Lady Vanishes (20 page)

I decided to take Lady back to Harbor View early, while I still could. With Venus in the hospital, I might not be welcome there once Samuel was released. Unless, of course, he decided to keep mum about the whole incident, saving my face along with his own.

I took the dogs across West Street to give them a good walk along the river, picking at all the loose threads of the case as I headed uptown, Venus’s necklace hanging around my neck like a stone, reminding me that I didn’t know who tore it off her and why. Nor did I know how David got it, how Jackson got the bookend and why he had buried it, nor what those arguments were about on the last day of Harry’s life. I was about to make the list of what I didn’t know longer than the Saint Patrick’s Day parade when I saw something that momentarily stopped my ruminating.

Someone skating toward me was waving. Since I didn’t recognize him, I turned around. There behind me was
someone saluting. A second later, I began to laugh at the absurdity of what I thought. The person was waving back, his hand passing in and out of the position it would be in were he shading his eyes from the sun. Only he was facing north.

Harry had been facing south. He could have been shading his eyes. He also could have been waving at his killer. Why not? Wasn’t it someone he knew? And then, as the bike got closer, with no signs of slowing down, his hand probably froze, so that someone glancing out the window could think he was saluting. Or shading his eyes.

How easy it is to misinterpret what we see.

The skaters met and now both headed north. I followed behind them, stopping to let the dogs sniff and explore or stop and play-bow to each other, untwisting the leashes as the dogs continually changed places, the dog on the left having to see what was on the right side, the dog on the right needing to check out the left.

Instead of crossing the highway at Eleventh Street, the most direct route to Harbor View, I kept going. I wasn’t in any rush. Samuel wasn’t getting sprung for hours, and everyone else would probably be at the lawyer’s office, trying to figure out what might be involved in overturning Harry’s will, the lawyer shaking his head, telling them the rest of the bad news, that the will was airtight because Harry could leave whatever he wanted to his wife.

When I got to Twelfth Street, across from Harbor View, everything changed again. Now I had something else to think about, seeing how lonely the old seaman’s hotel looked, the only occupied building on the block. In fact, in no time, it would be the only building standing on the block. That very morning, while I was taking a shower and feeding the dogs, a temporary wooden barrier had been set up
around the aqua bar, and the wreckers were there, taking it down.

I looked at Lady, who looked back at me, one eye showing, the other hidden by her dreadlocks, her mouth open, her small pink tongue out, her head cocked, as if to ask me what I wanted.

Maybe her disappearance wasn’t how it all began.

Since I didn’t have a pen and paper with me, I took out my cell phone and called home, waiting for the answering machine to pick up, then reading into the mouthpiece the information from the sign on the wooden barrier, including the phone number. Instead of taking Lady back to Harbor View, I moved as fast as I could, first going back to the hospital to talk to Venus, then heading back to Tenth Street, to my office, to do some very important research, some by phone, some on-line, watching the clock to make sure I didn’t miss Samuel coming out of the precinct, taking a deep breath of fresh air, thinking free at last, free at last, then heading over to Harbor View for some much-needed spin control.

At ten to one, despite the heat, I slipped on a jacket, loaded my pockets, leashed the dogs, and walked across the street. When he came out, I was waiting.

“What do
you
want?”

“I came to give you back your keys,” I told him. “And to thank you.”

“To thank me?”

“For taking such good care of Lady. Just like you said, she’s fine.”

He reached out a hand.

I didn’t reach into my pocket for his keys.

“Here,” I said, handing him the loop of Lady’s leash. “I was just going to take her back to Harbor View. Maybe you should do that. It would look better.”

“You didn’t tell them?”

“Uh-uh.”

He took the leash, ignoring the dog at the other end.

“Look, I lied to you.”

He nodded.

“And you lied to me.”

This time he looked past me, down toward Hudson Street, where I hoped we’d be headed soon.

“And you lied to the police.”

“How do you—”

“I know what you’re after, Samuel.”

Two lines appeared between his eyes.

“Why don’t we wipe the slate clean and start again? I promise you, you’ll get your father’s attention this time.”

“How?” Sounding like a little kid again.

“By having found Lady. You can tell him what you wanted me to tell him, that you located her at the shelter, that she must have gotten out, but you never gave up, you kept calling and calling, and finally she showed up there and you went to get her. That would explain your absence last night, wouldn’t it?”

“It would.”

I reached into my pocket for his keys, handing them over to him.

“By the way, what time was the meeting with Harry’s lawyer?”

“How do you know about that?”

“Oh, last night, Nathan said they’d all be gone in the morning, something about Harry’s will, that the lawyer didn’t want to mail copies to the heirs, he wanted to discuss it with them.”

Samuel frowned.

“Only he didn’t say what time it would be.”

“Eleven.”

“Good. Then they should be back by now. You can surprise them with Lady. I’d like to go with you, Samuel, to see
the expression on your father’s face.” I smiled and took a step toward Hudson Street. “Come on. We don’t have a moment to lose.”

