The bed dipped at my side. That woke me up. I gasped and scrambled. I tried to scream but one strong hand grabbed my right wrist and yanked me back down. Another hand shoved my chin until my head was jammed up against the headboard and I couldn’t open my mouth. Hot fingers closed over my lips, digging in. Male fingers.
I grunted and thrashed. A knee crashed into my stomach and dug in, bearing me down into the bed. Icy panic clutched at me, and I was dead certain I was about to be raped, beaten, and killed.
Stump, bless her fierce heart, jumped on me and snapped at the man.
He took his hand off my chin long enough to backhand Stump across the room. She hit the wall with a sickening, terrifying yelp.
“Stump!” I screamed before the hand slammed back into my face. He covered my chin with his palm, his long, nasty fingers over my mouth, and shoved and twisted until I was looking straight up at the headboard, unable to see anything for the pillows I’d been sleeping on.
“Starting right now, you’re going to mind your own business,” he said, inches away from my ear, deadly calm. “You’re going to go to work, and go home, and quit asking questions. You’re in over your head, and you’re not doing Tony any good.”
I rolled my eyes around, trying to get a glimpse of something, something I could remember. But I couldn’t see anything, just feel hot breath on my cheek and ear, and smell the stench of his sweaty skin in my nose.
“Tony will be fine if you’ll just keep your fat nosy ass out of this. Got it? Mind your own business.” He gave me one last shove before bolting off of me and running down the hall. Seconds later I heard the front door open and slam shut.
If it hadn’t been for Stump, I think I would have dove under the covers and stayed there until the sun came up. I knew he was gone, but still, I was so afraid I couldn’t move. My heart beat so hard I couldn’t breathe, and every time I thought about getting up to turn on the light, everything in me screamed, “No!”
I forced myself to jump out of bed and hit the light switch, desperate to see Stump and terrified at the same time of what I was going to see.
“Stump!”
She was lurching toward the bed on three legs, whimpering.
I dove to the floor and snatched her up. She yelped and twisted around, trying to get out of my grasp.
“Oh, my baby, my baby,” I said over and over. What had he done to her? I laid her on the bed and felt her fat little body gingerly. She held her left front leg close to her body, and she whimpered again when I ran my fingers over it.
I looked frantically around the room, not sure what to do first. Call the police? But Stump needed help now. Her leg looked like it was broken. Did I take her to the all-night vet and then call the police? Call them from there?
Finally, I ran into the kitchen and got my phone off the bar – an expedition that took every remaining ounce of courage I had – and dialed 911.
“Someone’s broken into my house,” I said. “He’s gone now, but I need the police. Get Detective Sloan if you can.”
“Are you hurt, ma’am?” the operator asked.
I felt my neck and chin. They hurt, but it was probably nothing a doctor could do about it. I almost said no when I looked at Stump. “Yes, I’m hurt. He choked me.”
“I’ll have the ambulance on its way in a few seconds,” she said. “I’ll stay on the line with you until they get there.”
“Thanks,” I said weakly, sitting down hard on the bed as the strength in my legs suddenly drained. Having her on the other end of the phone wasn’t like having someone there beside me, but it would have to do.
I hugged Stump as close as I dared. “Hang on, baby,” I whispered to her, stroking her head. “Help is on the way.”
I watched out the bedroom window until I saw the cruiser turn into the Trailertopia lot. I realized at that second that I was wearing nothing but panties and a big t-shirt.
“They’re here,” I told the operator, and hung up. I laid Stump down carefully and grabbed the faded black sweats at the foot of my bed. I hopped into them on my way to the door, succeeding in knocking the heck out of my pinkie toe on the footstool as I did so. When I opened the door it was with tears in my eyes.
“You?” I blurted without thinking.
Officer Walters, the same cop who’d come when I reported Lucinda Cruz’s dead body, stared back at me.
I wish I had a cop face. No surprise, nothing catches them off guard, no big deal. I’m here and I’m in charge now, you don’t even have to think.
“What’s going on?” he asked, looking down the hallway to the second bedroom and then back in the direction of my room.
I explained what happened and told him the guy had left. The ambulance pulled up while we talked and I went to get Stump while he examined the front door.
