Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Finn
Ulysses canceled breakfast. Something about running down a lead.
I wouldn’t have made great company either—what with the continuous yawning. But I was off for the next three days, so staying up all day was imperative to reset my internal clock.
In the end, I went to Fifties by myself and sat at the counter as I devoured my omelet, tomato, and sourdough toast. Three cups of coffee later, and after a visit to the washroom, I was off to Hearts and Paws.
Yanna the shelter manager greeted me. “Oh, Finn, so glad you’re here.
I need to go out for a few hours to run errands and Selah called in sick.
Could you keep an eye on the front area?
When I’m back, if you want to stay, you could visit the animals then?
I just gave them all their walks, so they’re good. ”
Disappointment panged within me, but I couldn’t very well say no. “Would you like me to run the errands?”
She shook her head. “I need the break, and it’ll be easier for me since I have all the accounts. If you could just hold down the fort?”
“Of course.” I waved her off. I’d been trained in and done this several times, so I would be fine. “Oh, can I bring Poppin out to keep me company?”
“Sure.”
“And how’s Thelma doing?” The pittie mix still had my heart because she’d been surrendered.
“She’s been adopted. Her new owner is picking her up on Tuesday.”
“Oh, that’s great.” Relieving as well. “Any takers for Walter or Poppin?” It was always so hard to place the oldest seniors like Walter, and it’d take a special home to handle Poppin’s health issues, but I kept hoping.”
Yanna shook her head. “None yet.”
“Did Ulysses ever come back to do those spotlights?”
She shrugged. “Not while I’ve been here. Maybe he came when Selah or Meyer was working?”
I frowned. “I’ll get on him about that.” I hoped Ulysses was just busy, not using these precious pets as pawns in his investigation.
Yanna blinked. “You can tell the new editor of the community paper what to do?”
I batted my eyelashes. “I can be very persuasive.”
She chuckled. “Man doesn’t stand a chance. Whatever you can do to help, Finn. It’s always appreciated. Gotta run.” She grabbed the keys off the rack and headed out to the van.
After nabbing the keys to the dog runs, I locked up and went to retrieve Poppin.
Damn dog was thrilled to see me and insisted on sitting on my lap while I flipped through the paperwork.
“This is so boring.” I yawned. “I planned on walking all you folks so I wouldn’t fall asleep.”
She licked my cheek.
“Yes, I love you too. I so wish I could bring you home with me.” You knew working here would be tough.
That you’d want to bring every dog and cat home with you.
I eyed the list of cats available for adoption.
Maybe if I brought two home together? Might they keep each other company while I put in such long hours?
Would that even be fair to the cats? If I was working all the time?
And if not working, then out gallivanting about?
I’d spent more time at home in the past three weeks since Ulysses came back into my life than I had the previous six months.
I was always out. Now I wanted to be home on the chance of getting laid.
It’s not just about getting laid—you actually really like the guy.
Yeah. I did. Which was going to inevitably lead to pain.
He wasn’t the staying type. He wasn’t going to stick around.
He’d want to go back out into the world again.
Not just some small hick town. What he did before would blow over.
Or he’d find a much-larger town where he could restart without baggage. Where people would give him a chance.
People in Mission City have given him a chance.
Yeah, he hadn’t been run out of town by pitchfork-wielding folks. But how many had actually dug into his background and discovered what he’d been accused of? Hard to say. And how accurate were the reports? Didn’t everything have elements of exaggeration?
I thumbed through the recent adoption applications. Locating Thelma’s was easy enough. The adoption was scheduled for ten days from now.
Maybe I know the person rescuing her? Maybe I can arrange to see her from time to time? She really does have the sweetest disposition.
I squinted at the application. I couldn’t make it make sense. So I yanked out my phone and, while holding Poppin securely in my lap, I pulled up a map app. Then I entered the address of the new owner.
Uh. I was right. This address doesn’t exist. Well, what the fuck does that mean? Maybe they’d transposed the digits. Except the number wasn’t even close to any others on that street. Giancarlo lived on that street—so I knew the sequence of numbers.
On a hunch, I pulled the last fifteen adoption records. The first eight checked out fine. See? This is Ulysses’s doing. He’s got you all paranoid for no reason.
