Sneak Thief (A Dog Park Mystery) (3 page)

L
ia was letting
Honey and Chewy out of the back of her Volvo when Desiree pulled up in a neon green Honda. A Beagle with huge, gorgeous eyes stood in Desiree's lap and propped her paws on the half-opened window, head hanging out, quivering with excitement.

“Hey, you made it!” Lia called out.

Desiree opened the driver's door and Julia exploded off her lap and proceeded to run figure eights in the parking lot.

“Julia! Come back here! Oh, she drives me insane.”

“The park will be good for her. She'll run some of that energy out,” Lia said.

“You don't know the half of it.” Desiree trotted after Julia, who stayed ten feet in front of her and headed for Westwood-Northern Boulevard.

“Hold up, I know this game,” Lia yelled. “Come back this way.”

“But she'll run off,” Desiree insisted.

“I don't think so. If she was going to run off, she'd be gone already. She's playing keep away. I bet if you ignore her and go on up to the park, she'll follow. Trick is, don't look back.”

“You sure?”

“I'll keep an eye on her, but I bet she wants to play more than she wants to run away. She'll stick around my dogs, and she won't want to be far from you.”

The two women headed up the service road to the dog park entrance. Julia continued to stay back, then as the women were 20 feet away, she ran up behind them, still out of reach. She halted and barked. Lia and Desiree ignored her and continued up the hill, though Chewy strained his lead toward her and yipped shrilly. Julia danced at Chewy and dashed away.

"Don't look now," Lia said, "but we're being followed."

The service road ended at the top of the hill, in front of a picnic shelter. The Mount Airy Dog Park consisted of six acres along the top of a narrow ridge at the former High Point picnic area. The picnic shelter separated two fenced enclosures. Lia nudged Desiree to the right, toward the one-acre enclosure for small dog breeds, which was empty.

“Take Chewy and Honey and go on through the entrance corral. I'll hang back and hold the first gate open. You stand on the other side of the corral. Hold the inside gate open, but don't look at her. When she runs through, I'll shut my gate.”

Desiree did as directed. Lia held the outside gate to the corral open while Julia ran circles in the picnic shelter. She stopped when she realized no one was paying attention to her. She spied the open gate and the dogs inside the fence. She zoomed through both gates and into the middle of the enclosure. Lia let the gate swing shut with a loud clang. Startled by the noise, Julia stopped and turned around, gaping in betrayed disbelief. Desiree unclipped Honey and Chewy. Chewy made a beeline for the beguiling Beagle and the pair ran off together.

“How did you know she'd follow?” Desiree asked.

“It was a hunch. Peter's dog does that, stays just out of reach when she could easily outrun me, and I've been able to catch her by tricking her into following Chewy and Honey into a fenced yard. Taking advantage of their social instincts is the easiest way to nab loose dogs, so long as they're friendly.”

A
fter a brief period
, they crossed to the other fenced area. The the dogs shot into the larger enclosure, dashing across the acreage. This side of the park was populated with old picnic tables and older trees.

They passed by two men perched on top of a picnic table, smoking cigarettes. A pair of black labs and a buff-colored Mastiff sprawled in the mulch beside them.

"Hey, Lia, who's your friend?" a handsome white-haired gentleman called out.

The women turned around and joined the men at the table.

"Charlie, Jose, this is Desiree. She works with me at the scoring center."

"You like doing that, Desiree?" Charlie asked.

Desiree tilted her head and batted her eyes at Charlie. ”It's okay for seasonal work. I like reading all the answers. The kids can be really funny."

"Hey, Lia, I got a joke for you."

Jose groaned and shook his head.

“Really, Charlie, you don't have to.” Lia leaned over. "Run,” she whispered to Desiree. “Do not pass go."

"I like jokes," Desiree said, smiling at Charlie and waving Lia off.

Charlie nodded at Desiree with an amused twist of his mouth, took a drag from his cigarette, blew out the smoke.

"What do you say to a woman with two black eyes?"

"Excuse me?" Desiree blinked.

"Nothin.' You already told her . . . Twice,” Charlie concluded, slapping his knee as he roared with laughter. “How's that for politically incorrect humor?"

Desiree's face turned stormy. "What are you pigs laughing at? Domestic violence isn't funny."

"Did she just call us what I thought she called us?" Charlie asked Jose.

"And you wonder why you can't get a date.” Jose turned to Desiree. “Hey, it's his joke. I didn't say nothin'."

"And I suppose you think domestic violence is a laughing matter?" She zeroed in on Charlie.

"Whoa, now, it's just a joke. I would never hit a woman."

"No, you just condone an atmosphere of intimidation against women. Do you have any idea how many women are beaten every day by their husbands? Do you know that one out of three murdered females is killed by a husband or boyfriend?" Desiree was in tears.

"Hey, you guys have Lorena Bobbit,” Charlie said.

“And only one in 25 murdered men is killed by a domestic partner?”

“Whoa,” Charlie protested. “I'm just a dumb redneck. I don't mean nothin' by it. All you have to do is tell me I'm not funny. You don't have to make a federal case out of it."

Lia tugged on Desiree's arm. "Let's go find the dogs before they get into trouble."

Desiree stumbled after Lia. "Ignorant assholes like you are what's wrong with the world!" she shouted over her shoulder. "Some friends you've got," she accused Lia.

