| |
MAE GLARED FURIOUSLY at her and jumped up from the armchair, lunging for the door. But the pills had made her sluggish and Beatrice beat her there. Mae struggled against her until Wyatt grabbed her arms and held them firmly as Ramsay put her in handcuffs.
“I’ll take her in the cruiser,” said Ramsay grimly. “It would take a while for EMS to get here.” He turned to Wyatt. “Can you ride with me and help keep her awake while I drive?”
Wyatt nodded, handing Beatrice the car keys as Ramsay hustled Mae into the back of the police car.
“Take care of Bizzy,” said Mae in a surprisingly clear voice. “Beatrice? Do you hear me?”
“I do,” said Beatrice. Although she wasn’t entirely sure what taking care of Bizzy entailed.
Mae seemed to realize this. “Find her a good home. The best. I won’t be coming home again,” she said as Ramsay shut the door.
Mae peered entreatingly through the window and Beatrice nodded at her as the car took off at high speed.
Beatrice walked back into Mae’s house and toward the barking, which sounded pitifully insistent now. She opened the bedroom door and saw the little Pekingese staring up at her.
“Here, it’s all right,” said Beatrice, gently picking up the tiny dog. “Let’s pack your bags. It’s going to be all right. You’ll like visiting with Noo-noo. And then we’ll find someone who will love you and take care of you.”
For the next few minutes, Beatrice found Bizzy’s bed, crate, bowls, harness and leash, brush, toys, and food. The little dog settled down, but was still shivering.
Beatrice carefully set Bizzy’s crate in the passenger side of the front seat so that Bizzy could watch her as she drove home. But before she’d even turned on the engine, she had a text from Wyatt.
“Think Mae is doing all right. Received word from the woman who runs the exercise class that she’s sick tonight and class is canceled. Could you run by Violet’s and let her know not to head out for the church nursery? She’s not answering her texts and I can’t call right now in present circumstances.”
No, Wyatt was in no position to call anyone. Beatrice started her engine and her phone rang simultaneously. Meadow’s name popped up on her phone. Beatrice sighed, but picked up. “Meadow? I can’t talk right now—I’m about to start driving.”
“Is something going on?” demanded Meadow. “Ramsay was supposed to be home long before now.”
“He’s fine. I ran into him while I was out. Listen, I’ll give you a call back as soon as I get back home. I need to run an errand to Violet’s house for Wyatt really quickly.” Beatrice hung up in the middle of Meadow’s spluttering.
Beatrice pulled into the driveway of Violet’s modest house. She saw that her car was in the driveway and glanced at her watch. Violet would likely be setting off for the church any minute, considering when the exercise class usually started. “Bizzy? I’ll be right back.” Not a fan of leaving dogs in cars, she carefully took the crate and set it outside the car. She walked up the short walkway to Violet’s front door.
She raised her hand to knock, but paused at the sound of arguing inside. Beatrice leaned closer to the door. She could hear two voices inside and Violet’s voice sounded frantic. Beatrice could hear her crying inside. She couldn’t place the other voice, though. Bizzy gave a low growl, but didn’t bark.
Beatrice looked back at the driveway and street. There was no car besides Violet’s so someone must have taken trouble to conceal him or herself. Beatrice hesitated. She felt as though she should slip inside and assess the situation without either of them seeing her, but she didn’t want to go inside without some sort of weapon. Her mind combed over everything that was in her car. There was nothing in there aside from her purse and a couple of books in the backseat. And Bizzy’s belongings were hardly going to help.
Beatrice walked around to the front of the house again, remembering that Violet’s garage had been open. She glanced around inside. There were brooms and mops, but those weren’t going to be good enough. Her gaze stopped on the ax, but she shuddered. Maybe as a last resort. Then she saw a post hole digger and grabbed it. It was heavy enough to knock someone out if she swung it at them.
Instead of heading back to the front door, Beatrice tried the garage door and found it unlocked. She cautiously opened it since she didn’t know where the door led to, although she didn’t hear the voices as loudly as she had at the front of the house. Sure enough, it opened into the kitchen and the voices were coming from the living room.
Beatrice held the digger in front of her and walked closer to the voices. She could hear Bizzy’s small barks, but the people inside seemed too focused on their argument to notice.
“You can’t do this,” pleaded Violet’s tearful voice. “They’ll find out that it was you. I’m supposed to be at the church in a few minutes to watch the nursery. They’ll see what you’ve done and they’ll find you.”
Beatrice waited to listen for the other voice, hoping to identify the owner of it. But she had a sickening feeling that she knew who it was. She’d thought about Violet’s surprise again during an earlier conversation and how incongruous that had been. And then a sharp look of concern when she’d mentioned Violet’s surprise.
She listened for the voice she knew was coming. And felt saddened when she heard Lois say in a rough voice, “There’s nothing I can do. You know that. And I can’t have you knowing. Besides, I didn’t even park nearby ... I walked. No one knows that I’m here.”