Except—
The crunch of tires on gravel had me quickly tidying the papers and putting them back in the filing cabinet. I was back at the desk when Yanna stepped in.
“I don’t suppose you can help—” She gestured toward the van.
I grinned. “Happy to. Then I need to stretch my legs and give the dogs some time in the fresh air.”
Again, Poppin licked my cheek.
Yanna smiled and we traded off—she sat at the desk while I unloaded all the purchases from the van.
Within twenty minutes, I was out back with Thelma.
“I only ever wanted you to go to a nice home.” I blinked.
“Now I don’t know where you’re going, and that scares me.
” Because who the hell used a fake address on an application for a dog adoption?
And, just as importantly, who didn’t flag that when approving it?
I ran through the papers in my mind and realized they’d all been signed by the same shelter worker.
Son of a bitch.
Two hours later, I was hitting the buzzer at Ulysses’s condo—desperately hoping he was home.
“Hello?” His voice was tinny through the speaker.
“It’s Finn.”
“It’s 406.”
The door buzzed.
I yanked it open, stepped inside, removed my sunglasses, and headed toward the elevator.
The ride up took mere moments, and I stepped out to find Ulysses waving from a unit down the hall. I strode his way and brushed past him, sweeping into his condo.
And coming up short.
“Oh, wow.”
He chuckled. “Yeah. That.” He shut the door. “Can I take your jacket? Are you staying?”
I removed my jacket and handed it to him. Then I headed to the floor-to-ceiling windows. “You can see Baker.”
“Yep. Want to step onto the balcony? View’s even better from there.”
“Will I need my coat?”
“Nah. I installed the glass last week when the nip in the air appeared permanent for the winter. I can still open the windows, but it’s not cold unless I do.”
“Ah, so the balcony becomes a solarium?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Okay, let’s go. I mean, I could’ve gone out without my jacket on regardless.” Because I didn’t want Ulysses to think I was a wimp.
“Of course you could’ve.” He patted me on the back. Humoring me.
We stepped onto the balcony and headed right to the edge. “Yeah, what a beautiful day.” Nothing like this view at my little cabin.
“We’ve had a run of those.” His voice softened. “I’m not looking forward to the rain—but it’s a small price to pay.”
“What do you mean?” I turned to him.
“Just that we live in Canada, and most of the rest of the country deals with snow for the winter. We only have a handful of snow days.”
“And maybe this year we won’t get any.” I grinned.
“Highly unlikely.” He brushed his hand against mine. “But I don’t think you came here to talk about the weather—or to see my spectacular view of Mount Baker.”
“Given I didn’t know if you’d be home, and I certainly didn’t know about the view, you’d be right.”
He cocked his head. “What’s up?”
“You got something to drink? I’ve just come from the animal shelter, and my throat is dry.”
I needed to tell him what I’d learned. But I also still didn’t completely trust him.
“Water? Soda? Coffee?”
I blinked. “Uh, cola would be good.”
“Great.” He headed toward the fridge. “How about some grilled cheese? You hungry?”
“Sure.”
“And tomato soup?”
“Sounds great. I, uh, need to wash my hands. And maybe take a leak?”
He pointed. “Guest bathroom. Whatever you need.”
“You have two bathrooms?” I grinned. “That’s a freaking luxury.”
“What I don’t have is a magical cabin in the woods with bears.” He pulled a tin of soup out of the pantry cupboard.
I slid off the stool and headed to the bathroom.
The walls and tile were a sterile white, but the pale-yellow towels softened the space.
After I’d done everything I needed to do, and was still struggling to wrangle my thoughts, I headed back to the kitchen.
As I passed the dining room table, a display caught my notice. “You planning a feast?”
“Huh?” He gazed over at me.
“All these recipe cards.”
“Yeah, no. Come slice some cheese.”
As I made my way to the bar stool again, he hustled over to the table and gathered up all the cards lightning fast.
“Were they in some kind of order?” I used the knife to open the plastic wrap covering the cheese.
“Nothing I can’t recreate.” He headed back to stir the soup.
“Are you hiding something from me?” I cut the first slice.
