Cage (The K9 Files #27)

Chapter 7

R isa followed Cage out of the house, wondering at his sudden surge of excitement. “What did you find? What did you see?”

He just waved her on to follow him. She kept close watch as they went into the backyard. He looked over the six-foot-tall wooden fence. “Come on. We’ve got to go around.” So he headed back out to the front yard, then locked up the house, and walked around the block. She kept up, but he was moving at a fast clip.

“Well, I’m glad to know that the sore leg doesn’t slow you down,” Risa quipped.

“Nope, it sure doesn’t,” he confirmed cheerfully.

“I gather you have something good in your world that’s making you this happy?” she asked, trying to catch up behind him.

“Absolutely I do, but I’ve got to be sure first.”

“You think you’ve found the War Dog?” she asked, still puzzled.

At that, he walked around the corner and stood before a house, assessed it for a moment and then nodded. He walked up to the front door and knocked, but he got no answer. “Of course there’s no answer,” he muttered. “That would be way too easy.”

She wasn’t sure what he was going on about, but he seemed pretty sure about something. “You could fill me in, you know?”

“I could,” he replied, “but, for the moment, until we know for sure, no answer is probably the best answer.” He knocked again several times, and, when he still got no answer, he walked down the sidewalk to the nearest neighbor.

When a woman opened the door and frowned at him, he smiled and began, “I was looking for your neighbor next door.”

“Well, if you came for him, you might as well get that damn dog. He never stops barking.”

“I might do something about that,” Cage offered. “Do you know how they got the dog?”

“No, I don’t, but, if you’re here about a noise complaint, I’ve posted my own many,… many times. I am sick and tired of him.”

“Does the dog ever go inside?”

“I don’t know,” she replied irritably. “If that’s the only reason you’re here…”

“Considering that I’m also trying to help your problem,” Cage interrupted, “a little cooperation would be appreciated.”

She groaned. “Fine. I don’t know. I’ve talked to the cops about it, and it’s just one old guy next door, and he keeps saying how the dog deserves special treatment.”

“Does he give it special treatment?”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “I mean, he’s pretty close to having to go into a home himself, and he’s not quite all there, if you know what I mean.”

“I presume he’s been here a long time?”

“Oh God, yes, ever since I have been here, probably a lot longer than that,” she shared. “I mean, he’s a fine old man, don’t get me wrong, but ever since he got that dog…”

“He doesn’t keep it inside at all?”

“I told you already that I don’t know. It just seems as if the dog barks constantly. The old man’s also three-quarters deaf, so he doesn’t care.”

“Ah, so that would explain it.”

“Yeah, it does, but it doesn’t help the rest of us.”

“Has anybody else voiced any noise complaints?”

She shook her head. “How am I supposed to know?” she said, staring at him. “You do ask the darndest questions. Feel free to go poll all the neighbors,” she suggested bitterly, “because I sure don’t know the answer.” As she went to close the door, she added, through gritted teeth, “But if you can do something about the barking, that would be great.”

As she went to close it again, Cage said, “One last question.”

“What?” she snapped.

“You know the family around the corner who died?”

“Yeah, what about them? The only good thing in that family was the kid, and he was in a wheelchair. So I always thought maybe it would have been better if he’d died.”

Risa couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What was wrong with the parents?” she asked, curiously unable to help herself.

The woman looked at her briefly, then dismissed her and returned her attention to Cage. It was such a rude thing, yet the woman did it almost unconsciously. “It’s not as if they were rude or anything, and I’m not out there being friendly myself either, but they just seemed as if they were always hidden away.”

“What do you mean?” Cage asked.

“I mean, if you walked past them, they wouldn’t say hi. If you greeted them first, they would just look at you as if you were from Mars or something.” She shook her head. “I probably shouldn’t say anything about the dead, but they were definitely weird. Maybe the fact that they were immigrants had something to do with it.”

“In what way?” Cage pressed her.

“I don’t know,” she stated, raising both hands. “They were just… odd, kept to themselves. I don’t know if the father worked or not. It seemed as if they were always home.”

“So maybe he worked from home,” Risa suggested.

The neighbor woman sighed. “They have a really nice house, and he always took care of it. The guy was out mowing the lawn all the time. It’s not as if they did anything wrong,” she said. “I don’t think that. It’s just they were very private.”

“Right.” Cage nodded. “Good to know.”

“How is the little boy? Do you know?”

“I spoke to him yesterday,” Cage replied with a smile, turning to look back at her. “He’s adjusting, but it’s a hardship for him. Brian has lost his parents and his dog.”

