Chihuahua Confidential (14 page)

Back at the hotel, I took a shower, then slipped into the silver and black lace dress. I felt a little strange in it, like I was an imposter, pretending to be someone rich or famous. I put on the silver sandals and twirled around in front of the mirror. Pepe did his best to give a little wolf whistle, but it came out as “Woohoo!” Pepe can't whistle, and I've never heard him howl either.

Felix was waiting for us down in the lobby when we descended the stairs. He looked magnificent, in a gunmetal-gray jacket over a black T-shirt and black jeans. He gave a wolf whistle. He didn't have any trouble whistling. I'm not sure about howling. Maybe someday I'll find out.

He ushered us into the car he had rented: a silver Toyota Prius. Leave it to Felix to eschew Hollywood glitz for something economical and environmentally friendly. I had a fleeting moment of nostalgia for Ted's sleek black Jaguar, but I had to admit Felix's values were closer to mine. And, of course, he made Pepe sit in the back.

 

 

The party was in full swing when we arrived. This time we were inside the house, in a huge living room, decorated with velour armchairs, velvet sofas, gilded tables, and gold silk drapes framing the windows. A huge chandelier sparkled over a gilt dining room table that was covered with trays of appetizers. In the next room, guests lined up for drinks from two handsome bartenders who worked behind a bar that looked like it came straight from a Paris club.

Rebecca introduced me to Don Hillman, the CEO of the network interested in picking up the show.

“One of our finalists,” Rebecca said. “It was a complete surprise. The poodle was favored to win. But that's what's so delightful about these shows. We got some early audience feedback that they loved the Chihuahua, so we were able to make sure he progressed in the competition.”

I wanted to protest that Pepe and I had won fair and square, despite the obstacles thrown in our path, but I kept my mouth shut. Not Pepe.

“The best dog will always win,” he announced.

“This little guy does have quite a lot of character,” said Mr. Hillman, patting him on the head. “One can almost imagine him announcing that he intends to win the whole thing.” He gave me a kiss on the cheek and patted Pepe on the head again before allowing Rebecca to whisk him away to meet some of the other key players.

As soon as I put Pepe down, he went running over to Caprice and tried to get her attention. This time Caprice, who was sitting on a sofa deep in conversation with Miranda Skarbos and Beverly Holywell, called Jennifer over and handed her Princess so she could put Pepe on her lap instead.

“He reminds me of my Chihuahua,” Caprice said, kissing him on the top of his head. “In fact, he had the same name, Pepe. But my Pepe ran away about a year ago. He was my favorite dog. I still miss him every day.”

“I did not leave you on purpose,” said Pepe, licking her cheek. “Something happened, although I do not remember exactly what. All I remember is darkness and then being in dog jail.”

“Oh!” Miranda cried out. “Can I do a reading for you and let you know what happened to him?”

“That would be wonderful,” said Caprice. “You can't imagine how much it hurts, not knowing.”

“Do you have anything that belonged to Pepe?” Miranda asked. “It should be something he was particularly fond of. An item of that sort gives off the strongest residual vibrations—allows me to make the best connection when trying to channel the dearly departed.”

“Humph,” said Pepe. “I do not mind the ‘dearly' reference, but ‘departed' I am not!”

“I don't know,” said Caprice. “I was so crushed when he was gone that I got rid of everything that was his. I just couldn't bear being reminded of him. He was so special to me.”

“I am still special,” said Pepe. “Everybody says so.”

“Wait,” Caprice continued. “There is Pepe's old Squeaky.”

“My Squeaky!”

“He dearly loved his Squeaky—it's a little stuffed bear that squeaks when you squeeze it. I keep it on a shelf in my bedroom by his photo. Just a minute—I'll get it for you.”

Caprice left the room, and Pepe ran over to the small settee that Felix and I were sharing by the fireplace.

“My Squeaky!” he cried once more. “Oh, Geri, I am so excited to see my Squeaky again.”

“He's pretty excited, isn't he?” said Felix.

I leaned down toward my dog, who was virtually turning cartwheels at my feet.

“Pepe, you never told me you liked squeaky toys. I could've gotten you one.”

“
Gracias,
but there has been only
uno
Squeaky for me, Geri,” he said. “Now and forever.”

“Oh.”

