Paws before dying

opportunity to ask her about the shock collar, not by that name, of course.
    “You remember a while ago, you mentioned something about using a remote trainer? For squirming on sits and downs.”
    “Works like a charm,” she said.
    “I was wondering. Do you have one?”
    “You want to borrow it?”
    “Just as an experiment,” I said truthfully.
    “Sure, I guess so. I’ll bring it next time.”
    As we were lifting the table, Willie Johnson, whom I hadn't noticed, stepped in and put a hand on it. “I’ll do it,” he said nicely. “Where does it go?”
    “In that maroon van,” I told him. “Thanks.”
    When he got back, I thanked him again and refrained from asking whether the police had questioned him yet and, if so, what he’d said. Leah finally approached Bess to ask some question I didn’t hear, and when Bess had answered her and was turning to Willie, I pushed my way toward Leah and said, “What happened to the pictures?”
    “You gave them to me,” she said.
    Then we started leading the dogs out of the park and toward the street. “I know. But what did you do with them?”
    “Put them in the Bronco. I have a key, remember?”
    Jeff had crated Lance in the back of his family’s big white Oldsmobile wagon, and Leah begged to take Kimi with her, too. I gave in. She and Jeff hauled Kimi’s crate from my car to Jeffs, and while I waited for them to finish, I said hello to Monica, who’d shown up to get a ride to Emma’s with Jeff and Leah.
    Monica was wearing a short-sleeved navy-blue summer-Weight cotton sweater that looked brand-new.
    “Pretty sweater,” I told her as I stood holding the dogs’ leashes and waiting for Leah to get Kimi. “In fact, I ordered one just like it from L. L. Bean.”
    “Thanks,” Monica said. “Actually, it’s Leah’s.”
    Oh, was I slow. Was I trusting.
    Leah and Jeff finally finished fitting the crate into the station wagon. Then Jeff got into the driver’s seat, Monica opened the front passenger door, and Leah came to get Kimi. I handed her the leash.
    “Leah,” I whispered. “That sweater. The sweater Monica’s wearing? That is my new sweater, isn’t it? The one that just came today? From L. L. Bean?”
    “I was going to tell you,” Leah said blithely, “but I thought you might say something.”
    “Like what? ‘You’re wearing my sweater’? Leah, I want it back,” I said childishly. “I haven’t even worn it yet. As a matter of fact, this is the first time I’ve actually even seen it. And you’ve let someone else borrow it? Without even asking me?”
    “I’m sorry. Holly, really, I am sorry.”
    “I want it back,” I repeated.
    “Well, I can’t ask for it now,” Leah said reasonably. “What’s she supposed to wear? Nothing?”
    “No,” I conceded. “I guess not. But I don’t like this at all. And remember, eleven-thirty. At the latest.”
     

Chapter 24

     
    “SO all I thought was, huh, Monica’s got a sweater exactly like mine,” I told Steve. “It didn’t even occur to me that it was a strange coincidence.”
    Steve had a big smirk on his face. It had been plastered there ever since I’d outlined the story. The heat and humidity had defeated my rattling old air conditioners and driven us outdoors to the back steps. The dogs and I supposedly share the fenced-in yard, which has a park bench, an iron table, and a pair of cheap white resin chairs as well as a collection of canine furnishings. Unfortunately, though, despite my diligent daily cleanups, the Cambridge midsummer steam bath defeats even the ordinarily effective application of Odormute, Odo Kill, and Outright. In short, the yard stinks.
    “And then I actually told her I’d ordered the same one from L- L. Bean,” I confessed. “I can’t believe I was such a naive jerk. I actually complimented her on my sweater.”
    He thought that was pretty funny, too.
    “Which was when she said it was Leah’s,” I added. “And then I finally caught on. It’s probably amazing that I managed to do that.”
    “But you missed the next step,” he said.
    “And what was that?” I asked, unmollified.
    “Ask her whether you could borrow it. She’d probably’ve said yes.” And he laughed some more and patted Rowdy, who was half asleep on the concrete at the bottom of the steps.
    “Sure. Why not? And then Leah was so casual. And practical. It was completely maddening. Was I going to tell this girl to take off the sweater and go naked? And it wasn’t her fault.