The Pit List Murder Read online

  “Yes, ma’am,” Parker replied patiently. “This is the Moonrise Pit Bull Rescue Center.”

  “Is that you, Parker?”

  I recognized the voice now. “It’s Opal Dixon,” I said quietly to Parker.

  Opal and her sister Pearl were frequent flyers at my uncle Buzz’s diner, The Cat’s Meow. They ate breakfast there every day. Opal, whose hair was white and fluffy like a cotton ball, was a no-nonsense lady. She also had a sharp tongue, which she frequently used on her sister.

  Parker nodded. “How can I help you, ma’am?”

  “I’ve got a dog here at my place. Still a puppy, I think. He’s the same color as Lily Mason’s dog only smaller, which is why I called you all. Poor thing’s filthy. Has some kind of dried schmutz on his fur, and he’s about half-starved. I could play chopsticks on his ribs. He is sweet as a peach though. He hasn’t stopped licking Pearl since she brought him inside. Is he yours?”

  “He is now.” Parker’s brows narrowed, and his blue eyes darkened. “I’ll be right out, Ms. Dixon. Can I get your address?”

  “How do you know my name? I didn’t say who I was.” Her tone was cautious and suspicious, and a little bit scared.

  Parker winced. “You said the dog was with your sister Pearl, so I assumed.”

  “Oh.”

  I grinned and shook my head. Opal gave Parker her address. After he said goodbye, he gave me a look. “Do you want to come with me?”

  His invitation gave me another surge of hope. “Sure. You think your dad would keep an eye on Smoosh?”

  Parker smiled. “I bet he won’t say no. He has a soft spot for the two of you.”

  Chapter 3

  I spent the ride staring out the passenger window of Parker’s large dually pickup truck. The Dixon sisters lived out on a rural gravel road, and Parker had been unsurprisingly silent. I metaphorically kicked myself for once again revealing the animal inside me that lurked beneath the surface. I’d freaked him out.

  But then again, why had he invited me along for the ride? Was he trying to make an effort to reconnect? “I’d have guessed Opal and Pearl for town dwellers,” I said. Small talk was a safe place to start.

  Parker shrugged. “I’ve never been to their place, but my dad says it’s something to behold. I thought you might want to see it as well.”

  “Tell me.” A little smile formed on my lips. “Do they have a mansion or something?” I leaned forward, my hand touching the bumpy dashboard, warmed by the sun. “They’re rich, aren’t they? I’d have never guessed. Are they like that one mother and daughter?” I snapped my fingers. “Gray Gardens, or something like that.”

  Parker chuckled. It made me stupidly happy. “You have a wild imagination, Lily Mason, but I don’t even think you will be able to guess what we’ll find when we reach the sisters’ lair.”

  I rubbed my hands together. The plot thickened. “Oooo. A lair.” I looked over at him. “I’m sad about the abandoned dog, but I have to say, I’m glad I get to go on this adventure with you.”

  His lips pursed then relaxed. “Me too.”

  We turned down a long gravel drive, and while my mind had scrolled through the many things I’d find, I was ill-prepared for what I actually saw.

  “Wow.”

  Plastic palm trees lined the last fifty feet of the narrow drive that led to a white fifty-foot double-wide trailer.

  We parked and got out of the truck.

  The front yard on either side had a white picket fence border, and inside there were two lawn chairs and probably three dozen pink flamingo lawn ornaments. Strings of colorful lights played over the top of the fenced yard in a canopy of green wires with hanging yellow, red, green, and blue bulbs. There was a signpost arm pointing south that said, “Miami, 1,095 miles.” There was another sign on the wall of the white trailer that said, “Age is just a number, but the aches and pains are real.”

  Opal Dixon, an elderly woman about my height—which means short, right around five feet tall—opened the door. Her snowball-white hair was messy like a bird’s nest.

  “Welcome to Casa de Dixon. Don’t just stand their gawking.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Pup’s in the house.”

  I wouldn’t call the tin cup I lived in a house, but the word applied here even if it was just a trailer.

  Parker nodded, and we followed her inside.

