The Curse Оf Hollister House

Naomi and I might have been close in high school, but she tended to be a friendly extrovert who spent a lot of her time involved in both school and community activities, and I was something of a loner who, other than hanging out with Cass, spent most of my time daydreaming in the attic or practicing the piano. Not that I didn’t have friends, but other than Stella and Cass, I can’t say that I really had many close friends. Naomi was nice enough, and I enjoyed spending time with her during our volunteer hours, but I supposed in my heart I knew I was leaving this sleepy, small town as soon as I was able, so why put a lot of time into cultivating intimate relationships there? I’m sure there were those who would say that I was afraid of bonding with anyone after I lost Stella, and perhaps they’d be right.

Naomi was sitting on her front porch bottle feeding a tiny puppy when I arrived at the shelter. There were three other teeny, tiny puppies in the box next to the rocker. I bent down to take a look while she hummed a soft tune and gently rocked the newborn in her arms.

“They’re so tiny,” I said, sliding into the rocker next to her.

“Born yesterday,” she replied.

“And the mama dog?”

“I’m afraid she didn’t make it.”

“Can I help?”

She nodded. She handed me the pup she’d been feeding and the bottle he’d been eating from, then made another bottle for the next pup in line. It took a lot of dedication to do what she did. These pups would probably need to be fed around the clock for quite some time. I wondered if she took on such a huge task on her own or if she had volunteers who took one or more of the pup’s home.

“How often do they need to eat?” I asked.

“Every four hours in the beginning.”

I smiled down at the tiny baby in my arms. “That seems like a big commitment.”

“It is, but I’ll happily do it if need be.” She began to rock back and forth with the next pup in line. “I may not have to, however.”

“And why is that?” I began rocking the pup in my arms the way I’d seen Naomi do it.

“I have a surrogate on the way. If the pups and the surrogate bond, I’ll send the pups home with the woman who offered the service of her dog.”

I frowned. “Surrogate?”

Naomi adjusted the pup in her arms. “My friend, Kimmy, has a golden retriever who is in the process of weaning her own pups. They do well drinking regular puppy formula mixed with kibble from a bowl, so Kimmy had the idea of trying to wean them early and introducing these pups to her mama dog in the hope that she’d nurse them. I’ve tried something similar in the past. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. The key to the whole thing is using a surrogate who is laid back enough to accept the new pups as her own. Luckily, Beatrice is about as laid back as they come.”

“Beatrice is Kimmy’s mama dog?”

Naomi nodded.

I smiled at the pup in my arms. “I hope it works out. It does seem like it would be the best solution for these little guys. I’m sure they will be fine either way, but it seems as if little ones need the love and nurturing of a mother, or at least a mother substitute.”

“I agree. It would be the best solution. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll be in for a few weeks of long nights. It isn’t fun, but I’ve done it before, and I’m sure I’ll do it again.”

I finished feeding the pup in my arms and went on to the next one. “One of the reasons I came early was to talk to you about volunteering. I enjoy working with Cass and plan to continue to come by on Tuesday and Friday afternoons, but I have time on my hands right now and would like to do more.”

“I can always use help. Do you know anything about dog training?”

“Not a thing,” I answered honestly.

“I can show you what to do. As I explained before, I like to put all my dogs through a basic training class before I put them up for adoption. I need volunteers to work with the dogs going through the current class. It is best if they can practice the behaviors they are learning every day.”

“That seems like a big commitment.”

“It is, but the key to success is constant reinforcement of the behavior. If you’re interested, I can train you on what to do, and once you feel confident, I can assign you one or more two-hour shifts a week.”

“The dogs train for two hours?”

“Thirty minutes each, which includes ten minutes of play, so each volunteer can do four dogs in the two hours. I have ten dogs in the class right now. They really need to be worked six days a week at a minimum, so that is sixty sessions, which equates to fifteen volunteer shifts. So far, I have twelve of those shifts covered and am looking for volunteers to take on the other three.”

“So I would commit to a two-hour shift where I would show up and work with four dogs for thirty minutes each to reinforce the training they receive in your class?” I clarified.

“Exactly. Are you interested?”

“I am. When do you need me?”

“The three shifts I have open are on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. The time of day doesn’t matter, so I allow my volunteers to set their own schedules. You plan to be here to work with Cass on Tuesday and Friday afternoons, so I sort of hoped you’d come early on those two days and knock out two of the three open shifts.”

I nodded. “Okay. I’m in. I’ve never trained a dog in my life, but I’m willing to learn.”

