Who Let the Dog Out? by David Rosenfelt Page A

evening when he arrived home, he knew in an instant that it was warranted. He opened his front door, and there in front of him was the scariest human being he had ever seen.
    “Hello, Professor. My name is Alek.”
    They had gotten his message.

 
    Laurie calls Marcus to update him on what is happening. She tells him that it isn’t necessary to follow Stephanie when she is not with Zoe, because if she is going to meet up with Eric, there’s little doubt that she will take the dog with her. We are not worried about losing her, because Marcus has slipped a small GPS device inside the fender of her car.
    Laurie’s instructions for him are to contact her when Stephanie is on the move, so that I can join in following her. If we are going to find Eric, then I am going to be the one to talk with him.
    Of course, if she flies wherever she is going, then we’ll have to improvise. But we’ll have a good advance idea if that is going to happen, because she would be taking an airline crate with her to house Zoe. My guess is that she will drive, especially if Eric is in Maine, where the FedEx package came from.
    Eric is not a target of mine, unless it turns out that he killed Downey. My goal in this is purely to defend my client; whatever else is going on in Eric’s life is not my problem, though it could present me with a moral, if not legal, dilemma.
    Eric is a fugitive, charged with the murder of his partner and friend Michael Caruso. If I learn of his whereabouts, I have no affirmative obligation to report it to the police, either as an attorney or a private citizen. But if I truly believe that a murderer is on the loose, then I would morally have to tell the authorities where he is. Other people could conceivably be in danger.
    I’ll deal with that when the time comes. Circumstances will dictate my actions. It is hard to picture not alerting the authorities to Eric’s whereabouts, but right now that is not my concern; I am focused on learning whatever I can to help me defend Tommy Infante.
    I walk Ricky, Tara, and Sebastian to school, and when I get back, Willie has arrived with Zoe. She, Tara, and Sebastian do the obligatory sniffing, and all seems fine between them. Tara appears unimpressed, with a look on her face that says, “Another one? You’re pushing it, Carpenter.” I’m sure I’ll hear about this later.
    I look out the window and see Stephanie pull up in her car. As we planned, Laurie goes out to greet her at the car and bring her inside. We leave her in the den with Willie and Zoe, while Laurie and I go into the kitchen to make coffee.
    “There’s a suitcase in her car,” she says.
    “What about an airline crate?”
    She shakes her head. “No.” Then, “I’ll call Marcus.”
    The presence of the suitcase indicates a strong likelihood that Stephanie will be bringing Zoe directly to Eric, though it’s not a slam dunk that it will happen. But it seems worth it to have me meet up with Marcus right away to do whatever following is necessary.
    “I wish I could go with you,” Laurie says, knowing she can’t do so because of the need to be home with Ricky.
    “We could turn it into a family vacation,” I say. “A trip to Maine to talk to a possible murderer. It’ll give him something to tell his friends about.”
    She smiles. “Maybe he can bring the murder weapon to show-and-tell.”
    We go back into the room to talk to Stephanie. There is no reason to drag this out: I’m sure Marcus is here already, doing the invisible Marcus routine outside. When we walk into the room, Stephanie checks her watch. I would bet anything she is heading straight from here to meet Eric, although based on my level of success betting sports, she’s probably going to the dentist.
    “Be really careful and alert,” I say. “And follow your instincts. If you have any cause for concern, any at all, call me.”
    “I will,” she says. “But we’ll be fine. It will be so good to have Zoe with me.”
    “Are you taking her