Chapter 6
Felix helped me calm down. He's always good in a crisis. Although I didn't appreciate the fact that he kept asking me if I had seen the license plate. It was true that when I tried to look back in my mind, I thought there was something funny about the number. Like maybe it was an official license plate, not the usual string of three letters and three numbers assigned to civilians. But that didn't make sense, either. The government doesn't send men in suits to intimidate private eyes.
Felix ended up spending the night and we reconciled some of our differences in bed, but when he left in the morning, after writing down the number for the Laguna Beach pet therapist, I was still puzzled about what to do next.
I decided finding out what was wrong with Pepe was my biggest concern, so I pulled up the number for Dr. Mallard. The receptionist wanted to know what was wrong with my dog. I couldn't tell her my dog didn't talk. So I told her my dog was acting very strangely.
“Like what?” she asked.
“Like he's usually very communicative about what he wants,” I said, “and now he isn't.”
“So he's withdrawn? Isolating himself?”
“Well no, he's not isolating himself.” In fact, he was in the living room and I could hear the sounds of his favorite telenovela,
Paraiso Perdido
. “But he doesn't seem to have any interest in being around me.”
There was a moment of silence. “So he's afraid of you?”
“Oh, no, not afraid of me. Just ignoring me. Sort of like a child sulking.”
“Did you do something to him?”
“No, of course not!” I was indignant.
The receptionist was clearly puzzled. “Well, the doctor doesn't have any openings for several weeks but I will put your name on the waiting list, in case we get a cancellation.”
“Butâ”
“That's the best I can do,” she said firmly, “Dr. Mallard has a very busy practice.” And she hung up.
My phone rang almost as soon as I set it down and I snatched it up, thinking maybe Dr. Mallard had a sudden opening in his schedule. But it was my sister. Not Teri. But my other sister, Cheryl, who lives with her dentist husband out in a subdivision on the east side of Lake Washington. How odd that she would call the day after Teri called me.
Without even thinking about it, I asked: “Did Teri call you too?”
“What? What are you talking about?” Cheryl sounded offended.
“Just that I thought she called me yesterday,” I said. “She sounded stressed out and frightened. I thought maybe she called you too.”
“What did she say?”
“That someone was trying to kill her. And then she hung up. The call came from a clinic and spa out near Duvall.”
I could almost see Cheryl shaking her head. “Geri, I think your new job is having a terrible effect on you. You're getting paranoid. When will you get a normal job and settle down?”
Cheryl is my older sister and she had to become a mother to me and my younger sister, Teri, when our parents died. She was only eighteen and we were sixteen and fourteen, respectively. It was a hard job and she has never let go of the task of trying to manage every detail of our lives. Teri managed to escape her relentless pressure by running away. I just tried to stay as far away from her as possible.
“I don't work for Jimmy G any more,” I said.
“Well, that's good news,” Cheryl said. “So do you have another job?”
“Actually, I'm freelancing,” I said.
“As what?”
“As a private detective.” Of course, Pepe and I didn't have any cases yet. Just a bunch of business cards that read Sullivan and Sullivan.
“You don't even have a license.”
How did she know that? “I know but I'm signed up for the certification course. It's this Saturday.” I had been waiting for this class, which was only offered twice a year, since I first started working for Jimmy G.
There was silence on the end of the line.
“So you're not coming to the wedding?” she finally asked. “I was just talking to Amber and she said you had never RSVPed.”
“You've got to be kidding!” Pepe could hear the tone in my voice and came running over to see what was up. “Do you really think it's appropriate for me to attend Jeff's wedding?” Jeff was the best friend of Cheryl's husband, Don, as well as, briefly, my husband.
“Yes, of course, it is,” said Cheryl. “It shows you have no bad feelings toward him.”
“But I do have bad feelings toward him.” Jeff had divorced me after I put him through business school, which had qualified him to get a great job working for an insurance company, where he immediately hooked up with his secretary, Amber.