“Well, give him that barking dog,” the lady suggested, with a nod to her neighbor. “That would suit me to a tee.”

“Brian’s in a foster home now,” Cage shared, “and they won’t take a dog.”

“Of course not,” the woman muttered, “but I would take a kid over a dog any day.” With that, she stepped back and shut the door in their face.

As Risa walked down the steps beside Cage, she asked, “There really are people in this world like that woman, huh ?”

“She was just being herself,” Cage stated in a mild tone. “Not like you, but she is definitely her own person.”

“God,” Risa muttered. “I can’t imagine dealing with her day in and day out. Do you really think Brian’s parents were immigrants?”

“No, but to that lady, immigrants could have been literally anybody who hasn’t spent the last thirty years here,” he explained. “People have strange opinions about newcomers, and sometimes you’re a newcomer forever if you weren’t born here.”

“Right,” Risa agreed. “My mother is like that too.”

“She is, indeed,” Cage confirmed with a smile, as he looked over at her. “Yet it’s fine. Now at least we know why we’re not getting an answer at the door.”

“Oh, right, he’s deaf.”

“Exactly.” Cage walked back over to the house and this time hit the doorbell several times, hoping to jar whoever was in there out of the house.

Almost instantly the door opened, and a man peered out, staring at them with a puzzled frown.

Cage smiled at him. “Hey, I’m Cage Shelton, and this is my friend Risa. I’m here regarding your dog.”

Immediately he stiffened. “Oh, so you’ve been talking to that nosy neighbor, huh ?”

“No, it’s something completely different. I’m from the War Department.” He pulled out the card that Badger had made up for him before he left.

The man looked at it, and almost immediately he seemed to stand at attention. “What can I do for you then?”

“A War Dog went missing from around here a month or so back, and we were hoping you might have seen it, heard it, or maybe even helped it,” he began.

That’s when Risa realized that Cage really did think the War Dog he was looking for was the one in this man’s backyard.

“I understand you have a new dog here.”

“Yeah, I do. I call him Bull,” he muttered. “I don’t know where he came from. He just showed up one day, and he looked to be in need, and I used to work with dogs like this years ago. They’re well trained, and I know a trained one when I see it. I gave him a home, but… I don’t know if I can keep him for long. So I’ve been worrying about it lately.”

“Okay, do you mind if I come meet him?”

“Sure. Do you know for sure whether it’s him or not?”

“I don’t know that yet, but I can certainly get his chip checked out.”

“Has he got a chip?” the old guy asked.

“He should have,” Cage replied. “I also have a photo of the particular dog we’ve been looking for.”

“Any idea what happened that he would have ended up here?” He seemed to be sincerely concerned about the dog and its fate.

“Yeah, at least I think I have a pretty good idea, but it’s a sad story.”

“Come on in.… I am Killian Moore by the way. You can call me Killian.”

With that, Cage relayed what happened to the little boy and his family. Killian started to cluck away, as if an old mother hen. “Oh my, the poor little guy. He’s a lucky boy to have a War Dog as his best buddy. Every boy needs to have a dog,” Killian declared, as he shook his head, “and this would have been a heck of a dog for him.”

“Exactly. So, Brian’s devastated now and is worried about what happened to his friend. He can’t search for him, but he’s been really worried about him.”

“Of course. Let’s go meet him.” He stepped out into the backyard and at the top of his voice yelled out for Bull.

The dog was already racing toward them, and it was obvious that not only was the old man hard of hearing but he was mostly blind too because, until the dog was right there upon him, Killian didn’t seem to register Bull’s presence. “There he is.” Killian grinned with affection as he bent down and gave Bull a greeting. “Do you think this is him?”

Cage bent down and greeted the dog, who came to him with absolutely no hesitation. Cage checked him over. “I have to scan him to see if the chip is in there,” he murmured, “and I don’t know if that’s something I can do from here or not.”

“Well, he doesn’t take very kindly to car rides,” Killian shared, “not that I drive anymore, but I got that impression because, anytime a vehicle comes up, he tends to run away.”

“I think he was taken away by animal control when Brian, the little boy, was removed from his home as well,” Cage explained. “So, I’m sure, in his mind, he associates the car ride with losing everything.”

“Well, Bull’s a good boy,” the old man stated. “I want to confirm he’ll be doing okay wherever he goes. I’ll miss him, but I’m not long for this world and getting him settled is more important.”

