Chihuahua of the Baskervilles (27 page)

“Lila!” Angus went into the hall and saw her go down the stairs, the leash slithering behind.

Ivan looked out of his room. “What is happening?”

“Bob found Lila wandering in the street with her leash on, and I can’t find Charlotte. She’s not in her room.”

Michael came out of the parlor, followed by Suki. “That’s not good,” Michael said.

“Charlotte!” Ivan called. “Where are you?” He took a few steps down the hall and opened Cheri’s door. “No one here.”

“That’s weird,” Michael said. “Jay was supposed to have brought Cheri home from the coffin race. She was drunk.”

Ivan took a cell phone out of his pocket, dialed, and listened for a few moments. “Charlotte’s phone went to voice mail.” Punching a number, he said, “I will call Ellen. Go look in the workshop.”

Angus and the others went quickly downstairs, where Lila pawed at the front door, panting and wide-eyed.

“Should we take her with us?” Michael asked.

Angus picked up the end of the leash. “I think so.”

They went down the hall and through the kitchen, to the back door. As soon as they opened it, Lila lunged this way and that, barking.

“I’d let her go, but I don’t want her to run into the road,” Angus said, as they walked through the backyard. He opened the workshop door.

Ellen stood inside with her cell phone to her ear, looking concerned. She held up a finger as they came in, and spoke into the phone. “I haven’t seen Charlotte or Cheri since I got back.”

Lila strained toward Ellen and gave a bark.

“Hush.” Angus picked up the trembling dog.

Ellen cupped a hand over her non-phone ear. “They just walked in, Ivan. I’ll call Cheri and meet you at the front of the house.” She pressed a few buttons and waited. “Cheri, we’re looking for Charlotte. It’s urgent. Call me.” She snapped the phone closed. “Cheri’s phone went straight to voice mail. Jay could have taken her to his mom’s house, but where on earth could Charlotte be?” She headed toward the door.

They followed her to the front of the house, where Ivan stood on the sidewalk, peering down both sides of the street. As they approached, he put his cupped hands to his mouth and shouted, “Charlotte!”

“Did you check Thomas’s room?” Ellen asked him. “You don’t suppose Charlotte forgot to take her new medicine and is lying unconscious somewhere?”

“I looked in Thomas’s room.” Ivan’s mouth turned down, deepening the furrows on either side. “She is not anywhere.”

“Charlotte!” Ellen yelled.

Bob came out of his garage, maneuvering past his truck, which was backed up to the entrance with the tailgate down. “Did you find her?”

“No!” Ellen chewed her lip. To Angus she said, “Should we call the police?”

“I think so. They could at least keep an eye out.”

Bob walked over and joined them. “Do you want me to help look? I’m about to take this coffin back to the guy I borrowed it from. Let me load it up and I’ll drive around Manitou first. Maybe I’ll see Charlotte.”

“Thanks, Bob,” Ellen said. “Keep your eyes open for Cheri, too.”

“You want help with the coffin?” Michael asked Bob.

“That’s okay. I already unfastened it from the frame. It slides right off and into the truck.” He scratched his head. “I’m wondering if Lila pulled loose from Charlotte at the race, and Charlotte is looking for her there. You might want to try that.” He walked back to his garage.

Ellen shook her head. “Charlotte wouldn’t take Lila to the race. There’s too much danger of her getting stepped on.”

“I will look anyway,” Ivan said, already turning toward the street.

“Wait a minute.” Ellen grabbed his arm. “We need to be organized about this.” She yelled over to Bob, who had pulled the coffin frame up to the back of his truck. “Bob, will you look on Ruxton Avenue when you go? Drive up the hill.”

He raised a hand. “Got it!”

Ellen turned back to the rest of them. “Ivan, you go back to the race and ask the officials if they’ve seen Charlotte.”

Michael took out his phone. “We should all exchange numbers.”

Suddenly, a faint wail floated through the air. Lila stiffened in Angus’s arms, then pointed her nose at the sky and howled.

Next door, Bob stopped pushing, the coffin halfway in the truck. “Petey’s ghost!”

“It must mean Charlotte is dead,” Ivan said grimly.

“Oh, God.” Ellen put a hand to her mouth.

The faint, wailing howl came again. Lila barked and struggled in Angus’s hold.

“Ow!” he said, as her hind claws raked his arms. He put her down, where she strained toward the house next door. “Let’s see where she goes.” He walked, letting the frantic dog lead.

