A Dog's Life

by Myra Love

       Chapter X 

When we got back to the waiting area Ruth was sitting calmly, hands folded in her lap.  She smiled at us and said thank you to me when I handed her a cup of coffee with cream and two sugars, just the way she liked it.  “You know, Andy, I could get used to living with you close by.  You’re such a considerate young man.”

I blushed, thinking the comment was really a dig at Donald.  That was when I realized he wasn’t there.

“He went back to the chief’s house,” Ruth grumbled.  “But not before I gave him a piece of my mind, as you well know.”  She frowned.  “I’m sorry you had to hear all that, Andy.  I don’t like to display the family’s dirty laundry to…”  She smiled then.  “I was going to say strangers, but you’re really not a stranger.  You’re my son-in-law-to-be.”  She looked up at Lisa briefly and looked quickly away, saying softly, “I suppose we ought to have a talk soon, Lisa.”  She sighed deeply, and Lisa came over to her and put a hand on her arm.  “Whenever you want, Mom.  You know I’m here for you.”

Ruth wrinkled her nose,  “I wish you wouldn’t talk psychobabble at me, Lisa.  I’m well aware that you’re here and not somewhere else.  Otherwise I wouldn’t be talking to you.”

I wanted to laugh, but didn’t, since I  could feel Lisa prickle.  She frowned for a second, but then said, “Point taken.  I shall try to do better.”

Ruth made eye contact with her and smiled back hesitantly.  “This isn’t easy for me.”

Lisa nodded.  “You don’t have to say anything.”

“Maybe I should call the station,” I said, thinking they’d talk more freely with me out of earshot.

“You don’t need to leave, Andy,” Ruth replied.  “I just want to apologize to Lisa.  I’m sure you know that I’ve always favored Donald.  But she’s been the one who took care of Ralph and me the best that she could.”  Her eyes were wet.  “Donald was my baby, you see, but he didn’t turn out as good as Lisa.”

“Donald will be all right,” Lisa said, her hand still on Ruth’s arm.  “Andy was a wild one too when he was younger, and look at him now.”

Ruth smiled, but it cost her effort.  “Andy is good, Lisa, but I’m afraid I haven’t been, at least not to you.”  She sat back.  “That makes me feel funny about Andy’s offer.  He didn’t talk to you about it beforehand, did he?”

I could see Lisa considering the implications of her answer.  Then she simply told the truth.  “No, he didn’t.  But I’m glad he made the offer.  I couldn’t have asked him to, you know.”

Ruth nodded.  “I know.  But now you can’t very well take it back, can you?”

Lisa laughed softly.  “No, but I don’t want to take it back.  I love idea that you and dad might share a house with us.”

Ruth smiled.  “Well, we’ll see what Ralph says.  He’s stubborn, you know.  He might consider it an indignity to be dependent on his daughter and son-in-law.”

Lisa looked at me for help, so I chimed in, “We hope he won’t be dependent for a long time to come.  But if and when he is, who better to be dependent on than us?”

Ruth thought for a few seconds about what I’d said.  Then she nodded again.  “You’re kind of old-fashioned, you know, Andy Searle. You and Lisa both.”

I grinned.  “Except that she has a new-fangled idea about keeping her last name instead of becoming Mrs. Searle.”

To my surprise, Ruth, who’d been more appalled at that than anyone, just giggled.  “Oh, she’ll be Mrs. Searle all right.  But she’ll be Ms. Dunn too, especially when she signs her artworks.  Isn’t that right, Lisa?”

Lisa hugged her mother.  “You’re the best, mom,” she said softly.

Ruth hugged her back.  As I watched the two of them, I was almost grateful that Ralph had taken ill.  I didn’t want him to be sick, but at least some good was coming out of the latest Dunn family crisis.  I was grateful for that.  My thoughts were interrupted by a loudspeaker announcement.  Visiting hours were over.

Ruth had asked permission to stay overnight, but the hospital didn’t have the facilities to put up guests, so we drove her back to the farm.  Lisa offered to stay, but Ruth insisted she’d be fine by herself.  I wasn’t so sure.  Lisa reminded me that Ruth had spent years working nights as the only adult present at a residence for disturbed kids, but I thought that was different from staying alone out in the middle of nowhere when her husband was in the hospital.