Risa smiled at him. “You seem to be doing just fine.”

“Ah, but I’ve had my day. I’m ninety-six and still living on my own, but you know how it is. Any day I could just not wake up. It’s kept me alive some just knowing there wouldn’t be anyone to help Bull. I reached out to a couple places, a couple shelters, but they all seemed to be full and said they don’t have room to take any more. I was worried he would be misunderstood and put down, so, in a way, you’re a godsend,” he shared, looking over at Cage. “The fact that the War Department is involved.… Well, that does my heart some good.”

After a few more minutes of talking to Killian, Cage asked him, “Are you okay if I leave him here with you for the time being, until I can get it sorted out?”

The old man’s eyes brightened, and he smiled. “I would like that. He’s been really good company.” He reached down and gently scratched the dog on the back of his head. “But I would really like to see that little boy get this dog back.”

“I’m afraid that’s not likely right now,” Cage replied. “His foster parents don’t particularly want to take on a dog and a disabled boy.”

Killian’s face pinched. “Just because we live a good life doesn’t mean that we end up getting good back,” he muttered, as he shook his head. “I always held out hope that,… that it worked that way. However, the older I get, the harder it is to believe it. It’s a sad world out there nowadays.”

As Cage and Risa walked away, Cage felt his heart tug for the old man. It seemed as if the world was full of people who just needed friends.

“I don’t know how you do it,” she whispered in a low tone, as they walked away. “I just want to pick up Killian and the dog, go get the boy, and settle everybody back home.”

Cage chuckled. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do that? Maybe you’ll get the money for a house after all, now that your stepfather’s involved. Then just think how you could do something like that.”

“God, it just breaks my heart. Killian’s old and yet so concerned about Scotty being taken care of, when Killian’s the one who’s barely surviving.”

“I think he’s hanging on for the dog,” Cage pointed out, “and that’s another reason to find a solution for this.”

“When we can’t help everybody,” she whispered, “it just hurts.” Once they’d gotten into Cage’s vehicle, she stared back at the house. “Just like that, though, you found Scotty.”

“Yeah. Sometimes the easiest answer is the right one.”

“How was that an easy answer?” she asked, looking at him.

“The dog came home or maybe didn’t really go anywhere. He may have directly gone to his friendly neighbor where Scotty could stay close but keep an eye on the house in case Brian came home,” Cage suggested. “Dogs are loyal, sometimes so loyal it doesn’t do them any good, and it’s hard,… it’s really hard on them. In this case, he obviously has a bond with that little boy.”

“At least now you can tell the boy all about it.”

“That’s the plan, and I’m hoping that maybe we can reunite them… at least temporarily.”

“Would that be a kindness though?”

“I know. I’ve been tossing that one around,” he acknowledged. “Sometimes a kindness doesn’t end up being a kindness if it just tears people even further apart.”

“And yet Brian really wants to know that Scotty is safe.”

“Sure, but leaving him again could be pretty rough. I don’t know that his foster parents will be too interested in it.”

“You really didn’t like them much, did you?”

“It’s not as if I have any reason not to like them,” he replied, “and I feel bad for judging them for it from first glance. I really suspect she’s in this position because they have to be.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I think that something has probably gone on in their world, and, for whatever reason, they find themselves short on funds, and this is a way to maintain face and to still look good.”

“Ouch,” she muttered. “You think they’re more concerned about looking good?”

“Again that’s a judgment on my part,” Cage admitted. “I don’t know whether they’re more concerned about looking good or about putting food on the table. It’s quite possible that their circumstances have changed, and I’m just being unkind.”

She smiled and patted his arm as they walked. “Well, you weren’t ever unkind for no reason, and even now you’re trying to figure out how to make that old man’s life a little bit better.”

“Well, he’s a vet,” he stated, twisting to look down at her. “I don’t want to be him when I hit that stage in life, with nobody to give a crap, all alone. He should be well taken care of, but I’m not sure that he is.”

“Or he’s just refused anything that was offered out of sheer stubbornness.”

He burst out laughing at that. “You could be right. Killian did look as if he had a whole lot of attitude.”

“At least at one time he did, but maybe, with time, that’s something that needs to change in his world too.”

“Well, he could have a few more years in him. It’s hard to say, but we need to know that he’ll be okay.”

“You left him your card?”

“Sure, and if there’s anything I can do to help, I will. I’ll also call Badger and see if he can do anything for him.”

“How does Badger handle it when all his guys bring home bleeding-heart cases?”