A young skinny guy came in first carrying a toolbox – the modern equivalent of the black doctor’s bag. An older woman huffed up my deck behind him, overweight and windblown, with unruly curly hair and gray roots. That was me in fifteen years, I realized, if I didn’t make some serious lifestyle changes.
I sat on the sofa, clutching Stump for all I was worth, while the EMTs asked me questions and took my blood pressure and temperature and stuff. She was breathing hard and even when I held her up and stared straight into her eyes I knew she wasn’t seeing me.
“Can you look at my dog?” I finally asked. “The guy knocked her off the bed and I think her leg is broken.
“Honey, we’re not vets,” the lady said, but the young guy smiled. He looked familiar. I realized then where I’d seen him. He sometimes came into Lagoon Saloon, this place I used to hang out a couple of years ago. I didn’t really know him but we’d talked a few times about nothing in particular. I wondered briefly if I’d done or said anything that should embarrass me now, then I decided I didn’t really care. I had other things to worry about at the moment.
Randy, his nametag said. I looked at him and he shrugged. “I don’t mind looking at her if you promise not to sue me.”
“Swear,” I said, handing Stump over to him.
That’s when the shakes started. As long as I had Stump in my lap I was doing okay, but as soon as he took her I started to shake all over and couldn’t stop. The lady let me grab the quilt that covered the holes in the couch and wrap myself up tight in it, although I really wasn’t cold, just vibrating out of control.
Randy looked in Stump’s eyes with his little flashlight and I didn’t like the look on his face. “You’re taking her to the vet soon?”
That was all I needed to freak completely out. “Why? What’s wrong? Is she okay?” I jumped up and grabbed my keys by the door and shouted to Walters, “I have to take my dog to the vet this second. I’ll be back in a while.”
At least now the cop face was gone. Walters actually looked a trifle panicked that I’d leave. “You can go as soon as we’re through here.”
“But she needs medical attention this second!” I shrieked. A little over the top, I know, but hey. When in my life had I been more entitled?
“She’ll probably be fine,” Randy said.
“Probably?” I wondered what would happen if I just pushed past them all and left with Stump. I decided it was worth a try.
“I’m going to wrap her leg and she’ll be okay till you can get her to the vet.” Randy said, although the look on his face looked more hopeful than convinced. I took Stump back and shoved past him – right into Bobby.
“What’s going on here?” He took my arms and steered me back into the living room.
“A guy came in and choked me and told me to mind my own business and he hit Stump and now she needs to go to the vet and this joker won’t let me go and it’s an emergency, her leg is broken and she’s got internal injuries and if anything happens to her I’m going to sue you!” I pointed at Walters.
He raised an eyebrow at Bobby.
Bobby sighed, went and mumble-mumbled to Walters for a second. Walters’ cop face was sliding fast; he clearly didn’t like whatever Bobby was mumbling. He threw a disdainful glare at me and turned back to say something to Bobby between clenched teeth.
Bobby had his back to me, leaning toward Walters and I could see he was working a hard sell of something. He shot off a couple short sentences that didn’t budge Walters. Finally, he said something that must have been his ace-in-the-hole, because Walters rolled his eyes, muttered something that sounded suspiciously profane, and shoved past Bobby.
Bobby said, “Walters is going to take your dog to the vet so we can finish your interview. Make sure you’re okay.”
“But – but…” Clearly this was the way it would have to be, but I didn’t like the idea of Stump being in the scary vet’s office without me.
“Just say thank you, Salem,” Bobby ordered.
I handed Stump over to Walters. “Thank you. Please be gentle with her.”
He gave me a look that didn’t give any promises.
“Just drop the dog off and come back,” Bobby said.
“You’re going to leave her up there by herself?” I said. “She’ll be scared…” I stopped dead at the look Walters threw over his shoulder. “Okay, okay. Thanks again.”
“You’ll be a hero, Walters,” Bobby called after him. “Get your face in the paper.”
Walters flipped him off.
“Okay, tell me exactly what happened,” Bobby said, sitting on the stool in front of me. “Every detail.”