"Here, let's climb up on this picnic table. I'm sorry about that. I should have warned you about Charlie."

"What, that he's a misogynistic son of a bitch?"

"Charlie likes to tell me the worst jokes he hears. He doesn't believe that stuff. I won't excuse him, but if you were broken down by the side of the road, he'd be the first person to stop and help you."

“If he pulls up while I'm stuck on the side of the road, I'm going to taser him.”

“You meet all kinds up here, conservatives, liberals, hipsters and rednecks but they all care about their dogs. They at least have that as a redeeming quality.”

“I guess,” Desiree grumbled.

"This is my table.” The table was identical to four they'd passed by. “We sit on top so the dogs don't slam into our legs while they're running around.”

Desiree laid her key-fob down and climbed up to join Lia.

A tall, willow-thin woman walked up, followed by her lanky Bloodhound. Chewy and Julia tagged along, dancing around the dignified dog. There was a certain strength about the woman, perhaps in the lift of her chin and the firm set of her shoulders. She waved a long graceful hand. “What's with Charlie and Jose? They said we had a crazy woman in the park. Are you the crazy woman?” she asked Desiree.

“Desiree, meet Bailey. Kita is the poor hound trying to ignore Chewy.” Lia turned to Bailey. “Charlie just told her a domestic violence joke," Lia said.

Bailey shook her head and rolled her eyes, her chin-length red hair swinging around her face in emphasis. “If it makes you feel any better, Charlie says stuff like that when he thinks you're cute.”

“Gee. He likes me. I'm thrilled,” Desiree deadpanned.

Lia laughed. “I see you've met Julia,” she told Bailey.

“Is this your dog?” Bailey asked. “She's adorable. I've never seen such big eyes.”

Julia bounced up on the table and wiggled around Desiree. Chewy, who had never figured out how to jump up on the table, whined.

“Looks like Julia's made a conquest,” Bailey said.

Desiree hugged Julia. “All the guys are after you. It's a curse.”

“I hope she's spayed,” Bailey said.

“Desiree works at the scoring center with me and Terry," Lia said.

“I wished they scored in the winter, when I'm not working,” Bailey said. "I could use the extra income then. Nobody wants their yards mowed in January.”

“Bailey has a gardening business,” Lia explained.

“Thus the grass stains,” Bailey said, gesturing to her knees with a graceful hand that should have been turning letters on TV.

“Desiree has a secret admirer. Did you ever find out who left that little man on your car?”

“No, and a couple days ago, I found a shoebox with a scene in it on my steps. A little foil boy and a little foil girl sitting on a bench, holding hands. There was a tiny little Beagle sitting next to them.”

“That's so sweet! Have you figured who it is?” Lia asked.

“No, and I've been looking.”

“Doesn't it creep you out, just a little,” Bailey asked, “knowing that someone is sneaking around you like that?”

“Bailey, you have no romance in your soul,” Lia said. “Anyway, I think Desiree can take care of herself. You should have seen her handing Charlie his rump on a plate. She's small, but she's mighty.”

L
ia looked at her phone
. “I've got to run. I'm meeting Alma in an hour.”

“I've got to go pick up plants,” Bailey said.

“Don't leave me here,” Desiree said. “I'm coming with you.” She felt around on the table top for her key-fob, finding nothing. She turned around, searching. “Where are my keys? They were right here.” She climbed off the table, looked underneath. Still nothing.

“You're missing something else,” Lia said. “Where's Julia?”

“Julia!” Desiree jumped up and scanned the four acre enclosure. “That dirty little sneak thief, I bet she has them. Julia! This isn't funny!”

“She has to be inside the fence, at least,” Bailey said.

“I hope she still has the keys,” Lia said. “Otherwise we'll have to get Terry down here with his metal detector.”

“Oh, no,” Desiree moaned. “Where
is
that dog?”

Lia looked towards the front of the park. Several dogs were playing together. Julia wasn't one of them. “Let's walk to the back fence. If we don't see her, we can head back up front. We need to pay attention to the side slopes. It's easy to miss dogs down by the fence-line."

They were almost to the rear of the park when they heard a hollow clanging.

“What's that?” Desiree asked.

“The agility tunnel,” Bailey and Lia said in unison.

They veered towards a set of enameled steel agility equipment that had been donated to the park.

“Bailey, get on the far side, in case she tries to run off.” Lia and Desiree waited until Bailey circled around the eight foot long tube, then approached the opening. The clanging continued. Lia bent over and peered inside. Julia grabbed up the fob and headed for the opposite end. She found Bailey cutting off her escape and turned back around. She sat in the middle of the tunnel, stymied.

“Whatever you do, don't yell at her,” Lia advised Desiree.

“She's my dog, I can yell at her if I want to.”

“True, but she's not likely to come to you if you're yelling.”

“Oh. I guess you're right.” Desiree knelt at the mouth of the tunnel. “Here, baby doll, come to Mommy. Who's the prettiest little Beagle girl in Cincinnati? Come, Julia! That's a
girl
!”

Julia came out but struggled to maintain her grip on the keys. Desiree wrested them away, then wiped a drool-drenched hand on her jeans.

“Ugh! Look at this! Teeth marks! I can't believe you did this!” Desiree shook the key-fob at Julia, who responded with a mutinous expression. “And don't look at me that way.”

“Maybe it will still work,” Bailey offered.

“It had better. It costs a fortune to replace it.”