“I don’t know,” Cage replied. “I never had to ask. Yet, if I feel I need to, I’ll do it no matter what.”

“Good. Somebody needs to help protect these guys, and I really liked Killian.”

“I’m sure he’s a character in his own way and no doubt has been raising Cain for a lot of years,” Cage said, with a smile. “Yet the world becomes much less than friendly, especially when you’re single, and a senior, and in his case, a very senior senior,” Cage noted, with a smile. “I would like to think somebody could do something for Killian.”

“What does he even need is the next question,” Risa said. “I don’t think he will take kindly to anything that smacks of charity.”

“Maybe not,” Cage agreed, thinking about it, “but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other things that can be done. A little friendship goes a long way.”

She gave a happy sigh, then slipped her hand into his. “That’s right, and you’re really one of the good guys, aren’t you?”

He squeezed her fingers and sighed. “When you’ve seen what I’ve seen, it’s easier to be nice than it is to be cruel.” He shook his head. “Enough cruelty is out there already. Enough violence and mindless killing too, all in the name of God-only-knows what,” he muttered. “It doesn’t take a whole lot to just be a decent human being.”

As they got into the vehicle, he glanced back at the house and smiled. Killian stood on his deck, hanging on to Scotty, who even now was excitedly bouncing up and down beside him.

Risa noted, “It’s as if Scotty wants to come with you.”

“He probably does, but I think he’s also concerned about the old man,” Cage added, “because that’s also part and parcel of where the dog’s loyalty will now lay. Somebody helped him, and I can’t imagine he’ll let that bond go either.”

“Are dogs really that easily bonded?”

“No, but you could see how he looked at the old man, knowing that he didn’t have much time and that he was quite on the delicate side.”

“Right,” she agreed. “Tough times for everybody.”

“Sometimes it’s just that way,” he muttered, with a nod.

“Now where?” she asked, as they sat in the vehicle.

“Well, that’s a good question. We found Scotty.”

“Oh”—she stopped to stare at him—“does that mean you’re leaving?”

“No, I’m not leaving yet because now I have to figure out how and what to do with the various people involved.”

“Yet that’s not part of your job, is it?”

He gave her half a smile and shrugged. “A job is a job. It’s what you make it, and I have decided that I’ll have to do more in this case.”

“Okay, and what is it that you’ll do?”

“I’m not completely sure yet,” he shared. “I’ll contact the lawyer to confirm that Brian is well taken care of. There is a mess of legal documents I need to hand over too. I’ll see what the future of that house is and who, if anyone, is interested in owning it.… If it’s a family member, that will require a visit to see why that family member isn’t taking care of the boy.”

“Probably because they can’t,” she pointed out. “For all you know they’re also on wheels.”

“Maybe,” Cage replied, “but it’s time for me to figure it out. I have a meeting with Brian’s aunt this morning.” He glanced at his watch and added, “Actually in about twenty-five minutes. Do you want to come with me, or do you want to go back home and take care of something?” He gave a vague wave of his hand, and she laughed.

“You mean, something like what, laundry?”

“Sure, if that’s what you want to do this morning, you’re more than welcome to.”

“God no,” she muttered. “I have more than enough to do in my world without that kind of crap.”

“Good enough. In that case, let’s head down and meet with Brian’s Aunt Portia.”

By the time they were on the road for ten minutes, Cage had run through all kinds of possible scenarios as to why she hadn’t taken on the boy. However, by the time he got up to the house and saw the disrepair, the sagging roof, and the lopsided railing, he sighed. “Looks to be another house in bad need of care,” he muttered.

“There could be a lot of reasons for that too.”

As they walked up, the front door opened, and an older woman with a cane, possibly in her sixties, stared at them. “You’re the one who wanted to talk to me?” she asked them.

He nodded and held out his hand. “Yes, I’m Cage Shelton. And this is my friend Risa. I’m the one who came here looking for the War Dog that Brian adopted and checking up on the family.”

“Well, the family is dead,” she snapped, but it was obvious that it wasn’t out of coldness but pain.

“Yes.” Cage nodded. “So I understand.”

“Come in, come in, come in,” she muttered, closing the door behind them. She shivered as she sat down, and pulled a blanket over her lap. “Now, what is it you wanted to know?”

“What happened to the family, for a start.”

“They were killed in a car accident,” she stated.

He nodded. “I understand there are a few more details to it than that.”

Her gaze shifted to the nearby window. “I don’t know whether there were or not,” she began, “but I’ll go to my grave wondering if I missed helping her when she needed it most.”