I went through the whole thing again. Woke up, somebody on the bed, grabbing my wrist and yanking me down, knee in my stomach. Told me to mind my own business, go to work, go home, I wasn’t helping Tony…right about then I started to feel a little weird. Like I wasn’t completely there, but I didn’t know where the rest of me was. Kind of floaty.
I heard my own voice talking to Bobby and felt the EMT lady pumping up the blood pressure cuff again for like the third time, but I had very little interest in what was going on. Bobby leaned in close and stared deep into my eyes. I had spent a significant portion of my middle school life dreaming of just such a moment, but right then I didn’t care.
When I got to the part where he knocked Stump off me I decided I didn’t really want to talk anymore. In fact, I thought, it would be a good time to go back to sleep. It was, after all, the middle of the night and I’d been through a lot. I saw black spots and thought how nice it would be if they’d just blend all together and everything would go black.
“She’s going down,” Bobby said with urgency, and I felt his arms around me as I slid over. That was the last thing I heard.
When I came to I was lying on the couch with my feet on the armrests.
“You’re going to take her in, right?” Bobby was asking the EMT. He actually looked nervous. Probably he was concerned his star witness to the break-in was going to do a belly flop, but I indulged in a few seconds’ fantasy that he was really worried about me, personally. It was almost worth getting attacked for, but not quite.
I scooted around to sit up.
“Lie down,” the EMT said.
Bobby put four fingers against my chest and pushed. “Stay.”
I raised an eyebrow, but I stayed. He really did look worried. Whoever had broken in must be pretty important.
“I think I’m okay,” I said. “I just got a little woozy for a second.”
“Have you ever fainted before?” the lady asked.
“Does drinking till you pass out count?”
She shook her head.
“Then no, I haven’t.”
Bobby gnawed on his lip and looked from me to the lady. He was making me nervous. I heard a racket and looked up to see Randy bringing a gurney up my front deck. Frank was right behind him.
“What’s happening?” Frank asked.
“A guy broke in and choked me, kind of.” I turned to Randy. “There’s no way I need that thing. I don’t really even need to go to the hospital. I just needed to sit down for a second.”
“You were sitting when you passed out. You’re going in, Salem, so give it a rest.”
Bobby stood and hovered while they argued with me about the gurney until I finally got mad and stomped out to the stupid ambulance and climbed in. “Okay, I’m going, but I am not riding on the gurney.” Mostly I just didn’t want to hear Randy groan when he tried to pick it up with me on it.
Before they drove off, I asked Frank to go to the emergency vet and check on Stump. He was way more worried about her than he was about me, but that was okay, because so was I.
Bobby grilled the doctor so much he got on her nerves and she almost admitted me just to satisfy him. He even had me a little freaked out that there was something horribly wrong with me, even though I’d been there for the attack and I knew all the guy had done was shove my chin and knee me in the stomach. We finally got out of there right before daybreak. Bobby said if I was up to it I’d need to go to the station to give a report.
I really wanted to go get Stump first. But since she was with Frank, and he was practically family, I knew she’d be okay. I was exhausted, but it wasn’t as if I was going to be sleeping any time soon.
“Do you have someplace you can go for a couple of days till we catch the guy?”
I hadn’t thought about that. I didn’t feel so great about going back to my place alone.
“I can find someplace,” I said.
He looked over at me. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah. Frank won’t mind if I bunk at his place, or probably Les wouldn’t mind if I stayed with him.” I chewed my lip and thought I’d better call Les and let him know what happened. He liked to know when stuff happened with me. Not that anything like this had ever happened before.
Bobby was quiet for a few seconds. “Yeah, well, I guess it’s good you’ve got so many…people you can call on to help out.”
What was with him? He stared straight ahead at the road and clenched his teeth. If I didn’t know better I’d think he was jealous.
I looked down. Nope, I was still fat. So that ruled out any possibility of jealousy.
So for the second time in a week I sat in Bobby’s office and gave a “statement.” He had me look through some books of pictures but it didn’t do a lot of good since I hadn’t seen the guy. I only had a vague sense of size – on the short side, and from the weight behind the knee in my stomach he hadn’t missed many meals – and I thought I’d detected a slight Mexican accent. Definitely not as strong as Frank’s, but the guy was used to speaking two languages.
