Seth and I walked the canine gang through town while watching for Milo. Because it was Sunday, I’d called some of my clients and offered a free walk just so we would have a cover story. Vi and one of her cat spies had lookout duty at the park, which faced the hotel where Milo was staying. Mom had a lot to say on the subject of a son who stays in a hotel instead of with his parents “regardless of his age.” I was seriously regretting this whole thing.
My phone buzzed for the fourth time in five minutes, and I pulled it out of my back pocket with my free hand. subject on move, it read. Vi must have found the vowels on her keypad. I was about to turn it off when my other arm jerked forward and someone shouted.
“Get off! Down! Sit!”
All seven dogs sat. Even Baxter and Tuffy sat, and they were up the street with Seth.
I looked up to see who had worked this miracle, and saw Mac. I tried to calculate how long it would take to get rid of him.
“How did you do that?” I asked.
“Do what?”
“Get them to sit like that?”
“I said, ‘Sit.’” Mac shrugged. “Don’t you know it’s not safe to walk and text?”
Seth’s thumbs flew over his mini keyboard. Probably sending out that distress signal I had said we wouldn’t need.
According to the plan, we should have been walking toward the park to pick up Milo’s trail from Vi. Unfortunately, we were stymied by a chatty Mac, who stood in our path asking about the dogs.
I tried to answer him quickly and step past him, but the dogs were rooted to the spot, watching Mac as if he were their long-lost alpha. He glanced down at them and shook his head.
“How do you keep track of them all?”
“It’s not that hard once you get to know them. They each have their own personality, just like people,” I said.
Seth bounced on his toes, clearly hoping this conversation would wrap up soon.
“Am I keeping you two from something important?”
“No,” I said.
“Yes,” Seth said.
Mac looked at us, his head tilted, questioning.
“We just need to get these guys to the park to finish their walk,” I said, and handed a few leashes to Seth, hoping he could escape and get to the park quickly. “They start to get antsy if their routine is messed up.”
“Oh, well, don’t let me stop you.” Mac backed away to let us pass.
We started off toward the park, and Mac fell in beside me. My expression must have been less than welcoming.
“Is it okay if I tag along?”
“Sure, fine,” I said, and tried not to look at Seth, who was jerking his head as if he had a tic.
“How’s the case going?” I said.
“It’s not. There’s very little evidence and no witnesses. You know the longer a case goes unsolved, the more likely it will stay unsolved.”
“Are you expanding your list of suspects?”
“You mean to include Milo Jones? No.”
“Mac, be reasonable. It can’t be a coincidence that two people died right after he returned to town.” I hesitated as I realized I was agreeing with Vi’s assessment of the situation, and that was never a good thing. “Plus, he was never cleared of the Julia Wyatt disappearance. I don’t know why you won’t even look at him.” I had stopped to make my point while Seth walked on ahead.
“I know it wasn’t him, Clyde.”
“How do you know?”
“Let’s just say I have a feeling.”
“Oh, you’re hilarious. Psychic humor from the biggest skeptic in town.”
I glanced forward just in time to see Milo approach. He and Mac nodded a greeting, and Milo navigated his way past the dogs.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vi hurry over to Seth, gesturing up the street after Milo. When she spotted Mac, she turned and zipped back across the street to the park, which might have worked if she hadn’t darted in front of two cars and caused all that honking.
“What’s Vi doing here?” said Mac.
“Vi? I don’t see Vi,” I said, and turned to look behind us.
“She’s right over there behind that tree. I think she’s peeking at us. Does this have something to do with all these dogs?”
“No, I don’t think so. Maybe she’s just out for a walk. She likes to stay in shape.”
I tried to get Mac’s attention back to me and the dogs, but he was drawn to Vi, hiding behind a skinny maple tree in the park.
Mac started across the street toward Vi just as Tom rounded the corner of the hotel. He was moving too quickly to turn around at first sight of Mac. Unfortunately he tried anyway, and his attempt at looking natural while turning in mid-sprint and then slamming full force into a parking meter caught us all off guard.
Tom was bent over and wheezing by the time Mac and I got to him.
“Andrews, what are you doing?” Mac said. He raised his voice to be heard over Tom’s labored breathing.
Seth ran over to us with his five dogs. My four acted as if they hadn’t seen the other group in years. Between the wheezing and the exuberant dog greetings, a crowd had gathered. Seth continued texting with his free hand and made such a show of it that Mac noticed and grabbed the phone from him.
“What’s going on around here?”
I reached for the phone and for a moment our hands were entwined but not in the nice, stroll-along-the-beach way. This was a fight-for-possession kind of entwining.