On their walk back to Beach Drive, the three friends decided to have an early dinner barbecue at Marlow House. Lily, whose refrigerator and pantry were empty because she and Ian had been gone all week, loved the idea. Heather hated eating alone, so she quickly agreed, and Danielle offered to run to the store to pick up some steaks. Danielle had lots of leftover salads, side dishes and desserts from Easter week that needed to be eaten up, so there wasn’t anything else they needed to prepare. On the way home they stopped at Chris’s house and extended a personal invitation for him and Hunny. When they reached Marlow House, Lily headed home with Sadie to see if Ian was still napping and let him know the plans, while Heather went on to her house to shower and change.
Pearl opened her front door late Sunday afternoon to find Craig Simmons standing on her doorstep. She glanced over his shoulder and spied his truck parked out front with a trailer hitched up behind it, filled with concrete pavers.
“Afternoon, Mrs. Huckabee,” Craig greeted her. “I have the pavers I picked up Friday. I’d like to leave them here if that’s okay, because I’m planning to use my truck to bring the Bobcat over in the morning. I’d like to get started early.”
Pearl looked over his shoulder again and frowned. “I don’t think you can leave that in the front.”
“I was thinking around in the alley, by your back fence. That’s where most of them are going anyway.”
Still standing in the open doorway, her hand on the edge of the door, she looked back to Craig. “I don’t think you should leave them in the alley. Someone might steal them. I told you someone came in that way and pulled up one of my rosebushes. And in broad daylight. The thief got away with it.”
“Maybe just inside the fence?” he suggested.
Pearl considered the question a moment and then nodded. “Fine, I’ll meet you back there and unlock the gate.”
Walt and Danielle returned from the grocery store and pulled up the alley, heading for their garage. En route, they passed Craig Simmons’s truck backing into the open gate leading into Pearl’s backyard.
“Looks like Craig is dropping something off,” Danielle noted as they drove by. “Wonder if he’s going to start working this week.”
“And if he does, what will he find?” Walt asked as he brought the Packard to a stop in front of the garage and pressed the remote to open the garage door. A moment later they pulled the vehicle into the garage and closed the door.
After they got out of the car, Walt scooped up the large bag with the beer and steaks, and Danielle said, “I’ll meet you in the house. I am going to go say hi to Craig.”
“No, you aren’t,” he said with a chuckle. “You’re going to snoop and see when he’s starting over there.”
“That too.” Danielle grinned and gave Walt a quick kiss.
“Hi, Craig,” Danielle greeted the landscaper a few minutes later as she walked up to his now parked truck. Craig, who was in the midst of unhooking the trailer from the hitch, looked up and flashed her a smile.
“Hi, Danielle.”
“Pavers, huh?” Danielle asked as she stepped up to the back of the truck and looked down at what Craig was doing.
“I’m putting a small patio in the backyard,” he explained.
“Doing anything with the rosebushes?” she asked, glancing to them.
Standing upright, the trailer now unhitched, Craig briskly wiped his hands off on his denim pants. “No. She doesn’t want me to touch them.” He lowered his voice and added, “Just between you and me, they’re dead. When I was here the last time, one of them looked as if it might make it, but someone stole it.”
“I heard about that. Why would anyone rip up an old rosebush? Wouldn’t it be easier to just buy a new one that isn’t already half dead?”
Craig shrugged. “People do steal plants, but normally not ones most people would get rid of.”
Danielle glanced to the backyard again. “Did Joe tell you about the skeletal remains a bird dropped in our yard?”
“Yes. I imagine that freaked out your guests.” He chuckled. “Any idea where they came from?”
“No. I assume Joe told you to keep your eye out when you’re digging around in this area?”
“Yeah. But I won’t be doing much digging here.”
“No?” Danielle frowned.
Craig shook his head. “Nope. Bringing over the Bobcat in the morning and leveling the backyard. The rain and a water leak caused a mess. But I need to do that before I start laying the pavers.”
“Oh…so no digging?”
“No. Why? You don’t think that bird found the bones in Mrs. Huckabee’s yard, do you?”
Danielle shrugged. “Well, the bird did fly from this direction.”
“I bet anything that bird picked it up on the beach. Crap is always washing up.” Craig glanced at his watch. “I’d better get going. I need to pull the truck out so I can lock the gate. But I don’t know why she bothers. Someone backed into it, and anyone can climb through it.”
When Danielle headed home a few minutes later, she couldn’t stop thinking about how Craig was going to be grading Pearl’s backyard and there was a good chance the bones—if they were there—would never be found. So engrossed in her thoughts, Danielle opened the gate leading into her backyard and failed to close it properly.
