Lost & Found - Jacqueline Sheehan [54]
She pulled up to her rental house and Tess was there, just opening her car door. Tess waved. She had on a knit cap and her white hair stuck our beneath it.
“I wanted to give Lloyd a walk. He needs to keep that shoulder moving….” She stopped in midsentence when she saw Rocky’s face. “What’s wrong with you?”
Rocky didn’t pause; she jumped on the deck and pushed open the green front door. Lloyd was waiting, had heard the truck and was ready to greet her. She dropped to one knee and wrapped both arms around him and then she started to cry with one hand over her face. Lloyd squirmed, backed up and sat down.
Rocky eased back into a squat. “Isaiah told me he thinks he found Lloyd’s owner. A woman who killed herself. Probably killed herself,” Rocky said in a thin voice. “She was an archer. I think she shot Lloyd.”
“Oh, no. Now you don’t know that. Tell me what you really do know,” said Tess as she reached an arm down to pull Rocky up. She brushed the hair out of Rocky’s face. “You either need a hair clip or a good haircut.”
Rocky repeated what Isaiah told her at the diner. Tess had her repeat the part about the house on the island. “I wondered what had happened to the Hamilton place. It had a different look to it this fall. Sort of broken, cracked, and it smelled like metal, like aluminum. Should have known the place was sold. But I think you’re wrong about this woman shooting Lloyd, and I can’t even tell you why.”
As soon as Tess said that, Rocky remembered the man at the convenience store in Portland and the way Lloyd nearly blew the top off her car when he saw this guy. And how right after that she had called Hill and set up archery lessons and hadn’t thought of it again.
“There was this guy in Portland who Lloyd recognized, and the dog went nuts in the truck. At least I think Lloyd recognized him; he definitely didn’t like him. And the guy looked startled to see Lloyd.”
“What was the guy doing?”
“He had just gotten out of his truck, and he was walking toward the front door of the convenience store. I was at the door going in.”
“So Lloyd saw him coming toward you, and Lloyd was stuck in your truck.” Tess looked down at the dog, who actively lapped his testicles, no longer interested in the two women. “Sounds like he was trying to protect you. Has he done this again?”
“No. The most aggressive thing Lloyd has done was to nose me awake a couple of times when he had to go out. This guy is like a big koala bear. Hang on a minute, Tess. I’m calling Sam’s office to see if he can get me a list of all the vets over in Orono. I’m going to start calling them to see if they know the dog. At least we can find out what his real name is and stop calling him Lloyd.”
“His name should be Lloyd. It suits him,” said Tess.
After Tess left, Rocky went down the list that Sam’s assistant had faxed to the island library. Each time she called, she said the same thing. “This is the Animal Control Warden on Peak’s Island. I think I have a dog that may have been one of your patients. Was Elizabeth Townsend the owner of a black lab?”
She called six offices before she got the direct hit. She knew it right away when the receptionist said, “Hold on please, I’m going to have you speak with Dr. Harris.” Two minutes of local radio music followed. Rocky stood next to the kitchen counter and drew jagged lightning bolts on an envelope addressed to Resident.
“This is Ann Harris. You called about a black Lab.”
“Yeah, I have an injured Lab that I’ve been fostering for about a month while he’s been healing. I’m trying to locate the owner. We just learned that Elizabeth Townsend was found dead