“Don’t worry, Andy,” Ruth said, putting a friendly hand on my arm as she left my cruiser.  “I’m too tired to do anything except fall into bed.  I’ll be fine.”

Lisa and I drove into the night.  She wanted to stay with me. We would pick up Ruth in the morning and drive back to the hospital.

“Don’t you think it’s about time you checked for messages?” Lisa asked once we were back in town.  “Or would you rather stop at the station and see what’s up?”

I had almost forgotten about Mattie and Jim and the investigation.  I switched on my phone and found a message from the chief telling me I’d done well and the case was now closed.  “The computers came back from the state lab, but nothing turned up,” his voice buzzed in my ear.  “I’ve got Clausen’s computers now, and I’m almost sure the lab will find what we’re looking for on one of them.  But that’s almost beside the point.  I hope Ralph Dunn is all right.  Call in when you get a chance, Andy.”

Lisa had a quizzical look on her face when I closed my phone.  I sighed.  “Chief says the canine abduction is solved, but he didn’t share any details.  I guess I’ll find out soon enough.  But right now, I’m dog-tired.”
She obliged with a snicker as we turned onto my street.

The next morning we woke up a little before six.  Lisa offered to make pancakes.  She wasn’t a great cook, but her pancakes were usually okay, so I accepted her offer and went into the bathroom to shave.  I heard the phone, but since Lisa didn’t come to get me, I assumed it wasn’t for me.  When I went out into the kitchen, the pancakes were just about done.

“My mom just called.  She has a ride to the hospital, so we’re supposed to meet her there.”

“Great!” I said, putting syrup and butter out on the table.  “Who’s driving her?”

Lisa shrugged as she filled a plate with pancakes.  “She didn’t say.”

As far as I knew, Ruth Dunn didn’t have any friends.  But I was so glad not to have to drive out to the farm that I didn’t pursue the matter.

“She said the friend brought breakfast to the farm.  She sounded pretty thrilled.”

I chuckled, as I poured out the syrup.  “A secret admirer?”

Lisa sniffed.  “Get real!  My mom is totally dependent on dad and the Dunn family for social contact.”

By half-past six I’d washed up the way I always did when Lisa cooked.

“Ready?” I asked.

She picked up her bag.  “Lead the way, driver!”

Ruth was sitting in exactly the same place she’d sat the day before.  Again, her hands were folded in her lap.  But she had a satisfied smile on her face.  I looked around but didn’t see anyone else.

“They’re in with him,” she announced.  “The doctors have already been and said he needs a bypass and a pacemaker.”

“They?” I asked.  “Not the doctors?”

“Go on in and see,” Ruth urged with an enigmatic smile.  “They’re expecting you.  She’s been telling Ralph what to do.  Just like old times.  And she brought Donald out to the farm.  He was actually polite.  Can you imagine?’

I wasn’t sure, but I had a good idea who the unnamed friend was.  Lisa knew too, but as we started towards the door of Ralph’s room, Ruth called her back.  “I need you for a couple of minutes, Lisa.  Besides he wants to talk to Andy first anyway.”

The first person I saw in Ralph Dunn’s room was his son, Donald, who was leaning over to hear what his father was saying.  Ralph was a lot more energetic than the last time I saw him, but his voice was still weak.

“Well, well, it’s about time you showed up,” I heard the familiar hoarse voice say.  Anita Carswell was standing in the shadows, so I could hardly see her.  But of course, I wasn’t really surprised.  Who else could Ruth have been talking about?

“Good morning, Andy,” Ralph greeted me.  “Miss Carswell and I have been discussing my prospects.”

I didn’t know how to reply to that, so I raised my eyebrows and repeated,

“Your prospects?”

“Yes,” Anita said firmly.  “I think his prospects for a quick and complete recovery are very good, but they’d be even better if he had his surgical procedures at the university hospital in the city.  I happen to know the chief of cardiology there, and…”

“Is there anyone you don’t know, Anita?” I asked, trying to keep from laughing.

She peered at me in astonishment.  “I’m sure there are many people I don’t know, even some I wish I did.  But as I was saying…”

I didn’t usually interrupt Anita, but I couldn’t help it.  “You know the chief of cardiology and took the liberty of asking him to recommend a surgeon.”

She looked bewildered.  “How did you know that?”

“A lucky guess.”