Ian and Walt stood by the barbecue, each with a beer bottle in hand, while Chris manned the grill. Heather, Danielle and Lily sat nearby in patio chairs, discussing what may or may not be buried next door. Off on the nearby lawn Hunny and Sadie romped while Max and Bella perched in a nearby tree, watching the dogs.
“I think the chief was counting on Craig finding those bones, but I don’t think that is going to happen,” Danielle said.
“We still don’t know if there are more bones over there,” Chris reminded her.
“He needs to try for a search warrant again,” Lily said.
As the friends debated the matter, Sadie took off running toward the garage, a tennis ball in her mouth, Hunny close on her tail. None of the humans were particularly concerned the dogs were no longer in view, considering the yard was fenced.
Hunny chased Sadie to the back gate. When they arrived, Sadie noticed the gate was ajar and dropped the ball. Curious, she ran out into the alley, followed by Hunny, who failed to pick up the ball Sadie had dropped.
Pearl walked into the spare bedroom across from hers so she could look out the window at the backyard. She wanted to see where Craig had parked the trailer with the pavers. When she got to the window and looked outside, her attention was immediately diverted to two dogs who were wildly digging up the soil behind her rosebushes. The dogs, both in a fit of frenzy, sent dirt flying, their butts wiggling in the air as they furiously tore up her yard. She immediately recognized the invading canines. One was the golden retriever from across the street, and the other was the pit bull from up the street. Just minutes earlier she had looked out her bedroom window and peered into the Marlows’ backyard. She had seen the couple from across the street, the man who owned the pit bull, and the woman who lived on the other side of her all over there, and the dogs had been in the Marlows’ backyard.
But the mutts were no longer in the Marlows’ backyard. They were now behind her rosebushes, tearing up the ground. Furious, she wanted to go downstairs and take care of those dogs herself, but she was not foolish enough to take on a pit bull, not even with her baseball bat. Instead of informing the negligent pet owners of what their dogs were doing, she decided the best course of action was to call the police. She would call animal control, but she knew they were not open on Sundays. Perhaps if the police filed a report, animal control would do its job and seize the two menacing dogs.
Chris was just taking the steaks off the grill when Hunny came streaking across the yard, Sadie close behind her. They were no longer playing with a tennis ball, but instead each had their own prize. The dogs, covered in muddy dirt, each carried in their mouths a suspiciously long bone. They were certainly not the type of bones sold at the local pet store.
“What do they have in their mouths?” Heather asked as she stood up and looked to the dogs, who were in the middle of the yard, their tails wagging, looking as if they were prepared to take off running for more play.
“Is that what I think it is?” Danielle said.
“Sadie,” Ian called out. “Sit!”
“Hunny!” Chris yelled, setting the platter of steaks on the picnic table. “Stay!”
Walt walked over to the two dogs with Chris and Ian. The three women trailed after them. Hunny and Sadie, now sitting, dropped the bones on the grass. The dogs looked up to the men, panting, their tongues hanging out of their mouths and tails wagging.
“Where did you get those?” Walt demanded, now standing over the dogs.
“Oh, my god,” Heather groaned. “That looks like part of a human leg.”
All six gathered around the dogs when they heard someone call out, “Hello!” They looked to the sound of the voice. Walking in their direction was Brian Henderson, and close behind him was Pearl Huckabee. They had obviously entered through the front side gate.
“I understand Sadie and Hunny were over in Mrs. Huckabee’s yard,” Brian said when he walked up to the six friends. They continued to stand around the dogs.
“They tore up my yard!” Pearl said. “You need to take those dogs in. They are dangerous! They are a menace.”
Once Brian reached the group, they all took several steps back, giving Brian an opportunity to see what the dogs had brought over.
Brian looked down at the bones; his eyes widened. “Is that what it looks like?”
“I think it may belong to the hand,” Danielle told him. “You might want to check out Pearl’s yard. See if you can find the rest of him.”
“What are you talking about?” Pearl snapped, shoving past Brian. She froze once she saw what they had been looking at. “What’s that?”
“Bones, obviously,” Heather said. “It looks like it’s from a human leg.”
“Where did they come from?” Pearl asked.
“From your backyard,” Heather told her.
“They did not!” Pearl shouted back.
“Mrs. Huckabee, you did tell me you saw the dogs digging in your backyard,” Brian reminded her.
Walt, who had been silently conversing with the dogs, looked to Brian and said, “From what I gather, the dogs slipped out our back gate—we must not have closed it properly.” He glanced over to Danielle and then looked back to Brian. “They got into Pearl’s backyard through her broken gate. And you know dogs and bones—if they find them, they will dig them up. And I suspect there are more where these came from.”
“No!” Pearl shouted. “You are making this up! There are no human bones in my yard!” She turned to Brian and said, “I want you to arrest those dogs, do you hear me? Arrest them right now!”