“No. No. No.” Addison leaned against the doorframe, feeling like the lounge room was spinning. “This can’t be happening. Not again.”
Running past Julia and over to the pillow pit, she began tossing pillows aside. She rammed her head into the plastic halls of the puppy palace. But she couldn’t find head nor tail of her last remaining customer.
“Where is he?” Julia’s voice shook as she collapsed among the pillows. “Where’s my Precious? Precious!”
“Addison!” Felix called. “Back here!”
She followed the sound of Felix’s voice to the hall. He was headed for the door to the back alley still gripping the wrench. It had been left ajar, daylight streaming through.
She ran after him, Julia close on her heels, hissing “Precious! My Precious!” like a distraught Gollum from The Lord of the Rings.
Felix threw his weight against the metal door and burst into the alley. It swung open and Addison caught a glimpse of a dark van parked outside.
“Hey!” Felix yelled.
The door swung shut again, blocking Addison’s view. By the time she caught up and opened it again, Felix was struggling with the van’s back doors, heaving on the handles, one foot on the bumper for leverage.
Taking the wrench, he smashed in the back window, but there was metal mesh on the inside, preventing him from reaching in.
Addison ran to the passenger door where she could see a person sitting behind the wheel. She tried the handle but it was locked. Bringing a fist up, she banged on the window. When the person turned to her, their face was hidden beneath a black balaclava.
The driver fumbled with the keys before the engine started and revved. Addison was banging and kicking the door when she was grabbed from behind.
Her feet left the ground and she was whirled away just as the tires squeaked, skidding over where she’d been standing a second before. The van took off, leaving them in a cloud of dust.
Felix released Addison and took off after it on foot.
Coughing, Addison blinked her vision clear and stumbled after him. The van struggled to pick its way down the narrow alley. The garbage and parked cars created an obstacle course, forcing it to slow down.
Addison chased after Felix, but hindered by shorter legs, a wet dress clinging to her thighs, and flimsy ballet flats, she quickly fell behind. She didn’t think Dick Tracy had to deal with problems like this.
She watched Felix forge on, sprinting down the alley after the van, proving those muscles weren’t just for looks.
“Get ’em, Felix!” she cheered with more blood lust than she thought she had in her.
At the end of the alley the van cranked it, lilting to one side as it turned and peeled onto the main street.
Fists pumping, legs surging him forward, Felix ran out into the street after it. There was a screech of tires and a horn honk as a car narrowly missed him. Another skidded to a stop, inches from his body. Addison gasped, flinching from the sight.
But Felix leapt over the car’s hood and continued down the street after the van. Then he was gone from Addison’s sight.
There were distant sounds of horn honks and disrupted traffic. Addison’s heart skipped a beat with each noise. Her legs tensed, ready to run after him, to see that he was okay. But she hesitated, knowing she’d be of no help to him that way.
Going against her instincts, she dashed back into the spa. Julia hovered on the other side of the door tugging nervously on her pearl necklace.
“But, but, my Precious.” Her eyes bulged as she gripped Addison’s arms, frantic gel nails digging into her soft skin. “My Precious.”
Addison’s heart clenched for Julia’s sudden loss, but the sooner she called the police, the better. Addison wrenched away from her grip, and Julia’s blubbering faded away as she ran for the showers where Felix’s phone still lay on the counter. The moment she entered the room, Oliver and Princess got to their feet, ready for action.
Addison’s fingers shook as she dialed 9-1-1, in fact, her whole body was shaking. Partly from her cold, wet dress, but mostly from anger. No, fury. She’d never felt so furious in all her life, forget the positivity, forget the good cop, bad cop routine. She wanted blood. Someone was taking advantage of her, and she wasn’t going to stand for it. Now it was personal.
When the police picked up, she said, “Hello? Yes. I own a spa and someone just stole my customer.”
“You’re reporting a kidnapping?” the female voice on the other end asked.
“Yes. They took him in a van and drove off with him. We tried to run after them but they got away.” Addison tried to rearrange her scattered thoughts to give as much detail as possible. Anything to help get Precious back.
“It’s important for your safety that you no longer follow them,” the operator advised. “Is anyone still in pursuit?”
