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“We’ve got that covered. Bring Beowolf to the kennel or call us for a kennel hand to collect him. We’d like to keep his training up and use him for hospital outreach visits if you can work that into your schedule. He’s a big hit with the kids. I think you’d get a kick out of it. And fewer sobbing women. Except tears of laughter—that’s my experience.”
“Are you leaving him with me now?” Nutsbe asked.
“I can. I gave him his breakfast before I brought him over.” Bob looked around. “Are you going to be here long? I talked to Titus, and that’s how I knew I would find you here. Beowolf was in the room when I had that conversation on speaker phone, and he got very upset when he heard hospital. He insisted we come. Titus said you were just getting a once-over. Nothing bad?”
“All’s good. I just signed out and was about to dress.”
“And I have my car,” Olivia said. “I can get everyone home safe and sound.” She grinned down at Beowolf. “You, too, slobber machine.”
“Fine then, I need to get back to the morning routine with the dogs.” Bob stepped forward, “I’ll have a kennel hand drop off supplies. He can put them on your back porch for when you get home.” He bent to pick up the lead and made sure Beowolf was watching when he handed it over to Nutsbe. “Congratulations on the addition to your family.” Bob waved a goodbye hand as he walked out.
Nutsbe looked at Olivia. “Look at that. I’m a dad!”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Nutsbe
“There he is.” Thorn backed through the door, pulling the wheelchair through. “Looking good, brother. I’d shake your hand, but don’t want to interrupt.” Thorn swiveled the chair toward the bed.
“That’s alright, Thorn. I’m going to put on my prostheses even if I’m wheeling out of here. It makes transferring to the car easier. Olivia, can you hand those to me?” He pointed to the side of the room, and she swiveled off the bed.
Beowolf came to sniff Thorn. “Hey buddy,” Thorn squatted down to rub Beowolf. “I see you took on a new role at Iniquus. Really coming up in the world.” Thorn looked up. “He’s working with you now?”
“Yeah, after I got him kicked off his court gig. He needs a new job.”
Thorn turned his back while Nutsbe got dressed and into the chair, then went to the back to push.
Beowolf trotted on one side, and Olivia walked on the other.
They were silent as they moved outside and across to the far edge of the parking lot, where Olivia had found an open space.
Olivia looked wrung out, and Nutsbe wondered if she had caught a cat nap at the hospital. She moved round to the driver’s side, pressed the button to unlock her car, and climbed in. There, she was able to tap the button to open the trunk.
As Nutsbe stood, Beowolf sniffed curiously at the trunk.
The interior light made prisms in the pre-dawn misting rain as the lid yawned wide.
“Uh oh,” the men said in unison.
Thorn and Nutsbe stepped forward, looked, and stepped back again.
“This your work? Kind of sloppy.” Thorn's hands landed on his hips. “Do you know this guy?”
“Mickey Pauley, Olivia’s soon-to-be-ex.” Nutsbe wrinkled his nose and took another half-step back. “Though, that’s, apparently, no longer an issue.”
“No flies,” Thorn observed. “This must be freshly moved. But he’s been dead for a while. Using a tarp or something under him would have been polite. Rude to have just dumped him in like that. Looks like someone pinned a note to his shirt.”
They stood there.
After a moment, Olivia climbed from under her steering wheel and came to the back of the car to see what they were doing.
She walked right up to the trunk and looked in at the bound, beat-to-hell body of her husband, bent in odd ways to get the corpse into her car.
“That’s Mickey. What’s he doing in my trunk?” she asked.
Thorn looked at Nutsbe. “Give it a minute.”
Olivia took a step closer, and Nutsbe lifted his hands to stop her, then thought better of it. She needed to see. Olivia twisted her head so she looked Mickey in the face. One side of his head was purplish-pink, where the blood had pooled after there was no more circulation.