“Don’t waste time trying to put them all up yourself,” Mrs. Martinson advised. “Have your dad pick up some—he can post them around the neighborhood. I’ll take a few as well, to get them up in some other areas.”
When Sunny estimated her father had finished with his three miles of hiking off in outlet-land, she called him at home. “I’ve got some posters to put up,” she told him. “And Mrs. Martinson asks that you bring her some.”
“Always glad to see Helena,” he said. “I just hope that puppy of hers doesn’t try to chew on them.” He promised to be in shortly. Sunny set aside half of her pile for him.
Even as she waited, Mrs. Martinson’s telephone tree began to bear fruit. First came a call from Ken Howell. “I hear your cat has gone missing,” he said.
“I don’t think that’s front-page news,” Sunny told him.
“No, but I think we could run a notice in the community bulletin board on the back page,” Ken replied. “Do you have a picture?”
“Yes, but—”
“It’s not an ad,” Ken told her. “It’s just professional courtesy.”
“It’s darned nice,” Sunny corrected. “I’ll e-mail you a picture right away.”
“Got an office cat, you know,” Ken said. “In an old building like this, you sort of need one.”
Sunny blinked in surprise. “Really? I’ve never seen him.”
“He hides whenever people come in,” Ken explained. “And there are a lot of places around here for a cat to vanish himself.”
“That’s true,” Sunny had to admit.
“I call him Harvey, because people think he’s my imaginary friend.” Ken paused for a second. “I’d sure hate it, though, if he started hiding from me.”
No sooner did Sunny hang up the phone than Zack Judson appeared at her door. “I heard about Shadow,” he said. “You know, before he went to live with you, he’d stop by the store sometimes.”
Sunny sat straight in her chair with surprise. “Really?”
Zack nodded. “If he turns up, I’ll try to keep him there—and at least let you know.” He looked down at her pile of posters. “And I’ll put one of these up in our front window. If you can spare a few, I’ll give ’em to my delivery guys to post farther out of town, get those Piney Brook people looking for him, too.”
Sunny peeled off a sheaf of posters for him. “I really appreciate—”
Zack shrugged off her thanks. “Your dad and I go way back. Happy to help.”
He left, and Sunny sank back in her seat.
Just as she was considering closing up the office to plaster the downtown area with posters, Will Price knocked on the office door.
“If you’re coming to tell me that the sheriff’s department is joining in the hunt, that’ll just be too much.”
“What hunt?” Will asked in bafflement.
Sunny handed him a poster. “Oh,” Will said. Then he looked at her more closely. “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear this.” Even though he was in uniform, Will dropped his usual cop persona. “I’m back on the day shift now, so I’ll try to keep an eye out for Shadow.” He smiled at her, trying to cheer her up. “I don’t know if I can convince Sheriff Nesbit to join in the hunt, but you have a couple of friends among the constables. I’ll get the word out there.”
“Thanks,” she told him. “Every bit helps.” She took a deep breath, thinking of how quickly Shadow had adopted her. “Even if he’s landed with another family, I just want to know he’s all right.”
“I know,” Will said gently.
“So, if my cat didn’t bring you in, what brought you by?”
That snapped Will back to police mode. “I spent the weekend carefully reaching out to some buddies on the Portsmouth force,” he said. “They tell me there are some newcomers in town, lending money.”
“Oh-ho,” Sunny said. “From foreign parts?”
Will nodded. “Turns out they’re Ukrainian, not Russian. Guy named Danilo Shostak seems to be the brains of the operation, with someone called Olek Linko acting as the muscle.”
Sunny nodded.
“Avoiding trouble,” Sunny murmured.
“That’s one way to put it,” Will agreed. “So if Jane’s ex was involved with him, he can’t be very happy with Rigsdale getting killed. Sooner or later, Trumbull is going to start shining some light where this guy won’t want it shone. I mean, he’s got to be going over Rigsdale’s books.”