For a moment, I thought Samuel was glued to the spot, a warning to all who pass the precinct about how alleged felons are treated inside by the cops. He looked, and smelled, like hell. But he seemed to have forgotten all of that. He, too, was anxious to see the expression on Eli’s face when he showed up with Lady, when his father would see, once and for all, how capable his older son was.

We had nothing to say to each other on the way. He was thinking his thoughts, I my own. When we got to the corner of West and Twelfth, Samuel turned to look at the demolition site, the roof of the bar history by now.

After a moment, he looked back at me. He seemed to be smirking, but then he moved so quickly, I couldn’t be sure. He was speed-walking toward Harbor View, tugging hard on Lady’s leash when she stopped to sniff the old neighborhood, to reassure herself that she indeed was nearly home.

I could hear them as soon as I unlocked the door, loud voices coming from the dining room. I hoped the kids had finished lunch and were elsewhere. The shouting would surely upset them.

“Why are we sitting here with this god-awful slop congealing in front of us if we’re finished here?” I heard Bailey say.

“It can’t be legal,” his mother told him. Told everyone. “How can it be legal, that woman running this place?”

“She did it for the money,” Janice said.

Samuel walked into the lobby first. I let the door close quietly, looking to my right and seeing David in his spot, his fingers tapping rapidly against each other, his jaw clenched.

“I know you’re angry and disappointed,” Eli told them,
“but what you’re saying isn’t so. Harry didn’t leave her any money, not a dime.”

I reached for Samuel’s arm. When he turned to question me, I put my finger up to my lips. “Wait until they’re finished so you and Lady can make a grand entrance,” I whispered.

He frowned, but stopped. Marty was right. He was as nutty as a fruitcake.

“Really. How about half the estate?” Janice said.

“New York State is not a community property state. Dad’s right. She doesn’t get a dime. The money is all in trust for Harbor View.”

“Well, what about my sister’s personal things, her jewelry, for example?” Arlene asked, her voice even louder than it had been before. “Why wasn’t that mentioned in the will. It was supposed—”

“Right. Where’s the diamond necklace, for example?” Janice asked.

“That was all explained to you,” Eli said. “All her personal effects had been left to Harry in her will. He was therefore free to leave them, or give them, to whomever—”

“So
she
gets my sister’s things?”

There was a silence then.

Samuel turned to look at me again. But before I had the chance to say anything, Nathan spoke up.

“Shouldn’t we table this until my brother gets out of jail?”

“Good luck on
that.
”

Had there been a smirk minutes ago, it was gone now, replaced by the panic in Samuel’s eyes.

No, not panic. Rage.

“You told them,” he whispered through his teeth.

I shook my head. “The police must have called.”

“Bailey, how could you think that Samuel killed anyone? It’s all a terrible mistake. His arrest, it was preposterous.”

“Take it easy, Dad.”

“I don’t care what they said. I cannot believe—”

And then he looked up, because Arlene and Bailey had seen Samuel in the doorway, me standing right next to him, Dashiell behind me, his tail straight out behind him like a rudder, Lady already in the dining room, wiggling and panting because the kids were there, sitting like zombies at their places, the dirty dishes from lunch still in front of them.

Now no one was listening to Eli. They were all staring at Samuel.

And Lady.

The kids noticed her, too, in whatever way they could.

“It’s Lady,” Cora called out.

“She’s—” Dora began.

“Back,” Cora finished, clapping her hands.

“But who’s—”

“That other dog?”

Jackson stood. He thrummed his arms up and down in front of his stained shirt, as if he were beating an imaginary drum, then walked out of the dining room, ignoring both dogs as he passed.

Charlotte began to moan and hit her chest with her fists.

Willy got up. He was wearing a pair of socks on his hands. He began to walk toward Lady, but when he saw Dashiell, he stopped, looking from one to the other. Then he began to cry, wiping his eyes with the socks, a method to his madness.

I unhooked both leashes, letting the dogs go to them.

Then Eli was standing.

“Samuel,” he said, as if he were looking at a ghost.
“What’s going on? What’s happened? How did you get out? Where did Lady come from?”

And as Samuel walked toward his father, Eli got up. “Excuse me,” he said to the Pooles, “I have to talk to my son.”

Samuel began to cry. Eli handed him a handkerchief and led the way out, glaring at me as he passed by, heading toward his office.

“We were just going,” Arlene called after him, standing and smoothing her skirt, then patting her hair. “I’ll call you, Eli.”

But Eli ignored her. He was deep in conversation with Samuel. I watched as they went into the office and locked the door behind them.

After Arlene, Janice, and Bailey left, passing me as they did David, as if I weren’t there, Nathan got up. He came and put his hand on my arm, leading me back out into the lobby, then toward the garden door.

“I’d prefer it if you didn’t interfere again. My father is extremely upset about what you did,” he said.

“Is he?”

“He thinks you should have talked to him about your—”

“Theories?”

“Yes, your little theories. He’s not thrilled that you carted his son off to the police.”

“I bet he isn’t.”

“You have a real attitude, don’t you?” He unlocked the garden door, and we walked out into the heat.