Ralph chuckled weakly.  “He knows you too well.  But if I have my procedures here, Ruth won’t have to get herself into the city and I’ll have an easier time getting to the hospital and back.”

“Those are hardly valid reasons for choosing a hospital and a surgeon,” she said.

Ralph made eye contact with me and winked.  “Oh, I don’t know.  Comfort and convenience are pretty important to Ruthie and me.”

Anita frowned at him.  “As it happens, I know someone in the city who’d be more than happy to offer your wife a place to stay a few blocks from the university hospital.”
I couldn’t help it.  I burst out laughing.  “He’s just pulling your leg, Anita.  You’ve convinced him.”

She couldn’t seem to decide if she was annoyed by the teasing or mollified by Ralph’s compliance with her suggestions.  She shook her head.  “If you need a ride either to or from the hospital, I’m sure I could do the drive.”

“Well, I don’t know,” Ralph said.  “Are you a safe driver?”  Then he started to laugh so hard I worried that he’d hurt himself.

“Very funny,” Anita said, showing a faint smile.  Then she turned to me.  “What’s this I hear about you and Lisa going in on a house with Mr. and Mrs. Dunn?”

“We’re thinking of a duplex or a house with an in-law apartment.”

She nodded.  “Very good.”

I looked from her to Ralph and back again.  “Does this mean that you’ve agreed, Mr. Dunn?” I asked hesitantly.

“Well, that all depends, Andy,” he replied, looking severe.

“On what, sir?”

His face relaxed and he grinned broadly at me.  “Why, on your dropping the ‘Mr. Dunn’ and ‘sir’ and just calling me Ralph, of course.  You don’t want me to think you like Ruthie better than me, do you?  I know you use her first name because she told me so.”

I grinned back at him.  “All right, Ralph,” I agreed, putting out my hand.

He reached up and shook it.  “They say I’ve got to get this danged artery opened up so blood can get through. And they want to stick a pacemaker in my chest to regulate my ticker.  I guess the sooner it’s all over and done with, the better.”  He glanced at Anita.  “So you better get me that referral, dear lady.  I’d like to see my old farm one more time before Andy sells it off for me.”

A nurse stepped in before anyone could say anything else.  “Everyone out!  Ralph needs his rest.”

Donald led us out of the room.  He’d been uncharacteristically silent, and I wondered how he felt about having no part in any of the family’s decisions.  It didn’t seem like the right time to ask, and I hoped I’d remember to check in with him once things settled down and we were back to the daily routine at the station.

I felt a twinge of guilt.  I hadn’t gotten back to the chief.  Somehow, the whole melodrama around the abduction of Dr. Phil seemed trivial at the moment.  I was curious and a little worried about Mattie, but I figured that since the chief had closed the case, I could wait to find out what had happened.

“Earth to Andy,” Anita said softly.  I turned and smiled at her.  She smiled back.  “Let’s take a walk around the hospital grounds,” she suggested.  “You look like you could use a break.”

“Just let me tell Lisa and Ruth where I’m going,” I responded.

She grabbed my arm.  “They already know.  Let’s go.”

The fresh air felt good, but it didn’t clear my head.  Anita took her usual long strides and I had to hurry to keep up with her.  It was hard to talk while speed-walking, so I said, “Could you please slow down?”

She stopped walking and pointed to a bench a few yards away.  “Let’s sit down for a minute.”

That was a signal that she wanted to talk with me, so I headed to the bench and collapsed onto its concrete seat.

“What’s the matter?” I demanded.  I knew I sounded querulous and didn’t mean to, but I was out of my element and therefore out of sorts.  I had too much to do in addition to my police work, and I was afraid that my police work would suffer.

“The chief asked me to drop by and check on you,” Anita said.  Her voice was casual enough, but I felt as if I’d been criticized.

“I haven’t had time to call in,” I began, “and he left me a message saying there was no rush.”

“That’s right,” she agreed.  “But he wants to know if there’s anything he can do to help.”

I sighed.  “Sorry, Anita.  I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed.”

“I know a good realtor,” she said with a faint smile.  “Jeff Martin’s father used to sell in the city, but he and his wife moved out here when the kids reached school age.  He has experience and contacts.  He can probably find you a buyer for the farm pretty easily.”  She put her hand on my arm.  “And he might have some ideas about where you could find a duplex in or near town.”

