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“You can’t let—”
“Dad, I know!”
“It’s just that someone’s targeting you. I mean, Jay’s already—”
“Dead? Is that what you were going to say? Murdered? I know. I get it. More than anyone. I’m faced with him being gone every day, Dad. Every damned day. I’m usually careful, but I screwed up. Okay?” She paused and took a deep breath. “No one feels worse about it than me!”
Bentz’s face softened slightly. “Okay, okay, this isn’t a blame game, honey. I’m just—”
“Isn’t it? Because it sure seems that way to me.” She leaned over the counter, getting closer to him, nose to nose. “Look, I know you’re worried sick. I know you think that I was attacked and Jay was killed by the Rosary Killer, yeah—” She was nodding, agreeing with herself. “—I get it, okay. And you have every right to feel that way. I know you feel some sort of guilt that you didn’t protect me, that you hoped and thought that Father John was long dead. But don’t. You’ve done a great job of taking care of me and I—if I never said so before, I appreciate it.” She held her father’s gaze and Bentz drew in a deep breath. “But I’m going to be fine. Here. With—Dave. Oh, and Lenore.”
“Lenore? Who’s—?” Bentz asked.
“She’s here, hiding under the ottoman.”
He swiveled on his bar stool and looked.
So did Montoya. From his perch he spied two gold eyes peering from beneath the tufted leather footstool.
“You adopted a cat, too?” Bentz said.
“Kind of the other way around.” Kristi walked to the living room, got to her knees, and eased the little black kitten from her hiding place. “Actually, she adopted me.” As she straightened, holding the little clump of fur, she explained about finding the cat cowering in her garage and concluded with, “I’ll be fine here.”
“We’ll keep this,” Montoya said, pointing to the plastic-encased card, “and we’re going to need a copy of the footage on your camera, and a description of the man who found the dog. Maybe talk to a police artist.”
“I don’t think he had anything to do with it,” Kristi protested.
“Nonetheless,” Bentz interjected, thinking. “And we’ll dust for prints, even though I doubt he left any. But everyone makes mistakes. Even the best.” He glanced at his daughter and Kristi blushed, understanding it was her father’s olive branch for her leaving the house unlocked.
Kristi got another phone call and she scowled at the screen.
“Problems?” Bentz asked, immediately going into cop mode again.
“No.” She shook her head. “I recognize the number. A reporter.”
Bentz rubbed a hand over his jaw, his beard shadow scraping. Obviously he wanted to plead his case again, to have his daughter move in with him, but Kristi’s set jaw and folded arms gave him pause. “I’m only ten minutes away. Make sure you get the security system reset—it shouldn’t be connected to the main switch.”
“Got it.”
“And I want to talk to the people who set this up. Did they connect the system to the main electrical switch? Seriously? What kind of idiots are they? What was the name of the company? The technician?”
“Dad, stop! I’ll deal with them!”
But Bentz was on a roll. His eyes slid to the dog, who had sidled over to sit at his feet. “Any chance you could take him back? Get a Rottweiler or a Doberman or maybe a pit bull.”
“The people at the shelter think Dave’s part pit. They’re a very loving breed.”
His jaw worked. “He just doesn’t seem . . . oh, Jesus.” Dave had rolled over, exposing his belly, hoping for a rub. His tongue lolled, and his tail was still sweeping the floor even as he lay upside down. “See what I mean?”
Kristi actually laughed for the first time since Montoya had arrived. “Yeah, but . . . come on. Give it a rest, okay?” Then her expression turned serious again. “I’ll be careful. I swear.”
Bentz scowled at the dog, but finally relented and petted his wide head. “Fine, but I’m going to order more patrols in the area and if you notice anything out of the ordinary, you call. Got it?”
“Got it.”
Montoya picked up the card. “So what about the belt? The one used as a leash. I think we should check it for prints, see if the ‘Good Samaritan’ is in the system.”
“My fingerprints are all over it,” she said, but found the belt and handed it to him.