  The spaciousness surprised me. I figured the two ladies would have accumulated a lot of junk over the years, and that the place would be wall to wall with knickknacks and antique furniture. I was wrong. The Miami retirement theme was carried inside. A few tropical plants, wicker furniture, sandy-colored walls with accents of pale blues and greens, a bamboo desk with a bill box, stationary, and an assortment of pens, and the living room had a woven-palm ceiling fan. Even though it was seventy-two degrees outside, the heater ran, and it made the place feel even more tropical.

  Aside from the Miami theme, I noticed a lack of pictures on the walls. No awkward family photos. No children or grandchildren. I knew from Buzz that Opal had never married, but Pearl had been widowed twenty years ago. They had each other. That was it. But to have one person in your life that you can count on wholly and completely, who had your back through thick and thin, I knew that was enough. Or at least, I thought it would be. I’d never had anyone in my life like that. Not even my best friend from back home, Haze Kinsey. I knew if I called, she’d come running, but I wanted someone in my life who would come even if I was too proud to call. Someone who would just know.

  Opal must have caught me examining her digs, because she said, “Pearl wanted to retire in Florida. This was our compromise.” She led us down the hall. “Dog’s in the spare room.”

  I detected the slight metal scent of blood. “Is the dog injured?”

  Opal gave me a strange look. “I don’t think so. It’s a bit dirty from clomping about in the mud and weeds, maybe scratched up some, but mostly it’s just hungry. Well, it was. I gave it some leftovers from the fridge.”

  Parker put his hand on my arm and said quietly, “What is it?”

  I shook my head. Opal opened the door. In the corner of the room, half under a pile of cushy throw blankets, a puppy peeked his head up to stare at the two strangers who had disturbed his sleep. He had a red patch of fur over his left eye, the opposite of Smoosh. His cheekbones were prominent, and I could readily see his shoulder blades and ribs. There was a distinct lack of muscle tone from malnourishment.

  I clenched my fists to hold down my anger. Slowly, I crouched in front of the poor baby. He whimpered, dropping his head on the blanket. Dogs had a strange reaction to me. They tended to be calmer when I was around. I think it had to do with me being a Shifter, but since I’d never been around domesticated animals that didn’t speak English before Moonrise, I had no way of knowing for sure.

  The puppy crawled on his belly toward me until his nose touched my fingers. “There, there, little guy,” I said. I gently picked him up, cradling his body in my arms. He probably weighed between fifteen and twenty pounds, not nearly enough to fill out his tall frame. His fur was crusted with mud and debris, so I manually checked him, running my fingers down every inch of his fur, knocking off clumps of the dried dirt, until I was satisfied he wasn’t hurt.

  “Is he injured?” Parker asked.

  The blood scent was still present, but it wasn’t fresh. “Not that I can see.” I turned his collar to look at his tab. “He’s had vaccinations. One of Ryan’s patients. He can tell us who the owner is.”

  Parker’s bright blue eyes were livid. “There’s no excuse for neglect.”

  “I agree.” I stroked the pup’s back to soothe his nerves.

  “I fed it and gave it some water,” Opal said. “But Pearl and I can’t take care of a dog. The place is too small for us to have a critter under our feet. The last thing I need is a broken hip or worse.”

  “Where is Pearl?” I asked, noting the absence of the other sister. I’d never seen one without the other.
/>   “She went back out mushroom hunting after I called you.” She pointed a shaking hand toward her westside window. There was dirt under her nails. “That’s where we found the pup. He was drinking water from a stream we have running through our back acres.”

  Parker took the little guy from me and felt along his ribs. As much as a human could, Parker growled, his anger deepening his words. “He looks like he hasn’t eaten in a week.”

  Irritation colored Opal’s wrinkled face. “I told you I fed him.”

  I could smell canned meat on the puppy’s breath. It wasn’t the most nutritious food for a growing dog, but he’d probably thought it was the best meal of his life. I put my hand on the elderly lady’s rounded shoulder. “That was really kind of you, Opal. Thank you so much for calling us. We’re happy you did.”

