Paws off the Boss by Casey Griffin (fb2 epub reader .TXT) đź“•
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- Author: Casey Griffin
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“About that …” the inspector said. “I’d like to ask the two of you some questions about what happened tonight. I’d like to interview you both separately.” He gestured to a quiet area on the sidewalk. “Piper, if I could start with you.”
With an exasperated look at Aiden, Piper followed until they were out of earshot. She took a deep breath. Becoming all too familiar with the drill, she explained what happened. It all went down in probably less than ten minutes. Yet, as she told her story, there was so much information to relay that it could have happened over the course of an hour or two.
Yes, she saw the guy start the fire. No, she didn’t see his face. She gave guesstimates about height and weight, but it had been dark, and it had happened so fast. The only helpful thing she could recall that might identify him was that he’d have, she hoped, a large goose egg on his head and a nasty dachshund-bite anklet to match.
Piper watched the inspector scribble his notes onto his pad, serious and attentive. While she relayed her story, two bushy eyebrows with long strands of gray drew together and arched like a pair of thoughtful furry caterpillars crawling quizzically on his face. Already, she had more confidence in Inspector Samuels than she did in Officer Sucker Tucker.
“Now that there’s a detective involved,” she began, “does that mean an actual investigation is under way? Or are you going to tell me to hire a security guard too?”
“I’ve been briefed on this case already. I think that whoever is targeting this property won’t stop.”
She nodded. “I’m starting to get that message.”
“Tonight, you interrupted him before he could finish his task. This could have been much worse.”
Piper remembered the second canister of fuel and grimaced. She thought of the dogs trapped in their kennels as the place burned down around them. “And there might still be a next time.”
The inspector held up a hand. “Now, I’m not saying this to scare you. I’m trying to prepare you for the possibility.”
“You mean the eventuality.”
“We will do everything we can to find and stop whoever is doing this. But after tonight, it’s obvious that he’ll go to any lengths to get you out of this neighborhood, if that is his true motive. If we don’t catch him sooner rather than later …” He didn’t finish.
He didn’t need to.
They could raise funds, rebuild, add new locks, buy a security system, but this guy was going to keep coming.
Her blanket had lost all of its toasty-oven warmth and the soggy cold sank in, deep, seeping into her bones. She thought she would never feel warm again. “Then our only option is to give him what he wants.”
“You don’t need to worry about all of this tonight,” Inspector Samuels said. “You’ve been through enough, and I realize you’ll need to discuss this with the property owner and business manager. In the meantime, we’ll be placing a patrol car outside to monitor the premises twenty-four hours a day for the next while.”
Piper blinked. “Do you think this guy will try something again? So soon?”
“Arsonists have a habit of coming back to see the results of their work. It’s common for them to even return while it’s still burning.”
She examined the crowd gathered outside the police tape, searching each face. Could the arsonist be out there, watching, waiting to try something again? She shivered at the thought.
And to think, she’d been face-to-face with the slimeball, had been so close to seeing him. She might have been able to identify him, to put a stop to all this.
Suddenly, it occurred to her that while she hadn’t seen his face, he might have seen hers. And he could have seen her on the news after the break-in, asking for donations. Maybe that’s why the car had tried to run her over in the alley during her date with Aiden. The guy wasn’t after both of them. Just her.
The inspector had said the arsonist likely wouldn’t give up until he got what he wanted. What if this guy saw Piper as the one standing in his way?
“Hi, Marilyn. It’s Piper. I have some bad news. You remember that dog shelter you asked me to look after? It burned to the ground. Oh, and all those sweet, homeless puppies that were inside? Yeah, they’re horribly traumatized. Hope you’re having a great time on your cruise. Cheers!”
Piper realized she looked odd, pacing back and forth in front of the rescue center, talking to herself—well, to Colin. The cops on surveillance duty across the street studied her from their car. They probably thought she was nuts. Well, actually, she felt a little nuts. Maybe they’d already put in a call to Inspector Samuels to tell him she should be the lead suspect in the arson case.
She wanted to rehearse what to say to Marilyn’s voice mail. To get it just right. Piper still hadn’t been able to get ahold of her since she’d left for vacation. Boy, was Marilyn going to get a bad string of voice mails when she finally checked them.
Piper turned to Colin, who watched her from the front steps. In Colin fashion, he sat just behind the bright yellow tape—police line do not cross—wrapped across the stair rails. Rebel without a cause.
After taking him home from the center the night before, she had assessed him thoroughly, patting him down, manipulating his joints. Or at least, she’d tried to, but he mistook her face for a lollipop. It seemed he’d graciously forgiven her for yelling at him during the fire. Either that or it was his five-minute memory span at work.
After her assessment, she was relieved to discover that other than being a bit sulky—nothing a treat couldn’t fix—he’d fared a lot better than she had. She had more than a limp, but things could have been a lot worse. At least she was alive.
The rest of the animals were fine—physically, anyway. Who knew how the traumatic event would affect them mentally long-term? But at least they were safe.
She’d found temporary homes for most of the guests. A lot of the center’s usual foster families stepped up to help, and a few of the other local shelters had opened their doors until she could figure out something else. Addison was out delivering a few of the guests now. Unfortunately, Zoe was working a wedding gig that weekend. She couldn’t be at the center to help, but she’d sent her love and checked in frequently.
“So?” Piper asked Colin. “What do you think of my speech?”
He grumbled before laying his head down and covering his face with his paws.
“Yup. That’s what I thought. It’s perfect.” Taking her phone out of her pocket, she searched for Marilyn’s number and dialed. She’d hoped—and dreaded—that Marilyn might actually pick up, but like usual, it rang until it went to voice mail. The beep sounded, and, suddenly, anything Piper could say about the fire in a few sentences sounded so inadequate.
Until they caught the person responsible for the attacks, there was no telling how bad things would get. Piper had never felt so helpless, so powerless. It was the worst kind of feeling. However, being thousands of miles away, somewhere in the Caribbean, Marilyn would feel this even more. When Piper thought about what it would be like to get her message, unable to ask questions, she decided less information was better.
“Hi, Marilyn. This is Piper. Listen, I’m not sure when you’re going to get this message. I’ve tried the cruise line a few times, but I can’t get ahold of you. Please call me as soon as you get this, no matter what time it is. Hope you’re having a wonderful vacation. Bye.”
As she hung up, Aiden rounded the corner of the building. He smiled when he saw her. She stopped pacing and took a deep breath, her muscles unknotting themselves.
That morning, she’d dragged her butt out of bed after only a few hours of sleep, wondering how she would get everything done. But then she’d arrived at the center, and Aiden was already there. While she and Addison sorted out temporary homes for the guests, he’d dealt with the business end of things.
To say he’d been amazing was the biggest understatement of the century. Without him, the center might have burned down completely. Hell, she might have died. But she thought it was best not to dwell on that particular anecdote for now.
“I just left Marilyn a voice mail,” she said. “Did you want to leave a message? I could call her back.”
He shook his head. “No, thanks. I e-mailed her earlier.”
“Really? Did she respond? What did you say?” She didn’t like the idea of Marilyn hearing about the fire from anyone else. Piper had been left in charge of the rescue center, so she wanted to be the one to answer for what had happened to it.
“Nothing specific,” he said. “I just had some things to discuss with her about the center.”
“What things, exactly?” Piper asked, aiming for casual.
“Business things,” he said with a tone of finality.
Piper knew he wanted to end it there, but her eyebrows arched. “Business things?”
“Yes.” He countered with an eyebrow of his own. “Marilyn’s business
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