Hounds Abound (6 page)

“I’m so sorry.” I thought of my own horrible second marriage and how my decision to go into pet rescue had been similar, but she needed to talk, not listen to my tale of redemption.

A server brought our meals—both burgers. As I cut mine in half, Bella continued, “The idea came to me while
watching some TV shows when Miles wasn’t around. A couple of them were Carlie’s, about animal rescue and pet health. I finally dumped Miles more than a year ago. I was smart about it, carefully moving my half of our community property out of our bank and stock accounts first. We’re still arguing about that, of course. He claims I had no right to it. A judge granted our divorce but left property division open. We’re continually fighting about money and our interests in the rental properties we own, too. But that’s not what you wanted to hear. I looked for the right place, bought it in my own name with a down payment from the money—
my
money, which I had rightfully taken from our accounts—then remodeled it as soon as the divorce was final. That was why I only started taking in special-needs pets a few months ago.”

“What a wonderful story,” I told her as she bit into her burger. “The creation of Save’Em, I mean—not the rest. When Carlie interviews you on her show, you’ll have to tell it to the world.”

“Of course.” She grinned. “I want everyone to know and feel happy about what I did—and donate as much money as possible, since what I have won’t last forever.” She seemed to wilt for a moment as her mind again circled her ex. “It may not last long at all if I have to continue to use it to fight Miles off legally. And if he wins our property battle—”

“Don’t even think about that,” I told her. “You’re entitled to what you got and undoubtedly more.”

“You’re a dear, Lauren.” Her pretty blue eyes brightened as she regarded me.

“Of course I am.” I smiled. “Now, let’s just enjoy our dinner and not even think about our ugly exes.”

“You have one, too?”

I still hadn’t intended to mention mine. The thought had just slipped out.

“Yes.” I gave her the short version.

“We’ve got a lot in common, then, Lauren,” Bella said when I finished, her voice soft and emotional. “I think we’re going to be good friends.”

“Me, too. Now let’s stop all the gushy stuff and eat.”

When we were done eating, I drove Bella back to Save’Em and parked at the rear, close to the little house where she’d left Sammy.

“Want to come in and check on Durwood?” she asked.

“I’d love it.”

She unlocked the gate to the wooden fence surrounding the rear of the place and let us both in, then locked it again behind us. The property was lit similarly to HotRescues, with energy-saving halogen lights at safe intervals to illuminate the yard around the cottage, the park area, and the backs of the animal shelter buildings.

“Just a sec. I’ll get Sammy.” Bella went through a similar procedure to unlock the house while I approached the rear of the main building. In a minute, she came back outside with Sammy at her side, unleashed but looking attached to her. “Let’s go see Durwood.”

“Are you the only person here at night?”

“Usually. Some staff members stay till nine most of the
time, and others come in at around six in the morning, so I’m not alone much. And if you’re worried about my being alone in an emergency, they’re all on call.”

“Still …”

We were inside the building by then. It, too, was lit by dim lights. “This way,” Bella said. Sammy stayed beside her.

Most dogs we passed didn’t look up from their comfortable-looking beds on the tile flooring. An occasional muzzle lifted; eyes opened halfway, then closed as the dog went back to sleep. None even barked at Sammy, which showed they were familiar with him.

That demonstrated to me that the dogs had no major fears about where they were. A wonderful testimonial to Save’Em.

We were soon at the isolation ward. Bella told Sammy, “Sit. Stay.” Of course he obeyed. I liked that dog. My obedient Zoey and he would get along well.

Bella and I went inside. Durwood was in an enclosure. Unlike the others, he didn’t stay asleep but stood immediately as we neared him. He didn’t bark but made a quizzical snuffling sound, like, “Did you come to take me out of here?”

“I know it’s too soon to tell,” I said to Bella, “but do you think there’s any chance of his getting adopted? If not, maybe I should take him back and see if I can get anyone interested.”

“We’ll see. You can always retrieve him if you want. But even if he doesn’t find a new home, he’ll be loved here. In fact, once he’s out of isolation, I want to introduce him
to another dachshund who’s one of our favorites here—Ignatz. I think you met him the first day you were here.”

“Of course. He’s adorable.”

“He’s also in need of a pack member. I’ve got Durwood in mind to fill that role, assuming they get along.”

“That’s what I’d hoped!” I said. “And if anyone comes along who’s interested in adopting one—”

“I’ll make it a condition that both are adopted together.”

I gave Bella a quick hug of approval. “Thank you so much! I won’t worry about Durwood, at least for now.”

“Come visit him anytime. In fact, visit him—and me—often.”

We continued walking around the main building. When we looked in on the cats, a couple were on the prowl within their special habitat, but most were asleep, too.

I was finally ready to leave. I still had to go to HotRescues to pick up Zoey on my way home. In fact, if I’d been away for a while I almost always visited my shelter before I could settle down for the night. Micromanaging? I’d been accused of that by my nasty ex and, at the time, had felt hurt. Now I happily admitted to it as one of my special talents.

Bella and Sammy walked out the back gate with me toward my car. It wasn’t alone in the parking lot. Apparently Bella noticed the other vehicle, a black Mercedes sedan, at the same time as me. She dashed toward it, Sammy at her heels. “What the hell are you doing here, Miles?”

The driver’s window rolled down. “Just keeping an eye on my unwanted investment,” he said. “The property is
okay. I’m deciding what the best use for it is, after I get you evicted.”

“I own this property! It’s mine. You can’t have it.”

“You own it only as long as you make payments to the bank. When I get my money back, you’ll lose it.”

I had approached behind Bella. Sammy stood at her side looking highly uneasy, obviously aware of his mistress’s rage.

“You have no business here now,” I said over Bella’s shoulder. “You probably never will. It’s time for you to go.”

