Chihuahua of the Baskervilles (5 page)

“I think you might have to toss it.”

“All right, scratch that. It was just an idea.”

Cheri knocked on the door frame as she came in. “Are you ready for me?”

“Absolutely,” Angus said. “Have a seat. Michael can show me his interview technique.”

Cheri wore her regular clothes again, but had put little sparkly clips in her hair. She sat next to Michael on the settee and looked at him through her eyelashes. “Ask whatever you want.”

“Do you mind if I record our conversation?”

“Feel free.”

The recorder sat on the coffee table in front of them. Michael leaned forward to switch it on, scooting slightly away from Cheri as he did so. “You said something about a poltergeist.”

She clasped her hands. “When I was fifteen, strange things started happening around the house. The windows opened during the night, which drove my dad nuts, and all the stuff in our cabinets would be rearranged in the morning.”

“Sounds like a prowler,” he said.

She shook her head. “Nothing was missing.”

“Maybe it was one of your brothers or sisters.”

“I’m an only child.” She stared at him a moment. “And I didn’t do it.”

“I didn’t say you did. How long did this go on?”

“A little over two years. When I left home for school, it petered out, so we think I was the focus.”

“Did you have any incidents at school?”

“Once, in the dorm. My roommate and I woke up because we heard drawers opening and closing. I said, really loud, ‘I’m sick of this and I want you to get out!’ After that, it never came back.”

“Well done,” Angus said. “That’s pretty much what a professional would do.”

“A professional what?” Michael asked.

“Ghostbuster.” Angus leaned forward. “Cheri, why do you think Petey appeared to your grandmother?”

She looked at her hands for a few moments. “I don’t know. Maybe because she’s lonely.”

“She has a houseful of people,” Angus said gently.

“I know, but Thomas … Well, Petey was really special. When he was younger, he used to jump into her arms.”

“It’s handy she’s so short,” Michael said.

She smiled. “And when Petey was old and couldn’t jump, he used to put his front paws on her leg and sort of hop until Charlotte picked him up. I know she misses him.”

The sound of raised voices filtered up from downstairs. Michael turned toward the doorway. “What is going on down there?”

“It’s probably Grandpa,” Cheri said bitterly. “He’s always yelling about something.”

Angus and Michael went to the doorway and listened. Across the hallway, Suki appeared in the door to Ivan’s room and did the same.

The wooden staircase made an admirable conduit for Thomas Baskerville’s thunderous tones. “Don’t pander to her, Bob! She’s taking advantage of you—can’t you see that?”

Another man’s voice said, “I know you feel strongly about this, Thomas, but if we’re going to work with Charlotte, we need to stay professional.”

Charlotte’s voice wasn’t raised much, but she sounded harried. “Bob is just a good deal more polite than you, Thomas.”

Michael looked at Angus as Thomas went into another tirade, which included the words
selfish old bitch
. “Should we go down?” he said quietly.

“I think that’s a fine idea,” Angus said, looking grim. “Mrs. Baskerville would probably like to be interviewed about now.” He glanced behind. “Cheri, we’ll be back in a bit.”

Michael and Suki followed Angus as he strode into the hall and went downstairs, making no effort to be quiet.

Thomas and Charlotte stood at the base of the stairs with a much shorter, tubby man, who carried a plastic bucket by the handle. He looked to be in his forties, and wore cotton slacks and an oxford shirt. Wire-framed glasses and a beard gave him the look of a professor.

By the time the
Tripping
crew reached the bottom of the stairs, Thomas Baskerville had fallen silent. His face, already red with anger, flushed darker when he saw the camera in Suki’s hand.

In contrast to Thomas’s mottled skin, Charlotte’s complexion was very pale. She held Lila in her arms, a hand wrapped around the dog’s muzzle. Lila trembled inside her yellow polka-dotted dress, but her eyes glared at Thomas Baskerville.

The stranger nodded in a friendly manner and raised the bucket he held. “I’ll just drop off this batch of the new formula.” It appeared to be full of dog kibble.

“Thank you, Bob.” Charlotte’s voice shook only slightly.

Angus touched her back in a light, comforting gesture. “I believe it’s time for your interview, isn’t it?”

She looked up at him gratefully. “That’s right. I’m sorry if I kept you waiting.”

