Chihuahua Conspiracy

Chapter Fifteen

The man pushed his trunk closed, but not fast enough to escape the notice of the officer who’d just arrived on the scene.

I took this as my cue to come out of hiding. This time there hadn’t been a dumpster, so I’d had to resort to pressing myself flat against the brick wall in the alley. I strode into the parking lot with confidence I didn’t quite feel—and wouldn’t until I knew for sure we’d caught the crook who was embezzling money from the animal shelter.

Officer Bouchard saw me first and reached his hand overhead in a wave.

Both Trish and her accomplice spun in my direction, and the moment she spotted me, her eyes filled with disdain. “You followed me!” she cried.

“Now, now,” Officer Bouchard said peaceably. “We don’t want any more trouble than is already here. Go ahead and open up the trunk, young man.”

I was close enough now to make out our mystery man’s features. He was tall and lanky with light skin and even lighter hair. As far as I knew, I’d never seen him before in my entire life.

“Hey, wait just a minute,” Trish argued, pointing a shaky finger my way. “She followed me. Isn’t stalking, like, illegal?”

“Not like illegal. It is illegal, but something tells me there’s something even more illegal in that there trunk, and that Ms. Russo was just doing her civic duty by calling it in and keeping an eye on you until I could show up to officially handle things. Now open that trunk.”

Trish’s accomplice did as he was told, once again revealing the trunk filled with brand-new pet supplies.

“And that one, too, please.” The cop pointed to Trish’s filthy white car and waited until she complied with his order.

“Well, well, well,” Officer Bouchard said with a chuckle. “These wouldn’t happen to be the pet supplies a shop in Dewdrop Springs reported missing earlier today.” He raised an eyebrow and glanced at the younger blond man. “Or would they?”

“Whatever, man. I’m just the go-between. She’s the mastermind.”

If he was sorry, he didn’t look it. I had to wonder if perhaps this man was from out of town, if he’d thought no one would notice some missing pet supplies. Apparently he hadn’t counted on the fact that everyone notices everything in a small town like ours.

Trish stamped her foot on the ground. “How dare you try to pin this all on me!”

“Enough bickering,” the officer warned. “Who’s stealing and why?”

“I didn’t steal anything,” Trish ground out. “I bought these supplies fair and square.”

The policeman crossed his arms and stared down the bridge of his nose at both culprits. “Well, I’m not buying it, little miss. Why buy pet supplies from the back of some guy’s trunk when it’s just as easy to go to the store and purchase them there? You know, like you’re supposed to?”

“He was giving them to us at a discount. We needed the savings. The shelter isn’t doing so good, and… And I was just trying to help the animals!”

“Let’s go,” Officer Bouchard said, uncrossing his arms and making a sweeping gesture toward his waiting car. “I’d love to hear more about this down at the station. And you’re both invited.”

Trish scowled at me as Officer Bouchard nudged her toward the police cruiser. He hadn’t cuffed either her or the man with the trunk full of stolen goods, but he had called for backup to come clear the scene while he dealt with the suspects.

“Thanks, Russo,” he said, returning to my side. “But I’ve gotta ask, what made you decide to follow her?”

I quickly caught him up on Nan’s and my suspicions, ending with a dramatic, “And she doesn’t even actually work there. At least I think she doesn’t.”

“Oh, you and your nan. One of these days we should formally hire you to work for the county. I can promise you this, though. We’re going to find out what’s going on at that shelter. Stealing from animals in need is a level of despicable I don’t like seeing in our town. Both of my cats were adopted from that very shelter, come to think of it.”

“Officer Bouchard,” I said with a grin, bumping my shoulder into his. “I had no idea you were a cat person.”

He put his tough cop face back on and sniffed. “Yeah, well, don’t let word get around. I already get more than my fair share of guff from the other guys at the station.”

“Your secret’s safe with me,” I promised, loving this new detail about him. I was a cat person, too, after all. Well, most days at least.

“I’ve got things from here,” he informed me. “Now go try to enjoy the rest of your day.” The cop gave me a firm nod, which I took to mean I was formally dismissed from the investigation. Hopefully, the county would be able to finish strong from here, which meant Nan and I could focus on our little mystery at home. Namely, why so many fragile things kept breaking.

“Did we win?” Paisley asked as the two of us headed back down the alleyway.

“Yes, the bad guys have been caught, and all is right with the world again,” I assured her. I missed having Octo-Cat’s assistance, but Paisley hadn’t been such a bad crime-solving companion this time around. With time, she could learn. The three of us could work together… That is, if Octo-Cat ever got over his ridiculous aversion to dogs.

Then Paisley asked a question I hadn’t been expecting. “They seemed really nice to me. How do you know that they’re bad?”

“Because they did bad things,” I answered simply, honestly.

She appeared to think about this for a moment, then asked, “So if I do bad things, am I bad?”

“No, that’s not the same.”

“Why not?” Paisley’s ears lowered, giving her an even more puppy-ish appearance than usual.

Clearly, I had a choice to make. I could let the Chihuahua keep believing the best of everyone, or I could destroy her innocence by explaining how mean the world could be sometimes.

At the end of the day, I liked my new dog daughter exactly as she was, so I said, “You know what, Paze? You’re right. It was just a game. Now let’s go see if Nan’s back home yet, huh?”

“Oh, yes! We’ve been apart forever! I miss her so much!” Paisley cried, our deeper conversation about ethics and morals all but forgotten.

Maybe it was time for me to go back to Blueberry Bay Community College and grab an eighth associate degree. This time in Philosophy. Next time Paisley hit me over the head with questions like this, I wanted to be ready.

I sent Nan a quick text to let her know we were on our way home and to ask if she could meet us there, then I let my sweet little dog take all the time she needed enjoying her scenic scenting tour through downtown.

And she made sure to tell me each time she found a new one, too. Especially if it was pee.

Dogs were so weird.