“It would heal a rift in our family,” Cheryl said. “We could all hang out together again.” Like the old days, when we had double-dated after I met Jeff at Cheryl and Don's wedding.
“No, thank you,” I said.
“You could bring that guy you're dating,” Cheryl said.
I knew she didn't approve of Felix, who had been gracious enough to accompany me to a tense Easter dinner at my sister's house on our very first date.
“His name is Felix and the invitation didn't say Plus One.”
“So you did get an invitation!”
“Yes, but I threw it in the trash.”
“Geri, think about it,” said Cheryl. “We've only got each other now that Mom and Pop are gone. It would really mean a lot to me if you were there. And the kids have been asking about you.”
Cheryl has two kids, Danielle and D.J., possibly the two most obnoxious kids in the world, but I do take being an aunt seriously. And I hadn't seen them in months.
Cheryl continued, piling on the guilt: “Danielle is the flower girl and she looks so precious in her pink tutu. And D.J. will be wearing a little pink tux. He's the ring boy.”
“I'll see what I can do,” I said sulkily. I couldn't ask Felix since he was going to be filming. And I wasn't going to go to Jeff's wedding alone. Maybe I could find Brad and get him to go with me. He had accompanied me to my sister's house once before and had sworn he would never go backâhe claimed the furniture gave him a headacheâbut if I found him and cleared him of the suspicion of murder, he would owe me big time.
“That's great!” chirped Cheryl.
“So you don't think that was really Teri that called?” I asked.
“Well, if you find her, invite her too!” said Cheryl with a dismissive tone in her voice. She clearly thought I was nuts. I guess everyone did.
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“Pepe, what should I do?” I asked as he came scurrying into the kitchen while I was making myself a cup of tea.
He ran into the living room where
Paraiso Perdido
was playing. In this episode, Conchita was in jail because her angry ex-lover, Oswaldo, has framed her for a murder he committed. Conchita's little sister, Angela, commits a crime herself so she ends up in jail as well, smuggling in the evidence that Conchita needs to prove her innocence.
“That's not a bad plan, Pepe,” I said as I watched the drama unfold while I sipped my second cup of Darjeeling. “But how would I get into Forest Glen?”
He gave a sharp bark.
“I wish you would talk to me,” I said. “I miss our conversations.”
Pepe just sat there looking at me. And that's when I realized that I could probably get into Forest Glen through a referral from my counselor. She had been suggesting I check myself into a facility ever since I adopted Pepe and he started talking to me.
I picked up the phone and left a message on her answering machine. Then I went to my computer and looked for information about the price of a week spent at Forest Glen. Nothing. Apparently you had to have a private conversation with one of their facilitators.
I called Forest Glen and scheduled an appointment for 3 p.m. for an assessment. The phone rang as soon as I hung up. It was Suzanna returning my call. I told her that I was considering checking myself into Forest Glen and that I had scheduled an assessment.
“Geri, this is wonderful!” Suzanna said. “I'm proud of you for taking this step.”
“Do you think they will let me bring my dog?” I asked.
“You know, I can call them and make a referral. I will strongly suggest that Pepe is an integral part of your recovery and should be there with you.”
“Thanks, Suzanna,” I told her.
“Good. I'll phone Forest Glen right away. Does that sound good?”
“Sure.”
“And do I have your permission to fax them your records upon request?”
When I agreed, Suzanna said, “Remember, even if things get a little rough while you're there, think about how great it will be to have a normal relationship with your dog again. Won't that be nice?”
“It sure will,” I told her. Then we said goodbye and rang off.
Pepe seemed disappointed when I interrupted his TV watching. I was surprised to see he was no longer watching
Paraiso Perdido
. It took me a moment to realize what he was watching:
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
. Nurse Ratchet filled the screen, a giant needle in her hand and a sinister smile on her lips.
“Very funny, Pepe!” I said, grabbing the remote and shutting off the TV.