“Maybe you should tell us exactly what happened, and then we can see how this played out.”

She shrugged. “I got a phone call from Fiona,… my sister. They were on the way home from an evening out, something they rarely did. Oliver was just not into those things. Fiona even seemed to be in a good mood, thinking for the first time in a long time that maybe they would finally be okay. They’d had money problems since forever. Oliver had trouble with jobs. He got jobs, then lost them, and never seemed to hold a job for any length of time. Believe me that it was always a problem. She worked and he worked, but it seemed as if they were just on this constant collision course with fate. A company would hire her, but he would get laid off. Then, as soon as he found a job, she would get her hours cut. It was always something.”

“I get how that can be a struggle.” Cage nodded.

“Yeah, a constant struggle. That is the perfect way to describe it. It had been one thing after another for a very long time. Then suddenly she seemed to be really happy because they found something,… and they finally had a solution. In fact, she told me that they finally had enough money to do a few things and would take Brian to Disneyland for a holiday, their first holiday ever. I know Fiona was super excited about it. She called me from the car on their way home. Normally she wouldn’t call me unless she was completely alone. She suffered so much over the ups and downs of her life that she tried to keep all the phone calls away from her husband, knowing that she was essentially bitching about how he couldn’t seem to keep a job.”

Portia sighed, patted her lap a couple times, and an old cat, almost as fluffy and unkempt looking as Portia was, hopped up, kneaded the surface a bit, then curled up in her lap. Her face softened as she gently stroked the old cat. “When this guy goes, I won’t have anything to keep me here anymore.”

“What about your nephew?” Cage asked.

She sighed heavily. “If I had the means to keep him, that would be something I would consider,” she shared, “but I don’t. I don’t even have the physical health to get up and down the stairs on my own. I’m a lot older than my sister; seventeen years to be exact,” she stated, with a smile. “She was the light of our lives, always with such a bright laugh and such a happy-go-lucky person, but she fell in love with somebody who was in and out of trouble all the time.”

“What kind of trouble?” he asked.

She looked at him and shook her head. “The worst kind, and no matter what we did to convince Fiona that someone better for her was out there, she wasn’t having it. And it’s not as if he ran drugs or anything, but he was just lazy.… He couldn’t seem to hold a job. He would get into fights and cause all kinds of trouble, which got him laid off real fast.”

“Was he the instigator?” Cage asked.

“I don’t even know all of it because I wasn’t privy to a good share of it. Oliver didn’t like it when Fiona told me about their troubles, and I don’t blame him. Nobody likes to hear about the hardships that you’re going through, particularly if they don’t reflect well on you. So I was kept out of the loop for the most part, but I know that Fiona suffered in many ways. No matter what they did, they seemed to always end up at the bottom.”

Cage let her continue because she seemed to be in a zone.

“Then something happened, and Fiona didn’t really tell me much about it, just that their fortune had changed, and she thought they would be out of the worst of it. I asked her what she was talking about, but she just smiled and said that sometimes God worked in mysterious ways. They’d found something that was worth a lot of money. They were hoping to sell it, pay off their mortgage, and be okay for a while.”

“Did she say what it was or where she found it?” Cage asked, keeping the sharpness out of his tone.

“Just something about their backyard, which didn’t make any sense to me, but she’s made all kinds of foolish statements over the years that I haven’t really been able to trust. They say love is blind, and I believe it. I never did marry, so I never had that particular affliction,” she quipped, with half a smile in their direction. “In Fiona’s case she had it bad, and we all knew that she was saying whatever she was saying out of love, so there wasn’t a whole lot we could do about it.”

“Did she say how much money she would get for whatever they found?”

Portia shook her head. “Just that it would be enough to pay off the house and would put them on easy street for a while. I did tell her that, no matter what she was doing, she needed to be sensible with the money and confirm they paid off all the bills and then put away some money for Brian. She said that, of course, they would and that she wouldn’t be foolish. This was the chance of a lifetime. They just had to find somebody who would buy it.”

“Well, that sounds ominous.”

“I know,” Portia agreed, “and I’ve thought about it time and time again since they died.”

“Did she say anything during that drive home?”

“Yes, and I told the police that they might have had somebody following them. Fiona didn’t seem too worried, was treating it like a joke, but obviously it wasn’t.”

“No, I don’t think it was a joke at all,” Cage confirmed. “The question is, did people know about this item she supposedly found, and was it theirs, or was it something that somebody else had accidentally put in the wrong yard or was lost or something?”