I nodded.  “Yeah, all right.  If you give me his number I’ll call.”

She handed me one of his business cards.  “I just happened to go by his office yesterday,” she explained.

“You always just happen to do what needs to be done, don’t you?” I asked, feeling fond of her, but a little exasperated at the same time.

She chuckled.  “Someone has to watch your back, Andy.  You don’t have a partner on the force.”

I nodded.  “Yeah, we could use another couple of officers, but the funding isn’t there.”

“I know.  Considering how small and under-equipped you are, you guys do a great job.”

I wasn’t sure if that was a real compliment or not, but I decided to treat it as such instead of picking a fight with her.

“So tell me, what happened with the doggie abduction case?  Did the chief make any arrests?”

She nodded. “Yes, but no one will do jail time.  There wasn’t really a crime, except for filing a false police report.”

“That’s it?  Filing a false police report?  You’d think faking a crime would count for something, wouldn’t you?”

She laughed.  “Well, the computers came back from the state police lab, and apparently Jim didn’t send those threatening emails to himself.  The chief has asked for a warrant to search Clausen’s computer system, but, get this, the district attorney has decided it’s not worth the trouble and has closed the case.”

I sighed.  “A lot of wasted effort,” I grumbled.  “And Mattie and Jim will go on thinking they’ve fooled everyone.”

Anita shook her head.  “Mattie didn’t have anything to do with it,” she said firmly.  “Clausen, Jim and Willard thought it up.  She was under the impression that Jim was arranging for Tad to look after her dog so he could take her on vacation to California in a couple of weeks.”  Anita grinned.  “Did you know your aunt has always wanted to see the giant redwood trees?”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake!  Is that the story she told the chief?  And he bought it?  It doesn’t make sense.  What about the other dogs?”

Anita’s grin broadened.  “They were to be kenneled.  Only Dr. Phil was to have a special dog-sitter since he was a new acquisition and still needed special treatment.  At least that what Mattie said Jim told her.”

I made eye contact with Anita.  “And you believe her?  You think Jim made up a cock-and-bull story about a vacation to California and she fell for it?”

Her grin turned into a laugh.  “This is your Aunt Mattie we’re talking about, Andy, the woman who worries that her dogs may be ground up into food for horses.  She has believed what Jim told her ever since they married.  And I have no doubt she will continue to do so for as long as it suits her.”

“She still believes him?”  My astonishment must have shown on my face.

Anita stopped laughing.  “Yes, of course she does.  She’s gone from claiming it was all a mistake on Tad’s part to claiming Jim got confused about the dates of their vacation, once the chief had pointed out that Jim had turned the dog over to Tad and set him up in the cabin.”

I sighed.  “There’s no hope then.”

She shook her head.  “Not for a change of heart on Mattie’s part.  But I’ve suggested that Jim consider entering a program for gambling addicts.  He is resistant right now, but if and when it’s a choice between that and a large fine which would turn into jail time if he doesn’t pay up, perhaps he’ll see reason.”

Typical Anita, I thought, to believe Jim could be persuaded or coerced into seeing reason.

She was looking at me quizzically.  “You don’t believe he can change, do you?”

“I don’t believe he wants to change.  And even if he did want to, old habits are hard to break.”

“Well,” Anita replied briskly, “that’s what programs for addicts are about, helping them break old habits.”

I nodded.  “I should be getting back to Lisa and her mom,” I said.  “They’re probably wondering if I’ve run off and left them to deal with the farm and finding a new home on their own.”  I mad a move towards that hospital building.

“No, they’re not,” Anita said softly.

I stopped in my tracks.  “What?”

“They’re not thinking that you’ve deserted them.  They know you.  You may not always make the best judgment calls, but those you care about can rely on you without hesitation.”

“What’s the matter with my judgment calls?” I demanded.

She chuckled.  “Let me count the ways!  You pulled your gun on Tad Jackson and almost lost him as a witness.  And you were sure your Aunt Mattie was in on her husband’s scam.”

“That was just anticipating the worst.  I really didn’t want her to be involved,” I replied.  “She’s the only family I have left.”

Anita smiled and put her arm through mine.  “Not for long, Andy.  Not for long.”

 *****

© 2015 Myra Love - All Rights Reserved