Woof at the Door (7 page)

Charm stood at the far end of the room near a clump of banana trees and grumbled impatiently.

I walked toward her. “Who let you out?”

Open
. Charm slinked behind the giant banana tree and vanished.

I moved to where the large guillotine door was tucked behind the thick foliage of
the trees. The rope holding it open was wrapped tightly around a metal cleat. I ducked
inside and hunch-backed through a short tunnel.

When I emerged on the other side, I straightened and drew in a deep breath. The air
was humid and thick with the scent of moist earth and exotic plants.

A waterfall trickled into a shallow pool. Through the thick canopy, stars sparkled
down through the glass ceiling. Moss-covered logs and orchid-draped trees surrounded
us. I smelled the sweet scent of a night-blooming cirrus and saw a giant one in one
corner. LaBryce had added some great touches since I’d been there last. “I need to
come see you more often.”

But Charm was interested in one thing. She butted her head against my thigh.
Fish!

“Here you go.” I chuckled. “We should have named you Piglet.” I set the pan of fish-meat
down and Charm grumbled contentedly.

“Oh, shit.” In my admiration for the enormous enclosure’s improvements, I had forgotten
that Kai and the others were waiting out front. I walked to the second guillotine
door on the inside wall of the tunnel. I freed its ropes from the cleat, allowing
the door to slide down into place.

I dialed the stored number to give everyone the green light.

Kai answered on the first ring. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are we clear?”

“Come on in. We’re in the enclosure in the back of the house. It looks like someone
left the door open.”

“Walker?”

“No. LaBryce wouldn’t be that careless. Whoever should have been taking care of Charm
screwed up. She wasn’t fed.”

I glanced down at the jaguar, who slurped happily at her dinner.

“Maybe he wanted her to be hungry.”

“I know you don’t believe it, but LaBryce wouldn’t do that.” I looked up and saw Kai
enter the sitting room, still holding the cell phone to his ear. He walked over to
the glass partition and said, “We’re going to be here awhile . . .”

I shrugged. “That’s all right. I’ll stay in here with Charm.”

Kai looked over at the crouching feline, who hardly responded to the men clambering
into the sitting room. “I guess she remembered you.”

“Luckily.”

“You sure you’ll be all right?”

“I will, though I’m not sure my sister’s shoes will survive.” I glanced down at the
dirt-caked sandals and shook my head. “Emma’s going to flip.”

“Are you actually more afraid of your sister than of being mauled by a three-hundred-pound
cat?”

“Cats I can handle.” I looked down at Charm, who had finished her meal and was looking
up at me hopefully. When I glanced back at Kai, he caught my gaze and held it.

“I’m beginning to think you could handle just about anything,” he said.

I flushed at the compliment and the intensity of his gaze. Could I handle loose jaguars?
Yes. Wild horses? No problem. Hot cops? Not so much. Thankful that Kai had turned
his attention to Jake, who had just entered the room, I focused on forcing the blush
out of my cheeks. Kai spoke to Jake for a moment then turned back to me.

“I’ll call you when we finish up.” He was all business now. “Don’t touch anything
in the enclosure. We’ll have to search it, too.”

I nodded and then flipped the cell phone closed. I watched as Kai joined the other
investigators. Damn it, despite my best efforts, I was beginning to like him.

And that scared the hell out of me.

If I liked him, that meant I cared. If I cared, I could get hurt.

I shoved away the thought. I would be able to freeze Kai out. I’d done it before.

I was grateful that, for the moment, I had a distraction. And it would serve as a
reminder why I couldn’t care about Sergeant Kai Duncan. My friend LaBryce Walker was
suspected of not only endangering the lives of police officers by leaving his jaguar
out, but murder. I didn’t believe he was guilty of either.

As luck would have it, I knew someone I could ask.

“Come here, Charm.” I led the cat away from the glass. I picked up the steel tray,
flipped it over, and set it on a log to use as my seat. At least it kept Emma’s dress
from getting any more grime on it.

I took the cat’s head in my hands and looked straight into her large, intelligent
eyes. “Now, tell me what happened last night.”

CHAPTER 6

I watched Kai from where I sat on the large damp log. He snapped off his latex gloves,
his face lined with frustration. The cops had come up empty. It had taken them four
hours to figure out what I already knew. There was no murder weapon in the house.

I’d been sitting on that log for a long time wondering how I was going to convince
Kai, or Jake, or any cop, for that matter, that the reason they hadn’t found the gun
that killed Mark Richardson was very simple. LaBryce didn’t shoot him. He had spent
the night snoring on the couch with a jaguar pillow.

I still hadn’t come up with a way to explain this to the police. I couldn’t tell them
the truth—that the
cat
had told me what had happened the night before.

From what I could gather, LaBryce had come home earlier than normal and let her out
of her enclosure. He’d made himself several drinks and passed out on the couch, resting
his head on her side.