Homer must have been working here recently. There was a bag of fertilizer near the door and a spade propped against the wall, a couple of small bushes waiting to go into the ground. The hose was uncoiled, too. I stepped over it as I walked away from the door.

“You seem to be enjoying all this, as if it’s all some sort of joke.”

“Not at all, Nathan. I don’t consider the death of Harry Dietrich nor the attempt on his wife’s life a joke.”

“His
wife.
”

I was about to give him the cheeky answer I thought he deserved when I noticed something. It was the place where the bookend had been buried, the bookend that might still have a readable print on it, the thumbprint, perhaps, of the person who tried to kill Venus with it, because of the way the thumb might have curled under the lady’s chin, but the bricks were out of place and the dirt had been disturbed. Someone had been digging at the hidey-hole, and though I couldn’t be sure from where I stood, I was pretty sure the hole would be empty.

“That’s correct,” I said, slipping a hand into my pocket and taking a step back. “Venus was Harry’s wife.”

“Be that as it may, it’s no longer your concern. My father wishes to terminate your services, as of today. Now that Lady’s been recovered, we no longer need you and Dashiell. If you send me a bill, I’ll send you a check for what we owe you.”

“Your father didn’t hire me.”

“Oh, I hope you’re not counting on Venus to save your job. That’s a laugh. Of course, we’ll never know what it was that put Harry over the edge, perhaps the grief over Marilyn’s death,” he said, shaking his head, “or merely his age, but I’m sure that, whatever caused his senility, the courts won’t have any problem overturning that will. In a short time, things will be as they should, with Dad running Harbor View.”

“For how long?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“How long before you find some way to get
him
out of the picture?”

Nathan snorted like a bull about to charge. “I think we’ve had quite enough of your paranoid delusions for now. When the police informed us about the charges against Samuel, it didn’t take a minute to figure out who had accused him. There’s no one else here who would exhibit that kind of disloyalty to Harbor View. And now you have another scenario, more accusations?
Please.
”

“How about your own disloyalty?” I asked him, taking another step back. “I see they’re already at work next door, tearing down the bar, getting ready to knock this place down next.”

Nathan just glared at me, his cheeks jumping.

“I thought things started when Lady vanished, no one knowing where she had gone, the kids in turmoil over her loss. But your plan to get Harry and your father to agree to sell Harbor View was well underway by then. It started with the fire at the old paper factory next door, didn’t it? Then the bar was closed down by the Board of Health. Rats, I believe. Only no one knew then who the real rats were, rats who couldn’t wait until two old men lived out their dream and died naturally, rats who wanted to hurry things along, cash in on the hot real estate market by selling Harbor View to the developer who had been after you for the land, who Harry had turned down enough times that they approached you to see if you could persuade your father to swing the decision, not knowing either of them of course, not knowing that, short of dying, these men would never give this place up for money or any other reason.

“But you kept trying. Next there was the electrical fire in the basement, jeopardy a little closer to home. Luckily Lady
was still here then. Venus said she was spectacular, a real lifesaver, barking and backing up, leading her right to where the problem was.

“It was right after that that Samuel took Lady away. It’s so nice to see brothers getting along so well. Your father will be
so
proud of your teamwork.”

“That’s quite enough. No one’s interested in your—”

“Little theories?”

He reached out for me, but I got out of the way, taking my hand out of my pocket then, pointing my gun at him.

“Ah, so this time you’re not taking any chances,” he said, a big smile on his hard face.

“There were two arguments in Harry’s office that last day. The first was Arlene, trying to find out where Marilyn’s jewelry was, assuming it should belong to her now. The second was you, Nathan, trying to convince Harry to sell. You must have been fuming when you came out of there, angrier than you’d ever been in your life, the old guy steadfast about this place, despite your attempts to scare him off, wear him down, wheedle a yes out of him. Am I doing okay so far?”

Nathan nodded, but not to me. It was as if he were signaling someone behind me.

“Good one,” I told him, keeping my eyes forward.

That’s when I saw him. He got up and walked slowly in our direction, his hands covered with paint and dirt, one of them cradling something against his chest. Even though it was covered by his hands, very little of it showing, and what was exposed was covered with dirt, I knew what it was, the only thing it could be. And as I watched, horrified, Jackson went over to Nathan and handed him what he was holding, the way he’d given me back Dashiell’s leash when I’d dropped that.

Nathan took the bookend, and his mouth slid into a sneer.

“So
there
it is,” he said. “I wondered where it had gone.”

He turned toward Jackson; for some bizarre reason, I thought it was to thank him. Instead, he grabbed him and pulled him in front of him as a shield.

“Watch out,” I screamed, too late. “Keep him out of this. This is between us.”

“Are you going to shoot me now, Rachel?” he taunted. He had one arm around Jackson’s throat. In the other hand he held the bookend. He brought it up, ready to strike. “I didn’t realize quite how hard I had to do it last time,” he said. “I won’t make that same mistake twice. That David. He’s really been on a rampage lately, since Dad cut his medication. First Venus, then Jackson. Why don’t you put down the gun now?”