The Great Shelby Holmes (24 page)

So at precisely eight the following morning, I knocked on Mrs. Hudson's door so she could let me into the Holmes's apartment to get Sir Arthur.

“How's everything going so far?” Mrs. Hudson asked as she began unlocking the top lock.

“Pretty good,” I replied, because how today played out was going to be a huge factor in how the rest of my week (if not my life here) was going to go. Depending on how Shelby handled the revelation of who took Daisy (along with the when, where, how, and why), either I'd have Zane as a friend
or I wouldn't. Shelby didn't concern herself with people's feelings, so I was a nervous wreck that she was going to say something to make Zareen, Tamra, and/or Zane mad. Although it was pretty clear whoever did it was involved with the pet store, since Shelby had figured everything out when we were there. Or the Lacys could be so grateful to Shelby that I'd get bonus points for being involved.

Sir Arthur was waiting by the door. I attached his leash, grabbed the oversized canvas tote, and went back into the hallway.

Mrs. Hudson gave me a hopeful smile. “It's so lovely to see Shelby making a friend.”

I wanted to ask her if Shelby made her “friends” schlep her dog downtown with an errand list in hand.

“Good luck with your case!” she called after me as I opened the front door.

Yeah, I had a feeling we were going to need all the luck in the world.

Sir Arthur and I made our way down the stairs and onto the sidewalk. I had studied the street map so closely that I was happy that we made it to the subway entrance ahead of Shelby's painfully detailed schedule.

Shelby told me dogs were only allowed on the subway if they were contained, which was why she gave me a huge canvas bag. I kept Sir Arthur to my outside as we went down
the stairs. Luckily, the attendant in the booth wasn't paying attention, so I was able to slip Sir Arthur through undetected until we got to the platform. I laid out the canvas bag for him to crawl into.
He'll know what to do
, Shelby had told me.

Sir Arthur simply stared up at me, his tongue hanging out on one side.

“You're supposed to go in here!” I spread out the bag even wider.

He sat, his droopy eyes cast down at the bag, then up to me.

“What?” I asked him. I looked at Shelby's list, which explicitly stated that if I spread out the bag, he'd climb in and then I could get him on the train.

I heard rumbling up ahead and knew our train was approaching. There was a chance I could get away with bringing him onto the train without the bag, but I didn't want to risk it. I was already going to have to pretend to be Sheldon Holmes when I arrived, and I wasn't in the mood to tempt fate further by breaking any more laws.

Sir Arthur put his nose down on the bag and moved the strap out of the way, then used his teeth to pull the bag out farther. After he was happy with the bag placement, he crawled in.

I picked up the straps as the train arrived in the station. The bag wouldn't budge. Sir Arthur probably weighed fifty
pounds. How exactly was I supposed to pick him up and carry him? Although I had a feeling that Shelby would've managed just fine.

The doors to the train opened, and a few people sidestepped us to exit. I dragged the bag a couple inches before Sir Arthur managed to free himself. He picked up the bag in his teeth and marched into the subway car. He then placed the bag down on the floor and crawled back in.

Smart dog.

Like I should've expected anything else.

I checked the subway map at every station, not wanting to miss the stop. I debated what to do once we got to our destination but had a feeling Sir Arthur would help me out.

The train pulled into our stop, which was on the corner of the hotel where the dog show was being held. Sir Arthur hopped back out of the bag. Once he was safely on the platform, he paused for me to put on his leash.

Two young women approached as I fumbled with the leash. I was certain they were going to get me in trouble for not having Sir Arthur contained in his bag.

“Your dog is so cute! Can I pet him?” One girl kneeled down beside Sir Arthur, who happily slumped onto his back so he could get a belly rub.

I checked the time to make sure we were going to be okay. Luckily, Shelby had anticipated this. Her timeline “took
into account unforeseen factors, including you getting lost despite my clear instructions and the more likely case of having to deal with Sir Arthur's many admirers.”

The girls helped me hide Sir Arthur from the attendant as we made our way up into the already humid Saturday morning.

While I was turned around, it didn't take long for me to figure out which hotel I was looking for. All I had to do was follow the line of dogs and owners streaming into a hotel high-rise.

Once I entered the hotel lobby, it was chaos. Dogs jumping and barking at each other, while their owners stood in line getting agitated. I was on my way to the registration desk when I heard my name called out.

“John!”

The voice came from the Lacy clan—all of them, including their trainer, were looking very worried as they sat in the lobby, without a dog.

“Have you seen Shelby?” Tamra asked as she nervously twisted her hair.

“She'll be here, with Daisy,” I assured her. Even though I didn't know the how or where she was retrieving Daisy, I knew better than to doubt Shelby.

