A Shot in the Bark: A Dog Park Mystery

Saturday, July 9

Lia watched the shifting pattern of leaves cast on the ground by the tree overhead and was grateful for the shade. It was before 8:00 a.m. and the sun was already cranking up. Now if only people would mind their own business. She felt guilty at that thought and glanced at Anna seated next to her on the picnic table. Anna was watching CarGo thrash in a child's wading pool. Someone had brought it to the park and left it by the water pump. Anna sensed the attention and turned to her.

"Lia, are you sure you're being reasonable?" Anna queried. "Why don't you talk to him?"

"How am I not being reasonable? How can I talk to him? He made a fool out of me. I slept with him, and he knew the woman I was working for slept with Luthor, maybe even killed him. He knew and he didn't tell me. I've never felt so humiliated."

"But how could he tell you? He's like a priest, some things he has to keep secret."

"All that time we were building the garden and feeling sorry for her because she was such a twit, and here she . . . she . . . cuckolded me! And then she stole my phone and shot Luthor. And my boyfriend was a cheat and a gigolo. I can't stand it! I'm giving up on men. Entirely."

"Oh, Lia, I'm so sorry. I can't imagine how you feel. But I can't believe Peter had any choice."

"Well, he shouldn't have slept with me."

"As I recall, you told me you moved on him, and you were crying at the time."

"Yeah. So what?"

"What man was ever rational around a crying woman, especially one who's trying to take his clothes off?"

"It's still humiliating."

"Think about it. If he had told you, would you have finished the garden with Bailey?"

"Well, no, of course not. How could I?"

"That would have been a real shame, because it's beautiful. I know how much doing this project meant to you. And that's yours. No one can take that achievement away from you. But you would have denied it to yourself if you'd quit. So maybe he did you a favor by not telling you."

"Some favor," Lia grumbled.

"I know you're hurting, but maybe he's hurting, too."

"Must you always be so sensible?"

"He's a good man, Lia. Much better than Luthor."

"Don't you think I know that?"

"And circumstances have been difficult."

"I know, I know."

"Maybe you should give him a chance now that all this ugliness is over."

"I dunno. I don't know if I can. And what about Catherine?"

"What about her, dear?"

"I don't know how to feel. I know she was silly and we didn't always like her and I should hate her, but in her own way she was our friend. Or at least she meant to be. I can't understand why she'd shoot Luthor. It boggles my mind."

"Lia, darling, Catherine was a vain, air-headed, narcissistic woman who cared only for herself. She was nice to us when it suited her purposes. She's not worth agonizing over. And you're better off without Luthor. Really. She did you a favor when she shot him. He would have kept bleeding you emotionally forever."

"You don't know that, and that's cold."

"I'm just trying to get you to see that life is better now without them, if you'll let it be. Here you've had this delightful detective panting after you and if Luthor had been around not only would you have not met him; if you had met him, you'd have been unavailable. Can't you see Luthor's death for the gift it is? You're free of him. You have a chance to have a new relationship with a lovely man. Can't you be happy with that and let Catherine and Luthor go?"

Lia stared at Anna, appalled. "You think it's a gift?"

"Freedom from rude, selfish people is always a gift, don't you think?"

Lia's pulse jacked up and her mind raced. Was this Anna? This is just too strange, too coolly rational. Crazy. Calm, she told herself. I need to get away, get away and think. She took a deep breath. Exhaled. "Anna, perhaps you're right. Maybe I've been looking at this all wrong. Look, I'm going to take the kids for a walk in the woods. I'll talk to you later." She called Honey and Chewy, and headed for the trees and the trail that led down the hill. She walked, deliberately casual, though part of her wanted to run.