Rachel Alexander 02 - The Dog who knew too much

sure that—whoever the killer was, was already looking hard in my direction. It was only a matter of time now until the cousin shtick was going to wear thin, thin enough to see through, if it hadn’t already. At least one of them already knew where I lived.
    Janet came first. I could hear her on the stairs. I could smell the organic chamomile and aloe shampoo I’d seen in her bathroom, and anyway, by now I knew her footfall. I heard her plunk down a heavy backpack and put one shoe up on the top of the shelves where the shoes were to unlace it, then the other, and then she walked into the studio and called Dashiell for a head scratch.
    “Sorry you couldn’t wait,” she said. “I was going to treat you at Charlie Mom’s again.”
    “Did you go already?” I asked.
    “Uh-uh. Truth is , it would have been a bust anyway. People show up,” she drawled, “they don’t even call, and the policy is”—Janet sighed—“the policy is never to let a dime walk out the door. I might look elsewhere soon, you know.”
    “Where else have you worked?” I asked, pulling my socks up tight and smoothing my leggings over them.
    “Oh, I was at the World Gym two years ago, and last year I worked on Christopher Street , where I am now, but I also taught classes at the Club, on Varick .”
    “Where Lisa’s boyfriend worked?”
    “I heard about that,” she whispered. “It was on the news. Jesus,” she said, shaking her head. “You know, when I moved here from Texas , everyone I met said the Village was the safest neighborhood in New York City . I don’t know. What is this world coming to, you can’t walk around the neighborhood anymore without getting killed? Is that hers, too?” she asked.
    “Excuse me?”
    “That silver bracelet you’re wearing. Was that Lisa’s, too?”
    I picked up the heart and let it drop.
    “Yeah. I found it with her stuff. But I don’t think she ever wore it. It looks brand-new.”
    Janet held the heart and read it.
    “I don’t know why not. I sure would have. It’s nice. Don’t you think so?”
    I nodded.
    “I guess Paul got it for her,” she said.
    “I guess.”
    I watched the muscles in her cheeks jump.
    “Are you staying for class?” she asked.
    “I think I’ll just watch. I don’t think I’m ready for this.”
    “Sure you are. You can do it. You can do anything you set your mind to, don’t you know that, woman?”
    “I’m going to pass,” I said.
    Janet shrugged. “Suit yourself. But we can still have dinner if you want. Charlie Mom’s, after class?”
    “Sure. Sounds great.”
    Then she turned, because we heard someone on the stairs, someone walking slowly. “Howie,” she called out.
    “It’s m-m-me,” he answered.
    A moment later Howie and Avi walked into the studio. Avi had a bag from Staples with him. Howie looked at me and smiled, then sat across from me. Avi put his package down on the couch and joined us all on the floor, sitting in a circle around Dashiell. Then three other advanced students arrived and greeted us, a really skinny guy with a ponytail like Avi’s , a short, muscular black man whose biceps rivaled Janet’s, and a woman of seventy or seventy-five, thin and lithe, there perhaps to prove the point that t’ai chi helps you to live longer.
    Avi stood, and everyone went to the supply closet and got swords. I sat with Dashiell watching the ritualized movements, the sword as an extension of the hand, an extension of one’s chi. And while I was watching, I heard Stewie Fleck on the stairs, heard the squeak of his sneakers, heard him changing his shoes, and then he was there, a few feet away, looking around the couch. I turned to watch the class, hearing the jingle of Stewie’s keys being scooped up from the floor and dropped into his pants pocket, waited while he got his sword from the closet, then turned to look at him as he passed where I was sitting to join the class, making a point, it seemed to me, not to look at me.
    But then he didn’t join the class. He came back to where I was sitting and squatted, sitting on his haunches the way Avi always tells us to.
    “I know what you did,” he said, his eyes hard.
    “And I know what you did,” I said back to him.
    He glared at me. “I don’t have time for this now,” he whispered, standing up quickly and going to join the class.
    The moment class ended, Janet pulled on my sleeve and nodded toward the door. I changed my shoes, grabbed my jacket, and picked up Dashiell’s leash. Out