Caprice came back in holding a small, rather scruffy-looking brown bear. “Here it is,” she said, handing it to Miranda.

Pepe dashed over just as Miranda took it from Caprice. “Mine! Mine! Mine!” he yelled, leaping up and clamping his teeth onto one end of it. He then began a tug-of-war with Miranda, a struggle punctuated with squeaks.

“Oh my,” Miranda said as Pepe pulled it toward him and she pulled back on it.
Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!
went the bear.

“Pepe!” I scolded.

“No, that's OK,” Miranda told me as she continued her tug-of-war with Pepe. “I feel very strong vibrations from this toy. They are incredibly strong—some of the most intense I have ever felt!”

“They should be,” said Pepe, but he lost his grip on the bear when he spoke. He looked up at it sadly. Miranda was placing it against the middle of her forehead.

“
¡Ay, caramba!
” Miranda exclaimed when it touched her. She pulled it away as if it were red-hot and held it before her eyes. “How odd! I wonder why I said that?”

I could have told her that Pepe was able to speak Spanish. But wouldn't that mean that my Pepe was really Caprice's Pepe? I didn't want to believe that.

“Yes,” said Miranda. She held the toy bear up almost prayerfully. “I need quiet, please. Total silence.”

Everyone in the room became quiet. All except Pepe, that is, who kept jumping up and down in front of Miranda. “Give me back my Squeaky!” he said over and over again. “I want my Squeaky!”

I went over and grabbed him.

“But I want—”

“Shhh,” I told him. “She's trying to channel you.”

“That is
loco,
” he said. “I am right here.”

“Ooooooooh,” Miranda moaned, her eyes closed, her tone somewhere between pain and pleasure. “The small white dog is near . . .”

“Is that not what I just said?” Pepe told me.

Caprice sat down, her eyes on Miranda, and Princess jumped up into her lap.

“Yessssss,” said Miranda, almost swooning in her chair. Then she sat up bolt straight and quivered slightly as she spoke. “I feel his presence. He is with us.”

“Of course I am. I'm right here in the room!” Pepe said.

“He is speaking to me. He is giving me a message to give to you, Caprice.”

“What a fraud,” said Pepe. “Nobody but you can hear me speak, Geri.”

Miranda swayed back and forth. “Your Pepe is beyond the Rainbow Bridge, Caprice,” she said.

“What Rainbow Bridge?” asked Pepe. “Where is this bridge? I don't remember crossing a bridge.”

“Oh!” gasped Caprice. She clutched Princess close.

“Yes, I am sorry to say he has crossed over,” said Miranda.

“What does that mean?” asked Pepe. “What did I cross?”

“But he wants you to know that he loved you very much.”

“Of course I love her!” said Pepe. “Why is she talking about me in the past tense?”

“Hush!” I said. “She is not talking about you. She is talking about a dog that died.”

That shut him up. He sat down and studied Caprice with a curious look on his face.

“Oh, my Pepe,” said Caprice. Tears began to fall from her eyes. “How did it happen?”

Miranda closed her eyes and was quiet again, lifting her head and moving it from side to side as if trying to listen to whispers.

“He says it was an accident. An auto accident.”

There was a gasp, and I saw Jennifer put her hand to her mouth.

“It happened right in front of the house. He ran out into the street. He was hit by a car.”

“Oh, my poor darling!” cried Caprice. She glanced over her shoulder at Jennifer. “You knew about this?”

Jennifer's eyes went wide. “We didn't want to upset you.”

“It was painless,” Miranda said quickly. “He wants you to know he didn't suffer. His last thought was of you.”

Caprice cried out. I had not really expected such deep feeling from her. But she seemed to be in pain.

“She is telling lies, Geri,” said Pepe. “Tell her it is not true. I am right here.”

“I can't, Pepe,” I said.

“Well, if you won't, I will!” He trotted over to Caprice and pawed at her legs. She patted him on the head while she watched Miranda, stricken.

“I am alive! I am right here!” said Pepe.

I don't know who was more pathetic. Pepe, so frantic to get her attention, or Caprice, with tears running down her cheeks, leaving behind the tracks of her mascara.

“He says his life with you was very happy. You made him very happy.”

“Can you give him a message from me?” Caprice asked.

Miranda nodded.

“Tell him I loved him more than any dog I have ever owned,” Caprice said. Pepe, at her feet, whimpered. Princess, in her lap, whined.

