Oodles of Poodles (28 page)

“Everything okay, Lauren?” The expression on the handyman’s face looked guilty, as if he anticipated that I was about to chew him out for letting the dogs loose—despite my telling him to do so in the first place.

“Everything’s fine,” I told him. “You did the right thing.” I hesitated. “Everything is okay, isn’t it? I mean, all the dogs are back where they belong?”

“Sure. I checked. And then I checked again. But you looked so upset that I was worried.”

I made myself give a quick laugh. “Then you’re always worried,” I joked. “Don’t I always look upset?”

He laughed a little, too. “If you say so. Mostly, I’d say you almost always look stern, like you take everything around here seriously. That’s the right way to be.”

I wanted to hug him. Instead, I shot him a genuine smile. “You looking for a raise, Engersol?”

“You giving me one, Vancouver?”

“Tell you what. Be my extra set of eyes there, where our volunteers are still giving tours. I’ll be back outside soon.”

I edged around him, then turned to see Pete approaching the nearest group, the animal handlers.

He had helped my mood, at least a little. But I still wanted another perspective on this crowd.

Maybe, somehow, I’d still get the view I wanted.

“So how are the cameras working?”

Brooke and Antonio sat side by side on chairs, arms touching, at the small desk in the downstairs security office,
watching a computer screen. I felt a bit like an interloper as I joined them. But I had only caught them doing security work, nothing racy. Besides, they knew I was coming.

I took a position behind them, peering over Brooke’s shoulder at the black-and-white pictures. The controls allowed the observer to choose which camera to monitor, or even post several of the videos on the screen at one time. That’s what they had going now—the pictures from both cameras panning over the newer area of HotRescues.

“They’re doing a good job,” Brooke said. “We watched the dogs get loose, with Pete’s help. If he hadn’t been under orders to do that, we’d have been on his case pretty much instantaneously.”

“Great. He seems worried now, so give him a pat on the back when you see him.” I leaned over to look more closely at the screen. “Nothing looks much different from when I left.”

Brooke looked up with her smiling amber eyes. “You expect all hell to break loose when you walk away?”

“No. I was just hoping that a certain visitor would look up toward the camera and shout that not only had he been here before, but he’d let the dogs loose last time. And then confess to murder.”

Antonio laughed. “Good thing cops don’t have your kind of expectations, Lauren, or we’d all be nuts in no time.”

“Isn’t that a given—to become a cop, you have to be nuts?”

We all shared a laugh, but only momentarily. I’d noticed something and bent over Brooke’s shoulder, staring at the screen.

“Did you see that?” I all but gasped.

“Well, hell. You may not be getting your entire wish, Lauren,” Antonio said, “but looks like at least part of it’s coming true.”

Jerry Amalon was standing beside Elena, right outside the last kennel run before the cat house. Inside was Fletcher, a Lab mix we’d recently rescued from a high-kill shelter.

Jerry wasn’t looking at Fletcher.

I wasn’t sure what he was looking at. Maybe nothing.

But he’d just looped his arm over his head in the same gesture I’d seen him make at Solario Studios.

The same one, too, that our intruder had made on our security tape a couple of nights ago.

Chapter 29

We all stood at once.

Antonio shot a glare back at Brooke and me. “Let me handle this.”

That was all right with me. He was a cop. He knew the drill as far as approaching a suspect and arresting him.

But wasn’t that premature?

Antonio didn’t look official that day. He wasn’t wearing any kind of uniform, not even a suit. But his T-shirt and jeans could work as an undercover uniform, couldn’t they?

Besides, I was sure he had his badge with him. Wouldn’t he always? That would make him official enough.

I followed the others out of the apartment and down the stairs, then toward the area where Jerry had been captured on the security video.

Antonio’s long legs caused his stride to be a lot faster than either Brooke’s or mine. He was also agile in the way he maneuvered among the
Sheba’s Story
visitors and the HotRescues volunteers. Soon, Antonio reached the kennel housing Fletcher. Jerry still stood there with Elena. They were so involved in a heated conversation that they didn’t seem aware of either the nearest dog—or the arms of justice that were about to embrace Jerry.

“Hi, folks,” Antonio said, interrupting them. He planted himself so close that they couldn’t avoid being aware of his presence. “You’re with that
Sheba’s Story
production, aren’t you?”

“That’s right.” Elena’s expression looked quizzical. “Do you work here at HotRescues?”

“No,” Antonio said. “I’m with the Los Angeles Police Department.” He pulled the badge I knew he’d have with him from his jeans pocket and flashed it. “Are you Jerry Amalon?”

Jerry’s complexion, reddened by whatever Elena and he had been talking about, suddenly faded to blizzard white—an even starker contrast with his black Solario Studios T-shirt. “Yes,” he croaked. Then, more strongly, he asked, “How do you know my name?”

“Why don’t we go somewhere private to discuss that?” Antonio reached to grasp Jerry’s arm.

“What’s this about?” Jerry looked frantically toward me as he resisted Antonio.

“It’s about the last time you were at HotRescues,” I answered coldly, getting an angry glare from Antonio. I suppose he would have preferred that I said nothing. Since
I had, Jerry might now have a little more time to come up with some flimsy excuse.

But Jerry undoubtedly knew just what this was about, so he’d already had plenty of time to come up with whatever story he thought would work.

“Like I told everyone before, this is my first time at HotRescues.” His words ended on a sob, and I noticed he had tears in his eyes.

As much as I like to pride myself on my expertise in reading people, I was taken aback. He sounded, and looked, really genuine.

On the other hand, he was in the film industry. I hadn’t originally thought him to be a wannabe actor, but my opinion had wavered. Even so, he was putting on one heck of a convincing act.