Portia nodded. “I thought of that too.… Believe me that I’ve been thinking about all of that, wondering if I could have done something,” she muttered. “Or maybe I could have cautioned her about something. But she didn’t even tell me how much it was worth, whether five thousand or fifty thousand, but, in her mind, fifty thousand would have been an absolute fortune. For most of us, we understand mortgages and the cost of living, and, while fifty thousand is a really nice amount, it won’t put anybody on easy street.”

He agreed with that. He talked with her for a few more minutes and then asked, “What about the dog, Scotty?”

“Right, the dog.” She sighed. “They took it to a shelter, and I was hoping that, because it was such a special dog, it would get adopted again, assuming that part was even true,” she noted, with one eyebrow raised, as she looked over at him.

“The shelter lost the dog,” he noted.

She stared at him, then shook her head. “Doesn’t that beat all?”

“They lost it, and the War Dog went back to the same neighborhood, ending up in the backyard of one of the neighbors.”

“Good God,” she muttered, “that’s a lot of backyard activity.”

As he thought about it, he agreed. “Did you know any of the neighbors?”

“No, not at all.” Portia shook her head. “I wasn’t really invited over much. They got a really good deal on the house, and they’ve only owned it for a little while.”

“Do you think there’s any chance she found the item in the house, and maybe it was something the previous owner was coming back for?”

She stared at him. “Maybe.… I never thought of that, but anything is possible. The trouble is, there’s no way to find out for sure, and Oliver was just the kind of guy that, if he found it, he would never give it back. If there was an argument over ownership, he would say it was his and be pretty stubborn about it.”

“Is that what you think happened?”

“She did say …”

“Now hang on, did she say backyard ?”

“I thought it was backyard, but who knows? Maybe it was the attic.” She sighed. “Fiona didn’t give me much information, and I didn’t think to ask because she wasn’t making a whole lot of sense, and she was half giddy.”

“Had she been drinking?”

Portia nodded. “Maybe a little bit, but she wasn’t a drinker. So I presume it was a celebratory drink. I don’t even know what to tell you.”

“That’s fine. I’ll follow up with the police.”

“Good, because, if they were murdered, I would very much like to see that person brought to justice.”

Cage asked, “And all those neighbors, they didn’t have anything to do with Fiona?”

“I spoke to one neighbor who told me how Brian was such a lovely child. And he is,” she agreed, with a nod. “Everybody loved him. What a shame he was born with spina bifida and has been in a wheelchair for his whole life. Those medical expenses were a big hit to their finances too.”

“Would Oliver have gotten into anything shady in order to get them out of this financial hole they were in?”

“Oh, absolutely,” she agreed. “I told the cops that too because, in the back of my mind, I always thought that maybe he was involved in something and got run off the road for it.”

“Maybe so,” Cage acknowledged. “I don’t know what the house looked like before, but I went inside, and nothing appears to stand out as different or moved or ransacked. The home did appear to be completely normal.”

“Fiona was a spotless housekeeper,” Portia admitted. “She always felt good about how she could always keep the house clean. Of course she didn’t have a child running around destroying it, and anything Brian did run into, he did it on wheels. So that was a completely different story.”

“How long had they been in the house?”

“Less than a year, and they were still sorting through a bunch of the old stuff left in the attic and the garage. Oh, good God,” she muttered, “I bet you that’s where it was.”

“What?”

“There had been a fight initially about who owned the items left behind, but, because they bought the house as-is, with all that there when they moved in, it was deemed to be basically theirs. Fiona was still sorting through the stuff. Since they didn’t have a lot of money, she was looking to see if she could sell any of it.”

“So, you’re thinking that’s where she found the item.”

“But why would she say backyard and not tell me it was up in the attic or down in the garage?”

“Hard to say,” Cage replied. “Maybe some of it had been taken out to the garage and put in a pile in the backyard to take to charity or to the garbage or to set up a yard sale or whatever.”

“That could be it too because Oliver wasn’t very good at such things. He would have just pointed Fiona to it all and told her, If you think you can sell it, you sell it .”

“Interesting,” he murmured.

“I know I’m not speaking well of him, and I don’t mean to besmirch someone who’s dead and can’t defend himself, but he really wasn’t the kind of person who you want to see your family member marry. He was just really flaky,” she added.

Cage nodded. “It helps us to understand what may have been going on in Fiona’s life.”

“The question is whether any of this had to do with their deaths.”

“Do you know who inherits the house?”

