Page 53 of K-9 in Pursuit

She hesitated.

“What else?” Schneider prompted.

She sighed. She didn’t have the energy to lie. “There was a photograph. A Polaroid photo of a man named Cameron Douglas, and a woman and two children. I assume his wife and children. I gave a bunch of similar photos to Detective Renfro. My sister was sort of involved with Douglas and I think she took those pictures. I found them in her closet after she died.”

“But you kept this one photo?”

“Yes. Douglas was one of Sharee’s teachers and she had a crush on him. I guess she stalked him, really. He took out a restraining order against her, so our parents sent Sharee here to live with me. I kept looking at that picture, trying to figure out what she saw in that man, and why she had held on to those photos.”

Brian cleared his throat and they both turned to look at him. “Did Bunny look anything like the woman in the photo?” he asked. “Cameron Douglas’s wife?”

Tiny lines bunched above the bridge of Chloe’s nose as she considered the question. “Not really. I mean, the woman in the photo had brown eyes and dark blond hair. Bunny had blue eyes, and her face was a lot fuller. Bunny looked at least a decade older, too. Even if the hair was a wig…” She shook her head. “Maybe? But it seems pretty far-fetched. After all—Cameron Douglas didn’t have an affair with my sister. He stayed with his wife. She may have hated what Sharee put her through, but that’s not reason enough to fly across the country and commit murder, never mind harassing me. Besides, we know Mrs. Douglas couldn’t have killed Sharee—she was in Virginia with her two children and her sister when Sharee was murdered.”

“We can double-check on Mrs. Douglas’s current whereabouts,” Schneider said. “And we’ll look for anyone who matches the description of Bunny Allerton. If she’s staying in town, someone must have seen her. She sounds like the kind of person who would stand out in a crowd.”

“She would definitely stand out,” Chloe agreed.

The deputy left. Chloe locked the door after him, then turned to Brian. “What now?”

“I need to go back to my place and pick up a few things so I can stay here,” he said. “But I’ll leave Daisy with you. She’s not exactly fierce, but she’ll make a lot of noise if anyone tries to break in. And I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

She hugged her arms across her stomach. “Okay.”

He pulled her close and kissed her. “It’s going to be all right,” He wanted to believe it, and saying the words out loud made him feel a little better, at least.

CHLOE LOCKED THE back door behind Brian, then looked at Daisy, who sat right beside her. “It’s just us girls for a little while,” she said.

The dog wagged her tail in reply. With the doors locked and the dog with her, Chloe told herself she was safe, but she didn’t feel very secure. She moved to the front of the store and turned out all the lights, including the lamp on the front desk that she usually left on. Why give a thief more light to work by? Then she retreated to the back room and sat on the sofa, a hammer in one hand, her phone in the other. Daisy curled up beside her and rested her chin on Chloe’s thigh. “Everything is going to be all right.” She repeated Brian’s words, wishing she really believed them. So much had gone wrong lately she had difficulty remembering what “all right” could be.

She passed the time scrolling her phone while Daisy napped. Then the dog raised her head, ears alert, and Chloe’s heart climbed into her throat. Someone knocked on the back door and Daisy’s tail began to wag. Chloe followed the dog to the door. “It’s me,” Brian said.

She unlocked the door and opened it to a pile of belongings with legs. “I might need a little help,” Brian said from behind the pile.

She relieved him of a sleeping bag and a rolled camping mat and he followed her inside with a backpack and a satchel. He set the satchel on the floor and pulled out a drill. “What is that for?” she asked.

“I brought a big padlock and a hasp. We can use them to lock the back door behind us while we get something to eat.”

He handed her a heavy padlock. “Couldn’t someone cut through this?” she asked.

“They could, but we’re only going to leave it while we go get some dinner. There are some people we need to talk to.”

“Who?”

“I’ll explain over dinner. Don’t you want to get out of here for a bit? We’ll leave Daisy here.”

Part of her thought she should send him out for food and wait here, but the thought of going somewhere bright and welcoming for even a little while was too tantalizing to deny. “Hurry up and get that on there. I’m starving.”

THE TEMPERATURE HAD dropped to near zero, and the wind had picked up, so they opted to drive the few blocks to SkyCrest’s main street. Brian’s truck was still warm from the drive to his trailer and back. It was a little before eight o’clock and despite the frosty temperatures, the bars and restaurants along Main were full, couples in colorful ski clothes spilling onto the brightly lit sidewalks. Chloe searched the crowd for towering blond hair or a long white fur coat, but spotted no one who resembled Bunny.

They found a parking spot on the curb in the middle of the block. “Is pizza okay?” Brian asked.

“Sounds good.” Exhaustion dragged at her, but she hoped some food and maybe a drink would lift her spirits a little.

They walked to the end of the block, to Shaggy Dog Pizza. Hot air scented with oregano and peppers wrapped around them as they stepped into the brightly lit space crowded with tile-topped tables, the walls lined with red leather booths, plus counter seating on three sides of an open kitchen, where white-aproned workers layered toppings on pizzas and pulled finished pies from a brick oven.

They found two seats at the counter and put their heads together over the menu. They ordered beers and a chipotle chicken and mushroom pizza. A female bartender with sleepy eyes and a tattoo of a magpie on her left arm brought the beers.

“Hey, did you know that girl that was killed?” Brian asked the bartender. “Sharee Anderson?”