The others followed, crossing the strip of lawn between the Baskerville house and Bob’s driveway.

“Sounds like it might have come from around back,” Bob said, still struggling under the back end of the coffin. He shoved it another foot into the truck bed, but the iron frame rolled out from under the tail end. He staggered under the coffin’s weight as it threatened to slide onto the ground.

Michael darted forward and helped push it the rest of the way into the truck. “Good thing you had the lid strapped on.”

“Yeah. Thanks,” Bob said. He pointed toward the rear of the Baskerville house. “I’m pretty sure the howl came from the workshop.”

Angus stared at Lila, who stood on her hind legs and lunged toward the truck. “I don’t think it did. In fact, I don’t think it was Petey at all.” He handed Lila’s leash to Ellen and shoved Bob out of the way. “We need to get that coffin open.
Now.
”

Ivan put a hand on the side of the truck bed and vaulted into the back.

“Hey!” Bob said. “I just got it in there!” He grabbed at Michael’s ankle as Michael clambered over the open tailgate.

Angus grabbed Bob’s arm and pulled him back.

Ivan pried at the clip on one of the straps. “How does it open?”

Suki climbed into the truck bed. “Let me.” She got her fingertips under the buckle and loosened it as Michael pulled his strap free. “Got it.”

They lifted the lid and shoved it to one side, Ivan scrambling to get out of the way.

“Oh, Jesus,” Michael said.

Charlotte Baskerville lay motionless inside the coffin, her hands, like frozen claws, clutching a folded blanket that lay half over her face. Her eyes were closed, and pink suffused her skin.

Michael pulled the blanket off and threw it aside. A muscle twitched slightly in Charlotte’s cheek.

“She’s alive!” Ivan said.

“Is it Charlotte? I had no idea she was in there, I swear!” Bob said.

Suki grabbed one of Charlotte’s arms. “Let’s get her out of there. She needs air.”

As Suki, Michael, and Ivan lifted Charlotte from the coffin, Jay’s Ford Explorer pulled up.

Jay got out of the car and ran over as they carried Charlotte to the lawn. “Oh, my God, what happened to her?”

The Explorer’s passenger door opened. Cheri slid bonelessly out, but managed to stay upright by falling against the car. “Jay!” she squalled. Her face and hair were clean, but she still wore the white Emma gown.

Jay ran back to her as the others laid Charlotte on the grass and knelt beside her.

Michael tilted Charlotte’s head back and started artificial respiration.

“Why is she pink?” Ivan asked.

“Carbon dioxide poisoning,” Suki said. “She must have run out of air.”

“I’ve called an ambulance,” Ellen said. She looked at Bob, still in Angus’s grip. “And the police.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Bob said. “She must have gotten in there herself, or someone put her there!”

“Grandma?” Cheri pulled away from Jay and stumbled to her grandmother, landing on her knees by Charlotte’s side.

Charlotte’s rib cage lifted, and they heard a slight breath pass through her slack mouth.

“Good!” Suki said. “You can stop, Michael.” She raised and lowered Charlotte’s arms a few times, until her breathing deepened and became more regular. The pink color faded from her skin.

Cheri took her grandmother’s hand. Ellen came over, still holding Lila’s leash. The little dog licked Charlotte’s face.

Charlotte’s eyelids fluttered, then opened.

Ellen picked Lila up. “Good girl,” she whispered. To Charlotte she said, “The ambulance is on its way.”

Charlotte nodded very slightly before she looked away from Ellen and found Cheri. She frowned slightly before her gaze passed to Ivan, then Jay, and finally to Bob Hume.

“You,”
she said, her voice thready. “You tried to kill me.”

Cheri squinted up at Bob. “You tried to kill my grandma?”

“I didn’t! She’s out of her mind!” Bob struggled with Angus briefly, but Ivan got up and grabbed his other arm.

Charlotte glared at Bob. “I came back from the race and took Lila out to pee, then decided to go over to Bob’s and read him the riot act for giving liquor to Cheri.” She looked around at the others. “When I turned to leave, he held something over my face until I blacked out.” She shuddered. “I woke up in the dark and screamed, but I couldn’t get enough air to make it very loud.”

“We heard you and thought it was Petey’s ghost,” Angus said.

Charlotte nodded. “I could feel the air running out, and then I passed out again. I thought that was it for me.”

Cheri let go of Charlotte’s hand and struggled upright, where she glared at Bob. “You tried to kill my grandma! Why would you do that?”

