Johnithan Kellerman – Bad Love

Back at the house on Benedict, Robin was working and the dog looked bored. He followed me into the house and slavered as I fixed myself a sandwich. I did some paperwork and shared my lunch with him, and he tagged along as I walked outside to the Seville.

“Where to?” said Robin.

“The house. I want to make sure the fish get transferred okay.”

She gave a doubtful look but said nothing.

“There’ll be plenty of people around,” I said.

She nodded and looked over at the car. The dog was pawing the front bumper. It made her smile.

“Someone’s in a traveling mood. Why don’t you take him along?”

“Sure, but pond drainage isn’t his thing–the water phobia.”

“Why don’t you try some therapy with him?”

“Why not?” I said. “This could be the start of a whole new career.”

The four-man crew had arrived early, and when I got there the pond was half empty, the waterfall switched off, and the fish transferred to aerated, blue vats that sat in the bed of a pickup truck. Workers uprooted plants and bagged them, shoveled gravel, and checked the air lines to the vats.

I checked in with the crew boss, a skinny brown kid with blond Rasta locks and a dyed white chin beard. The dog kept his distance, but followed me as I went up to the terrace to pick up two days’ worth of mail.

Lots of stuff, most of it routine. The exception was a long white envelope.

Cheap paper that I’d seen before.

SHERMAN BUCKLEAR, ATTORNEY-AT-LAW above a return address in Simi Valley.

Inside was a letter informing me that Petitioner Donald Dell Wallace had good reason to believe that I had knowledge of the whereabouts of said petitioner’s legal offspring, Chondra Nicolette Wallace and Tiffani Starr Wallace and was demanding that I pass along said information to said petitioner’s attorney, without delay, so that said petitioner’s legal rights would not be abridged.

The rest consisted of threats in legalese. I put the letter back in the envelope and pocketed it. The dog was scratching at the front door.

“Nostalgic already?” I unlocked the door and he ran ahead of me, straight into the kitchen. Straight to the refrigerator.

Milo’s spiritual son.

Scratch, scratch, pant, pant.

I realized that, in all the haste of moving, I’d forgotten to remove the perishables from the fridge.

I did a quick visual survey of the shelves, spilled out milk and dumped cheese that had turned and fruit that was beginning to brown. Putting the unspoiled food in a bag, I thought of the people under the freeway.

Some meatloaf remained in a plastic container. It smelled okay and the dog looked as if he’d seen the messiah.

“Okay, okay.” I put it in a bowl and set it down before him, bagged the good fruits and vegetables and brought them down to the car.

The pond crew was finishing up. The koi in the truck all seemed to be swimming fine.

The crew boss said, “Okay, we’ve got the sump running, it’ll take another hour or so to drain off. You want us to wait, we can, but you’re paying us by the hour, so you can stick around and turn it off yourself.”

“No problem,” I said, glancing at the truck. “Take care of them.”

“Sure. When do you think you’ll be wanting em back?”

“Don’t know yet.”

“Some kind of long vacation?”

“Something like that.”

“Cool.” He handed me a bill and got behind the wheel of the truck. A moment later, they were gone and all I heard was the slow gurgle of draining water.

I sat down on the bank of what was now a muddy hole, waiting and watching the level drop. The heat and the quiet combined to lull me, and I wasn’t sure how long I’d been there when someone said, “Hey.”

I jerked up, groggily.

A man stood in the gateway, holding a tire iron.

Late twenties or early thirties, heavy growth of dark stubble, thick black Fu Manchu that drooped to his chin.

He had on greasy jeans and Wellington boots with chains, a black T-shirt under a heavy black leather vest. Black, thinning hair, gold hoop earring, steel chains around his neck. Big tattooed arms. Big, hard belly, bowlegs. Maybe six one, two hundred.