“Yes. I think so, but I can’t contact him.” She frowned, wondering what would happen to Felix if he succeeded in catching up to the dognappers.
“Did you get a license plate number from the van?”
“No license plate,” Addison said. “But it was a dark van. Black, I think, with dark windows. It looked new.” She rattled off her spa’s address, just in case they wanted to send all units in the area ASAP.
“Did you see your customer when they were taken? Were they still conscious?”
The answer caught in Addison’s throat. She thought back and couldn’t recall hearing Precious bark or growl. There were no sounds of a fight. Surely she would have heard it. What if they’d done something to Precious, drugged or hurt him to keep him quiet?
“No I didn’t,” she said, finally. “But if he was conscious, I’m sure he would have been biting and scratching.”
The operator hesitated. “Biting?”
“Yes, he gives me a good nip, now and then.”
“Is he combative?”
“Only when I trim his nails,” Addison said, distracted. She was peeking out the storefront, hoping she would see Felix strolling up at any moment.
Julia hovered nearby, following Addison’s nervous pacing around the room like a shadow.
“What is his name?” the operator asked.
“Emerald Hill’s Sir Precious Vandersnout Edwards. But he goes by Precious.”
“Precious? Okay.…”
Addison could hear typing on the other end of the line.
“Can you describe Mr. Edwards for me?” the operator asked.
“He’s about fifteen inches tall, brown eyes, long blond hair.”
“Buff,” Julia said between sobs. “Buff hair.”
“Right. Buff,” Addison repeated.
“Fifteen inches?” The operator’s calm and collected voice suddenly increased in volume. “Is the victim an infant?”
“No. He’s fully grown.”
“Is he disabled in any way?”
“Oh no,” Addison assured her. “He’s the perfect specimen.”
There was a pause on the other side of the line. “Specimen of what?”
“Of a cocker spaniel.”
“The victim is a dog, ma’am?”
“Yes, of course,” Addison said, like it was completely obvious. “I run a dog spa.” She must have said that already, hadn’t she? She glanced out the window again, but there was still no sign of Felix.
“Are you sure you meant to call the police and not animal control?”
“No. This is serious. Precious has been stolen. He is a major contender in this year’s Western Dog Show. There have been other dogs stolen before this. It’s part of an ongoing police investigation.” At least Addison hoped it was, because she wasn’t doing a very good job cracking it herself.
She saw Julia nodding along with her statement, but her red eyes had glazed over as she stared at the checkered floor tiles.
“We’ve dispatched a unit.” The operator’s voice, which had always been calm, now lacked urgency too. “They should arrive there shortly.”
“But I’ve described the van.” Addison gripped the phone, as if she could keep her on the line that way. “They might still be in the neighborhood. Maybe they can head them off.”
“The officers will decide the best course of action after they speak with you,” she said with no emotion. “They will be there soon. Is there anything else? Would you like me to wait on the line with you until they arrive?”
“No. I guess not. Thank you.” Addison hung up the phone and frowned at it.
It wasn’t like she expected them to send out the SWAT team or anything, but she’d expected a little more get-up-and-go. Maybe just a helicopter or two? Especially since it was related to the previous dognappings.
Didn’t they care? Didn’t they understand? These dogs were like family to their owners. Not to mention the genetic protectors of their purebred line.
“What now?” Julia asked quietly.
“I suppose we wait for the police to come.”
Julia sank onto the hot pink sofa, staring at her hands. Addison sat down next to her. Princess seemed to sense the seriousness of the situation and came over to stare at her. Addison picked her up and held her for comfort.
The dognappers were picking off the show dogs one at a time. And now Precious had joined their numbers, like some sick list was being checked off somewhere. The longer the police took to search for the dogs, the less chance they had of ever finding them, of ever reuniting them with their owners. Their unknown fate was beginning to feel more certain as each day passed, but Addison didn’t like to consider what that could mean. It made her insides churn with dread.
Julia sniffed, dabbing at her tears with a tissue. Poor Julia, Addison thought. Poor Precious.
Details of the afternoon, the van, the driver, swam through her mind as she scoured for information that could possibly help the police track down the bad guys. When she began to make a mental list of facts to mention, she suddenly realized that maybe she should be a little more concerned about her own predicament. If she hadn’t been suspect number one before, she would be now.