Apparently, this morning LaBryce had been hungover and irritated that the person who
was supposed to be preparing meals for Charm and taking care of her when he left was
not there. She called him “Foodman,” for obvious reasons. Charm showed me his face,
which was no help because I had never seen him before.

In Foodman’s absence, LaBryce had fed her something she had never had before—from
the description, I thought it had probably been pizza.

After that, he had left and hadn’t come home.

Charm was LaBryce’s alibi. Not exactly something I could tell the cops. The truth
did not always set you free.

I saw Kai walk to a cop who seemed to have been stationed in the room to keep an eye
on me. I guess they wanted to be sure that I didn’t tamper with anything. I understood
the reasoning. But it still wounded my sense of pride to have a babysitter. Maybe
the cops just wanted to be ready if Charm decided she didn’t like me anymore. I looked
down at where she dozed peacefully at my bare feet. With my fancy dress and shoes,
I probably looked like a shipwreck survivor on some tropical island. Except most people
would be eaten alive by the cat that was drooling on my toes.

I heard a light tap on the glass. Looking up, I saw Kai pointing to his cell. I guess
he didn’t want to call me and startle the sleeping jaguar. I picked up my phone and
called him.

He answered as soon as it rang. “Hey, you ready to get out of there?” he asked.

“If she’ll let me leave.” Charm looked up and I leaned over to stroke the huge spotted
head. “Let me say my good-byes and I’ll be right out.”

I hung up and was aware that Kai was watching me as I petted and talked to the jaguar.
I leaned in close to the big cat’s ear and promised to be back soon. I slowly massaged
her neck and allowed myself to feel her utter satisfaction.

I placed my forehead against the jaguar’s and closed my eyes. “I’m going to make sure
you are fed and have someone to look after you until this whole mess is sorted out,
okay?”

At the thought of food, Charm plopped a paw on my knee.

“No.”
It’s not time to eat again yet, Miss Piggy.

I stood, ignoring the hopeful look and gentle grumble and walked to the passageway.
I turned to Charm, who had stood up to follow.

“Stay,” I ordered with both my voice and my mind.

I felt ridiculous standing there in the clingy dress pointing my finger at a jaguar
like someone would a misbehaving poodle. But hey, it worked.

I tugged on the ropes and slid the guillotine door open and secured them to the cleat.
I crouched through the passageway, released the ropes on the other side, and lowered
the second door into place.

Kai watched me thoughtfully. “The double doors are obviously a security precaution.
Were both of these doors open when you came in?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“So, chances are, the person who opened them was familiar with both the cat and how
to operate the doors.”

I nodded. “It would be stupid to open the enclosure and free a jaguar you had no control
over.”

Kai picked up a stainless case I assumed contained a bunch of crime-solving paraphernalia,
and we started through the house. As we moved past the loitering police officers who
were standing around the living room, I tried to catch snippets of conversation. Hearing
a familiar gruff curse, I caught sight of Jake standing near the foyer. He was talking
on the phone, and he was not a happy Yankee.

In fact, I’m sure he was muttering a curse in Italian, or a North Americanized version,
at least.

He saw us approach and said, “Look,
sir
, I know you want this case closed and I’m doing—” Jake pressed his lips together
tightly. He started turning an unhealthy shade of red. “How about next time there’s
a warrant to search someone’s house with a
lion
in it, I’ll let you do the honors?” He slapped the phone closed so hard I wondered
if it was still in one piece. “Chief wants to hand this thing to the governor wrapped
up in a pretty little bow.”

“We can’t just wave a magic wand and make evidence appear,” Kai said.

Jake’s gaze settled on me. “We’ve still got one more place to look before we have
to cut Walker loose. Grace, can you come back tomorrow and make sure no one gets mauled?”

I nodded, and Jake’s phone rang. Guess it wasn’t broken after all.

Jake moved back into the house. Before he was out of range, I heard him say, “Yeah,
but I’m still going to nail Walker’s ass for reckless endangerment.”

Kai and I walked through the foyer and stopped at the front door to let two uniformed
officers past. Through the open doorway, I saw half a dozen or more news vans crowding
the street.

I was glad Kai had parked his truck inside the perimeter. The last thing I wanted
to do was fight my way through a crowd of reporters.

“How’d the media know to come here?” I asked.

“Scanners. I’m sure someone overheard what was going on with Charm. A wild jaguar
on the loose. A famous football player suspected in the murder of the governor’s son.
It’s a reporter’s dream.”

I folded my arms and glared at the crowd. This was not good. LaBryce would be put
on trial by the media before he was even charged. I had to think of a way to explain
that he was innocent. But how? I’d thought myself around in this circle all night
and was starting to feel like a hamster. Running, running, running on the wheel . . .
never getting anywhere.

