Chow Down (A Melanie Travis Mystery)

introductions were made. Darren Abernathy was carrying several index cards. He thumbed through the stack as we were presented, staring at each handler-and-dog team as if trying to commit facts and faces to memory. I wondered what he had written in advance about Faith and me. Considering his bias against Poodles, I wasn’t feeling terribly optimistic.
    Then Darren reached the end of the line and began to frown. He held up his last card and looked around the set. “We go on in two minutes. Where’s the Yorkie?”
    Doug gulped.
    Darlene went slightly pale. “I sent Jerry up to your room with a note twenty minutes ago,” she said. “Didn’t you get it?”
    “No, I didn’t get it. Don’t tell me there’s been a change. You know I don’t like change. What did it say? I’m prepped for these five breeds. There better not be any last-minute substitutions.”
    Darren’s mood was suddenly thunderous. Our judging committee began to look worried. Was I the only one who found it astounding that the show’s renowned dog expert was incapable of ad-libbing about a breed he hadn’t prepped for? Even Aunt Peg could have pulled that off creditably.
    “No subs,” Darlene said soothingly. “But the Yorkie’s out.”
    “Out? What do you mean, out ?” He waved the last index card in the air, like maybe he thought he was a magician and that would cause the missing dog to appear.
    “The dog and owner aren’t here,” Simone said.
    Darren swung his gaze her way. “Who are you?”
    They’d been introduced only a minute earlier, but clearly Darren hadn’t been paying attention. Simone looked a little taken aback by the man’s rudeness. It was obvious she wasn’t accustomed to being overlooked.
    “Simone Dorsey, director of public relations for Champions Dog Food.”
    “You’re the one who was responsible for bringing me five dogs for my weekly segment. Five finalists from your ‘All Dogs Are Champions’ contest. A Brittany, a Poodle, a Scottie, a Boxer, and a Yorkie.” He ticked off the breeds on his fingers. “That’s five. Why do I only see four here?”
    “There was a bit of a problem—”
    “No shit, Sherlock.”
    “Our fifth dog-and-handler pair became indisposed.”
    “Indisposed?” Darren’s eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
    I glanced discreetly at the other finalists. We were all wondering the answer to that, too.
    “Lisa became ill and she couldn’t make it. None of us had any warning. It was a last-minute thing.”
    “How ill?” asked Darren.
    “Violently,” Simone confirmed. Standing beside her, Chris made retching noises.
    “I see. And there was no one else who could have brought the dog . . .” He looked down and consulted his notes. “This Yorkie . . . Yoda?”
    “No, there wasn’t.” Doug stepped in to continue the story. “Each of our five finalist dogs is a cherished family pet. They work together with their owners as a team. Once Lisa became ill”—he shrugged helplessly—“there really wasn’t anything we could do.”
    Darren turned back to Darlene. “This is a fine mess. I hope you realize that changing from five dogs to four will upset the symmetry of my entire presentation. I’ll have to eliminate some things I meant to say and pad others. My delivery will undoubtedly suffer.”
    The cohost patted his arm, just as I’d seen her do earlier with the tennis player. “You’re a professional,” she said earnestly. “I have every faith in your ability to cope. I’m sure you’ll do just fine.”
    Darren blinked several times. He seemed to be considering whether Darlene was being sincere or simply humoring him. “Just make sure I’m not the one who gets blamed if things don’t go as planned,” he said finally. Then he spun around and walked away.
    “Don’t mind Darren,” Darlene said when the pet expert was out of earshot. “He’s always a little cranky first thing in the morning. He’ll come around.”
    It seemed to me that if Darren had problems dealing with dogs and early mornings, then he had the wrong job. But nobody was asking for my opinion and I wouldn’t have dreamt of offering it. No doubt Aunt Peg would have been impressed by my restraint.
    After all the drama that preceded it, amazingly our five-minute segment went off almost without a hitch. Much of the piece was devoted to a lead-in about dog food choices. Darren talked about the importance of good nutrition and of feeding your dog a balanced diet. Then he introduced Doug and