She stayed in her room another half hour, then went downstairs to see if Temple had left. He wasn’t in his office, so she checked the garage; his car was gone.
Finally! Seating herself at his desk, she looked up the number for the library and quickly dialed it.
“Hillsboro Public Library.”
Jennifer took a calming breath. “May I speak to Daisy Minor, please? This is Jennifer Nolan.”
“I’m sorry, but Daisy isn’t working today. This is Kendra Owens; may I help you with something?”
Dear Lord, now what? “Is she at home? Can I reach her there?”
“Well, I don’t know. Her mother said she had a toothache, so she’s probably at the dentist’s office.”
“Do you know which dentist she uses?” Jennifer felt her control slipping. She needed a drink so bad. No. No, she did not need a drink; she needed to concentrate on what she was doing.
“No, I don’t.”
“This is important, damn it! Think! I need to get in touch with her immediately, someone is going to try to kill her.”
“Excuse me? Ma’am? What did you say?”
“You heard me!” Jennifer clenched the receiver so tightly her knuckles turned white. “You have to find her! I heard my husband on the phone talking to a man named Sykes who’s going to kill her, unless I can warn her first.”
“Maybe you’d better call the police—”
Jennifer slammed down the phone and buried her face in her hands. Now what? Dentists. How many dentists could there by in Hillsboro? Not many, but what if Daisy went to a dentist in, say, Fort Payne? Or Scottsboro?
No, wait. Call Daisy’s mother and find out which dentist she used.
She looked up that number, but the phone rang and rang, and no one answered.
Jennifer flipped to the Yellow Pages, located Dentists-Dentistry, and began dialing. She couldn’t give up now. She’d failed at a lot in her life, but she couldn’t fail at this.
TWENTY-ONE
Dogs aren’t allowed in public buildings unless they’re service dogs,” he said for the fifth time when they were on their way to Huntsville.
Daisy looked over her shoulder at Midas, who was asleep on his blanket in the backseat. “They’ll let him in unless they want to take my statement in the parking lot.”
Jack had argued the whole time she was putting Midas’s dishes in his car, along with a supply of food and water. He had argued when she clipped the leash to the puppy’s tiny collar. He had argued when she spread the blanket on the backseat and deposited Midas on it, along with his stuffed duck and rubber chew toy. He had argued until she got into the passenger seat and fastened her seat belt, and then he’d gotten behind the wheel without another word.
As far as Daisy was concerned, the subject of Midas was closed. Anyone who would kill another human being wouldn’t hesitate to kill a dog; Midas was under her guardianship now, and she wouldn’t leave him in the house alone, helpless and unprotected.
“I’ve been thinking about that night,” she said, absently watching the mountains as they drove. “I saw their faces when they came out of the club, because the neon sign was shining down on them. There were two of the men, with Mitchell between them. The third man was waiting in the parking lot. Then a car pulled in and the headlights caught them, and I saw the faces of all three because they looked at the car. I didn’t know any of them, but I can describe them.”
“Just get the details straight in your mind, and hold them there.” He reached over and took her hand. “Everything will be all right.”
“I know.” She managed a smile. “You promised my mother.”
They reached the building that housed the Madison County Sheriff’s Investigation and Patrol offices at nine-thirty. It was a two-story sixties-type building, yellow brick on bottom and pebbled concrete on top, with long, narrow, vertical windows. The sign on top said Forensic Sciences Building. The departments of forensic sciences and public safety were also in the building.
“Huh,” said Daisy. “I might have known it would be here.”
He looked puzzled. “Why?”
She turned and pointed. “Because you just passed a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop.”
“Do me a favor,” he said. “Don’t mention it to them.”
He put his cell phone in his pocket, then gathered Midas’s paraphernalia while Daisy got the puppy out of the car and carried him to a little patch of grass. He obediently squatted, she praised him, and he pranced at her heels as if he knew he’d been a very good boy. He didn’t like the leash, though, and caught it in his mouth. Every few steps he’d stop and bat at it. Finally she picked him up, cradling him on her shoulder as if he were a baby. Content, he licked her chin.
No sooner had they stepped inside the building than a female deputy said, “You can’t bring the dog in here.”
Daisy immediately stepped back outside and waited. Unwilling to leave her out there by herself even though he was certain they hadn’t been followed, Jack said to the deputy, “Please call Detective Morrison and tell him Chief Russo is here with the witness,” and went back outside himself to wait with her.
The summer heat was already broiling, and the humidity was so high the air felt thick and heavy. Daisy lifted her face to the sunshine anyway, as if she needed the light. They didn’t say anything, just waited until Detective Morrison came outside with a quizzical expression on his dark face. “Deputy Sasnett said you brought your dog—” He broke off when he saw the puppy, his expression changing to a grin. “That isn’t a dog. That’s a ball of fluff.”