I’m good with directions. That would come in handy on stake-outs and in high-speed chases.

“So you take Russell to the vet, and the doc turns out to be Tucker’s wife,” Jolie recapped what I’d told her earlier, while we were both peering into the mirror over my bathroom sink, doing a sort of Siamese-twin makeup thing.

“Not his wife,” I stressed, sucking up some frappacino. “His ex-wife.”

“From what you said before, I’m not convinced she’s made the shift.”

I sighed. “You can say that again. The way she looked at me, I might have had a neon sign over my head, flashing ‘Other Woman, Other Woman.’ But Allison’s a good vet, and she’s professional. She probably saved Russell’s life.”

“We need to be done in time for me to make that job interview,” Jolie said. She was a detail person. Always keeping little checklists in her head.

“No problem,” I told her.

When we arrived at the Darroch place, I pulled around behind, took a deep breath and jammed my frappacino into the cup holder between the front seats.

“Here goes,” I said.

As it turned out, my lucky streak, for which I was long overdue, I’d like to say, held. Allison was nowhere around. Maybe she was out helping a cow give birth or something. Bethany greeted us with a smile and a whopping bill, and I could hear Russell barking exuberantly in the back at the sound of my voice.

I wrote a check, and Bethany sprang the basset hound from his kennel.

He trotted toward me, tail a blur, tongue lolling. A lot of people say dogs don’t smile, but I know differently. Russell was beaming.

I crouched to ruffle his ears. “Hey, buddy,” I said.

He licked my face.

Jolie, the dog and I piled back into the Volvo, Russell sitting in the middle of the backseat, ready to take on the world.

I glanced at Jolie as we started down the long driveway, back to the road. I knew she was disappointed that we hadn’t encountered Allison. I was relieved enough for both of us.

“What now?” Jolie asked.

“I need to do some investigating,” I said. “You can get ready for your interview while I’m Googling all Alex Pennington’s possible girlfriends.”

“Right,” Jolie said, but she sounded uncertain. “Do you think the dead cat will be around when we get back to your place?”

A lump rose in my throat. Whenever I thought of Chester, I was reminded that his presence in my life was temporary. Once he’d accomplished his mission, whatever it was, he’d be getting onto one of those trains Nick talked about, and that would be the last goodbye.

“I hope so,” I said softly.