Bobby made me repeat everything three times. Thank goodness I didn’t pass out any more, but the longer I went without seeing Stump the more worried about her I got, and the more times I told the story, the more convinced of one thing I became.
“We were on the right track,” I said.
Bobby chewed his lips. “Sounds like you were definitely on to something.”
“I knew it. I wonder what it was?”
Bobby shrugged. “There’s no telling. Who did you talk to yesterday?”
I told him about the weird way Rick Barlow had acted. Bobby remembered him, but mostly because he’d been on the scene of Rick’s little brother’s motorcycle crash six or seven years ago. “I remember it hit him really hard.”
“I guess maybe that ordeal was what changed him. He used to be loud-mouthed and obnoxious, vulgar and rude. But yesterday he was actually polite.”
Bobby gave me a funny look. “Maybe you ought to give more people a chance to be polite to you. You could be pleasantly surprised. So why were you talking to Ricky Barlow?”
“Because he was a friend of Rey’s, and Trisha said if Rey was in town, Rick had probably seen him, because they’re tight since John died. We just went over to ask if he’d seen Rey lately, and how long had it been?”
“Did you tell him why you wanted to know?”
“Actually, yes. We told him we were conducting an investigation into Lucinda Cruz’s murder and were trying to get a clue as to where all the key players were. And you know what?”
Bobby raised an eyebrow, trying to look bored, but in light of the fact that someone had resorted to physical violence to stop me, I didn’t think he could ignore the fact that I was a force to be reckoned with. Possibly.
“He didn’t ask why we wanted to talk to him. It didn’t even occur to him to ask. Obviously, he was expecting someone to come talk to him.”
“Maybe he figured he really was the logical conclusion to tracking Rey down.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t thought about that. “But he acted really weird.”
“Weird how?”
“Really nice, like I said. Polite. Showed me pictures of his wife and kid. He had this very creepy laugh.”
Bobby kept up the bored look.
“I’m serious. You should have heard it. Viv and I were both completely freaked out over it.”
Bobby nodded slowly. “Viv. Your friend with what I’m starting to suspect was a fake heart condition.”
“Hey, the woman is eighty something. And you should hear some of her stories from her drinking days. She made me look like a Girl Scout. Do you really think she’s the picture of health?”
Bobby fiddled with the stapler on his desk. “Look, the issue right now is who broke into your house and why.”
“You know what’s weird to me? I got the feeling that we were actually working for the same thing.”
“Who?”
“Me and the guy who choked me. I mean, he said I wasn’t doing Tony any favors. And that Tony would be okay if I’d just leave things alone. What do you think that meant?”
Bobby sighed a deep, tired-old-man sigh and scrubbed his hands hard over his face. “I don’t know, but I’d really appreciate it if you’d do what he said, at least for a couple of days. Go to work, go home. Leave this alone. You’re no detective, Salem. Leave all this to the professionals.”
“But we were on to something.”
“And if you keep following that something you’re going to get worse than a bruised neck!” He slammed his hand down so hard on his desk my ears rang. I jumped, and he looked a little shocked himself. “One girl is already dead, Salem. Have you forgotten about that? Do you want to end up like her?”
I blinked. I remembered the instant last night when I was certain I wouldn’t see the light of day. “Of course not,” I whispered.
He took a deep breath. “Good. Because I don’t want you to, either. I’ll check out Rick Barlow and see what I can come up with. If he has something to hide I’ll flush it out.”
“You might want to consider going to his house and leaning on his wife.”
Bobby lifted an eyebrow.
“That’s what Viv and I were considering. But you do whatever you think is best.”
He stared at me for a couple of beats, then went on. “In the meantime, go stay with one of your friends. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of days. I’ll let you know when you can go back home.” He sat back in his chair and swiveled back and forth a couple of times. “You ready to go get your dog?”
I would have leapt out of my chair if I hadn’t been exhausted. “Please, yes.”