  My words appeased her. She smiled, the lines from the corners of her mouth to her outer nostrils deepening. “Will you let me know what happens to it?”

  “We will.” I reached out and gave her hand, the skin dry and loose, a gentle squeeze. “I promise.”

  “And tell that cousin of yours I said hello,” the old lady added.

  I grinned. Even though Buzz was my uncle, because we looked so close in age, we let the town believe we were cousins. “You can tell him yourself at breakfast.”

  As we walked back to the truck, Parker’s anger rose from his skin like steam. It made me wish we’d have brought along Elvis, his trained service dog. “When we find the jerk who abandoned this pup, he’s going to wish he was dead.”

  I tried to lighten the mood. “And what if it’s a woman?”

  He gave me a side-eye glance. “Same.” At times, Parker opened like a fresh wound. Out of all his emotions, I think anger was the hardest for him to manage. Though love, I’m certain, was a close second.

  “Maybe you should stay home when we find out who the owner is.”

  Parker raised a questioning brow.

  “I’m already testifying at one trial. Any more, and I’m going to have to add witness for the prosecution to my resume.”

  Abruptly, Parker halted in his tracks. He turned to me, his face pinched for a moment, but quickly his expression relaxed. He laughed. “All right, Lily. I won’t leave any bodies around for you to trip over.”

  “Thank the Goddess.”

  We continued to his truck. When he opened the back door, he gave me a strange look. “Is that really something?”

  “What?”

  “The Goddess.” He gently placed the pup in the backseat kennel.

  I swallowed at the lump in my throat and shrugged. “As much as anything is something.”

  I went around to the passenger side of the truck and got in. My heart thumped against the inside of my chest so hard I could hear the pounding waves in my ears. He hadn’t asked me a single personal question about myself or my background since I’d shown him my fur. And no, that’s not a euphemism. I’d partially shifted in front of him to let him get a good look at my true nature.

  He hopped into the driver seat, closed the door behind him, and started the truck. He turned his curious blue-eyed gaze on me. “You know what I mean.”

  I swallowed again. “Actually, I’m not sure I do.” I swiveled to face him. I tried to put compassion in my next words because I wasn’t angry with Parker. I just really needed to know how far he wanted to take this conversation. “Is this small talk? Do you want a skim-the-surface answer, or do you really want to know? Because the last couple of months, I’ve gotten the impression you wish we could turn back time to a moment before you found out about me and keep it that way.”

  “I’m…” He gripped the steering wheel, his large arms flexing as his expression showed a myriad of conflict.

  He wasn’t ready. The thumping in my chest ceased with my disappointment and left a hollow ache in its place. “It’s all right.” I forced a smile that I worried looked more like a grimace. “We should get the dog back to the shelter.” As if on cue, the puppy began to whimper.

  Parker shook his head then gave a quick nod. Without another word, he put the truck in gear and got us on our way. I turned to the passenger window and focused on the landscape. Wildflowers, thickly leafed trees, rolling hills, and lush green grass made the spring one of the prettiest I’d ever seen. Unfortunately, my gaze kept diverting to the reflection in the window of Parker staring straight ahead, his lips thinned in concentration.

  I had to accept the fact that he might never come around. Parker was a strong man who’d lived through his own hell during his short life. He understood trauma as well as I did. He watched many good friends, friends who had become like family, die in a war where everyone lost. I’d found my parents murdered, then seventeen years later, my brother was killed. They’d been the only family I’d ever known until seven months ago, when I’d traveled to Moonrise to meet Buzz, my father’s brother, for the first time. I’d had a lot of hope for this new life, which is why it made me sad to think about moving back to Paradise Falls. I didn’t want to go. Other than Haze Kinsey and her snarky familiar, Tizzy, I had nothing left there.

  I glanced at Parker. I couldn’t keep hurting him.