He eyed me. “Maybe. Just…some incomplete research.”
“Sounds serious.”
“Mostly speculation.”
I cocked my head. “I have something I want to talk about.”
He echoed me. “Sounds serious.”
“Because—” I toyed with the knife. “The thing is…I don’t know if I’ve found something or not. You’ve got me all paranoid. Looking for conspiracies where there aren’t any.”
“How do you know there aren’t?” He continued stirring the soup. “Mission City has secrets, Finn. Even if you claim you don’t—”
“Hey, I don’t.”
He glanced over his shoulder. “And that might be true. For you. But that doesn’t mean it’s the same for everyone. Otherwise, why would you need police?”
I winced. “Yes, sure, we have criminals, but this is…weird.”
“Okay…so we’re in agreement that there’s likely something going on. What have you found?”
“There’s something hinky about the adoption papers for almost a dozen dogs.”
“Oh?” Ulysses flipped the bread.
More sizzling.
My mouth watered. Then I let out another breath. “Yeah.”
He pulled two plates down from the cupboard. “You want to stay where you are or sit at the table? Oh, or we can sit on the couch.”
“Table’s fine.”
We pulled up chairs at the table and settled into eating our meals. My stomach churned, but Ulysses ripped the crust off a piece of his sandwich and dunked it in the soup. “So…you ready to talk?”
“Talk? Oh, right.” Now or never. I just have to trust him.
And so I did.
By the time we were finished our dinner, I’d told him everything I knew—which, admittedly, wasn’t much.
Just that Selah and Meyer had handled all the questionable adoptions, and different fake addresses had been used for each.
All the pets involved were bigger dogs. Each had been a surrender who’d been at the shelter a few days. “I just don’t know what it all means.”
Slowly, he nodded. “I think I might, but it’s too early to speculate.”
I gestured to the pile of index cards. “Part of that?” I frowned. “I want to know what the fuck is going on. Why do I have the feeling Thelma’s in trouble, not heading to a forever home?”
Ulysses rubbed his face. “Okay. I’ll tell you what I can. But I have to protect my source—”
“That’s bullshit. You know I won’t say anything.”
He stared at me. “I trust you, Finn. But you can’t go off half-cocked. If you get involved, things might go further underground. We might never be able to expose them.”
“Expose who?” Exasperation rose within me. “What are you not saying?”
“Okay.” He tapped the table. “A friend of Spring’s approached her. They’d heard about a dog-fighting ring behind Tully’s—operating long after the restaurant closes.”
“Oh my God.” My gut churned. I’d thought this might be bad—but I hadn’t envisioned this. Yeah, I understood there were depraved people in the world…but dog fighting? “And you think they’re using shelter dogs?”
“I don’t know. You’ve given me another piece to the puzzle. But I don’t know what I have yet. I’ve met with the source—”
“Who?”
“Finn.”
Even I couldn’t miss the warning tone.
“What?” I might’ve snapped that. Then realized that approach wasn’t going to get me anywhere. “Can you tell me anything else?”
Ulysses shook his head. “Let me keep researching and investigating. You said Thelma has ten days?”
I nodded.
“Then I have a deadline.” He held up his hand when I opened my mouth.
“Sooner if I can, okay? But I have to make certain I don’t miss any of the pieces.
If I go public too soon—or get exposed—then things can all go to shit.
This isn’t just about dog fighting. I think it goes deeper, and human lives may be at stake. ”
“Does this have something to do with Vancouver? Because we haven’t discussed—”
“Not tonight.” He rubbed his face. “I can’t face that tonight. I should…but I just can’t.”
I wanted to argue. He was keeping so much from me. Yes, but what right do you have to demand more? You haven’t even defined your relationship. I hated when my inner voice was right. Goddamn it.
Ulysses gave me a small smile. “Look—I’ll add what you’ve told me and see where I end up. Now, you up for a hockey game or something? Or do you need to be heading to bed?” He rose.
Slowly, I followed. Obviously, we were done for tonight.
He reached for my hand.
I gave it easily.
He pulled me into a hug.
I sank into the embrace. I had no idea what was going on—but this comfort and strength meant everything.