This was the worst thing that could have happened. At least during the other two nappings, people speculated and gossiped, but no one could point their finger directly at her. This time, she’d have a tough time convincing customers, maybe even the cops, that she was innocent. She suddenly had an image of getting dragged away in handcuffs. Feeling anxious, she began to pace.
At least she had Felix as a witness—they definitely had an alibi. But maybe that was worse. They’d already been accused of being in cahoots, and now they were alone together when another show dog disappeared.
How was she going to deny it now? And where was Felix anyway? Was he okay? Her emotions were flip-flopping sporadically and she had to sit down before her shaky legs gave way.
Felix should have been back. She tried to think positively, that he might have caught up to the van, grabbed the bad guys, and saved the day. But then again, what if they’d fought back or run him over?
Just days ago she wouldn’t have shed a tear if Felix had been hit by a van. Well, that was a bit extreme. Maybe just clipped by the mirror or something. Oh, how things had changed in such a short period of time. Now she found herself pacing the spa, dreading the worst-case scenario.
Now that she was facing all the dreadful outcomes rushing through her scattered brain at once, she knew these changes had nothing to do with her undeniable physical attraction to him. There was more between them.
Felix couldn’t be the selfish womanizer she’d first thought he was. He was helping her find the dognapper, and while he said it was because he was under the heat too, she knew it wasn’t that simple. She recalled the way he looked after her in the sauna, how he took care of her when she was freaking out. Felix had genuinely been there for her when she needed him. And he had a dog too, so he must have cared about those missing animals as much as she did.
It was like he was hiding the good man he really was under that gruff exterior. Beneath it all was an attentive man, a man who did care about the damsel in distress. His indifferent attitude was all an act. It had to be.
Addison jumped to her feet, setting Princess down. “Julia, I’m going to go search for Felix.”
“But I thought the police told us to wait.”
“I know, but I’m worried that something has happened to him,” she said over her shoulder, already headed for the back door.
The worst-case scenarios continued to play over and over again in Addison’s head. Her heart rate increased with each outcome she imagined. And with each quickening beat of her heart, her ballet flats slapped the floor to match it until she was sprinting down the hall.
Addison burst through the back door, staggering into the alley. The phone in her hand buzzed. She didn’t even realize she’d still been gripping it.
She automatically glanced at the screen, and what she saw brought her to a halt. Surrounded by a multitude of kissy-face emoticons and hearts was a message.
I miss you. Come home soon. Can’t wait to see you tonight. XOXO
Addison read the woman’s name at the top of the conversation: Celia. It was the same woman he’d been texting the night before. Another message popped up, consisting of emoji burgers, sushi rolls, and various other foods.
Felix had said he had plans. Addison just hadn’t imagined they were with another woman. Not while he had a hard-on for her. And not just any woman, she thought. Clearly someone he’s been seeing for a while. Someone important, if the all those hearts were any indication.
Out of some sick need, or maybe a hope that this wasn’t what she thought it was, that it was all just a misunderstanding, she scrolled up to view the previous text from Felix.
How’s my girl?
Addison clenched the phone in her hand and looked away. All the energy that had filled her moments before drained away into the alley gutter.
Felix suddenly appeared at the end of the alley, his tired steps scuffing the pavement. When he saw her standing there, his pace quickened.
“They got away!” he yelled, scowling. “I never got a license plate either.”
He got closer and took in the expression on Addison’s face. She wasn’t sure what it looked like at that moment. Shocked. Hurt, maybe. Filled with embarrassment? To think that even for a moment, she reconsidered that he could be anything but the arrogant jerk she first thought he was. He was only out to use her, after all.
Whatever her expression looked like, he’d misread, because his scowl softened and his arms opened wide for her. For a split second it called to Addison, invited her in, so warm and comforting, so genuine. But then his phone vibrated in her hand and when she looked at it, the message was from Celia.
I love you.
And she knew it was all just an act.
Before he could touch her, she chucked the phone at him. He grunted as it connected with his chest, and he lunged to catch it before it hit the ground.
Turning her back on him, she marched inside to wait for the police, slamming the door in his bewildered face.