I was so caught up in the merry-go-round in my mind that I barely noticed Kai pulling
on a new pair of latex gloves. Then I felt something brush my backside.

“What the—” I spun to face him. “What are you doing?”

“Collecting evidence.”

I stared at him doubtfully. “From my . . .”

He held up the hairs he’d pulled from my dress. “We collected hairs very similar to
these from Mark’s body. Hold still.”

Kai placed his case on the ground, opened it, and grabbed a bag. He knelt down beside
me and carefully began brushing more hairs off into the bag. I felt myself tense in
response to the way his hand seemed to linger longer than it needed to. Normally this
sort of liberty would infuriate me. I waited for the glacial calm to descend, for
the biting comment to come to my lips, but instead, I felt a stir of heat where he
had touched me.

“Sorry. I just need enough to do a comparison.” He was still kneeling at my hip, and
when he grinned up at me, his eyes held just enough glimmer to tell me he’d gotten
more than enough hairs but not nearly enough touching.

I tried my best to give him an arch look. “Did you enjoy that?”

He stood, holding my gaze. “Yes. It’s always nice to find evidence in unexpected places.”

There was a rumble overhead, and I remembered the line of storms I’d seen earlier.

“Come on, before it starts to rain.”

We hurried out of the house toward the driveway, quickening our steps as the first
raindrops began to fall. Florida thunderstorms are not known for their gentle rain
and light breezes. It only took an instant for the sparse, fat drops to become a deluge.
The gusting winds made us stagger on our race to the truck.

We leapt inside, slamming the doors closed. I could feel rainwater trickling in little
rivulets all over me. It dripped from my hair, which had come loose and was plastered
like a wet cape to my shoulders.

The thin material of the aqua dress clung to my breasts and upper thighs. In the movies
this would be sexy. I felt like a drowned ferret.

“Great.” I shivered, goose bumps marching over my skin.

“Here.” Kai reached over and opened the glove box. His arm brushed over my thigh as
he did and he froze for a moment. “Napkins,” he said, finally seeming to remember
what he was doing. “I always keep some in here.”

I took the paper napkin and wiped the rain off my face and arms.

I noticed Kai watching me as I dabbed at the hollow of my neck, then my upper chest.
Apparently he didn’t think I looked so bad.

Glancing at him, I asked, “What?” My voice was a little breathy and I can honestly
say that shocked me.

“I’ve never wanted to be a piece of tissue paper before, but at the moment, it seems
like a great idea.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. But I felt heat rush to my face.

Kai seemed to shake himself mentally and turned away. He started the truck and backed
out of the driveway. Winding through the swarm of reporters, who were apparently undeterred
by the rain, he turned away from the house and headed back into town.

After a few minutes of awkward silence marked only by the swish of windshield wipers
and driving rain, I decided to try to break the tension that had settled like fog
in the small cab.

“Beside the hairs, did you find anything?”

“Not yet.” Kai seemed to relax. Maybe he was glad I hadn’t commented on his tissue
paper remark.

“But you think you will?”

“We still have one place in the house we haven’t covered.”

“Charm’s enclosure.”

Kai nodded and glanced at me. “Do you think you can meet me at the house tomorrow
morning at nine?”

I lifted a shoulder. “Sure, but you’ll just be wasting your time.” I had to tread
lightly here.

“You seem to be pretty certain of that.”

“I am. I know LaBryce. And I’m telling you, whatever information you have that made
you think he’s involved is faulty.”

“LaBryce Walker and Mark Richardson got into a fight the night of the murder.”

I thought of the man Jax had remembered when we had been at the beach that morning.
LaBryce.

“So? People get in fights all the time. Especially at parties when drinking is involved.”

“LaBryce threatened to kill Mark.”

I found this utterly shocking. “LaBryce and Mark were friends.”

“Not according to the latest issue of
Sports Illustrated
. Mark was quoted in an interview saying
he thought LaBryce was done. That he had lost his edge and hoped the team could survive
another year with him as running back.”

Ouch. “I don’t get it. LaBryce told me he was the one who talked the coaches into
signing Mark in the first place.”

“You don’t think people toss each other under the bus all the time, even if they’re
supposed to be friends?”

I knew they did. One more reason to stick with animals. Animals are much more civilized.
The thought made me laugh out loud.

At Kai’s questioning glance, I said, “That just reminds me of why I love my dog.”

We drove for a while in silence. Though this time, it was more companionable. I worried
about the person responsible for taking care of Charm’s meals. I’d barely been able
to scrape up enough to feed her dinner; she’d be hungry again in the morning.

“Kai, would it be possible for me to talk to LaBryce?”

“Why?”

“I need to talk to him about Charm. If I’m going to take care of her in the morning.”

Kai seemed to think about it for a long time. I’m not sure if he was becoming suspicious
of me again or if he just didn’t want to go through the trouble.