The Case of the Invisible Dog by Diane Stingley

Pittfords, okay? And the only time I get to myself is when they finally swallow down all their pills and go to sleep. I watch a little T.V. and come out here and have a few cigarettes. I was just having one last cigarette before going to bed. And then you two freaks show up, and this one starts attacking me with her cane.”
    “My dear young woman,” Shirley said, abruptly releasing her hold on the cane and sending the ‘dear young woman’ stumbling backward. “Your explanation is a sound one. My apologies. Sometimes in the course of an investigation a wrong turn is taken. Fortunately, thanks to the good common sense of Tammy here, we have seen our mistake early on. Now, if you would be so kind as to return my cane, we have some questions for you.”
    “Oh, yeah? Well, you ain’t getting your cane, and I ain’t answering any of your questions. What I am gonna do is call the cops.”
    “No!” I exclaimed. The very thought of police officers appearing on the scene was too horrible to contemplate.
    “Don’t come any closer!” she yelled, thrusting the cane in our direction.
    “We are really sorry,” I said desperately. “It was a misunderstanding. Come on, Shirley. Let’s just go.”
    “Not without my cane, Tammy. It has been handed down for generations and the original owner…No. I am not about to leave it behind. I would rather die. Besides which, I have questions for this young woman. Questions that I believe she will answer when I show her this!”
    Shirley reached into one of the pockets on her jacket, and for one heart-stopping moment I was afraid that she was about to pull out a gun. But much to my relief she pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. “Well?” Shirley asked condescendingly while she waved the money up and down. “Will this take care of any temporary discomfort that we may have caused you?”
    “Maybe,” the woman said with a shrug, immediately losing all her bluster. “Guess it depends on what you want to know.” The woman held out her hand for the twenty.
    “My cane first,” Shirley said pulling the bill back toward her chest.
    “No way. The money first.”
    Shirley threw her head back, and for the first time since the day we met, I finally heard her laugh. It was not a pleasant sound.

Chapter 5
    “I like your spirit, young woman,” Shirley said once she had finished laughing, and then she handed the woman her twenty-dollar bill. “My cane, if you please?” After tucking the twenty inside her jeans, the woman handed Shirley back her cane. “And now if you will be so good as to answer some questions.”
    “Sure. A deal’s a deal. Just keep that cane to yourself, if you don’t mind.”
    “I do not mind at all. What is your name?” Shirley asked.
    “Angie Berger,” the woman told her, taking a pack of cigarettes out of her pants pocket.
    “And you are the caregiver for the Pittfords?”
    “Yeah.” Angie pulled out a cigarette and lit it before plopping down on the top step. “I’m going to take a load off. I’ve been on my feet for twelve hours.”
    “And we shall ‘take a load off’ as well,” Shirley replied, the phrase sounding clunky and unnatural in her mouth. She sat down stiffly next to Angie while I just stood there keeping an ear out for the sound of police sirens. I hadn’t seen any lights come on in any of the houses around us, but I was still afraid someone might have heard the commotion and called 9-1-1.
    “Angie?” Shirley asked genially, as if their earlier hostilities had never happened. “I suppose you are curious about the invisible dog to which I referred earlier?” Angie took a long drag on her cigarette and shrugged her shoulders. “You are aware, of course, that there is no such thing as an invisible dog?” Angie nodded her head indifferently as she exhaled a long plume of grayish white smoke. “Excellent. Now, since nicotine is as addictive as heroin, am I correct in assuming that your smoke break this evening is a long-standing