“This is ridiculous,” Zane said as he threw his hands up in the air. “How dare she get your hopes up!”

“Classic Holmes, overconfident as ever,” a voice replied.

I turned around to see Detective Lestrade, wearing a casual blue dress without her badge in sight.

“Hello, Detective,” I said as I could feel the sweat starting to form on my forehead. What if she noticed that I was under the name Sheldon Holmes? What had Shelby gotten me into? “I didn't realize you were going to be here.”

A smile started to spread on her lips. “Yes, well, I wanted to get a front-row seat to Holmes's
big reveal
.” She said those last two words with a smirk. She was here because she wanted to see Shelby fail. It never even occurred to me that there was a chance she wouldn't find Daisy.

“Watson.” Emerson approached me. “Shelby asked me yesterday afternoon before she left to give you this.” He handed me an envelope with my name written on it.

It didn't make any sense. Shelby had seen me after she gave him that letter. She had even given me her own letter with instructions last night.

I tore open the envelope, assuming that it was the same list I already had. She was probably simply covering her bases.

Oh, how wrong I was.

Dear Watson,

Thank you for bringing Sir Arthur safely to the hotel. I had every faith you'd be able to complete
your task successfully. I must admit that I haven't been fully up front with you on what I require of you today. I will need you to be Sir Arthur's handler at the dog show. Simply make sure he has seen at least one dog compete and he'll know what to do. He's a very intuitive dog and he should be able to guide you expertly.

Shelby Holmes

She tricked me! There was no way I would've come here if I knew I had to be a dog handler. I was going to make such a fool out of myself. I glanced back down at the letter and noticed a postscript on the back.

PS—While I didn't want to deceive you, I knew this omission on my part was the only way to get you to do it. You won't make a fool out of yourself, as I've asked Mr. Emerson to assist you.

I looked around the hotel lobby, positive that I was going to see Shelby laughing. This had to be a prank. How did she know that was going to be my response?

Although of course she'd know how I'd react. This was her plan all along. She knew before she ran into me yesterday that she was going to have me do this. She knew
when we were tailing Zane how everything was going to play out.

“Come along.” Emerson gestured with his hand for me to follow him.

“Where are we going?” I asked, my head still spinning with the fact that I had to go onstage with Sir Arthur. Or at least I thought that was what I had to do, since I'd never even seen a dog show before.

I knew nothing.

And Shelby was throwing me to the hounds.

Emerson began to explain. “Since Sir Arthur has never shown before, he has to compete in the English bulldog preliminaries. If he places in the top two, then he goes to the Non-Sporting competition, much to Shelby's objections. She felt her dog was a rather sporting animal, but I don't make up the designations. This is where he'll compete against other dogs for a spot in Best in Show. If Shelby comes through, Daisy will compete right after Sporting in the Toy competition.” He checked his watch. “She has a little over an hour to get here. You, on the other hand, have ten minutes.”

WHAT!

Before I could really understand what was happening, Emerson led me up the escalators as he placed an armband with a number on my left arm.

He was telling me what to do during the show, but all I could think of was,
I have to show Sir Arthur.

Or, as Shelby made it clear, it was more that Sir Arthur would be showing me.

I was getting used to playing second fiddle to Shelby, but couldn't I even get top billing over a dog?

CHAPTER

28

“N
ow
,
pay
attention
.”

While I said that to Sir Arthur as we watched the competition from behind a heavy blue curtain backstage, I was also talking to myself.

It seemed pretty straightforward. I had to jog around an oval once with Sir Arthur and the other dogs, then a judge would check him out before we had to run back and forth the length of the floor.

How hard could it be?

But then again, there were probably around two hundred people seated on the outskirts of the oval course, including Detective Lestrade. Plus, Sir Arthur wasn't prepared. I had no idea the last time he'd been groomed. The judges were really going over the dogs: feeling their coat from every angle, examining their ears and tail, pulling apart their lips to check their teeth and gums, and lifting their feet.

Emerson took out a brush and worked through Sir
Arthur's coat. “He's a fairly clean dog,” he remarked. “I usually make it a policy not to work with English bulldogs. They are tough to train, an extremely stubborn creature.”

Hmmm. Remind you of anybody?

He took out a cloth and started cleaning Sir Arthur's folds.

Emerson sighed. “If I had more time with him, I could guarantee that he'd at least place. Why did Shelby want you to do this?”

To humiliate me
was the first thought that popped into my head.

But she had wanted access to the backstage area where all of Daisy's competition was.
That
was why she had registered Sir Arthur.

Yet Shelby was nowhere to be found, and it didn't appear Daisy was here, either.

“Fortunately, handlers are supposed to be invisible,” Emerson said as he looked down at my shorts and T-shirt with a disapproving shake of his head. “Are you ready?”