Blood Flag: A Paul Madriani Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

instructions, but she didn’t. Harry had left in the afternoon and by now Paul would be at dinner. She had Madriani’s phone number, but why bother him? She could handle it. Sofia told the neighbor to grab one of the detectives in charge and have him come into her house and get on the phone.
    She licked her dry lips and took a deep breath as she waited. When the cop came on the line Sofia identified herself, and then in a cold, measured tone she told him: “I’m with the law firm of Madriani and Hinds. I am informing you now that under the terms of a signed retainer agreement our firm represents Emma Brauer. I understand you’ve got a problem with Ms. Brauer’s dog.”
    “No problem,” said the detective. “It’ll be taken care of by animal control.”
    “I am instructing you now that when you have completed your search of the premises you are to leave the animal in the house and lock the door. Do you understand?”
    There was no reply from the cop.
    “The firm has made arrangements to have the dog picked up and to provide for its care. Do I make myself clear?”
    Mostly what the detective heard was the level of assurance and the command tone coming from the other end. His cop’s ego wanted to tell her to go to hell, to call in the pound and let them take the dog. Better yet, he could have shot the beast while the mouthpiece on the line listened to it yelp.
    He didn’t need the grief. Not over a yapping four-pound ball of fuzz. He waited a second and then genuflected. “Fine! It’ll save us the trouble of a phone call and we won’t have to wait for animal control. But understand that if something happens to the dog, it gets killed or lost, once we leave here it’s no longer our responsibility. It’s on you. Do I make myself clear, counselor?”
    She wasn’t responsible for the man’s sketchy assumptions. Sofia never told him she was a lawyer. So before he could ask how to spell her name, she said, “Thank you, Detective,” and hung up.
    She listened as she stood out in front of the house. There was no sign or sound of the dog. Still, unless the cop got pissed off after they talked and had second thoughts, Dingus should be somewhere inside the house.
    Sofia walked to the front door. She used her phone like a flashlight to illuminate the buttons on the touch pad for the lock. As soon as she hit the first one the pad lit up. She punched the other three numbers and watched as the little green light flickered. She heard the locking mechanism as it released and turned the knob sliding the dead bolt back. She tried the latch and the door opened.
    Inside it was pitch black. She closed the door and waited for her eyes to adjust and listened for the dog. Nothing. She wondered if maybe there was a doggie door in the back, in which case it might be out in the yard. If so, she wondered why it didn’t bark when she pulled up into the drive.
    Sofia didn’t want to turn on too many lights in the house and risk drawing attention, in case neighbors saw it and called the police. The one neighbor, the woman she talked to earlier, wasn’t home. She had an appointment and was already running late when Sofia talked to her. Otherwise the woman would have taken the dog herself, gathered everything else, and held it for Sofia until she arrived. As it was, Sofia was on her own.
    She pressed the button on her phone and used the light to navigate past the opening to the living room and down the hall toward what looked like the kitchen, at the back of the house. The leash and the dog food were supposed to be there in a cupboard on the right-hand side near the kitchen table. Emma may have been frazzled but her directions were spot-on. In less than a minute Sofia found everything she was looking for, including the dog’s bedding, one of those padded igloos.
    But still, there was no sign of Dingus. She called for him and listened. She heard nothing except the hum of the motor from the refrigerator on the other side of the kitchen.