Bloodlines

can tell dog hair from human hair, no problem, but it would’ve taken them a while, what with that much of it to look at. But once the body turned up...”
    “Rinehart was at Puppy Luv?”
    “Oh, yeah, Rinehart was there. No question. Everything matches up. The dog hair on him comes from there, traces of the dog shampoo they use. He’s got Puppy Luv written all over him. The head... when they found the body, the head was wrapped in a piece of this clear plastic, and it matches up. Covered with traces, Diane’s saliva, lipstick, an eyelash. And a piece torn out of the plastic fits with the little piece that got caught on her earring. No question.”
    The dogs brought us to a halt at a lamppost on Concord Avenue that looks like every other lamppost in Cambridge, but obviously smells utterly distinct and fascinating. Kimi sniffed the base while Rowdy was checking out the area above her head.
    “We’ll have to wait for them,” I said. “So it was Rinehart who strangled Diane Sweet? Kevin, that doesn’t make sense. Why would Rinehart kill her? She was a good customer, I think, and she was no threat to him. I mean, what kind of trouble could she have caused? Being a puppy broker is evil, but... Well, except that according to USDA regulations, Rinehart was supposed to hold the puppies for twenty-four hours, or something, and he probably didn’t. But, you know, when the USDA even bothers to inspect, they don’t do much. If they find a violation, all they usually do is tell the people to correct it. I can’t understand why Rinehart... Kimi, enough! Let’s go!”
    Kimi lifted her leg on the interesting lamppost. Kevin hauled Rowdy away and looked back at Kimi. “You ever, uh, ask Delaney about that?”
    “It’s perfectly normal,” I said. “A lot of bitches do it, but, of course, some of them just do it once in a while, and a lot of them don’t actually... And sometimes she squats. Anyway, it’s perfectly normal. So Rinehart—”
    “Probably didn’t even touch her,” Kevin said. “Diane could’ve been dead when Rinehart got there. This plastic from the dog bed went from her to him. If Rinehart had been standing ten feet from her and sneezed, the lab could tell you, but Rinehart had on a dark suit, and Diane was wearing a fuzzy white sweater, so if he’d got close enough to strangle her, you could’ve seen it with your naked eye.”
    “But, Kevin, I don’t see... The thing is, Rinehart... Kevin, on Wednesday morning, someone placed an order with Rinehart. Someone ordered puppies from him.”
    “From his people,” Kevin said. “The business is still there. It’s an office, is what it is. Rinehart Pet Mart. Deals in cats, too. Kittens.”
    “Jesus. So Rinehart got to Puppy Luv after—or probably after—Diane Sweet was dead? So Rinehart wasn’t—”
    “Couldn’t’ve been,” Kevin said. “Rinehart tries to use this plastic on her, and that doesn’t work, so he strangles her, and someone comes along and grabs him and cracks his head on a bathtub, and wraps him up in the same piece of plastic he just used...?”
    “A bathtub?”
    “The one in the back. Raised up high so’s the top is about level with your waist.”
    “Right. So...?”
    “Hair all over the place,” Kevin said, “including the drain of the bath tub, and, like you’d expect, most of it’s dog hair.”
    “But?”
    “But in the drain of the bathtub, we find a couple of strands of human hair. And just a little trace of human blood.”
    “Thorough,” I said. “You guys are very thorough. From Rinehart?”
    “From Rinehart,” Kevin agreed, “who happened to have had his head bashed against a solid object.”
    “By Walter Simms,” I said. “Eliminating the middleman, right? So that was it? Brokers are the middlemen, and they’re the ones who get rich, and that’s what Simms was doing after all, right? Eliminating the middleman. Or wrong. I mean, I told you that Simms wasn’t trying to do that, because he couldn’t supply what Rinehart could, you know, that many puppies, all the breeds. But, Kevin, does Simms say... Look. Simms got there first, right? Fie got to Puppy Luv, and he killed Diane, and then—”
    “You’re getting there,” Kevin said. “But you need to back up.”
    “Janice Coakley? Simms goes to Your Local Breeder. He delivers the puppies Janice ordered from Rinehart, plus a few he’s selling her himself that Rinehart doesn’t know about.” Kevin said nothing. Then I got it. “But