“Oh, yes, you’re that woman who runs HotRescues. For the moment. Did you know that Dante DeFrancisco is a friend of mine?”

I wondered how he knew who I was. No matter. The guy was obviously a liar. “I’ll ask him, but even if you know him I doubt that you’re friends. He’s an animal lover. You, apparently, are a creep who likes to make trouble.” I pulled my BlackBerry out of my pocket, where I’d just shoved it. “But I’ve got some friends in the LAPD. Let’s see if the cops are up to an arrest for trespassing this evening.”

“Don’t bother.” Miles’s window rolled back up, but not before he called out, “Like our former governor used to say in the movies, ‘I’ll be back.’”

“The hell of it is,” Bella said as he peeled out of the driveway, “he undoubtedly will be back.”

“This isn’t his first time harassing you at night?”

She shook her head.

I lifted my phone again. “Then I will call the cops. You should at least report this. While we’re waiting, I’ll tell you all about EverySecurity, the company we use at HotRescues. It’s not the best—we’ve had problems with them in
the past—but they’ve improved. They work for Dante and cover most of his HotPets stores. Because they screwed up a while ago, I also have a former private investigator as our security director who supervises them, and she or her staff are around all the time at night. I’d suggest you do the same.”

“I’ll think about it.” Bella’s tone seemed to say that she would drop the whole idea as soon as I left. “But I’ll be fine. As I said, this isn’t the first time. I’m sure he just wants to rattle me so I’ll give in. But that’s not going to happen.”

I tried to stay a little longer, but I did need to leave. Once again, Bella promised she would be fine.

I only hoped she was right.

Bella was okay the next time I talked to her, the following morning.

I was at my breakfast table still in my robe, a cup of coffee in one hand and my BlackBerry in the other. Zoey sat beside me on the floor, hoping for a handout of cereal. “How about a biscuit instead?” I asked her and she wagged her tail as I complied.

No, Miles hadn’t come back, Bella responded to my first, concerned question. She had kept an eye out for him while holding her cell phone until she had gone to bed. She had made sure that Sammy was loose in the house and ready to play watchdog, if necessary. He was good at that.

“But I would love a break, Lauren,” she finished. “Once I’ve got my staff here and busy, would you mind if I visited
HotRescues? I’d enjoy seeing your facility and how you run it.”

“Mind? I’d be delighted!”

I quickly dressed in grubby clothes. “Ready, Zoey?” I asked at our front door, not that there was any question about her eagerness to go on our morning’s practice run. When we finished our course, I went inside and fed my sweet dog, who showed little indication of being out of breath. As Zoey ate, I showered, dressed, and put on a little makeup. Then we headed for HotRescues.

Bev was behind the leopard-print welcome desk. “Nina’s in the back checking things out,” our senior volunteer said. “You’ll like these phone messages.” She handed me some papers on which she had written notes in her neat handwriting. A young couple and a family who had each been here before were coming back to fill out our final adoption form. If all went well, both might even be able to take their new pets home with them today.

“I already met them and liked them,” I told Bev. “Did you schedule their times?”

She had. The couple would arrive around ten that morning and the family about three-thirty, after the kids’ school let out.

I walked around the corner and down the short hallway to my office and left the messages there. “Do you want to come?” I asked Zoey, inviting her, as always, on our initial walk around the shelter facilities for the day. The happy look in her expressive amber eyes gave me the answer I expected. “Let’s go.”

To my delight, when we exited my office Bella was in
the reception area chatting with Bev. She wore jeans and a denim work shirt with the Save’Em logo over her T-shirt.

She looked at me, then downward. “This must be Zoey. What a sweetheart!” She knelt and hugged my dog. If I hadn’t already liked Bella, I would now.

“I’ve heard of Save Them All Sanctuary.” Bev came around the desk to join us. “You’re the person who started it? Lauren said you might be visiting today.” Bev was short and thin, with a hint of a stoop that suggested possible osteoporosis. She wore a yellow HotRescues volunteer knit shirt. She was here often enough to be a staff member. I’d even offered once to hire her, but she had laughed and said she didn’t want to feel obligated to be here—though she was certainly around a lot.

“Yes, I founded Save’Em,” Bella admitted with a shy-looking smile.

“Then I want to shake your hand.” Bev did so, her grin wide and delighted.

“I didn’t think you’d come this early,” I told Bella as I started her tour of HotRescues.

“I needed to get away for a little while,” she said. “But I’ll be fully refreshed when I go back.”

With Zoey at my side, I took her out the door at the building’s rear and into the shelter. Our presence immediately excited a lot of the pups and most started barking—something I did not encourage.

The area looked far different than it had a few months ago, before Dante bought the property next door and expanded our facilities. He’d also had this area remodeled. The cement walkway was still lined with kennels for medium and larger dogs, but much more attractive ones
with wood and glass in addition to the standard chain-link fencing. Similar ones around the corner at the rear weren’t as large and housed small and toy dogs.

The kennels on the new property were much like the ones here had previously been—but newer and updated, made with better materials. Each was still mostly outdoors, with an indoor area at the rear where dogs could veg out or avoid bad weather.

“Hi, Abel,” I crooned to the black Lab mix in the first kennel on the left. He had been brought here a few months ago as an owner relinquishment and remained unadopted. We weren’t sure of his age, but he had a lot of gray around his muzzle.

“Looks like one of our guys,” Bella observed.

“He hasn’t been here long, and I’m hoping to find him a new home—but if that doesn’t work out, I might be in touch about him.” Unless I could find him a loving fosterer. One way or another, he’d remain well cared for.

He behaved well, not barking or jumping like some of the other dogs who’d gotten excited just to see us. Bella and I went inside his enclosure and fussed over him. Zoey waited outside for us, sitting tolerantly.