Rex Stout - In the Best Families

“I'll come. Is it one of your dogs? Or-

He had started for the stairs, but halted. “No. Sarah's-my cousin's. He was there to-night, you saw him. His face twitched. “By God, look at him! Getting here with that knife in him! I gave him to her two years ago; he's been her dog for two years, but when it came to this it was me he came to. By God!

He went for the stairs and up, and I followed. Over the years there have been several occasions when I needed to get some clothes on without delay, and I thought I was fast, but I was still in my room with a shoe to lace when Leeds' steps were in the hall again and he called in to me, “Wait downstairs. I'll be back in a minute.

I called that I was coming, but he didn't halt. By the time I got down to the little square hall he was gone, and the outside door was shut. I opened it and stepped out and yelled, “Hey, Leeds!

His voice came from somewhere in the darkness. “I said wait!

Even if he had decided not to bother with me there was no use trying to dash after him, with my handicap, so I settled for making my way around the corner of the house and across the gravelled rectangle to where my car was parked. Getting the door unlocked, I climbed in and got the flashlight from the dash compartment. That put me, if not even with Leeds for a night outdoors in the country, at least a lot closer to him. Relocking the car door, I sent the beam of the flash around and then switched it off and went back to the side door of the house.

I could hear steps, faint, then louder, and soon Leeds appeared within the area of light from the hall's window. He wasn't alone. With him was a dog, a length ahead of him, on a leash. As they approached I courteously stepped aside, but the dog ignored me completely. Leeds opened the door and they entered the hall, and I joined them.

“Get in front of her, Leeds said, “a yard off, and stand still.

I obeyed, circling.

“See, Hebe.

For the first time the beast admitted I was there. She lifted her head at me, then stepped forward and smelled my trousers legs, not in haste. When she had finished Leeds crossed to where the dead dog lay on the bench, made a sign, and

Hebe went to him.

Leeds passed his fingertips along the dead dog's belly, touching lightly the smooth short hair. “Take it, Hebe.

She stretched her sinewy neck, sniffed along the course his fingertips had taken, backed up a step, and looked up at him.

“Don't be so damn' sure, Leeds told her. He pointed a finger. Take it again.

She did so, taking more time for it, and again looked up at him.

“I didn't know they were hounds, I remarked.

“They're everything they ought to be. I suppose Leeds made some signal, though

I didn't see it, and the dog started towards the door, with her master at the other end of the leash. “They have excellent scent, and this one's extraordinary. She's Nobby's mother.

Outside, on the slab of stone where we had found Nobby, Leeds said, “Take it,

Hebe, and when she made a low noise in her throat as she tightened the leash, he added: “Quiet, now. I'll do the talking.

She took him, with me at their heels, around the corner of the house to the gravelled space, across that, along the wall of the main outbuilding, and to a corner of the enclosed run. There she stopped and lifted her head.

Leeds waited half a minute before he spoke. “Bah. Can't you tell dogs apart?

Take it!

I switched the flashlight on, got a reprimand, and switched it off. Hebe made her throat noise again, got her nose down, and started off. We crossed the meadow on the trail to the edge of the woods and kept going. The pace was steady but not fast; for me it was an easy stroll, nothing like the race Leeds had led me previously. Even with no leaves on the trees it was a lot darker there, but unless my sense of direction was completely cockeyed we were sticking to the trail I had been over twice before.

“We're heading straight for the house, aren't we? I asked.

For reply I got only a grunt.

For the first two hundred yards or so after entering the woods it was a steady climb, not steep, and then a levelling off for another couple of hundred yards to the start of the easy long descent to the edge of the Birchvale manicured grounds. It was at about the middle of the level stretch that Hebe suddenly weni crazy. She dashed abruptly to one side, off the trail, jerking Leeds so that he had to dance to keep his feet, then whirled and came back into him, with a high thin quavering noise not at all like what she had said before.

Leeds spoke to her sharply, but I don't know what he said. By then my eyes had got pretty well accommodated to the circumstances. However, I am not saying that there in the dark among the trees, at a distance of twenty feet, I recognised the blob on the ground. I do assert that at the instant I pressed the button of the flashlight, before the light came, I knew already that it was the body of

Mrs Barry Rackham.

This time I got no reprimand. Leeds was with me as I stepped off the trail and covered the twenty feet. She was lying on her side, as Nobby had been, but her neck was twisted so that her face was nearly upturned to the sky, and I thought for a second it was a broken neck until I saw the blood on the front of her white sweater. I stooped and got my fingers on her wrist. Leeds picked up a dead leaf, laid it on her mouth and nostrils, and asked me to kneel to help him keep the breeze away.

When we had gazed at the motionless leaf for twenty seconds he said, “She's dead.

“Yeah. I stood up. “Even if she weren't, she would be by the time we got her to the house. I'll go-

“She is dead, isn't she?

“Certainly. I'll-

“By God. He got erect, coming up straight in one movement. “Nobby and now her.

You stay here-. He took a quick step, but I caught his arm. He jerked loose, violently.

I said fast, “Take it easy. I got his arm again, and he was trembling. “You bust in there and there's no telling what you'll do. Stay here and I'll go-

He pulled free and started off.

“Wait! I commanded, and he halted. “But first get a doctor and call the police.

Do that first. I'm going to your place. We left that knife in the dog, and someone might want it. Can't you put Hebe on guard here?

He spoke, not to me but to Hebe. She came to him, a darting shadow, close to him. He leaned over to touch the shoulder of the body of Mrs Barry Rackham and said, “Watch it, Hebe. The dog moved alongside the body, and Leeds, with nothing to say to me, went. He didn't leap or run, but he sure was gone. I called after him, “Phone the police before you kill anybody! stepped to the trail, and headed for Hillside Kennels.

With the flashlight I had no trouble finding my way. This time, as I approached, the livestock barked plenty, and, hoping the kennel doors were all closed tight,

I had my gun out as I passed the runs and the buildings. Nothing attacked me but noise, and that stopped when I had entered the house and closed the door.

Apparently if an enemy once got inside it was then up to the master.