He drove me to the vet’s office, and on the way I rehearsed what I was going to say about why I couldn’t pay my bill. I was pretty sure they’d let me pay it out, because they’d let me do it before when Stump ate a particularly evil-looking bug and I freaked out and thought she would die. Plus, I was a fairly steady customer with Stump’s shots and heartworm pills and stuff. Still, I would have preferred to just write out a check and know it wouldn’t bounce from here to kingdom come.
Dr. Porter’s office is in a little Colonial-looking cottage just off of Slide Road. It’s completely out of place for West Texas but cute still. I was a little surprised when Bobby got out of the car with me.
He shrugged at the questioning look I gave him. “I want to see how the dog is.”
I looked through the diamond-paned window of the front door. An unfamiliar face was on the phone behind the counter.
“Uh-oh. I don’t know that girl.”
“Is that bad?”
“Hopefully not, but don’t be surprised if I have to resort to a few tears to work out a payment plan on my bill.”
As it turned out, no theatrics were necessary. Dr. Porter himself told me Stump had been taken home already, and was resting comfortably. She’d sustained – his words, not mine – a hairline fracture to her back leg. She would need to stay still for at least a week and then would need to wear the bandage on her leg for another two weeks. At that point she’d come in for another x-ray, but he expected her to make a full recovery and be good as new.
“She’d benefit greatly from losing a little weight,” he said, looking sternly at me.
“Wouldn’t we all,” I replied.
“I’m going to keep saying it until you take it to heart, Salem. Clearly you love your dog. You could show it by keeping her on a healthier diet.”
“You want to be the one to tell her she can’t have any more bugs? Believe me, I’ve tried.”
“It’s not the bugs and we both know it.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “How does she like the special low calorie food I sent home with you last time?”
Should I tell him about the hysterics Stump threw when I poured that dry stuff in her bowl? The moping, the whining, the pitiful, watery eyes she’d turned on me? The way she’d choked and fallen prostrate, letting the dry nugget roll out of her mouth and onto the floor, one eye on me to see if I was getting the picture?
I took one look at Dr. Porter and knew he would not have the compassion for Stump and her drama that I did. That’s why God sent her to me. I understood Stump; I could relate to her. I was Stump, in human form. Well, my legs were longer, but we carried around similar baggage, both figurative and literal.
“She loved it,” I bald-faced lied. “Unfortunately it costs more to buy her food than it does mine. So we’re back on the regular stuff from Wal-Mart.”
“That’s not the best, but it would suffice if you limited her diet to strictly that. No table scraps, no human food of any kind.”
“Listen, I can barely afford to feed myself, and if you haven’t caught on from my own girth, I don’t leave a lot of leftovers. Speaking of which, I’m going to need to work out a payment arrangement for my bill.” (Like a dollar a week for a few hundred weeks).
But the bill had been paid. In full.
I glanced at the new girl behind the counter. She nodded.
I knew right away it was a mistake. Frank didn’t have any more money than I did, and even if he did he wouldn’t pay Stump’s vet bill. Not that he was stingy, it would simply never occur to him to do so. Maybe, I thought, this was God’s way of giving me a little break. I didn’t feel like standing there any longer with my middle-of-the-night hair and baggy sweats to argue with them. I made the follow-up appointment, thanked them both and left.
“One of your boyfriends pay your bill for you?” Bobby asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.
See? There again he sounded jealous. Weird.
“Sure, one of the legions of suitors I have lined up outside my door paid it for me. Else the new girl made a mistake, and I’ll be getting a bill in the mail in the next couple of days. Smart money’s on the second scenario.”
My yard looked like a used car lot. Les’s ice cream truck and Viv’s Cadillac were in the drive, and a car I didn’t recognize was parked at the curb.
“Popular girl,” Bobby muttered. His phone chirped and he mumbled something when he looked at the readout. “I’ve got to get this. Check in later this morning and let me know where you’ll be staying. I may have more questions.”
I saluted smartly as I climbed out and thanked him for the ride. He barely acknowledged it, swinging the car around and roaring down the street. Obviously he had important cop things to do, but I couldn’t help but think that his mother would be appalled at his manners.
Poor Stump was crashed in a cardboard box by the couch, a white bandage wrapped around her left front leg.
“The doctor gave her some good drugs, and she’s out, man,” Frank said.