  “I imagine if an alien spaceship landed on my lawn and little green men walked out, I’d have a hard time dealing with the harsh change in my reality.” I tried to smile again, but it felt like the corners of my mouth were lifting fifty-pound weights. “I mean, I don’t believe in little green men,” I said, my voice soft. “But if one was put right in front of me, I guess I’d have to consider the possibility. And if aliens existed, what else in my world existed that I didn’t know about? And I guess I’d worry about what I could trust and couldn’t trust. Especially if those little green aliens could make themselves look like me. It would make me wonder about everyone I’d ever met.”

  The truck slowed as we approached the intersection of the highway leading back into town. Parker pulled off to the side of the road. For a millisecond, I worried he would tell me I could walk back to town.

  Instead, he reached over and took my hand. “Would you like to come over for dinner tomorrow night?”

  “I can’t. Not tomorrow.” I didn’t really have any plans other than to wallow in self-pity. Tomorrow I would finally take my high school equivalency exam. It would start early in the morning and go all day. I should have just told Parker about the GED exam. The way the practice tests had gone for me, I was certain I would fail. I had science and math down, even history I could get a passing score, but English was the bane of my existence. I didn’t want to spend the evening with Parker beating myself up over my inability to write decent essays.

  Parker blinked. He hadn’t expected to be turned down. “Sunday night then?”

  The thumping in my chest returned as I realized he wasn’t asking casually. I pivoted my gaze to meet his. “Are you inviting me as your friend? Or is this a date?”

  He squeezed my hand, and I curled my fingers against his. He smiled. “Both. Or at least, I’d like it to be both.”

  I wanted to tell him about the GED test, but I didn’t. Why was I so reluctant to tell him? I liked that he thought I was smart and educated, which I am, just not classically. I think deep down I worried that if he knew I was a high school dropout, it would change the way he looked at me. It was bad enough him finding out I wasn’t altogether human.

  “Okay.” The pup in the back began to whine again.

  “So, dinner Sunday?”

  “Yes,” I told him. “I’ve missed your spaghetti.”

  A shy smile graced his lips. “Then my plan is working.”

  Chapter 4

  When we got back to the rescue center, Parker got the pup settled while I called Ryan Petry’s office. His assistant, Marjorie, said their computer system was down, but she took the number from the puppy’s tag and promised to call us as soon as she found out the owner information. Even so, Ryan would still need to check the dog out to make sure his only health issue was starvation.

  Parker scowled
when I mentioned Ryan’s name. I knew he worried that Ryan was interested in me romantically, but nothing could be further from the truth.

  Ryan was gay. Last I knew, he was still seeing Paul Simmons, the manager of Hayes Home Improvement Center. Paul was a handsome man, a little shorter than Ryan and a few years older, and they seemed to work. I couldn’t tell Parker, though. The world I grew up in didn’t place much value one way or another on sexuality. But this was not a Shifter-witch community. It was a small, rural Midwest town, and while some, especially the younger generation, tended toward an open-mindedness, many of the older residents still had old-fashioned notions about what was and wasn’t appropriate when it came to love and sex. So, until Ryan was ready to tell people, it wasn’t my place to out him.

  Near four o’clock, Addy Newton showed up for his shift wearing his letterman jacket, his blond hair cut short and his face freshly shaven. The teenage boy was the epitome of all-American. He came in to volunteer on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (now that football season was over) after school, and Sundays after church.

  He’d been caught with chewing tobacco in his truck on school property, and because of that, he’d been suspended from playing baseball. His father had been furious, but I think getting kicked off the team relieved Addy. He wasn’t a stupid guy, but his grades had slipped during football and basketball season.

  “Hey, Lily. Parker,” the teenager greeted us when he shuffled inside the office. He ran his fingers through his hair, so cool and confident. Right behind him was a teenage girl with dark hair, black skinny jeans, black ankle boots, and a black fitted sweater. Not so cool, and definitely not confident.

  I smiled. It was Reggie’s daughter, CeCe.

  While CeCe was a bit gothy in style, I knew her black hair was natural. Her mother had the same raven mane. I also knew she was highly intelligent. She’d been tutoring Addy for the past two months to get him ready for final exams. The two of them looked like polar opposites, but it didn’t take an enhanced set of senses to tell that Addy had a crush on the girl. CeCe, of course, was completely oblivious.