Murder Most Howl: A Paws & Claws Mystery (37 page)

“Let’s go around back,” I said to Daisy.

I opened the gate to the passage that ran along the side of the house. In Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, the historic houses were situated close together, often with only a narrow service passage between buildings. Daisy led the way in the darkness. In the back yard, I pulled the handle of the sliding glass door to Mars’s man cave, but it didn’t budge.

We hurried up the stairs to the deck, where I pounded on the kitchen door. “Natasha?”

Still nothing. There were no lights on in the house, either.

Daisy pulled on her leash.

“Not now, Daisy.” Why hadn’t I brought the key to Natasha’s house? I considered smashing a window. Should I go home and look for the key or break the glass to save time?

Daisy yelped, startling me. She tugged toward the side of the deck.

I heard a soft whoosh. Following Daisy’s lead, I tiptoed over to the railing and looked down just in time to see a person in black, wearing a hood, close the sliding glass door and sneak around the side of the house.

“Hey! Stop!”

I scrambled down the stairs but he or she had already vanished. I stopped short of following the person into the dark passage. That would be incredibly stupid. The intruder could be lurking there. Besides, Natasha might be hurt and need help.

“C’mon, Daisy,” I whispered. We ran to the basement door. I slid it open. Where were the light switches? “Natasha?” I yelled.

Walking cautiously, and looking around in case another intruder remained behind, I made my way to the back of the room, where stairs led to the main floor. I found a panel of light switches. I flicked them all on, and the room blazed. I took a quick look to be sure no one hid behind the bar before racing upstairs calling Natasha’s name. I turned on the lights in the foyer and the stairwell. Nothing seemed out of place. “Natasha!”

I wasn’t sure where to start. She had probably been asleep when the intruder came in. I rushed up the stairs, hoping Daisy, who wasn’t much of a watchdog, would alert me if she smelled someone lurking in the house. At the top of the stairs, I turned right, toward Natasha and Mars’s bedroom, flicking on overhead lights as I went. “Natasha!”

In the master bedroom, decorated in shades of gray from the walls to the bedding, it was clear that her bed had been slept in. But she was nowhere to be seen. “Natasha!”

Daisy pulled me toward the bathroom door. I grabbed
the doorknob and twisted but it didn’t budge. It was locked tight. I knocked, which seemed somewhat silly under the circumstances. “Natasha? Are you in there? It’s Sophie.”

Nothing. No response. Not a sound in the house.

I jiggled the doorknob, which accomplished nothing. I studied the lock. Who put a key lock on a bathroom door? I backed up a step and banged my shoulder into the door. Ow. It looked a lot easier in the movies.

The thud of the door knocker rumbled through the house. When I was dashing down the stairs, I heard, “Natasha? It’s Officer Wong.”

Thank heaven!
I recognized Wong’s voice, unlocked the door, and threw it open.

Wong enjoyed surprising people who expected an Asian officer. Her surname was the last vestige of marrying the wrong man, but she hadn’t bothered to change it. Wong wasn’t much taller than my five feet. Her uniform strained against her ample curves. African-American, she wore her hair short in the back with a sassy curl that fell on her forehead. “Sophie! I didn’t expect to see you. Everything okay?”

“I think Natasha is locked in the bathroom upstairs. But she’s not responding when I call her name.”

“We had a report of an intruder.”

“Someone was in the house. I saw him leave.”

“Him?”

“Or her. I don’t know. Someone dressed in black.”

Wong frowned. “Wait here.”

“What about Natasha?”

“Stay right where you are. You don’t know if there’s someone else in the house.”

Wong had proven herself logical and reliable in the past. I followed her instruction and waited by the front door with Daisy. I could hear Wong moving through the rooms on the main floor and basement, checking them out.

Wong made her way back to the foyer. “I don’t see anything unusual. How’d you get in?”

“Through the basement.”

Wong started up the stairs.

I hated waiting by the door. I knew I could be in the way if I followed her and she found someone hiding in the house, but I couldn’t help feeling time was of the essence. What if the intruder had hurt Natasha and locked her in the bathroom? I ran up the stairs as quietly as I could, but Daisy’s paws hit the stairs like thunder.

I tried the doorknob to the bathroom again. It was still locked. “Natasha! Natasha!”

Wong walked up beside me. “What part of
wait right there
wasn’t clear to you?”

“What if she’s bleeding or unconscious?” I jiggled the knob in frustration.

Wong looked around, opened the drawers of a dressing table, and withdrew something.

“What are you doing?”

“Stand aside, Sophie.”

She took two hair pins, pried one open, and bent the other at a slight angle. She inserted them in the lock and opened the door in a matter of seconds.

Inside, Natasha was sprawled on the floor,
facedown.