Rachel Alexander 04 - Lady Vanishes

taking Lady back to Harbor View, I moved as fast as I could, first going back to the hospital to talk to Venus, then heading back to Tenth Street, to my office, to do some very important research, some by phone, some on-line, watching the clock to make sure I didn’t miss Samuel coming out of the precinct, taking a deep breath of fresh air, thinking free at last, free at last, then heading over to Harbor View for some much-needed spin control.

Chapter 37
    It's All a Terrible Mistake

    At ten to one, despite the heat, I slipped on a jacket, loaded my pockets, leashed the dogs, and walked across the street. When he came out, I was waiting.
    “What do you want?”
    “I came to give you back your keys,” I told him. “And to thank you.”
    “To thank me?”
    “For taking such good care of Lady. Just like you said, she’s fine.”
    He reached out a hand.
    I didn’t reach into my pocket for his keys.
    “Here,” I said, handing him the loop of Lady’s leash. “I was just going to take her back to Harbor View. Maybe you should do that. It would look better.”
    “You didn’t tell them?”
    “Uh-uh.”
    He took the leash, ignoring the dog at the other end.
    “Look, I lied to you.”
    He nodded.
    “And you lied to me.”
    This time he looked past me, down toward Hudson Street, where I hoped we’d be headed soon.
    “And you lied to the police.”
    “How do you—”
    “I know what you’re after, Samuel.”
    Two lines appeared between his eyes.
    “Why don’t we wipe the slate clean and start again? I promise you, you’ll get your father’s attention this time.“
    “How?” Sounding like a little kid again.
    “By having found Lady. You can tell him what you wanted me to tell him, that you located her at the shelter, that she must have gotten out, but you never gave up, you kept calling and calling, and finally she showed up there and you went to get her. That would explain your absence last night, wouldn’t it?”
    “It would.”
    I reached into my pocket for his keys, handing them over to him.
    “By the way, what time was the meeting with Harry’s lawyer?”
    “How do you know about that?”
    “Oh, last night, Nathan said they’d all be gone in the morning, something about Harry’s will, that the lawyer didn’t want to mail copies to the heirs, he wanted to discuss it with them.”
    Samuel frowned.
    “Only he didn’t say what time it would be.”
    “Eleven.”
    “Good. Then they should be back by now. You can surprise them with Lady. I’d like to go with you, Samuel, to see the expression on your father’s face.” I smiled and took a step toward Hudson Street. “Come on. We don’t have a moment to lose.”
    For a moment, I thought Samuel was glued to the spot, a warning to all who pass the precinct about how alleged felons are treated inside by the cops. He looked, and smelled, like hell. But he seemed to have forgotten all of that. He, too, was anxious to see the expression on Eli’s face when he showed up with Lady, when his father would see, once and for all, how capable his older son was.
    We had nothing to say to each other on the way. He was thinking his thoughts, I my own. When we got to the comer of West and Twelfth, Samuel turned to look at the demolition site, the roof of the bar history by now.
    After a moment, he looked back at me. He seemed to be smirking, but then he moved so quickly, I couldn’t be sure. He was speed-walking toward Harbor View, tugging hard on Lady’s leash when she stopped to sniff the old neighborhood, to reassure herself that she indeed was nearly home.
    I could hear them as soon as I unlocked the door, loud voices coming from the dining room. I hoped the kids had finished lunch and were elsewhere. The shouting would surely upset them.
    “Why are we sitting here with this god-awful slop congealing in front of us if we’re finished here?” I heard Bailey say.
    “It can’t be legal,” his mother told him. Told everyone. “How can it be legal, that woman running this place?”
    “She did it for the money,” Janice said.
    Samuel walked into the lobby first. I let the door close quietly, looking to my right and seeing David in his spot, his fingers tapping rapidly against each other, his jaw clenched.
    “I know you’re angry and disappointed,” Eli told them, “but what you’re saying isn’t so. Harry didn’t leave her any money, not a dime.”
    I reached for Samuel’s arm. When he turned to question me, I put my finger up to my