Portia shook her head. “I asked the police about it, and the cop said it would be part of the will, but he didn’t have details. I phoned a couple of local lawyers, but nobody is saying anything as to who’s looking after the will. If I’m not mentioned in it, then I guess they won’t contact me. Why would they?” She shrugged. “So I really don’t know.”

“Do you know anything about Oliver’s lawyer?”

“Last I heard we had the same lawyer,” she stated, “but he didn’t tell me anything when I called him recently.”

“Well, if he didn’t, then by law he’s probably not allowed to.”

“ Hmm .” She frowned at him. “What about you? Can you find out that information?”

“I’ll see. If I do, I’ll let you know.”

“It should go to Brian,” Portia declared. “God knows he’ll need it.”

He smiled and nodded. “He absolutely will. I was hoping you were in a position to take him in, and Scotty too.”

“God no,” she muttered with a sigh. “I’m barely able to stay out of a home myself, and that’s not where I want to spend the rest of my life,” she muttered. “Those places are terrible.”

“Some of them are good,” he clarified, “but you do have to look for one.”

“Well, if you ever find a good one, then let me know,” she said, with a cackle, “because it sure seems as if they’re all out for money and not very much for helping the very people they are there to care for.”

They spoke for a few minutes longer, and then Cage stood up. Risa followed suit. Portia walked them to the door and added, “Remember what you told me though. If you find out anything, let me know.”

“Will do,” Cage confirmed, as they stepped out into the fading sunshine.

“How did the weather turn so quickly?” Risa asked at his side. “It was beautiful when we went in.”

“Yeah, but these subject matters tend to throw a pall over it too, doesn’t it?”

“God, does it ever stop? It seems as if we’re just finding one sad case after another.”

“Poverty can do that,” he noted, shaking his head.

“And Portia’s living in a pretty run-down house. If she had any money coming to her, it could go a long way, but wouldn’t the lawyer have contacted her already?”

Cage shrugged. “If I were to guess, it depends. The attorney might not settle anything until they sort out cause of death. If there was any suspicion that the couple were murdered, I imagine the attorney would have to hold off on settling the estate for a while. However, I don’t know how that works.”

“Interesting,” she muttered. “I guess it’s easier to hold back than to claw back.”

“Exactly, and that’s our next stop.”

“Have you already contacted the lawyer?”

He nodded. “I did, and now it’s time for a more in-depth conversation.”

“Good enough,” she muttered, but she hesitated.

He suggested, “I could drop you off, if you like.”

“If you wouldn’t mind that. Even though I would love to hear what the lawyer has to say,… I’m not sure it’s my forte.”

“No, it’s probably better if you aren’t there for this one,” he agreed, with a reassuring smile. “I’ll fill you in afterward.”

“You could always come to my place for dinner,” she offered impulsively.

He smiled at her and nodded. “That’s a great idea.” Minutes later, he pulled up to her place, and she waved him off, then turned and headed inside.

Cage drove over to the lawyer’s office, and, just as he walked up, a man stepped out and turned to lock up the doors. “Excuse me,” Cage said. Startled, the man turned, looked at him. “Sorry to catch you on your way out, but I called you earlier.”

“Oh, you must be Cage Shelton.”

“Yes, and you must be Mr. Xavier. I was hoping we could talk for a minute.”

“I really can’t give you any confidential information.”

“I’m aware of that,” Cage noted, “but I’m also aware that, as far as the police were concerned, foul play may have been involved in the parents’ deaths.”

Xavier nodded solemnly. “That’s the indication, and that just makes my job all that much harder,” he shared cautiously.

“I’m sure that the will is pretty simple though, since Brian and Portia are the only family that I know of. In this case, as I’m sure you are aware, the boy is the one we’re all concerned about.”

“Of course, of course,” Xavier replied, “and everything is taken care of, but the boy is in foster care at the moment.”

“Yes, and we’re wondering if there isn’t something that can be done about that.”

“I don’t see how,” he stated, frowning at him. “I mean, that’s what foster care is for.”

“ Right ,” Cage conceded, with a dry smile. “Putting kids with disabilities in homes where they’re not really wanted.”

“Oh dear.” Xavier looked horrified. “Is it that bad?”

“Well, it’s not great,” Cage stated. “Only a few people out of the masses are truly equipped to handle a disabled child such as Brian, but, because they pay extra money for these foster cases, lots of people sign up, and they probably shouldn’t have.”

“Oh,” Xavier muttered and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I was really hoping that Brian was doing okay.”

