Almost Dead (Lizzy Gardner #5)(40)

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. People get attached to their dogs and will do almost anything for them. I’m sure your girlfriend appreciates you getting her dog back for her.”

“Yeah, sure, I guess. I should have grabbed that guy by the collar, taken the damn dog, and told him to take me to court.” He finished writing his name and number and handed Kitally her card back. “What are you, some sort of a pet detective?”

She laughed. “Sure, for today, anyway.”

“If you find him, you’ll really give me a call?”

“Definitely. You don’t live far at all from the woman I’m working for. But if you’re at work, I don’t know . . .”

“Won’t be a problem. I work from home. I’m a web coder.”

“Really?” This guy had to be the most muscle-bound web coder she’d ever met.

He nodded. “The name’s David Downing.” He held out his hand.

“Kitally,” she said as they shook hands, hoping he wouldn’t crush any bones. “If I can get my hands on him, I’ll call you.”





CHAPTER 27

Lizzy sat in her office on J Street. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get Shelby Geitner out of her mind.

Lizzy had thought she could stay out of it, let Detective Chase do his job, but there was no way she could sit on the sidelines and do nothing. She pulled out her notebook and scribbled down the names of the girls Shelby seemed to hang around with in class. She’d pay each and every one of them a visit. She grabbed her address book and flipped through her contacts, writing down more names as she went, then used her resources, which included everything from the phone book to one of many free and paid public access sites on the Internet. It wasn’t long before she had a dozen people she wanted to talk to. Before she could grab her purse and take off, the office phone rang. It was her real estate agent, Pat.

“Lizzy. I’ve been trying to reach you for days.”

“I was just heading out. What’s going on?”

“I was at your house today and—”

“I don’t want anyone going inside that house.”

“But I thought—”

“You thought wrong,” Lizzy said, cutting her off. “I don’t want anyone in the house.”

“But his sister said—”

Lizzy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Lynn? Jared’s sister called you?”

“Yes. She made it sound like she was in charge.”

“She’s not. The house is in mine and Jared’s name.”

“I don’t mean to be insensitive, but there are practical considerations that I know you’re in no condition to—that you’re far too busy to deal with right now. I want to help. There’s a wonderful couple I know who clean out houses for busy people like you. They’ll pack everything up nice and neat, label all of the boxes and—”

“I don’t want anyone in my house. Do you hear me?”

Silence.

Lizzy swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’ll call you if there’s any change.”

“Are you OK, Lizzy?”

Lizzy’s shoulders dropped. She was tired of people asking her the same question every five minutes. No, she was not OK. She was a f*cking zombie, and that was on her best days. If someone didn’t like it, they could go to hell. She was doing her best.

“Are you still there?”

“I’m here,” Lizzy said. “I’ll call you if there’s any change,” she repeated, holding back from calling the woman a scavenger.

“OK. Sorry to bother you.”

Lizzy hung up the phone, more than annoyed when it rang again. “Hello,” she snapped.

“Is this Lizzy Gardner?”

“This is her.”

“Wonderful. I’ve been watching you.”

“What a surprise,” Lizzy said. She considered hanging up, figuring it was just another prank caller, but something in the woman’s voice made her hang on another moment and see what the woman wanted.

“I was hoping we could chat.”

“Mind telling me who I’m talking to?”

“I’m the one you’re looking for.”

“That’s great, because it’s so much easier if the people I’m looking for just call me up and tell me where they are. I’m listening.”

“I can’t give you my name, of course, but overall I believe the two of us are a lot alike.”

“Well, lucky you,” Lizzy said. Why does every * in the world think they know me? And why the hell am I still listening to this crackpot?

“Like you, I had some rough spots when I was younger. Recently, though, I realized things had to change, and it was time to punish some people for the things they did to me.”

Hmm. “You think that’s what I’m doing?”

“I’ve done some research on you, and I think you’re trying to rid the world of one bad guy at a time.”

“Interesting, but I have to disagree. I’m not trying to rid the world of anything. I try to help kids learn to defend themselves and I also help people with whatever it is they need.”

“Fine. You’re helping people,” the caller said, clearly annoyed. “I’m calling you because I have a proposition to make.”