A Shot in the Bark: A Dog Park Mystery

Wednesday, May 11

"Lia, darling, how are you?" Catherine neatly inserted herself between Lia and Jim on their bench. The hug she gave Lia had Lia's coffee tipping precariously. "How terrible for you. I wanted desperately to be here for you Sunday, but the police wouldn't let me through. I hope they told you; that young detective said he would. I made him promise. You wouldn't know, I'm sure you were in shock." She turned to Jim and touched his shoulder. "Jim, did he tell you?" Lia rolled her eyes so only Anna could see and resolved to ask her later if Catherine was batting her eyes. She swore she could hear lashes fluttering.

Lia had decided to rejoin what she called the General Population. (And didn't the mad scramble on this side of the park resemble a prison yard sometimes? A prison yard with barrel racing?) Mostly people were giving her space. Except Catherine.

"I really wanted to bring you a casserole so you wouldn't have to worry about food but I just had so much company, there was no way I could do it. I'm so sorry about Luthor, but you know, I never thought he was right for you. What an awful, awful thing for him to do. You must be devastated." She turned to Jim. "I heard you saw him, too. Was it awful?"

This time she paused in expectation of an answer.

"It was grim, Catherine. You wouldn't have wanted to see it."

"I'm sure it would have destroyed me to see something like that. I don't think I'd ever be the same again. I don't know what the world is coming to. I've got to run Caesar and Cleo to the groomers. She took Lia's hands in hers and pressed them. "Don't you worry, we're all going to take care of you. Caesar, Cleo, come baby cakes, it's spa day! Jim, you must walk me to my car." Jim obligingly escorted Catherine and her yapping Poms across the park.

Anna raised her eyebrows, looked sideways at Lia, and announced sotto voce, "She came, she saw, she conquered."

Marie snorted.

Bailey shook her head. "Is she always like that?"

Anna, Marie, and Lia replied in unison. "Always."

"Don't worry, Sweetie," Anna said. "She's done her good deed for the day. She can go to lunch with a clear conscience now. Tell us, what did Detective Peter want to know? Bailey, have you seen Detective Peter? He's quite handsome."

"Anna, you go for it," Lia said. "I can't deal with being fixed up right now."

"Seriously, why was he interviewing you? Surely there's no question how Luthor died?"

"Not at all. He said they were just trying to understand why, so he wanted to know who Luthor might have been talking to, if he was having problems. Aside from me breaking up with him. That sort of thing. Oh, and he called me later. He wanted some advice about Viola."

"Did he now?" Anna gave Bailey a knowing look.

"You can stop with the eyes, Anna, he's just not used to having a dog."

"So why haven't you taken her?" Marie asked.

"I don't think I could stand having her give me the 'Where's Daddy?' look. It's your fault, Bailey. You introduced me to that animal communicator. Now I know she's missing him and wondering where he is and if I took her, she might blame me for taking her away from him. I'd feel guilty every time I laid eyes on her. Besides, she likes men better."

"You know," Bailey offered, "calling Luella might not be a bad idea. She could explain it to Viola."

Marie considered. "You think a detective would go for the woo-woo stuff?"

"So maybe we don't tell him," Bailey offered. "He'd let you have visitation, wouldn't he? And Luella could ask Viola how she likes the detective."

Lia gave Bailey a look. "So devious. I never knew that about you. I'll think about it."