Page 3 of Trap ’N’ Trace

The puppy, which Dayne guessed was about nine weeks old, wriggled like a worm on a hook. With long, graceful fingers she stroked the dog’s belly, calming him. Short nails, no polish, and no rings.

“Did you have an appointment with Rebecca Garman?” Paulson’s pen poised over his pad.

“No, I—” She stared at Dayne. “I know you. Don’t I?” The melodic timbre of her voice lowered. No doubt she was recalling their one and only meeting, which had been about as pleasant as a bee sting.

“We’ve met,” Dayne admitted. “At the Canine Haven about a month ago.”

“Oh.” Her eyes widened, giving him an even clearer glimpse of the dark black rings surrounding the light purple irises. “Oh. I remember now. You’re friends with Jesse, Eric, and Tess.” Pink lips compressed, and her eyes narrowed a fraction. “You told me not to get my diamonds dirty.”

Yep, I did. The snarky comment had flown from his lips before he could stop them, but he’d felt like a dick about it afterward. “That was me.”

“Well, Mister Just Dayne,” she said, recalling the way she’d addressed him that day, “how…nice to see you again.”

No missing the sarcasm there. Not that he didn’t deserve it. “Nice seeing you again, too.” He gave her a stiff, subtle bow. He was, after all, a civil servant. Granted, one armed with a big-ass Glock and a partner with teeth sharp enough to bite through sheet metal.

“Miss Vandenburg,” Paulson continued, “if you didn’t have an appointment with Rebecca Garman, why were you here?”

“To return Angus.”

Paulson’s brows met. “Who’s Angus?”

“The puppy.” She nodded to the squirming ball of fluff on her lap. “One of the women who volunteers at the Canine Haven, Julia Hernandez, lives at the end of this street. Last night, Julia found Angus wandering through the neighborhood. She tried calling the number on the tag, but no one answered. She had to catch a flight to Florida with her family, so I agreed to care for Angus at the Haven until I could reach his owner.”

Paulson pointed his pen in the general direction of Piermont. “Are you talking about that dog pound on Tweed Boulevard?”

“It’s a rescue shelter,” she corrected. “We take in dogs and find good homes for them or train them to be service animals for the community.”

“I see.” Paulson scribbled on his pad. “I take it the number on the dog tag came back to Garman Investigations at this address?”

Katrina nodded. “I did a search and the number popped right up. I tried calling last night and then again, this morning. No one answered, and I had errands to run in the area, so I swung by.”

Errands? Wouldn’t someone else do those for her?

“The front door was unlocked, and I went in,” she continued. “That’s when I”—she swallowed, drawing attention to the graceful column of her throat—“found the body.”

Not many people discovered a dead body, let alone one that had been so heinously ravaged. He expected the waterworks to turn on any second, but she surprised him by keeping her shit together. She hugged Angus, as if the puppy could magically erase the ugliness of what she’d seen.

Katrina reached down by her feet and grabbed a chewed up rubber toy that looked like a tiny orange dumbbell covered with dark nubby bumps. “You’re teething, aren’t you?” She held the toy in front of Angus’s muzzle. “Here you go, sweetie.”

Angus bit down and the toy made soft whistling sounds.

“Was anyone else inside the house when you got here?” Paulson asked.

Katrina shook her head, and another wisp of thick, chestnut-brown hair escaped her ponytail, cradling her almond-shaped face. “No.”

“Did you touch anything or move anything?”

“No.”

“What did you do after you found the body?”

“I ran outside to my car and called 911.”

Paulson made a few more notes then reached into his suit jacket pocket and handed her a business card. “I think that’s it for now. I’ll call if I have any more questions.”

“Actually,” Dayne interjected as Katrina accepted the card, “I have a few more questions.”

Beside him, Paulson exhaled an impatient groan that Dayne ignored. It was obvious the man wanted to get the hell out of there, and Dayne couldn’t figure out why.