I was so glad to see her I had to duck my head so nobody would see the tears in my eyes, my poor innocent, fierce baby. I rubbed her fat little tummy. She snored loudly, and her good leg stretched to its limit.
“Dr. Porter said she had to keep quiet and still for a week. I don’t think Stump’s going to be okay with that prescription.”
“Just keep her on the knockout drugs,” Frank said. “She’ll be a happy camper.”
It wasn’t until then that I noticed Tony sitting on my couch, staring at me, his face hard.
I drew my head back in surprise. “Tony.”
“I heard what happened. I wanted to see if you were okay.”
“Oh sure,” I said, waving a hand. “No big deal.”
“Maybe not to you,” he said. He didn’t look like he had much of a sense of humor about the whole thing.
“How did you all hear about it?”
Les spoke up. “Viv heard your address on the police scanner.”
“It was three in the morning. What were you doing listening to the scanner at three in the morning?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” she said.
“So she called me, and she and I met here just as Frank was getting back from the vet’s.”
“And I knew it had something to do with his case, so I called him.”
Frank leaned over and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, “He called the vet and paid your bill for you. Just gave them a credit card number right over the phone. Like Donald Trumpet or somebody would do.”
“It’s Trump.” Viv scowled at him. “And anybody can do that.”
“Yes, but one guy actually did. Thank you, Tony. I’ll pay you back. I don’t know when, but it’ll be sometime during this lifetime.”
Tony waved the topic away, rose and lifted my chin, checking out the bruise that ran from my chin to my neck. His face got darker.
“Who was it?” he asked.
I shrugged. “You’ve got me. Someone I’d prefer not to see again.”
“What did he want? Did he rob you?”
I gave a short laugh. “No, I’ve still got both my dollars.”
He looked like he wanted to ask another question. I finally caught on to what it probably was. “He didn’t do anything, except give me this bruise and tell me to mind my own business. He said I wasn’t helping you any, and that you’d be okay if I just went to work and went home and kept my fat nosy ass out of things. A real charmer, that guy.”
He got a weird look on his face.
“What do you think that means, Tony?”
He didn’t answer.
“I mean, it sounds like someone who was here on your behalf.”
“I didn’t send someone to rough you up!” he barked.
“Of course you didn’t. I didn’t say that. But doesn’t it sound like someone who knows something important and helpful that I don’t? That’s the feeling I got. And seeing as how it was my house that got broken into and my fat ass being insulted, I think I should be privy to any hunch you might have that could shed some light on this.”
“Salem, if I knew who it was, believe me, I’d be pounding him down right now.” He spoke softly, but his eyes blazed with a fire that had me thinking I didn’t want to argue with him. “You can’t stay here.” He straightened. “Why don’t you stay at my place for a few days until this gets worked out?”
I blinked. “At your place?”
“Yes, I’ve got an extra bedroom and I’d feel a lot better knowing you were safe.”
“So would I,” Les said.
“Well, so would I, but…don’t you think that will be a little…awkward?”
Tony actually smiled. It was a distracted, somewhat sickly-looking smile, but a smile nonetheless. “Why would it be awkward? We are married.”
“Yes, see, that’s exactly why it would be awkward. This whole we’re-still-married thing.” I looked to Les for help.
He shrugged. “I’m sorry, but my son’s apartment is being fumigated and he’s asked to stay with us for a few days, or else I’d offer his room.”
“Well, you can’t stay with me in the old folks home. Management frowns on overnight guests.”
I looked at Frank, but he just stared back blankly, totally clueless.
“You’ll have your own room and you can come and go as you want. Please, Salem. I’ve got too much on my mind right now to be worried about someone coming after you.”
“You know I have a dog,” I warned.
“She’ll get along great with my cat. Go ahead and pack up enough stuff for a couple of days. I’ll bring you back if you need anything else.”
So, I was going to Tony’s. My husband’s house. Which, in a weird way, might make it my house? I decided I was too tired to think about that very long. I threw some clothes in my old gym bag while Viv sat on my bed and watched, and we discussed what we might have found out that we weren’t supposed to find out.
“It was that Rick guy,” she i