“And I’m really hoping that the estate has been settled properly and that Brian will be okay when he turns eighteen, if nothing can be done in the meantime.”

Xavier stared at him. “Well, I hope you’re not thinking I’m doing anything illegal?”

“I would hope not,” Cage responded, “because that would just piss me off and that won’t do any of us any good.”

Xavier stiffened. “You know that I don’t have to talk to you.”

“Nope, you don’t,” Cage agreed, “but, considering you’re the one privy to the information and the police have been around to talk to you, I need your cooperation.”

“Sure, but only because of the pending murder case,” the lawyer acknowledged, “and I am cooperating with the detective on the case. Hendricks just wanted to know who would inherit, and I was legally bound to tell him. Now it’s their issue to confirm that whoever killed Brian’s parents doesn’t get the money.”

“I don’t think that’ll be an issue in this case,” Cage replied.

Xavier hesitated and eyed him cautiously. “Everything is in order. I’m just waiting for the police to close the file.”

“What if they don’t?”

He shrugged. “I have a certain number of days until I have to close it anyway.”

“Who’ll handle the child’s money after this?”

“I can appoint a trustee, and I guess I could probably deal with some of that myself,” he shared, pondering it for a moment. “It’s something that I wish his parents had set up with some clear instructions, but nobody ever thinks it’ll be their time and that they won’t be around forever.”

“Of course, and yet it never is that way, is it?”

“No, unfortunately it’s not.”

Cage knew it was unfair, but it was part and parcel of life. Cage added, “In regard to Brian, he should be fine, but if he can’t have access to his money until he’s eighteen, we must confirm that whoever looks after it is trustworthy. If some family member wanted to care for Brian in the family home, then I would presume that Brian has almost immediate access to that asset.” Cage shook his head. “I sure don’t want that young boy, who has already suffered so much, to suffer more when he comes of age and finds out that somebody has squandered away his money.”

“Well, I won’t be the trustee,” Xavier noted sharply. “If you want to put forward some names of people who are trustworthy, then I’ll be happy to consider them. We’ll see what we can come up with.”

“That I can do,” Cage agreed, with a smile.

“Are you sure you’re not related to the family in any way? You seem to be quite concerned.” Xavier asked.

“I am quite concerned. I’m quite concerned about Scotty, the War Dog, who has bonded with Brian. Now, after seeing the situation the boy’s in, I’m quite concerned about Brian.” Cage sighed. “There’s enough hardship in this world without Brian being hit with even more.”

“Yeah, I won’t argue that,” Xavier said soberly. “So give me a name or two, and I’ll consider them.”

“Will do, and, if you hear anything from Detective Hendricks, or you have any other issues to deal with regarding the estate, please let me know.”

The lawyer hesitated. “I’m just trying to confirm that the boy is looked after and that somebody who shouldn’t have access to his money doesn’t get it.”

“Good.” Cage nodded.

“I know that’s what the police are concerned about as well, so they’re looking into this just as they should, and I’m not allowed to talk about it.”

“Of course you’re not allowed to talk about that part,” Cage noted, with a smile, “but we all know exactly how the system works. So, meanwhile we need to confirm that Brian is taken care of.” And, with that, Cage turned and walked away.

Xavier called out after him, “You know that you could have just talked to the police?”

“I did talk to the police,” Cage confirmed, turning back and catching the surprised look on the attorney’s face. “However, I go the extra mile to double-check that the information is correct. So I needed to know that boy will be looked after and that nobody will try and take away his money.”

Xavier nodded. “Well, you don’t need to look at me,” he declared in a testy voice. “I’ve got big-enough problems without adding more to that. I’ve got two ex-wives always looking for a reason to squeeze me for more, and believe me that this isn’t something I’m prepared to get into trouble over.”

“That also makes you a very likely person to help yourself to Brian’s money,” Cage pointed out, “and believe me, if I see that happening,… I would put you in jail myself.”

“That’s not happening,” he snapped, staring at him, visibly distraught.

“So, there will be a full accounting of every penny spent, correct?”

“Of course, of course,” he stated stiffly. “Are you a lawyer?”

“No, but I have a whole team of lawyers behind me,” Cage shared, with a smile, as he took several more steps to his car. “Just so you know, they’ll be reviewing everything you do, so keep that in mind.” Realizing that he had scared the lawyer to the point that he might be too upset to drive himself home, Cage called out with a smile. “Have a nice day.” With that, he got into his vehicle and drove away.

Only as he drove down and around the block, he realized that he’d picked up a tail.