused. ‘I think Bill was for it, but not Naomi.’
Mary thought back to Naomi’s description of Cliff, his old car, his showing up half drunk, his many ‘mistakes’ as a vet and didn’t blame Naomi one bit. Cliff had proved over and over again he wasn’t capable of accepting responsibility for getting his own dinner. He certainly wasn’t capable of running a dog-breeding business. At least, Mary didn’t think so and, evidently, neither did Naomi. Only, why hadn’t she said that was why Cliff kept coming around? Karl’s next sentence brought her back to their conversation.
‘Both Cliff and Evan were involved with dogs but from an entirely different direction. I don’t see any common motive for murder.’ Karl sighed deeply. ‘I don’t see any motive at all. Cliff – maybe. He made some horrific mistakes and upset some people pretty badly. But Evan, I can’t imagine who’d want to kill him. He was a truly kind person.’ There was a pause. Mary thought she could hear a catch in Karl’s voice before he went on. ‘We’ll miss him a lot.’
‘Yes.’ She looked at Millie, who had gone to sleep on her lap, and vowed to give her the best life possible. Another thought struck her. ‘Karl, is Millie spayed?’
‘No.’ Another pause. ‘I talked to Evan after her puppies were born and asked if he wanted to, but he said no. I think he was going to breed her again.’
‘To who?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Luke’s poodle again?’
‘Evan never said. Only that he was thinking about breeding her.’
‘I wonder if Luke would have agreed.’
‘He did once and I heard he made out pretty well on that deal. Why wouldn’t he do it again?’
‘I heard … someone said … Cliff gave him grief because of it.’
Karl heaved a heavy sigh. ‘I doubt if Luke paid any attention to anything Cliff said.’ There was a pause and Mary heard a voice in the background. ‘Mary, I’ve got to go but Pat wants to talk to you. Hold on.’
She moved the dog’s head off her leg, which had gone to sleep. Millie opened her eyes and gave her another reproachful look. She wiggled closer and put her head back where she evidently thought it belonged. Mary gave up and moved the phone to her other hand.
‘Are you there?’ Pat spoke into the phone.
‘Yes. I was trying to move the dog’s head off my leg. She seems to think that if I sit down she gets to sit on me.’
Pat laughed. ‘You can make her get down.’
‘I suppose so, but I keep thinking if it gives her comfort … she must be so confused, wondering where Evan is, when he’s coming back, when she’s going home. It just breaks my heart.’
‘It doesn’t sound as if she’s falling apart too badly. How are you? I’m sorry I didn’t get over there this morning, but I went to church and got sidetracked.’
‘I’m fine. A little headache but other than that … did you by any chance talk to Les?’
‘That’s why I wanted to talk to you. They found Cliff’s daughter.’
Mary heaved a sigh of relief. ‘And?’
‘Oh, Mary, it’s so sad. She’s not coming. She has children, says she can’t afford the airfare, every excuse she could think of. She said a graveside service would be fine. No one will come to a funeral. All he left behind was bad memories and, by all means, put his stuff in the rummage sale. Except the buffet. She has enough money to ship that to North Carolina.’
There was no lack of bitterness in Pat’s voice as she relayed the sad tale. Poor Cliff. He hadn’t left much of a legacy.
‘Did Les mention Evan? I guess John and Glen are in charge of those arrangements, but I’ll bet we get called in to do the food.’
‘Count on it. Evan will fill the church. He was as popular in this town as Cliff was not.’
‘John and Glen stopped by. They were in San Luis Obispo. Returned this morning when they heard the news about Evan. Glen says they’re going to run the pet shop. I guess Evan left them everything.’
‘Including his mother.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘Evan was an only child. His mother was over forty when he was born. Sometimes older mothers dote on their child to the point of ruining them. Not her. Anyway, she’s in Shady Acres Alzheimer unit. From what I hear, they get the shop, the house and whatever money there is but have to take care of her until she dies. They’ll earn every bit of it. She’s not an easy woman. Wasn’t when she was younger and now she’s a real terror. Didn’t recognize Evan the last few months when he came to visit. Doesn’t know much of anything anymore except how to make life miserable for everybody around her.’
‘How do you know all that?’ This time Mary pushed the dog off her lap and onto the floor and stood. Her leg felt like it was being stuck with pins. She stomped on it.
‘What’s that noise?’ Pat sounded alarmed.
‘Me trying to wake up my foot.’ She stomped on it again.
