It took a second for the reality to sink in. “I will?”
“Uh-huh. A little cadaver dog demo, that should keep them interested.”
“But Wally’s not—”
“Get moving,” Eileen told her.
Jazz didn’t argue with her, either.
CHAPTER 2
As far as Jazz could see, the only thing Wally could give a really good demonstration on was the inconvenient art of peeing on the floor.
Something told her that wasn’t exactly what Eileen was looking for.
With that in mind, she zipped home to get the puppy, and on her way she made a phone call. Margaret Carlson lived nearby and she had a retired HRD dog, a chocolate Lab with a great temperament and a keen nose who Jazz hoped would enjoy a change of pace and a little work. She’d bring Wally along for the cuteness factor.
With Wally and Gus in their crates in the back of her SUV and a bone and tooth she’d retrieved from the refrigerator in her garage in sealed bags and on the seat next to her, she raced back to school.
She had just arrived on the third floor with bone, tooth, and dogs when she ran into Eddie Simpson from Maintenance. He was waiting outside the locked door at the bottom of the stairway that led up to the fourth floor.
Eddie was the nephew of Loretta Hardinger, the woman who was in charge of St. Catherine’s cafeteria. He was a rangy, dark-haired kid with blotchy skin and Jazz clearly remembered the day four years earlier when Lorraine had come into the office to ask if Eileen and Jazz couldn’t find some way to give him a job. (“Because I’ll tell you what, if he doesn’t keep himself busy and find a new bunch of buddies to hang with, that boy’s going to end up in prison.”) Since then Frank, his supervisor, was pleased enough with Eddie’s work.
Eddie caught sight of the dogs and froze. His face turned the same dull gray as the pants and neatly tucked-in shirt he was wearing and he clutched the broom he was carrying, his knuckles white, and held it front of himself like a shield. His left eye twitched.
Gus was trained. As soon as Jazz stopped four feet from Eddie, he sat down beside her. Wally, not so much. Sensing the opportunity to make a new friend, or maybe just interested in chewing on the broom, he bounded closer to Eddie at record speed. Eddie retreated, hopping backwards down the hallway and toward the closed door of the chapel.
“No!” Jazz told Wally, and gave his lead a little tug. “Sorry.” This time she was talking to Eddie. “I didn’t know you didn’t like dogs. They’re friendly,” she assured him, but Eddie wasn’t buying it.
He gulped and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “You’re not … Is that why Frank wants me to sweep upstairs? You’re taking them dogs up there?”
“Orders from Eileen.”
It was all any of them ever needed to hear. Eileen’s school. Eileen’s orders. Eileen’s wishes were their commands.
Which was why Jazz was surprised when one corner of Eddie’s mouth pulled tight. “I bet it’s awfully stuffy up there,” he said. “I’d hate to see those girls be all hot and uncomfortable.”
“They’ll live,” Jazz assured him. “And they won’t be up there long. Forty-five minutes at the most. Then the next group comes in.”
His gaze slid to the dogs. “And they’re gonna do…?”
“Just a little demo,” she told him. “Just to keep the girls occupied.” She moved a step closer to the door, and when Eddie didn’t get the message she asked, “What are we waiting for?”
“Uh…” He pulled his gaze from the dogs. “The key. Sister Eileen, she—”
“Of course!” Jazz felt guilty for being impatient. The door to the fourth-floor space was always kept locked, and Eileen was the only one with the key. “Sorry to be pushy,” she told Eddie. “I just need to get up there before the girls show up. To hide my bait.”
Like most people, he didn’t ask what the bait was. He slid another look at Gus, who thumped his tail, and Wally, who saw it as an obvious invitation for a lifelong friendship and bounded forward again. “And those dogs—”
“Well, Gus here will find the bait. At least I hope so. Wally’s still learning.”
Eddie blinked and thought about it. “Okay. Sure, Jazz, only how about you…” He poked his thumb over his shoulder. “You … uh … maybe you can wait over by the chapel door with them dogs until the door gets unlocked and—”
“Sorry! Sorry!” Out of breath, Eileen arrived at the top of the stairway that led from the second floor to the third. “I got buttonholed by the basketball coach speaking in the health room and couldn’t pull myself away.” She was carrying the ring of the school’s master keys and they jangled when she lifted it. “I’ll get the door opened for you in a jiffy and you two can do what you need to do. Oh, it’s Wally!”
Unable to resist—Jazz knew she was right about the cuteness factor—Eileen bent and scratched a hand over the puppy’s head. He rewarded her efforts by chomping her thumb.
When Eileen yelped, Jazz cringed. “Sorry. Puppy teeth.”
“And I should know better.” Eileen went to the door and flipped through the keys, counting low under her breath. “Let’s get going here so you two can be ready and—” Her hands stilled over the keys and her brow furrowed.
“What’s wrong?” Jazz asked.
“Wrong? Nothing.” Eileen flipped the keys back to their original position and started counting again. “One, two, three, four, five, six—” Her mouth thinned. “These are the old keys, the ones we hardly ever use, and I’ve got them arranged exactly the way I want them.” She sorted through them again. “Number one is the garden shed back by the parking lot.” As if to prove it, she showed Jazz a heavy metal key with a long shank, its color dulled by age. There was a sticker on it that identified which door it opened. “Number two is for the old furnace room in the basement that’s been closed off for years. Three, four, five, six,” she finished the count below her breath. “The sixth key on the ring is supposed to be for this door, but it’s not. This key…” She held up key number six to demonstrate. “This is for the sacristy door in the chapel.” Her nose crinkled, she looked through the rest of the keys and finally smiled when she got to the end of the keys on the ring.
“There it is! I must be losing it. Whenever I used it last, I must have taken it off the ring and didn’t put the key back where it was supposed to be.” She unlocked the door and stepped back. “You two are all set to go. Come and see me, Jazz, when you’re all done today and I’ll come up and lock the door again.”
Before Jazz could even agree, Eileen hurried back down the stairs.
“You or me first?” Jazz asked Eddie.
He shot the dogs a look. “Let me get up there and see how bad it is. Give me a few minutes. Then I’ll…” He thought about it. “I’ll tell you to come up and I’ll wait at the side of the room by the old roof access door. How about that?”
It was a good plan. At least when it came to making sure Eddie and the dogs stayed far away from each other. The roof access door was nowhere near the stairway.