Bob’s wild-eyed expression became pleading. “Because she’s not your grandma.”

Cheri shook her head in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Cheri, I had an affair with your mother before you were born.” He straightened. “Randolph Baskerville wasn’t your father. I am.”

“No, you’re not.” Angus and Ivan said it together.

Angus looked at Ivan, who looked away.

“What do you mean, I’m not Cheri’s father?” Bob asked.

“Thomas suspected his daughter-in-law was having an affair,” Angus said. “So he got Randolph to have a paternity test done. The results showed that Randolph was definitely Cheri’s father.”

“That can’t be right.” Bob twisted his neck to look at Cheri. “Betsy told me she hadn’t had sex with her husband for months!”

“But she didn’t leave him,” Suki said. “Instead, she called it quits with you.”

“Well, yes,” Bob admitted. “We’d been seeing each other for a few weeks when she said she wanted to make things work with Randolph.” He swallowed. “Something about family and responsibility.”

Suki smiled grimly. “She lied to you about not having sex with her husband. She must have found out she was pregnant, and further along than a few weeks.”

Bob sagged against the arms that held him. “Oh, shit.”

Cheri shook her head. “I still don’t understand. Even if you thought I was your daughter, why did you want to kill Grandma?”

Bob looked at the ground. “You were always talking about how you’d get your life on track if you could just get away from your family. I thought if Charlotte died and left you her money, you’d be free. Then I’d tell you I was your dad, and we could make Petey’s Pride dog food a family business.”

Charlotte bent her legs to one side and propped herself up with one arm. “Did you put the spider in the coffin, Bob?”

He nodded slowly. “Cheri told me you were deathly afraid of them. We used to talk for hours.”

“Because you gave me schnapps!” Cheri said.

He lifted one shoulder. “I didn’t think it would hurt in the long run. Neither Betsy’s family nor mine has a history of alcoholism.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Hoo, boy.”

“So you killed Thomas, too?” Ellen asked.

“Oh, no, you can’t blame everything on me.” Bob straightened a little. “I had nothing to do with anything before the spider.”

The sound of sirens had been growing more audible in the distance. Now an ambulance rounded the corner of Manitou Avenue and screamed down Ruxton, followed closely by a police car. Lila barked frantically, and Bob began to struggle again.

Ivan grabbed Bob’s face, a snarling growl rising in his throat.

Bob whimpered as Ivan’s thumb dug into the side of his jaw.

“I always knew you were a
pig,
” Ivan said. “Be glad you are going to jail. You will be safer there.” He released Bob with a contemptuous jerk of his hand.

The ambulance and squad car pulled up to the curb, sirens cutting off with a final
whoop
. Paramedics ran across Charlotte’s lawn toward them, Officer Deloit and her partner following close behind.

Charlotte pointed to Bob. “This man tried to suffocate me. He almost succeeded.”

“Oxygen,” one of the paramedics said to the other, and they trotted back to the ambulance.

Charlotte turned her attention to the police. “Also, he confessed, and everyone here heard it.”

Officer Deloit unclipped her handcuffs from her belt. “Gotta love that.”

Twenty-three

Hours later, when Charlotte had been declared recovered, the police had taken statements, and Bob Hume, weeping, had been taken off to jail, the
Tripping
crew gathered in the kitchen of the Baskerville house with Charlotte, Ellen, Ivan, Cheri, and Jay.

The sun had dropped below the edge of the canyon. Ellen switched on the overhead lamp. Warm light displaced the cool autumn atmosphere, casting everything outside the windows into darkness.

Charlotte went to the counter for coffee. Lila ran over to where her mistress stood and put her forepaws against Charlotte’s leg as she filled a mug.

Charlotte looked down at the little dog. “I think you deserve a treat.” She got a bone-shaped dog cookie from a jar shaped like a Chihuahua.

Lila took the cookie and crept under the table to crunch it.

Charlotte sat down between Cheri and Jay and took a sip of coffee, then looked at the mug she held in both hands. It had a photo of a white Chihuahua on it. “I guess Petey really did come back.”

Jay took a deep breath. “Cheri and I rigged the ghost.”

“Jay!” Cheri shoved his shoulder.

“I can’t keep it a secret anymore, Cheri. It’s killing me.” He looked down the table at Charlotte. “We didn’t mean for Thomas to get hit. That was an accident, I swear.”