‘The hurt one?’
‘No, the other one. How do you know all that about Evan?’
‘Irene – you know Irene. At the Beauty Spot?’
‘Of course. She cuts my hair.’
‘She cuts mine also. And, she cuts both John’s and Glen’s. I doubt she gets much information out of Glen, but John has loose lips and Irene loves to gossip.’
Mary didn’t. She knew almost everyone in town and knew quite a lot about most of them. After all, it was a small town. She didn’t, however, deal in speculation about them or spread rumors. Mary approved of facts. And facts were what she wanted right now.
‘I assume that includes Millie?’ For some reason the words were hard to get out. Why, for heaven’s sake? She’d only had the dog one day and dogs were a lot of work. Hair everywhere, yards to clean up, all kinds of things. She wouldn’t miss the little thing one bit. But, looking into the soft brown eyes, a pang of loss she hadn’t experienced in a long time went through her.
‘Millie? I guess. I don’t know why they’d want her, especially. They have two of Alma’s other dogs and one they bought from Bonnie a couple of years ago. Millie’s sweet but not near the quality of the other dogs. Her cockapoo pups were cute, but I can’t imagine anyone feeling bereft because she wasn’t in their cocker breeding program.’
‘Is that what John and Glen do with all their dogs? Breed them?’
There was a pause so long Mary thought Pat hadn’t heard. She continued, ‘I mean …’
‘I know what you mean and I don’t really know. They only breed one dog each time so they have two litters a year. I know they love them and certainly don’t keep them in kennels all the time – are they pets the same way you’d make Millie one? I’m not sure. However, if they keep Millie and breed her, it will have to be for cockapoo pups, and that’s how they got into disfavor with so many purebred dog people in the first place.’
Mary blinked. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘The fuss the purebred dog people made when they bred one of Alma’s bitches to a poodle. Some of them, led by Cliff, think if you breed a purebred dog to one of another breed, you are bastardizing the pups. Not only do they not have AKC papers, the offspring can’t be bred back into either the cocker or poodle registries. There are no AKC specialty shows for them, so what do you do with them?’
‘Love them.’
Pat laughed. ‘That’s what most of us do with our dogs.’ Her voice got serious. ‘That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. Do you have your tree yet?’
It took Mary a minute. ‘What tree?’
‘Your Christmas tree, of course. The Humane Society people decided to sell them this year as a fundraiser. So far they haven’t raised many funds. In fact, they’re in danger of going in the red, so, of course, Karl bought what looks like half a truckload.’
‘What are you going to do with all those trees?’ Mary’s voice sounded a little faint even to her. Did Pat want her to help sell them? It was a good cause, but …
‘We’re giving them away. We took some down to the food bank, we’re giving some to the various homeless shelters, one to the hospital and another to Shady Acres, but we’re giving most of them to clients and friends. Can we bring one over to you this afternoon? I’m making chili and I’ll bring you some of that as well. That way you won’t have to cook.’
‘Why, that would be wonderful.’ Mary was a little out of breath. She usually had her tree up by now, but this year, for some reason, or maybe for several reasons, time had gotten away from her. A tree would be most welcome. ‘Do you think Karl would mind putting it up? Not the lights or anything, just in the stand?’ That was the part that always flummoxed her. The blasted thing never stood up straight when she did it.
‘He’s counting on it. About four?’
‘That would be fine.’
‘See you then.’ The line went dead.
A smile spread. Her Christmas tree was coming. She hadn’t planned to do much decorating. There wouldn’t be nearly as many people around as there had been last year when Ellen and Dan were married, but she had wanted a tree. It was a long-standing tradition that everyone came to her place for Christmas breakfast, and it wouldn’t feel right without one. She needed to get out her decorations. She’d bought a set of beautiful cardinal ornaments when she was in Colonial Williamsburg last spring. They were too big to go on a tree, so she’d planned to put them on the mantle after she draped it in fresh branches. She’d put them away … where? The cranberry wreath she purchased years ago would go on her front door. She put her hand up to touch the bloody bandage on her head. It would have to wait until morning. However, she could get in a shower. She’d better hurry, though, if she didn’t want to get caught in her nightgown. Maybe Karl would pull all those cartons of Christmas decorations out of the spare room closet. The tree lights were in the garage. So was the tree stand. She patted Millie on the head. Where was that trash sack she planned to use to keep her leg dry? In the kitchen. She headed that way, but the dog stayed where she was, watching her.