“Oh, and he has another message for you,” said Miranda, her head cocked to one side. “Do you believe in reincarnation?”

“I don't know,” said Caprice. “Maybe.”

“Well, Pepe says that he loved you so much that he arranged to come back to you in the form of Princess.”

“Could it be?” said Caprice, holding up Princess and shaking her to and fro. “Are you my Pepe?”

“Ridiculous!” snapped Pepe. “Of course she is not. I am right here.”

“He will always be with you. He will never leave you,” Miranda said.

“I will call you my Princess Pepe from now on,” said Caprice, showering the Papillon with kisses.

“
¡Ay caramba!
” said Pepe. “How could she confuse that prissy dog with me? I would never come back as a Papillon.”

“Don't you get it, Pepe?” I asked. I was about to explain to him that this proved he was not really Caprice's dog. But then I realized how this would make him feel. Did I have to spoil his illusions? He liked to believe he had once lived with a movie star.

Felix took me back to the hotel so I could leave Pepe in the room while we went out to dinner. I figured he was feeling sad, and I really didn't want to leave him. But I didn't want to miss my chance for a romantic date with Felix either.

“I'll leave the computer on for you,” I said, setting up my laptop.

I took the opportunity to freshen up and redo my makeup. Pepe sat on the bed watching me as I reapplied my lipstick.

“Where are you going to dinner, Geri?” he asked. “Spago? Nate 'n Al's?”

“I don't know,” I said. “Felix made the reservations. But you're not going with us.”

Pepe hung his little head. He tipped his head to one side and stared at me out of those big brown eyes. “But I am your partner.” He is so good at looking sad. Perhaps he learned that from the telenovellas he watched.

“True,” I said. “But it is illegal for a dog to be inside an establishment where food is served.”

“An unenlightened society!” he declared. “In France—”

“I know,” I said. I had heard his stories before about going to France, but now I didn't believe them. He was my dog. He had never been to France with Caprice. And maybe someday he would accept that reality.

“Look,” I said, kissing him on the top of his velvety head. “I'll bring you back something in a doggy bag. How's that?”

“Humph!” Pepe could be quite expressive in his disdain. He turned his head to the side and laid it on the bedspread. “Doggy bags are for mere
perros
.”

 

 

Felix had chosen a restaurant that was situated in a house in one of the canyons with a terrace that looked out over the Pacific Ocean, a vast darkness now that the sun had set. The patio was lighted with orange and red and pink lanterns. Candles flickered in orange glass holders on the tables. The scent of sagebrush and the briny smell of the ocean mingled in the air. The effect was magical.

Felix greeted the owner, a glamorous-looking blonde, with a hug and two kisses. I recognized her as an actress I had seen in several of my favorite TV dramas. According to Felix, he had worked with her on a movie. She introduced us to the chef, a shy Frenchman who was also her husband, and sent a complimentary bottle of champagne to our table.

“Have you seen your family yet?” I asked Felix after we were seated. I knew he had grown up in L.A. and had moved to Seattle only within the past year.

“No, it's been such a whirlwind since I got here,” said Felix. “But I was planning to stay over an extra day after the filming is over and see them. I'd love for you to meet them.”

Wow! Was this moving too fast? But then I had taken him to dinner at my sister's house on our first official date. “Sure,” I said. “I'll have to check with Rebecca. She flew us down here, and I'm not sure what arrangements she made to get us back to Seattle.”

“How is she doing?” Felix asked as the waiter brought us a plate of appetizers: celery rémoulade for me and some seared scallops for Felix. He knew that Rebecca's husband had only recently passed away.

“She seems to deal with grief by staying busy,” I said. “She's at the rehearsal hall before we get there. She spends all afternoon at the soundstage, overseeing every little detail. She's the MC during the filming. And at night she does meetings, trying to come up with a new twist that will help keep the show interesting.”

“Like bringing me down,” said Felix.

“Yes, I guess that's a common trope in reality TV shows,” I said. “I hope it wasn't too awkward.” I still didn't know if he had heard me call him Ted.

“What was she doing hiring an animal activist to be a choreographer?” he asked after polishing off one of his scallops, followed by a big sigh. He offered me the other one on the tip of his fork, but I waved it away. I don't eat shellfish. I did offer him a bite of my celery rémoulade, which was silky and flavorful. It was delicious with the champagne.

