Chapter 34
M aya couldn’t sit still.
She paced up and down her bedroom with her phone in her hand. Shouldn’t she have heard from Millie by now?
It was late Saturday afternoon and Millie had followed David home after the puppy yoga class.
Her phone buzzed and she checked her messages.
Millie: This is bad. Way worse than we thought.
Oh no.
What did that mean? A couple of photos came through. One was of an older house with long grass out front. It looked rundown and like the owners just didn’t care about appearances. The other images seemed to be taken from a higher vantage point.
Were those dogs in the backyard? There were so many!
And then another photo came through that had to have been taken through a dirty window.
More dogs. Stuck in a room.
Shit.
A puppy farm?
Millie: There are so many puppies here. I’ve managed to count twenty. It’s wrong. Just wrong. We have to do something.
Livvy: Millie, were you up a tree? And did you sneak onto the property to get that last photo?
Millie: Of course!
Livvy: Shit! I wish I’d been able to come with you. Wyatt just finished vomiting and is finally asleep.
Poor Livvy had been unable to go to the class because Wyatt was ill. Which had left Millie on her own. Not necessarily a great idea as Maya was now learning.
Maya: Millie, you could get caught by these people. You need to be really careful.
If these people were overbreeding dogs, they wouldn’t take kindly to someone spying on them. Or reporting them.
Millie: Who cares about that? Some of these puppies don’t look like they’re in good shape. Most of them are being kept in one room inside the house. They were outside before but there’s not enough space for them all.
No, it wasn’t right. And Maya had to do something. She had to help the dogs. But what could she do with Matthieu watching her every movement?
Shit. This was going to be difficult.
Millie: I’m going to get them out.
No. Nope! She couldn’t let Millie do that on her own. She was going to get into trouble.
Livvy: Millie! You cannot do anything on your own.
Millie: I need to save these babies. Obviously David has been using the ones in the best shape, but some of these puppies are crying.
Shit. Maya totally understood Millie’s feelings. She couldn’t stand the idea of these animals being hurt or mistreated.
So what are you going to do? Sneak away? That’s not right, either.
Stuff it.
She was just going to have to take Matthieu with her.
Maya: Don’t do anything yet. Are there close neighbors? Where are you exactly?
Millie sent a pin to show her location. Right. That wasn’t actually that far from here.
Millie: There are neighbors, but one house looks abandoned and I saw an old, elderly man in the other house.
Maya: All right. You need to wait for me. I’m coming.
Livvy: How are you going to do that? You can’t sneak away from Matthieu.
Maya: I’m not going to. Just wait for me, Millie. Do not do anything without me.
Millie: All right, I’ll wait.
Thank God for that.
Livvy: Good luck. Keep me informed.
Right. Maya knew that she didn’t have time to figure out a plan or a lie. She just had to get this done.
“We’ve gotta go!” Maya ran through the house.
Matthieu reached out an arm and grabbed her around the waist as she attempted to run past him. For some reason she’d changed and was now dressed all in black. “Go? Go where?”
“We have to go! There’s an emergency.”
“We’re not going anywhere until you explain what sort of emergency.”
“An animal emergency,” she said urgently.
“An animal emergency?” What the heck?
“Look, I don’t have time to explain right now, but we have to go.”
He stared down at her, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Doggie lives depend on us!”
“Maya, I’m not taking you into an unknown situation. You need to tell me what is going on.”
“Please just come with me,” she begged. “I could have tried to sneak off without you, but I’m trusting that you’ll help me.”
Merde.
What was he supposed to say to that? He guessed he could go with her and if he didn’t like what she had to say, he could turn the car around and take her home.
“I don’t like what you have to say,” Matthieu told her as he pulled onto the street where Millie said she’d found the puppy farm.
He parked and turned to her with a stern expression on his face. Maya bit her lip nervously.
This was the tricky part. Getting him to agree to help her and Millie rescue the puppies. She’d told him about Millie following David after the puppy yoga class to see where the puppies were being kept. But she hadn’t mentioned the part about rescuing them yet.
He turned as someone approached from across the street and knocked on the window.
“It’s Millie,” she told him.
Matthieu shot her another look before unlocking the car. Millie climbed into the back.
“Good, you brought a car that can fit the puppies,” Millie said. “I was getting worried that you weren’t coming.”
“Matthieu was driving like a grandma,” she said, turning to Millie. “I couldn’t get him to speed up.”