“Oh, are these the magazine people?” Bob asked. He put down the bucket and offered his hand. “Bob Hume. I’m developing a line of dog food using the açaí berry. Are you familiar with the açaí berry?”

“I have a hat made of açaí leaves,” Suki said. “Don’t the berries have antioxidants or something?”

Bob Hume beamed at her. “My goodness, you’re beautiful. That’s right, the açaí berry contains high levels of antioxidants, which are known to fight cancer. That’s what killed Petey, you know.” He turned to Thomas. “I thought we might call the food Petey’s Pride. Branding is all about telling a story.”

Thomas shook his head angrily. “Get your damn bucket and let’s go. You’re wasting your time talking to these people.”

“It’s never a waste of time talking to people, especially members of the press,” Bob said, turning back to them. “Do any of you have dogs?”

They shook their heads.

“Well, you might someday, and then a high-quality food is a good investment. What you spend on good food, you save on vet bills, and then some.”

Charlotte moved toward the stairs. “If you’ll excuse us, Bob, we need to get going.” She put Lila on the floor. The little dog had calmed during Bob’s lecture.

“It was good to see you, Charlotte,” Bob said.

Angus moved aside to let the others go upstairs first, and wound up standing between Thomas and Bob.

At their feet, Lila sniffed the bucket of kibble and turned away. As she passed in front of Thomas, he drew back his foot as if to kick her.

Angus leaned sideways and bumped Thomas’s shoulder, making him reach for the banister to steady himself. “Sorry, did I nudge you? I can be very clumsy sometimes. It’s a real hazard.” He smiled pleasantly and followed the dog upstairs.

In the upstairs parlor, Suki rummaged through one of her camera bags while Charlotte moved around the room, plumping pillows with quick nervous gestures.

Angus sat next to Michael, on the settee. “Where’s Cheri?”

Michael shrugged. “She was gone when we got here.”

Charlotte finally settled in the chair Ivan had used. Two spots of pink burned in her cheeks. “I’m so sorry you had to see that.” Lila jumped on her lap, and she stroked the dog. “Bob is an old friend of the family’s. He and Thomas want to start a dog-food business together, and they want me to fund it. Len Pendergast is a relative of mine by marriage, so he may have filled you in a little.”

“He was very discreet,” Angus said smoothly.

Charlotte sighed. “Thomas wasn’t always like this, but his family is very proud and … He didn’t have very many challenges growing up.” She smiled. “Whereas I was the daughter of an alterations tailor.”

“How did you and Thomas meet?” Angus asked.

“We were both in community theater, in New York. Thomas painted sets. He was a bit of an artist and rebel back then, very strong-willed, but then I am, too. For a long time we wanted the same things, so it didn’t matter.”

“What changed?”

“Money.” She smiled slightly. “It all started with a little bug. The Baskerville fortune was in lumber. For a long time Thomas did very well as the head of the company, until the pine-bark beetle destroyed most of the timber. Thomas, trying to diversify, made some investments that didn’t pan out. Then there was a hostile takeover bid. Instead of bowing to the inevitable, he sold many of the family assets, trying to buy enough stock to keep the takeover from happening. But it did, because another family stockholder decided to sell.”

“Ouch,” Michael said.

“I had this house as a bequest from one of Thomas’s aunts who had taken a shine to me. So we moved here to live out our lives on a limited income.”

Angus looked at Lila, in her perky outfit. “But that didn’t happen.”

“No.” Charlotte chucked Lila under the chin, and the dog nosed her fingers. “Shortly after we moved here, Thomas fell into a depression. When he took a double dose of his medications and wound up in the hospital, he swore it was an accident, but I wondered. I bought Petey hoping to cheer him up.” She put Lila down and went to a drop-front desk, where she took a small photo album from the drawer. She handed it to Angus and resumed her seat.

Angus flipped open the cover. “Aww … Look at the wee mite.”

“Wow, Chihuahua puppies are really small!” Michael said, looking at a photo. In it, a smiling Thomas held Petey cupped in one large hand.

Suki came over. “Can I get a shot of you with that picture, Charlotte? It’s all right if you look sad.” She took a few pictures. “Thanks.”

Charlotte handed the album back to Angus. “Petey was irresistible. Thomas taught him to sit and lie down—all the things that made him such a good photography subject later on.”