“That’s all I ask. I have a training class on Monday. Would you be willing to come to observe? That will give you an overview of what we do. If you think you can make it work, we’ll start working you and one of the dogs on Tuesday.”

I glanced down at the tiny pup in my arms. I wondered what would happen to him. I wondered how his life would end up. I wondered if he’d find a forever home where he was loved and treated like one of the family, or if he’d end up abandoned and alone. I hoped that if the latter were true, he’d end up here with Naomi. “Okay. I’ll be here on Monday. What time?”

“Four. I’ll introduce you to my other trainers. They can help you if you find you need help and I’m not around.”

How on earth had Callie Collins ended up with a gig as a dog trainer? I’d never even owned a dog. But as Naomi had said, the dogs and I could train and learn together.

“Looks like Cass is here,” she said, nodding at the road leading to the kennel as an SUV approached.

“Do you need help with the last pup?” I asked.

“I’ll feed him. The two of you can take a group of dogs out for a run around the property. A well-exercised dog is a happy dog, and happy dogs tend to find the best homes.”

Once Cass got out of the vehicle, we all chatted for a few minutes, and then Cass and I headed to the kennel to pick up the dogs we would walk. The entire fifty acres was fenced, and there was a trail circling the perimeter, so we walked within the fencing with a larger group then we’d be able to handle if we ventured off the property. It had continued to rain off and on, so the trail was muddy, but I’d worn old work boots I’d left at Gracie’s when I left the lake house, so I figured I’d be fine. Cass knew which dogs would walk politely off leash and which needed to be on a leash at all times, so he chose eight dogs from the first group, and we headed out.

“It looked like you’ve already been promoted to nursery duty,” Cass commented as we walked.

“Naomi just happened to be feeding the pups when I arrived to talk to her about volunteering, so I pitched in. She said she has a surrogate she hopes will nurse the pups coming by later this afternoon. I hope it works out.”

“Me too. It would be best for the pups.” Cass paused to call one of the dogs who’d gotten too far ahead back to our side. I was going to need to learn everyone’s name if I was ever going to do this on my own. I supposed that with time, I’d be able to identify each dog, but with the large turn over, I had no idea how Naomi and her volunteers kept track of everyone. “Did you get your volunteer hours worked out?”

“I did. I’m going to be here with you on Tuesdays and Fridays.” I noticed that earned me a very sweet grin. “I’m also going to come early on both days and help out with the training program.”

“Have you ever trained a dog before?”

“No, I haven’t. In fact, I have very little experience being around dogs at all. But I’m a fast learner, and I want to help, so Naomi said she’d train me to train the dogs. I’m going to come on Monday to observe the beginner’s class.”

Cass took my hand in his as we neared the little pond Naomi had added to the property. It was cool bordering on cold today, so the dogs didn’t seem interested in swimming, but I was willing to bet that during the summer they all would have waded in.

“The key to dog training is confidence and patience. Make sure whichever dog you are working with knows you are boss and that you will stand there all day until you get the behavior you are after, so he or she may as well give in and do what you ask so that you can both move on. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but now I’ve graduated to helping with the S and R training.”

“S and R? You mean search and rescue?”

Cass nodded. “Naomi has a team, of which Milo and I are members. We can’t always go on rescues with the others because most of the time when someone is missing Milo and I are on-duty for the sheriff’s department. But we train with the team and participate in rescues when we can. Once you are comfortable with the ins and outs of dog training, I’m sure Naomi would be happy to work with you in this advanced capacity if you are interested and if you were staying in Foxtail Lake.”

“I understand that being a member of the team would be a huge commitment, and she wouldn’t want to spend time training anyone with one foot out the door.”

“Exactly.”

“Honestly, I have no idea what my long-term plans are, so I think I’ll stick to basic training for now.” One of the dogs, a husky I was pretty sure Cass had called Thor, trotted over with a stick. I accepted it from him and then gave it a toss. “I spoke to Hope over at the library today,” I said after the dog took off running. “Did you know she was Tracy’s godmother?”

“I did.”

Of course, he did. He was a deputy. “Anyway, we got to talking about her death and how it seemed to mirror Stella’s. We discussed the fact that a good candidate for a suspect would be someone who worked at the middle school because that was where both girls were seen last, but then I told her about Hillary, the girl I called to tell you about, who disappeared from Rivers Bend ten years ago. After we chatted a bit, we decided it might be a good idea to look at those men and women who temped for the county and worked out of all the schools in the area. The time span has been twenty years, so we figured there wouldn’t be many if any subs who met those criteria.”

