Page 28

Mrs. Dodd waved a monogrammed kerchief at him. “Come tell me what you find.”

Rowdy followed the housekeeper through the pristine house. It didn’t even look like anyone lived here. If he hadn’t seen Mrs. Dodd’s sitting room, he would have thought the house was unoccupied. Could Cookie be trapped in one of the unused rooms?

“You don’t seem to agree with Mrs. Dodd’s version of events,” he murmured to the housekeeper.

Linda slowed, then stopped. They were standing in an expansive kitchen now, and a heavy-set woman standing at the stove looked up. Linda held up a hand in acknowledgement but turned to face him. “Mrs. Dodd loves that little dog, but Cookie can be an obnoxious twit.”

The woman at the stove snickered in agreement but didn’t interrupt.

“He was barking in the back corner because he always barks at squirrels, chipmunks, it might have been a leaf. Who knows? Cookie has been known to bark at his own farts. It just so happened that that day, the fire jumped. And Mrs. Dodd attributed all the noise he was making to trying to save our lives. Cookie could give a damn about us.”

Rowdy fought not to laugh. The woman at the stove snickered again, nodding her head. Linda just looked put out from dealing with it all.

Was she frustrated enough to do something to the dog?

“Was the dog microchipped?”

“Yes,” Linda sighed. “Annabelle, Mrs. Dodd’s assistant, has been calling vets and shelters for the past two days looking for him, but no luck.”

Rowdy filed the information away, then made a motion, waving her on.

Rowdy was escorted out into the backyard. Linda had explained that it wasn’t unusual to let the dog out for several minutes while she attended to something else. In other words, she would dump the dog and forget him for a while.

“And when was the last time you saw him?”

“It was his last trip out. So, about ten at night three nights ago. I usually let him in Mrs. Dodd’s bedroom before I go to bed.”

“Okay. You can go back in,” Rowdy told her. “I’m going to look around.”

Without a word, the housekeeper disappeared back into the kitchen.

Rowdy looked around the space. It was a broad back yard, with several rocky landscaping displays. Snow hid in the crevices, now. Plenty of places for squirrels to play and a dog to chase them. A four-foot-tall wooden fence surrounded the yard, with a woven wire lining inside to keep the dog in.

He hiked the length of the fence, looking for holes under the boards, but he didn’t find any. At the back fence, there was a branch leaning over one corner, but there was no way a dog could climb it to get out. By the time he circled all the way around, his leg was hurting from the sloping, slippery terrain, but he hadn’t found anywhere for Cookie to escape.

Rowdy glanced over the fence. There was a man standing on the back patio of the house next door, smoking a cigarette. Rowdy gave him a wave and crossed to lean against the fence. “Any chance you’ve seen a lost dog?” he called out.

The man shook his head and dropped the cigarette to the ground. “You mean Cookie? No, I haven’t seen the little bastard for a while. It’s been exceptionally quiet and peaceful back here the past couple of days.”

“Not part of the Cookie appreciation club, hm?”

The man left the patio and crossed the grass, stopping a few feet away. He leaned against the opposite side of the fence and pulled his jacket tighter around himself. Rowdy reached out a hand. “Rowdy West, Lost and Found Investigative Service.”

The man looked at him incredulously for several long seconds before reaching out his own hand. “Tom King. She hired a detective to find that damn dog?”

Rowdy nodded. “He’s quite the hero, so she wants him found.”

Tom shook his head, snorting. “The hero, right…”

“You don’t agree?”

“No, I don’t agree,” Tom laughed. “That fire was coming for a while. They had warned us we might have to evacuate. Cookie was just out there barking his fool head off like he always did, and Mrs. Dodd connected two very unconnected things. I love the old bat. We’ve been neighbors for years. But she has a total blind spot when it comes to that dog. You should have seen the party she threw for the hero, though. It was worth it just to attend. Biggest thing that’s happened around here for a long time. She raised money for the local animal shelter.”

Rowdy nodded, filing away the information. “Do you have cameras, or motion detectors, Mr. King?”

The man shook his head. “Down at the gate, but not up here.” He motioned toward the back yard. “We have enough wildlife that the things would be going off all the time.”

Probably true. “Thank you for your time, Mr. King. If you see the dog, maybe you can let us know.”