Angus turned a few pages, then held up a picture that showed Petey wearing a plaid raincoat. “Is this the first outfit you made?”

“No, I bought that one.” She took the book and flipped the pages, then held it out. “This was the first, and I had no idea of selling it.”

The photo showed Petey, grown up and wearing a tuxedo dickey, complete with bow tie. Other dogs and their owners surrounded him, and many of the humans wore party hats. “Thomas was happier after I got Petey,” Charlotte said, “but we had missed our initial opportunity to make friends in the community. I’d spent all my time trying to cheer him up, and people thought of us as a couple who didn’t like to socialize.”

“So you threw a party,” Michael said, looking at the photo.

“A birthday party for Petey. I invited the few people I did know—other dog owners I’d met while out walking. When I brought Petey out in his tuxedo, he was an instant hit. I got a few informal orders that night.”

“How long ago was that?” Angus asked.

“About ten years. I built up a small business on eBay and sent out a funny little newsletter. Still, it was nothing that gave me more than some extra spending money and a hobby. Then came the movie that changed my life.
Hollywood Chihuahua
. Before that, canine fashion was the province of dotty old ladies, like me.” Charlotte smiled. “Turns out, I’d built up a big Web presence mostly by accident. When the media looked around for someone to interview on canine fashion, there I was.” She patted Lila. “Business boomed.”

“But your husband wasn’t happy about your success?” Angus asked.

Charlotte shook her head sadly. “He might have been, but in one of the first magazine articles about me, the reporter had the bad taste to imply that Thomas would be remembered for almost bankrupting the Baskervilles, while I was on my way to restoring the family fortune. The morning after that article appeared, Petey climbed across the bed to say good morning to each of us, as he always did.” She pressed her lips together for a moment. “Thomas pushed him away. I still remember the expression on Petey’s little face—confused and hurt, wondering what he’d done wrong.”

A brief silence ensued, which was broken by a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Charlotte called.

Cheri opened the door and put her head around the corner. “Did you need me for anything more? It’s just that I have a date.”

Angus looked at his watch. “I didn’t realize it was so late.”

Charlotte stood. “I should eat something. I’d ask you to stay for dinner, but we’ve fallen into the habit of fending for ourselves.”

“That’s fine.” Angus handed her the photo album. “We need to scout the local restaurants anyway.” He caught sight of Cheri’s expression. “Don’t worry, lass. We’re not going to invite ourselves on your date.”

She smiled. “But you’ll be here tomorrow?”

He nodded. “Through Saturday. We’re staying for the Emma Crawford Race.”

“Cool. And if you’re looking for a restaurant, I like the Happy Mountaineer.” She pointed toward the front of the house. “Go to Manitou Avenue and head west. You can’t miss it.”

“Can we walk?” Suki asked. “I’m jonesing for some exercise.”

“You can walk to anything in Manitou.” Cheri sounded a little depressed by the fact. She left, closing the door behind her.

“How about you?” Angus asked Charlotte. “Any recommendations on places to eat?”

She stood and put the album back in the desk drawer. “Manitou Springs is too small for a bad restaurant to survive. Wherever you go will be fine.” She put a hand on his sleeve as he turned to go. “While I’m telling you all the family secrets, there’s one other thing you should know.”

Angus raised his eyebrows.

“It’s fine if you take Cheri out to interview her, but don’t buy her a drink.”

“I wouldn’t anyway, seeing as how she’s underage.”

“Thank you.” Charlotte looked at the floor. “Some people are more casual about the law than that, but Cheri is a recovering alcoholic. It’s not that I don’t trust her—I just don’t want temptation put in her way. You know.”

“I do know,” Angus said. “The question is, does her date?”

“That would be Jay, and he’s basically a good boy. The fact is, I can’t put Cheri on a leash.” She picked up Lila and smiled. “Or even dress her up. You’ll be back later this evening?”

Angus nodded. “To see if Petey walks again.”

Six

A painted mountain scene decorated the front of the Happy Mountaineer, and the door handle was fashioned of braided climbing rope.

Angus peered through the door. “It’s not my usual kind of place.”

Michael shrugged. “It looks like a typical college-kid hangout. They probably have good burgers. Hey, there’s a jukebox!”

Angus turned away. “We don’t have to decide this moment. Let’s get a feel for the town.”