Page 45 of Housesitter

“Tell you what,” Shepherd said as he straightened up. His hands were covered with dog hair, and he wiped them off on his shorts. “I’ll give you Dio’s contact if you give me the name of your fence guy? I’m trying to get some repairs done and, ah, not having much luck.”

Bernie screwed her face up.

“Oh,” she said. “Yes. Easy’s little vendetta against your property. Look, I think it’s ridiculous, but I can’t get involved.”

“Of course not,” Shepherd said. “I didn’t know you were on the board, or I wouldn’t have asked.”

Bernie snorted. “Liar,” she said. “But the offer of tea is still on the table?”

An hour later Bernie was sitting on the neat, wrought-iron bench in her sun room as she offered Shepherd a cookie.

“...murders or not,” Bernie tutted. “At least Dio tries. Have you seen Easy’s house? Grass and gravel. That’s it. How is our neighborhood even going to place in the Horticultural Society’s Beautiful Neighborhood awards? I do my bit, Dio does his, and then you have the whole Stepford Wives dystopia vibe of Easy’s property. Meanwhile Annette hasn’t even pruned her roses this year. I mean, I know her husband died, but still. I never saw him in the garden; it can’t remind her of him.”

She heaved an aggrieved sigh and took a drink of coffee.

Shepherd perched on the edge of his chair and thumped the dog’s shoulder as he watched Bernie with admiration. If she had been even a quarter as passionate about her job, fiddled books across the state must still be clenched for fear she’d change her mind about retiring.

“That said,” Bernie pointed out as she set the cookie plate down. “Not sure how I can help. Lovely as your garden is, the house is a shithole, and Easy has a lot of pull around here.”

“I’ve noticed,” he said. “None of the companies on the HOA’s pre-approved list can fit me onto their books.”

Bernie shrugged. “Get an external and submit them for approval,” she said. “That I could push through, and the fee is minimal.”

“I’d have to wait for the next HOA meeting,” he said. “Which is after the deadline for the—”

Bernie waved her hand to cut him off. “…for the repairs,” she said. “Unless, of course, you could get one of the senior HOA board members to call an emergency meeting. Maybe while Easy is out of town?”

Shepherd smiled at her.

“A little bird did tell me that he’d be out of town at the end of the week,” he said.

Bernie snorted into her tea. “I don’t think anyone has described Kel Laker as little since he hit his first growth spurt,” she said. Then smirked, pleased with herself, when Shepherd gave her a surprised look. It wasn’t exactly genuine, but he guessed it was convincing anyhow. “Small town, son. I grew up here. I went to school with his grandma, Ruby. The Lakers have always provided a good third of the town’s best gossip, and come up in relation to more than a few of my cases over the years.”

“Does that mean you won’t help?”

Bernie sat back and pursed her lips, both hands wrapped around her cup.

“Is the bonemeal link genuine?” she asked.

Shepherd scrubbed his knuckles over the dog’s big, fist-of-a-head as he looked at her.

“It is,” he said. “Just…don’t ask too many questions.”

Bernie took a sharp breath and gave a little shudder. “Oh, that is always a good sign,” she said and reached into her pocket for her phone. “Fine. But you need to convince the board to approve it, and if Ezekiel asks, you took me for a ride.”

“Ezekiel?”

Bernie chuckled.

“You thought his mama named him ‘Easy’?” she asked without looking up. “No woman ever gave birth, sat up afterwards, looked at their baby, and the first word that came to mind was ‘easy’. No. He might not like it, but the name on his tax returns is still Ezekiel. Good luck with your repairs. I’ll let you know how the bonemeal works.”

Shepherd let her usher him out.

He stopped outside as he frowned at the sacks of potting soil he still had to load up.

Ezekiel?

Shepherd turned the old photo in his hand, thumb rubbing the paint from along the crease. He leaned against the doorframe to his bedroom and watched Kel check the cupboards.