“Of course not,” Zona said, trying to keep her voice sympathetic. “Sometimes you hear things.” Why on earth was she nosing around in this man’s life, antagonizing him? If she got him mad enough, maybe he would sue them.
“Okay,” he said wearily. “What exactly did you hear? It must have been real good for your mom to decide I cut Angela up into pieces.”
Zona bit her lip.Nothing. Say you heard nothing.
“Come on, out with it. I really want to know.”
Zona took a deep breath. “The woman said, ‘You’re hurting me.’” Actually, she hadn’t simply said it. She’d cried out.
He looked like he’d just drunk vinegar. “Yeah, that’s her favorite when I’m grabbing her by the arm.”
“Why were you grabbing her by the arm?” Now Zona sounded like a detective interviewing a suspect. Good grief.Law & Order, Special Snoop Unit.This was not going to go over well. She swallowed hard.
“She was totally out of control. I was trying to get her back in the house and deal with her issues in private before the whole neighborhood heard and decided I was beating on her.” He made a face. “I guess they did.” He studied Zona. “Maybe they still do?”
She took a step back. “Everyone’s got problems,” she said, not even sure what that was supposed to mean.
“There’s problems and there’s problems. And there’s reasons when people get mad.”
And reasons why they grabbed other people by the arm?
He held up the container. “Thanks for these.”
That signaled the end of a conversation that had seesawed back and forth between normal and creepy. “You’re welcome,” Zona said. She left his front porch and heard the door shut behind her and realized she felt relieved.
“How did it go?” Louise asked as soon as Zona was in the house. “You were over there a long time. What did you talk about? Is he going to sue us?”
Zona settled on a chair in the living room and tucked a leg under her. “I’m sure he thinks we’re both cuckoo birds, but I doubt he’s going to sue us. Still, it was awkward. Honestly, I can’t figure that man out.”
“What do you mean?” Louise asked.
Zona shared the gist of her conversation with Alec James. Louise was doubtful on hearing his claim to be a dog lover and more horrified than impressed by his offer to help Zona train Darling.
“I think that’s downright sporting of him, all things considered,” said Martin.
“That man is too cold to be a dog lover,” Louise insisted.“And do you buy his explanation about that argument we overheard?” she asked Zona.
“I don’t know,” Zona said. “Maybe it happened just like he said. We’ll never know.”
Louise frowned. “One thing I do know. I made a fool of myself.”
“It was an honest mistake,” said Martin.
Zona doubted he believed that, but it was kind of him to say.
“But I still think something was not right over there,” Louise declared.
Something’s not right over here, either, thought Zona.
And the something was her. There was no way she should have been attracted to that man.
“But we’re not having anything to do with him from now on,” she said firmly. The less she saw of Alec James the better, and that included turning herself into a watcher.
“IT SOUNDS LIKEyou don’t know the whole story of what went on over there,” her friend Gracie said when Zona took her to lunch the next day. (At Taco Bell, which fit Zona’s budget.)
“I don’t think I want to.” Zona shook her head. “The man unnerves me.”
“But free dog training.”