“Just because I didn’t want to drive like a maniac, doesn’t mean I was going slow. Getting caught speeding by the cops in this town isn’t a good idea.”
Yeah, Maya knew he was right.
“Well, you’re here now,” Millie said. “I’ve used the time to come up with a plan.”
Millie had on black yoga pants and a black sweater. Maya didn’t know her well, but she’d never seen her wear black. And there were no dinosaurs in sight.
“I’m going to hazard a guess that Spike doesn’t know you’re here,” Matthieu said to Millie.
“Of course not!” Millie replied. “Sheesh, do you think I’m an idiot? There’s no way Spike would approve of this.”
“And what makes you think I’m not going to tell him?” Matthieu asked.
“I didn’t take you for a snitch,” Millie said to Matthieu.
Maya tensed.
Uh. How was Matthieu going to react to that? He wouldn’t get upset with Millie, would he? Matthieu seemed remarkably calm in most situations, but still, being called a snitch was never a good thing.
“You can call me a snitch if you like,” Matthieu replied evenly. “I would rather be known as a snitch than you get hurt and I did nothing to prevent it.”
“I’m not going to get hurt,” Millie scoffed.
“You trailed David here,” Matthieu pointed out.
“He could have spotted you at any time and confronted you, hurt you. You’ve been spying on this house until we got here, apparently.
From the photos that Maya showed me, you had to have been up high to take some of them.
I’m guessing a tree or something of similar height.
Something that you could have easily fallen out of, hurting yourself. ”
“I was fine,” Millie muttered. “I didn’t fall or even scratch myself.”
“Good. Because I hate to think of Spike’s reaction if you had,” Matthieu said in a dark voice.
“I can only imagine what he’s going to say about you sneaking onto that property and taking photos through the window.
I’d be willing to bet that he would tell you how foolish and risky that was.
And then I’d be willing to bet good money that you won’t sit comfortably for a week. ”
Maya winced. Oh no. She should never have told Millie and Livvy about the puppies. And she definitely shouldn’t have let Millie follow David. This was her problem and she had no right getting anyone else involved and risking their safety.
“I’m so sorry!” Maya cried, drawing their attention to her. “This is my fault. Blame me. You can tell Spike it’s my fault. He can spank me instead.”
As soon as she said that, she wished the words back. She didn’t really want anyone spanking her.
“He will not be spanking you,” Matthieu said in a dark, cold voice.
Oops.
“Look, everything will be fine. No one is at fault. What we have to do is simple . . . we just don’t tell Spike,” Millie said. “And Maya, I chose to help. I don’t want to leave those poor dogs in this situation. So, I have a plan.”
“No,” Matthieu said firmly. “No plan. No rescuing dogs. And no keeping anything from Spike. What is going to happen is that I am going to follow you home, Millie. And you are going to explain to Spike exactly what you were doing tonight. And then I am going to take Maya home?—”
“We cannot leave the dogs in this situation!” Maya cried. She couldn’t believe that Matthieu would just walk away.
“We really can’t,” Millie said. “What if some of the puppies die? They’re living in terrible conditions. It’s overcrowded. Who knows if they’re getting good vet care or if they’re being fed properly.”
“They’re probably being forced away from their mom when they’re too young,” Maya said.
“They might get some vet care just before they’re sold but who knows?
The puppies I saw at puppy yoga looked fairly healthy, but they’re probably the ones they take care of to take photos of for selling on dodgy sites.
I cannot believe David finds it okay to use puppies from a place like this! ”
“He’s so evil,” Millie agreed. “He knows what situation he’s taking them back to and he doesn’t even care! What kind of meanie does that?”
Her boss. That was who.
The biggest meanie of them all.
“Matthieu, we cannot leave them here! I’ve seen farms like this before. The puppies can end up so ill from worms and fleas that there’s no saving them. Please, Matthieu.”
She could feel the tears gathering in her eyes.
“You’ve seen this before?” Millie asked.
“This isn’t my first rescue,” she admitted. “I’ve helped with a number of animal rescues. I belong to a group that operates outside the law, let’s say.”
“I do not like what you are saying,” Matthieu said in a low voice.
“Hate to tell you, but you’re being very negative today,” she told him with fire.
“Now is not the time to flex that sassiness at me,” he warned.
“I agree with Maya, you’re being a real downer,” Millie told him.
He turned to Millie. “And I do not need you to agree with her. You are in enough trouble.”