Chapter Eleven

Rona slept for almost the entirety of the next day. When Karen came home from work, she found Rona dozing on the couch, Rebel spread on top of her like he thought he was a much smaller dog.

“How can you even breath like that?” Karen asked.

“With great difficulty.” Rona’s voice was muffled by Rebel’s fur.

“Git, Johnny Reb.” The dog reluctantly jumped off Rona as Karen gestured. “Tonight we are having a proper hero celebration.” She held up a large paper bag. “I have tacos for our heroine, and a big juicy steak for our noble hero.”

STEEEEEEEEAAAAAAK! Rebel howled excitedly. Dusk quickly joined in, with a chorus of STEAK! STEAK! STEAK STEAK STEAK!

The as-yet-unnamed tabby hesitantly peeked out of the closet. I don’t see what he did to deserve steak, he complained to Rona.

Shut up, Grizzly snapped. Though she herself was not pleased with Rebel’s special treatment, she was determined to disagree with everything the intruder said. It was going to be a long acclimation process.

There was a knock on the door. “I’ll get it,” Rona said, and rolled off the couch to answer.

Detective Wiles stood on the other side.

“What’s wrong?” Rona asked immediately.

“What she means to say,” Karen interrupted, “is Detective Wiles, how nice to see you, please come inside. NO!” This was snapped to the dogs, who were on their hind legs, sniffing suspiciously close to the bag of food.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to intrude,” Wiles said, stepping inside. “I just came to give you this.” She handed Rona a folder. “It’s the autopsy results from the puppies, as well as the information we found about the property owner. Hopefully this will help your case.”

Rona quickly skimmed through the file. It would have taken her ages to gather all this information.

“Thank you, Detective,” Karen said, elbowing Rona. “That’s very kind of you.”

“It’s the least I could do, after everything,” Wiles said. She looked around the apartment. “Lively place.”

“We’re having a hero party,” Karen said. “Would you like to join us? I bought plenty of tacos.”

Wiles shook her head. “I don’t want to intrude.”

“Please.” Rona was surprised to hear herself speak. “We’d love to have you.” She held up the file. “You might’ve just cracked my case.”

Wiles grinned, her entire face changing. “You helped me crack mine, so fair’s fair, I guess.” She took a breath. “Tacos sound great.”

“I hope you don’t mind animals, Detective,” Rona added.

Wiles held out her hand. “Call me Tisha,” she said.

Rona hesitated, then took it. “Rona.”


The End