Donally, Claire - Cat Nap (A SUNNY & SHADOW MYSTERY)

She sighed as Ben said good-bye and headed out. Like it or not, if Jane really gets in trouble, I’ll have to help her, even if nobody else does—or can. She pressed her lips together very tightly, as if she were holding back a bad taste. Especially if nobody can. That was just the way of things. It was literally where she came from.

Oh, won’t Jane and I have some things to talk about over lunch.

*

Not long afterBen Semple went back on patrol, Jane arrived at the MAX office door. “I thought we could go down the block to Judson’s and pick up some sandwiches there,” she suggested. “My treat.”

Sunny nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

The deli counter was pretty busy—a lot of folks in the area had had the same idea for lunch. Sunny got Black Forest ham and Swiss cheese on rye with honey mustard. Jane got fresh turkey breast, coleslaw, and tomato on a roll.

“You’re brave,” Sunny told her. “If I ordered that, I’d end up with coleslaw on my chin.”

But Jane would probably make it look good, her snarky alter ego added.

They both got lemonades, and Jane snagged a bag of chocolate-covered pretzels. They both headed back down the block to the MAX office. Sunny checked the answering machine and the e-mail. “Okay, no messages, no disasters—let’s eat!”

In moments they’d settled in around Sunny’s desk and unwrapped their sandwiches. “Now what’s this problem with the Portsmouth cops?” Sunny asked.

“It started with a call from that guy Fitch,” Jane said. “He was asking how often it happened that a medical professional broke a hypodermic needle in a patient. I said, quite honestly, I didn’t know. That certainly wasn’t something I’d try to answer off the top of my head. Then he asked if it had ever happened to me.”

Jane took a bite of her sandwich and chewed for a moment. “From the way he asked, I knew that he already had the answer.”

“Which was ‘yes,’” Sunny said.

“It was years ago, when I was just starting out, working with Martin.” Jane looked hard at her sandwich, as if debating which part she’d bite next. “We were treating a big dog, a Shepherd mix. Sometime after his visit, we got a call. The dog wouldn’t eat, was drooling froth, and obviously in some sort of distress.”

Sunny waited till Jane raised her eyes. “That doesn’t sound good.”

Jane responded with a professional’s shrug. “There’s no nice way to say it. Dogs are kind of dopey. They’ll eat stupid things. Cats do it, too, but with them it usually comes right up.” She gave Sunny a rueful smile. “Wait till the weather gets warmer—you’ll see.”

“I can hardly wait,” Sunny said.

“With dogs, especially big ones, the stupid things they eat can cause an obstruction farther along in the digestive system,” Jane went on. “The thing is, in a case like that, you’d expect the dog to be vomiting.”

Sunny put her sandwich down. “This is one hell of a lunchtime conversation.”

“Sorry, that kind of happens when vets talk shop,” Jane apologized. “Look, I’ll try to make it brief. There was obviously something wrong with the dog, and the owners went for another opinion. That vet took an X-ray to see if the problem might be in his mouth or throat. Instead, he found a piece of metal lodged in the muscles of the dog’s neck, near the shoulders.”

“The tip of the needle.” Sunny paused for a second. “But you sound as if this came as a surprise to you.”

“It did,” Jane replied. “And a damned unwelcome one. You see, I’m not the one who gave the shot. Frankly, that’s not an area where a vet should have even made an injection. A broken needle could have migrated through the muscle fibers and in between the vertebrae, causing some real problems.”

“Sounds bad. But you say you didn’t give the shot, so why is it on your record?”

“Martin. He was the one who gave the shot. But he convinced me to take a hit for the team.”

“Because you could get away with a rookie mistake?” Sunny deduced.

“Yeah, just call me young and dumb. And the black mark went against my insurance, not his.”

Definitely young and dumb, Sunny thought. And probably already halfway in love with Martin the Charming Louse.

Jane shook her head. “And now, all these years later, it comes back to haunt me. Even after I divorced Martin—hell, even after he’s dead—I can’t get rid of him!”

“Well, looking on the bright side, you don’t sound like someone who killed him,” Sunny said.

That shocked a laugh out of Jane. “Maybe I should have said that to Trumbull and Fitch, the Portsmouth Manhunters.”

“Or is that Womanhunters?” Sunny joked, but then got more serious. “Somehow, I don’t think that would persuade them.” She paused for a second, trying to choose her next words carefully. “Ben Semple stopped by today.”

“That’s one of the guys who works with Will, right?”

Sunny nodded. “I suppose you know that Trumbull has been asking Will some questions.”

“He mentioned it.” Jane made a face.

“Up to now, it was unofficial. But now he’s gone to Sheriff Nesbit.” Taking a deep breath, Sunny explained the political ramifications. By the time she’d finished, it was clear that Jane had heard only one thing.

“You’re saying Will won’t be able to talk to me anymore?” Jane’s surprise made her look all the more forlorn.

Sunny was afraid that if she answered yes, Jane might just burst into tears. Instead, Jane grabbed her by the arm, talking rapidly. “He’s one of the only people around here who went out in the world and came back to town. Who else can I talk to?” She stumbled over her words for a moment. “I mean, besides you. Folks are polite and everything, but I always feel as if they’re measuring me, seeing if I can really fit in again.”

Tell me about it, Sunny thought.

“Sometimes I can even see it in Rita’s eyes when we’re in the office together.” Jane looked a little embarrassed, but straightened her shoulders and went on. “When times are quiet, I go back to the patient cages. It’s not just to check out the animals staying with us. It’s because, even if they can’t speak, I know that most of them like me.”

“What?” Sunny said in surprise. “Everyone likes you.” The words sort of burst out of her, words she’d thought for most of her life. Everybody likes Jane Leister.

“Once upon a time I might have thought so.” If anything, Jane looked even sadder. “But nowadays they think, ‘There’s that Leister girl who tried to go off, but had to come back home, and still couldn’t hold on to her husband. And we had such high hopes for her.’”

Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. “And now I bet lots of them think I actually killed him!”

Sunny wasn’t quite sure how to handle this kind of confession. Then, summoning up her inner Mary Poppins, she briskly dismissed Jane’s worries. “It’s not just the patients who like you. Anyone who’s brought an animal to you knows what a good vet you are. That you care for their pets and their feelings. I know that, because I’ve seen you with Shadow. And then there’s the work you’re taking on with the foundation. You’ve done a lot for this town, and people know that. And they do like you.”

Sunny picked up her sandwich. “Now let’s stop the shop talk and eat our lunch. I want to get at those chocolate-covered pretzels.”

Jane laughed, but she still wavered on the edge of crying.

Sunny leaned over and patted her on the hand. “You’ve got friends you don’t realize—Ben Semple, for instance. And like it or not, you’ve got me. Will may face all kinds of problems if he talks to you, but that doesn’t stop him from talking to me, and then I can talk to you. I don’t work for Frank Nesbit.”