To prevent me from testifying later? Testifying to what? The risk of being caught while coming after me would be greater than any threat I could pose in a courtroom.
It didn’t seem likely to me that whoever followed me was the killer. I thought about the other stories I had been working on lately and couldn’t come up with anything that would merit that sort of effort, unless it was the story about missing children and custodial kidnappings. I thought about what had appeared in the paper so far, but couldn’t see how anything in that story would result in my being followed. What had I done that would make anyone that nervous?
If I had been followed from the police department today, how could the person in the SUV know I would be there or at the gas station?
No matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t see what threat I represented to anyone at this point. The only person I had upset lately was the kid at the dentist’s office, Bobby Smith, and he wasn’t the type to stalk with intent to harm.
This could easily be in connection with something less recent than Sheila Dolson’s murder, I decided. I had made enemies over the years.
I looked in on Ethan, who was already asleep again. Altair had taken up his post next to him but watched me with his big brown eyes. The dog’s closeness to Ethan would last until Frank came home. Cody, ensconced at the foot of the bed, allowed this much sharing of Ethan. The big cat was jealous of any affection given to Deke and Dunk, but even Cody had been won over by Altair.
It suddenly occurred to me that someone who wanted Altair might have been in that SUV. It would fit perfectly-a vehicle for carrying search dogs. Did the SUV driver know I was married to a cop? If so, maybe he had simply waited until I came by police headquarters.
I don’t show up at the department very often, but it wouldn’t be hard to learn that I was married to Frank. Suppose the driver was planning to follow him home? A stupid move, because Frank was unlikely to miss seeing a tail. I hoped. Although I have encountered some major-league meanies over the years, he has more violent enemies than I do.
If Frank was the person the driver of the SUV intended to follow home, my stopping by the department must have seemed to be a great stroke of luck.
Altair sighed and lowered his head to his forepaws. I knelt next to him and scratched his ears, winning another sigh, this one of satisfaction.
I worried that even with the company of Cody and the other dogs, he might be bored-SAR dogs are often trained several times a week, in what are extended play sessions as far as the dogs are concerned. I didn’t know what Sheila’s routine had been, but Altair didn’t get to his level of proficiency without work on the part of his handlers.
At least we knew another skilled handler, someone I could trust completely-Ben had promised to come by to work with him tomorrow. I suspected that would cheer the dog up a little.
Ben had been surprised that Altair had so quickly and strongly attached himself to Frank and Ethan. “Usually a dog will attach himself more quickly to a human of the same sex as his previous handler. He’s worked with me and other men on the team, but he’s been living in female-only households. Makes me wonder what was going on with Sheila and the dog.”
“She seemed to me to have a mean streak, but you sound as if you think she might have abused him.”
He hesitated. “I certainly won’t make a horrible accusation like that without more facts. He’s not shying away from you, right?”
“Right.”
I thought back over that conversation now, and about Anna’s attempt to get me to hand him over to her. I wondered if the Fletchers would lay claim to him somehow, produce a will saying Sheila had left him to them. Or say that he now belonged to the family even if she hadn’t left a will.
How badly might someone want him? Enough to steal him?
We might not be Altair’s final home, but damned if I was going to let him be stolen. I’d have to talk to Ben about who drove what on the Las Piernas SAR team.
CHAPTER 35
Monday, May 1
10:15 P.M.
HOME OF GILES FLETCHER
LAS PIERNAS
SO soon?” Roy asked.
“I’m afraid so,” Giles said sympathetically. Roy had been agitated for the last hour or so. Giles congratulated himself again for excluding Nelson from this meeting. The two of them would have worked each other into a ridiculous state of anxiety.
“Couldn’t it wait a few days? Perhaps on Saturday?”
“Many more of your neighbors will be home on Saturday, Roy. If something goes wrong, we really don’t want to attract attention.”
Roy looked toward Dex in appeal.
“Will it help your resolve to know that she asked me to help her leave you?” Dex asked.
Roy dropped his gaze.
“She confided that she wasn’t made to live shut up in the house all the time,” Dex went on. “She assured me she wouldn’t try to take the children away from you, but it seemed to me that was just another way of saying she was eager to be free of her responsibilities. She hopes the children will be allowed to go to our school, to socialize. She thought it would be safe to let them do so if she wasn’t in the picture.” He paused. “She feels certain the Fletcher family will help her reestablish herself in her new life. She wants us to offer…how did she put it? Oh yes, ‘money to ensure that she stays silent.’”
“One must give her credit,” Giles said, “for not pussyfooting around.”
Roy covered his face with his hands. No one said anything else for long moments. When he looked up again, he said, “Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea. I mean, just let her divorce me. She’s Carrie’s mother, for God’s sake-”
“Roy,” Giles said gently, “none of us were raised by our birth mothers. This family, more than any other, knows that good parents are more important to a child than biological relationships. Have you forgotten why we dared to take matters into our own hands to create your family? It was for the sake of those children. They needed us. Needed our intervention.”
“Yes, but they were so young then! They accepted change more easily. This will be so hard on them. I was against the idea of divorce before, but compared to the other alternatives…And even if Victoria says she doesn’t want responsibilities, I know she loves the children. She wouldn’t do anything to cause them problems. We could wait a while to make it official, until no one was watching for her. Or even help her establish a new identity.”
“And you think this plan of yours would be easier on your children? To know she’s intentionally abandoned them? To see her once in a while and let her influence their thinking? To abandon them again and again, each time a visit ends? Alienate them from this family?”
“It might not happen that way,” Roy said, dropping his gaze to the floor.
Dex said, “You’ve spent years trying to rescue her, haven’t you, Roy?”
Roy looked up at him.
“You saved her from the low-life scum she was living with when you met her,” Dex said. “You helped her to become free of alcohol and drugs. You wanted children, but she had become infertile. You were ready to adopt, but she must first have her own child. You changed your whole life so that she could be reunited with Carrie.”
“Yes,” said Roy. After a moment he added, “I do see her faults. She can be…difficult. I suppose that’s why I’ve…why I’ve strayed. But I never meant that to lead to something like this.”
“It’s not your fault, Roy,” Dex said. “It’s hers. She was as ready to stray as you were, but you don’t want to abandon the children and blackmail the family in the bargain.”