“There are three.”

“So you already thought to look?”

He nodded. “I’ve also interviewed the three. Veronica Jones has been a substitute teacher for thirty years and has taught at every school in the county.”

“Thirty years. That’s a long time. I wonder why she didn’t apply for a full-time position.”

“I asked her about that when we spoke, and she told me that she enjoyed the flexibility and variety that came with subbing. She didn’t want to get bogged down teaching a single grade or subject in any one school.”

“I guess that makes sense. Was she teaching at our middle school when Stella and Tracy disappeared and in Rivers Bend when Hillary disappeared?”

“She told me she didn’t remember where she was working ten and twenty years ago, so I’m having her employment records pulled. She did say that she had been subbing for the history teacher on the day Tracy went missing. The woman was nice enough and didn’t seem the sort to be a serial killer, but I’ll keep her on my suspect list until I can confirm her whereabouts on the days Stella and Hillary disappeared.”

When the dog with the stick returned, I accepted it and tossed it again. “Okay, who else do you have who fits the criteria?”

“Harvey Underwood, also a substitute teacher. He was new to the district when Stella went missing. He didn’t remember which school he was working at or if he was even working on the day Stella went missing, but he did say that by the time Hillary went missing he’d landed a full-time teaching job in Rivers Bend. He remembered Hillary and the panic everyone felt when she turned up missing. He also said he remembered the horror that replaced the panic when Hillary’s body was found.”

“If he had a full-time teaching job in another town, he wouldn’t have been here when Tracy went missing,” I pointed out.

“Actually, he was. About four years ago, the county underwent budget cuts, and the arts and music programs were cut. Harvey had been teaching art and shop classes in Rivers Bend, so he found himself unemployed. He went back to subbing and admitted to having been here in Foxtail Lake subbing for a middle-school math teacher on the day Tracy disappeared.”

“Seems like quite the coincidence.”

“I agree. I’m not ready to state unequivocally that Harvey Underwood is the guy we are looking for, but I did pick up an odd vibe from him. He appeared to be cooperating, and he did answer every question I asked, but the entire time we were talking, I had this feeling there was something he wasn’t saying.”

“So are you going to dig into his past?”

“I am. I’m waiting for verification as to where he was teaching on the day Stella went missing and then I’ll take it from there.”

“And the third suspect?” I asked, tossing the stick yet again.

“Ronald Trauner. He is a substitute custodian who works at all the schools in the county as he is needed. I hate to bring stereotypes into the conversation, but Mr. Trauner most definitely fits the description of the creepy custodian who never really interacts with anyone but watches everyone and everything and knows exactly what is going on at all times.”

“So he could totally have done it.”

“When I first met him, I was sure he had. I remembered the guy from when we were in school. To be honest, he sort of freaked me out then and he most definitely still freaks me out now. I even felt a moment of fear despite the fact that I had a gun and all he had was a mop.”

I frowned. “Do you mean that really tall guy with the black eyes and pale, pale complexion?”

Cass nodded.

“I totally remember him. He looked like a zombie. He was so pale, had sunken cheeks and dark eyes and never spoke. Even if you asked him a question, he sort of replied with a grunt. I figured he was mute.”

“He can speak,” Cass assured me. “He has a deep voice and he speaks slowly, as if considering each word before he says it. He answered my questions, but he was extremely monosyllabic. His answers consisted of one or two words for most of the interview.”

“Was he at the right schools on the right days?”

“I don’t know. I’m waiting for his employment records as well.”

“You’d think the staff at the county would be all over getting the records to you, given the situation.”

“You would think, but apparently, what seems urgent to us isn’t urgent to them. I have a lot of data to go through this weekend. I have a list of suspects, but if you are correct in your opinion that Hillary was killed by the same person who killed both Stella and Tracy, that changes things quite a bit.”

“Is the sheriff still bent on pinning Tracy’s death on the homeless man from the campground?”

“He is. I have the feeling the guy might end up pleading guilty and trying for a lesser sentence. At this point, he has pleaded no contest and is working with his attorney on a strategy. I’m not sure what their end game is, but it is beginning to appear to me that there is a strategy in the man’s unwillingness to offer a real defense.”

I tossed the stick a final time as we approached our starting point. “It seems as if we are missing something. Something big. So far, if you take all the facts into account, nothing makes sense.”