Дебора Хоу - Howliday Inn

“Well, then Harrison let out a big sigh and shook his head. ‘Maybe I’m just not cut out for this racket,’ he said. ‘First I thought it was Louise. After all, she’s pretty fancy-looking. But then once I got her home … I don’t know … she didn’t look so unusual. And then I looked back in her file and found out she’s not even a purebred. So I figured I had the wrong one! Well, it’s not so bad with her. I mean, I made it look like she escaped. I can just bring her back anytime I want. Meanwhile, she’s not having such a bad time of it over at my pad. Watching TV all day, eating leftover Chinese food. What could be better? So, I went back to the files, and I read up on you, see? And I remembered what Doc said about you. And I figured you ’re the one. But, now, I don’t know …’ And he just stared at me some more, his face growing more and more perplexed.

“And then he said something that really frightened me. ‘Too bad I made it look like you’d been poisoned. After all, I can’t bring you back from the dead, can I? If you’re not the one, we’re both in trouble. Of course,’ he added with a chuckle, ‘you’ll be in more trouble than me, but …’

“Well, I felt like running for the window then and there, but I was determined to see it through. What did he mean by ‘the one’? Who was he after and why? I purred even more loudly. ‘Hey, you’re real friendly, aren’t you?’ he said. And then, reflecting back on his problems, he added, ‘If only I’d heard the rest of that phone conversation.’ He paused a minute and then looked me squarely in the eyes, as if he’d heard me asking him to explain.

“ ‘See, Chester, it’s like this. I heard Doc saying to somebody on the phone that they shouldn’t worry, that he knew how valuable they were and he’d take good care of them. But I never heard who he was talking about. I figured once I knew, I’d kidnap whoever it was, see? Make a mint, blackmail or something. You know? But how am I going to make a penny if I can’t figure out who it is I’m supposed to kidnap?’ Well, naturally, I knew right away who he was talking about.”

“You did?” I asked.

“You did?” Taxi echoed. “Who was it?”

“And how did you know?”

“The thing about criminals is, no matter how smart they are, they’re always just a little bit dumb. And that’s where they get tripped up. Harrison hadn’t even noticed that Greenbriar had said ‘them.’ So, obviously, he was talking about more than one animal. And since I knew that Howard and Heather were purebred wire-haired dachshunds (with the possibility of having been crossbred with werewolves, of course, which would only increase their value), I knew that they were the ones he was after.

“Later that afternoon, when Harrison was busy putting food into the dinner bowls, I made a run for the window, hoping to get out and warn Howard and Heather. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open wide enough so I got stuck halfway through. Harrison pulled me back in and closed the window.

“ ‘Nice try,’ he said to me, ‘but you aren’t going anywhere.’ It was then that I had the inspiration to scratch out the message on the bottom of your food dish, Harold. I could only hope that you would be having one of your rare fits of intelligence when you ate dinner that night.

“Anyway, after he fed everyone, he put me back inside the cage and went home.”

“But when…”

“I’m getting to it,” Chester said. “He came back later that evening in a state of great agitation. ‘I’ve got to find the answer,’ he said. He pulled out all the files and started to look through them. I went into my purring number again, hoping he’d take me out of my cage so I could read over his shoulder. It worked. ‘Just don’t try to go anywhere this time,’ he said. He needn’t have worried. I was much more interested in finding out what more I could from the files. When he got to Heather’s, there it was in nice, bold print: ‘pregnant, due to deliver soon.’ I looked at Harrison. How could he miss it? I thought.

“Then the phone rang. It was Jill, calling to remind him about the very thing we’d just read in the file. ‘Yeah, I know she’s going to give birth soon, Jill,’ he said. ‘Don’t worry, it’s a natural thing. Happens all the time.’ Then she said something that stopped him dead in his tracks. He just stood there, his mouth hanging open. When at last he spoke, he said, ‘Yeah, yeah. I heard you. Valuable. Of course, I know they’re valuable. Don’t worry. They’ll be fine. Just fine.’ He hung up the phone and ran for the door. ‘That’s it!’ he cried. ‘It’s them! And all those little puppies in the bargain. I’ll make a fortune selling them off!’ He was so excited he ran out of the door without noticing what had become of me. Naturally, I was fast on his heels.”

“And that’s when you woke me,” I said. It was more a statement than a question.

“That’s when I tried to wake you,” he answered. “It wasn’t so easy.”

Taxi looked dumbfounded. “He was going to sell Howard’s and Heather’s babies?” he uttered. “But what about them? What was he going to do with Howard and Heather?”

Chester shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe sell them, too. Maybe keep them locked up somewhere. Or perhaps, once he’d made his money selling the kids, dispose of the evidence.”

“Wow,” Taxi said, “that Harrison isn’t such a nice guy.”

“You can say that again,” I concurred.

“Wow, that Harrison isn’t such a—”

“Chester,” I went on, “there are still some things I don’t understand.”

“For instance?”

“Well, for instance, what about Max and Georgette? If they didn’t murder Louise, why were they planning to escape? Weren’t they going to run away together?”

To my surprise, it was Taxi who answered. “If you hadn’t been so busy suspecting everyone, Harold, you could have figured that one out a long time ago. They were planning to go look for Louise and bring her back. Max was convinced she’d run away because of him. Georgette felt terrible, too, so she suggested they go look for her together.”

“You mean there was nothing between them?”

“No, of course not,” Taxi said.

“Georgette is a bit of a flirt, that’s all,” Chester added, as if it had never been his idea in the first place that she and Max had murdered Louise.

“So Harrison took Louise,” I said softly, letting it sink in. “But how? You said you never saw anybody cross the compound that night.”

“That’s right,” replied Chester. “That was what had me stumped. Then you said something that made it all fall into place. And that’s when I knew Harrison was the culprit. Do you remember? You said that whoever did it would have gotten very wet.”

“Yes, I remember saying that,” I said, “but I don’t see what that has to do with—”

“It made me think of the towels Harrison and Jill had used to dry us off.”

“So?” I asked. “I still don’t see—”

“Harrison wrapped Louise in a towel right while she was eating dinner and took her inside with him. No one saw her disappear. All they would have seen if they’d bothered to look was Harrison carrying a used towel into the office. And because it was already dark, no one even knew Louise was gone until the morning.”

“And he made sure that her door and the gate were left open. Hmm, pretty clever,” I admitted. “He really made it look as if Louise had escaped. And that it was all Jill’s fault. I was even beginning to think it was her.”

“Sure. And do you remember that day they were cleaning the storage shed?” Chester asked. Taxi and I nodded. “Well, Harrison remembered, too. And he remembered that Jill had dropped some garbage inside the compound. He was able to use that later when he told her he’d found a container of rat poison near my bungalow. Just as he wanted her to, she believed she’d dropped it. And that her carelessness had resulted in my death.”