“I don't think she knew he was an animal activist at first,” I said, casting back in my mind for clues. “But in the end she must have known.” I thought of that conference I had interrupted in her living room.

Felix shook his head. “So he was pretending to be a choreographer?”

I felt called upon to defend Ted. “He had been a dance instructor at one time. We got some of our highest scores on the dances he choreographed.”

“Yes, but the whole invisible partner thing was Rebecca's idea,” Felix said.

“It was?” I was shocked.

“Yes, she told me about it when she was prepping me to go into the room,” Felix said.

That was disappointing. And here I thought it was Ted who was so observant about my longing for a partner. Had he been instructed by Rebecca to flirt with me just for the cameras? It was a distinct possibility.

The waiter appeared with the bottle of wine, a Pinot Noir that Felix had chosen to go with both our meals. He had ordered the short ribs served on polenta with a tomato confit and pea shoots, while I was having cod, lightly baked and served with figs, artichokes, and fennel.

For a while we were both too busy tasting all the various elements on our plates and trying them out with sips of the wine. Then he asked me about the last few days. And I started talking. I told him about the package for Jimmy G and how Jimmy G had come down from Seattle to try to find it. I told him about how Pepe and I had discovered the show was rigged. I described Pepe's concern about Siren Song.

“Did you ever get the results of that test on Siren Song?” I asked as the waiter cleared our plates.

“Oh, that's right,” Felix said. “Alice left me a voice mail earlier. I should probably call her back.” He got up and excused himself. He came back at the same time as the dessert, but nothing could sweeten the sour look on his face.

“What's wrong?'

“Alice has been at the hospital with Ted. He recovered enough so they could cart him off to jail. Alice is pretty upset. She says anyone who loves animals as much as he does could not kill a human being.”

“That makes some kind of sense,” I said. “But his love for animals seemed so excessive that maybe he could harm a human if he thought that person was going to harm an animal.”

“Is that true for any of the people who died?”

“I don't think Nigel had anything to do with animals, except for his dog being missing. And Jake was there to protect the animals on the set. But Ted hated him because he said he didn't do enough.”

“There's been tension between PETA and the Humane Society. PETA doesn't think the Humane Society does enough, while the Humane Society thinks the PETA folks are too radical.”

“Still, it's hard to see how that would turn into murder.”

We were both silent for several minutes. Felix stared down at his gelato. I toyed with my panna cotta. I thought I knew what was wrong. Maybe Felix still had feelings for Alice. Maybe that was why he had rushed down to Los Angeles when Rebecca invited him to the show. And now it was obvious to him she was developing feelings for Ted.

“So what's bothering you?” I finally asked.

“Geri, I have some bad news,” he said.

My stomach turned. Which was not so good considering all the delicious food I had just eaten.

“What is it? Is it about Siren Song?”

“That's part of it. Alice got back the results of the drug test she did. Siren Song tested positive for steroids.”

“That would explain why she was acting so aggressively and why she smelled so different to Pepe.” I took a bite of my panna cotta. Felix did not pick up his own fork.

“There's more, isn't there?” I asked.

“I don't know how to tell you this.” His eyes were dark. With pity? With compassion?

“What?”

“It's Pepe.”

“What about him?”

“Alice got results from the registry she checked. Pepe is registered.”

“How can that be? You said he wasn't registered.”

“I'm sorry, Geri. There are four different registries. I checked three of them. Alice checked the other one.” Felix reached across the table and took my hands in his. “Pepe belongs to Caprice Kennedy.”

I stared at Felix and shook my head. “No, it can't be.”

“I'm sorry, Geri. I know how hard this must be for you. You love him so.”

“Then how could he have ended up in a shelter? Wouldn't they have checked him for a chip?” I was desperately seeking a way out of the nightmare.

“Sometimes they miss these things. Or maybe they checked the wrong registry. Like I did.”

I stared at him, my mind working frantically. Was there any way out? Maybe I didn't have to tell Caprice. Maybe I didn't have to tell Pepe. Only Felix would know. Actually I'd have to break up with Felix because I couldn't bear to be around him. I couldn't live with the knowledge that I had misappropriated a dog. But I couldn't bear the thought of living without Pepe either.