“Why do you think he was here before?” Elena had taken a step forward as if she wanted to protect her coworker. I’d already figured there was something more between them than handling animals together.

Antonio shot me a fierce glare. So did Brooke, who stood behind him. They must have thought I was going to say something about that tell-all gesture.

I knew better.

“That’s something I need to discuss with him,” Antonio said to Elena. Then, directed at Jerry, “Will you please come with me?”

Before he responded, two guys in suits strode up from around the rear corner of the shelter. They were followed by Nina, who looked relieved to see me. She joined me as the two men started talking to Brooke.

That told me who they were.

I moved away from the crowd, whose members from the studio mostly looked bewildered—and curious. I didn’t want them to know what was going on.

“These two men,” Nina whispered to me when we stood near the cat house entry. “They showed me their IDs. They’re from EverySecurity and said they saw something on the monitor they were watching that required a visit.”

I nodded. “They’re right, but Antonio’s in charge, not them.”

Together, we approached where Brooke spoke with the two guys. They, too, had distanced themselves from the crowd. “Thanks for coming, gentlemen,” I said, “but as I’m sure Brooke has told you we have things under control, thanks to the presence of an LAPD detective.”

“But no one—” one of the suits began.

“I’m Lauren Vancouver, head administrator of HotRescues. If you’d like to wait in my office till we see how things go here, that will be fine.”

In fact, I told them I’d walk them there. I’d already suggested that Antonio take Jerry upstairs to the security apartment.

First, though, I looked around at our
Sheba’s Story
visitors. “Excuse us, gang,” I said. “I’ll be back with you in a few minutes, but for now our volunteers will take you to see anything else at HotRescues that you think may be helpful for the rest of the filming. Okay?” I didn’t wait to find out if it was okay but started walking the EverySecurity guys toward the front of my shelter.

Once we were out of earshot, I learned from them that
they had indeed been watching the monitors in real time, as directed by Brooke. Though that gesture Jerry made when he broke in here had been kept secret from the
Sheba’s Story
crew and the media, our security company personnel were well aware of it.

They also knew that our security director Brooke had a direct in with the cops.

“So you see,” I said as we reached the ground floor of the main building, “I’m not sure what you can do right now to help. But I’ll make sure Antonio knows that you stand ready to do whatever the police need from you.”

The two men looked irritated, but they apparently knew when they weren’t wanted.

“All right,” said the older one with the least amount of gray hair. “But you’ll let Mr. DeFrancisco know that EverySecurity was here?”

“Sure,” I said. I met Nina’s eye. She had followed us in here. “Please show these gentlemen out.”

“Of course.” She inserted herself between them. “You know, you’re welcome back here anytime. We appreciate your monitoring HotRescues so well these days.” That was a dig about the old days when they had screwed up. “And anytime you or any of your friends or family are interested in adopting a dog or cat, please come and meet some of the best available pets around.”

With that, she opened the door. With a last glower, both men left.

“Thanks,” I told her.

“Is Dante going to be okay with this?” she asked, looking worried.

“Sure,” I said. “His instructions were that I should be sure Antonio knew what I wanted to try by inviting the
Sheba’s Story
gang, so he could either be here or send other cops. Antonio is questioning Jerry even as we speak.” I filled Nina in on Jerry’s telling gesture. “Both Brooke and Antonio, and the EverySecurity folks, saw it on their security camera monitors. Having EverySecurity involved was another of Dante’s requests. I’m sure they’ll follow up to make sure that Dante is happy with their reaction.”

“Okay. Did Dante say anything else?”

“Only that I had to be careful.” I didn’t mention that I was supposed to keep myself surrounded by other people. She was with me now. I’d make sure I didn’t put myself in harm’s way, but how could I now, with our suspect being interrogated by the police?

“You will be careful, won’t you, Lauren?” Nina stood straight, clutching the side of the welcome desk with one hand as if supporting herself in case my answer was negative.

But it was positive. “Of course I will. I’m always careful.”

I stopped in my office to get Zoey as I passed by. Her company would be more gratifying than any of the visitors’. I liked Grant well enough and definitely valued his protective attitude about animals. I hadn’t developed much of an opinion about Mick Paramus, and I wasn’t wild about R. G. I thought Cowan a bit too chilly to be the best animal trainer. And I was a lot less fond now of Winna and her assistant handlers. That probably wasn’t fair. They weren’t all responsible for what one of their number did.

Rather than joining them all outside again, I decided to do a little eavesdropping. Fortunately, Zoey was a quiet dog unless there was something for her to bark about. She and I both entered the downstairs security office in the center building. Upstairs was Brooke’s apartment, and I heard voices coming from there.

I quickly led Zoey into the security room, hoping that the insulation was bad enough to let me hear what was being said. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.

For a moment, I pondered trying to sneak unobtrusively upstairs. First, I had an urge to view once more what had given rise to my mixed feelings of vindication and anger against Jerry.

His stupid gesture.

Stupid in more ways than one. It looked nerdy and dumb. He’d also used it twice in condemning circumstances.

On impulse, I sat at the desk and clicked on the monitor, then scrolled back through the camera footage until I found it—Jerry standing beside Elena, right outside Fletcher’s kennel, apparently engrossed in a discussion.

Jerry looked flummoxed—enough that a nervous gesture like the one he’d made hadn’t been out of line.

Elena, who usually appeared airy and excited to me, looked emotional, although I couldn’t read what emotion it was. Anger? She seemed to be sidling up close to Jerry. He’d move back, and she’d do it again.

And then that gesture.

I’d watched this before, of course. Seen it in person while outside.

Then, my eyes had been on Jerry. But this time…I
looked at Elena. There was just a touch of a smile on her face that immediately evaporated. Like the emotion of their conversation, I wasn’t really able to read it.