High in Trial - By Donna Ball Page 0,57

the one Cisco and I had entered for the afternoon.

Ginny saw me and waved. I set up Cisco’s crate near a concrete pillar while she and her mother made their way over to me with Gunny. There was no point in trying to claim a space in the livestock barn. We wouldn’t be here that long.

“Nice run,” I told Ginny, because it’s something you say even when you know it’s not exactly true.

She shrugged. She looked as tired and dispirited as I felt. “My heart wasn’t really in it.”

Aggie said, “Have you heard anything?”

I tucked my day bag inside the crate and zipped it up. “I have the border collies with me,” I said. “Neil can’t take them. He just got out of the hospital.”

Their shocked looks didn’t surprise me, but it was a long story and I didn’t want to stand around while I told it. “The dogs need to be walked. Can you give me a hand?”

Ginny put Gunny in his crate while I got Bryte and Flame out of the car. Ginny took Bryte and Aggie took Flame, and we started across the dog walk field while I explained the events of the morning. My mother always said “evil be to him who evil speaks” so I didn’t think it was necessary to include the details—which, to be honest, were mostly fabricated by Miles—about organized crime and mobsters breaking Neil’s knee. The point I wanted to make was that Neil was as much of a victim as Marcie and, for the time being at least, he wasn’t capable of taking care of the dogs.

“It’s like,” Aggie said, catching a trembling lip between her teeth, “a conspiracy or something. I never imagined that someone we knew… that something like this could happen to people in our own club…”

Cisco romped at the end of his twenty-foot leash, play-bowing to the border collies, sniffing the grass, trying to tell the world that everything was going to be okay. I couldn’t help smiling as I watched him, and I suddenly wished Miles were here.

I said, “Have you heard anything about Marcie’s next of kin?”

Ginny said, “She was president of the club, but no one knew her very well.” Her tone was subdued. “She had someone working for her, a kennel boy, who took care of the dogs while she was away. She didn’t have many real friends. Someone said her mother was in Pennsylvania, and she has a sister somewhere. Neil would know, but I guess he’s in no condition to think about it now.”

“We’ll take the dogs, of course,” Aggie assured me. “I’m sure once we get them back home we’ll be able to find out who’s in charge.”

I nodded. “I gave Neil your phone number. He was… well, he wasn’t really coping very well. But I know he’ll be in touch.”

Aggie shook her head solemnly. “Such a horrible thing.”

And Ginny pushed her fingers across wet eyes. “Unbelievable,” she said thickly. “I really just want to go home.”

I helped them load the border collies into the back of their minivan, and we talked briefly about crates and dog food and all the other things that must have been left in the hotel room and were by now in police custody. It was all so incredibly sad. I looked at Flame, who had fought so valiantly to try to lead us to her mistress, and I leaned through the open window of the hatchback and took her face between my hands. “You are a good, good girl,” I told her solemnly. “You did everything right. You did.”

I looked at Aggie. “You’ll make sure she gets a good home?” I said. “Not just with someone who wants to win, but with someone who wants her. Do you promise?”

Aggie smiled at me. “Honey, I’m a dog person. You ask Maude. We know what’s important. I’ll take care of this little girl, don’t you worry about that.”

I believed her. And I had to leave it at that.

Cisco and I walked back to the pavilion. The course for the next event was almost complete, and the competitors were starting to gather. I could almost smell their adrenaline, taste their anticipation as they studied the obstacles, visualized their runs, and waited anxiously for the judge to call them in for the briefing. This was the best part. No one was a loser now. Anything was possible. Someone would leave today with the fastest collie in the southeast. Or the fastest golden, or cocker, or bichon. Someone