Creature Discomforts

push Axelrod off the cliff. True, Fairley hadn’t used his hands. Rather, he’d used a booted foot to trip Axelrod. I guess that’s what Anita meant when she’d talked about the murder. She understood that her father hadn’t exactly murdered Axelrod. Rather, Fairley had told himself that Axelrod had had an accident. Fairley had used a boot on me, too. The second I saw and heard the fatal fall, I should have bolted up the slope in search of my big dogs. Instead, I hunkered down on the ridge. After all, I couldn’t lead a murderer to Rowdy and Kimi! Fairley must have spotted me after Axelrod’s plunge. Maybe he heard something. He appeared behind me in what seemed like seconds. He bumped into me almost as if by accident. My feet went out from under me. He couldn’t, however, have finished me off without admitting to himself that he’d committed murder. I’m pretty sure of all this. I can’t, of course, be certain.
    My vet, Dr. Delaney, and his bride, Ms. Fairley-Delaney, were not at the wedding, which was held at Gabrielle’s big house. In fact, if Gabrielle manages to hold on to the house despite her major financial losses—she’ll be lucky to keep even the guest cottage—she should consider renting it out for large festivities. The house had room for many more guests than she and Buck invited. More people had attended the clambake for Malcolm Fairley than were present at the wedding. The ceremony was short and traditional, at least as defined in my family’s tradition: The minister was also an AKC-licensed judge, and quite a few members of the bridal party were dogs. Mandy, Buck’s golden, was hormonally fit to appear in public. She comported herself with her typical air of perfection. Molly stood at Gabrielle’s side. Isaac, Pacer, and a few other dogs were there, too. Against Buck’s objections, Gabrielle invited Opal and Wally. Buck did not shoot them. After the ceremony, we ate lobster and drank champagne. Most of us did. Effie ate a tofu casserole that she’d made herself.
    Malcolm Fairley wasn’t there. The Pine Tree Foundation for Conservation Philanthropy was in bankruptcy, and Malcolm and Anita were charged with seventy-six counts of fraud and money laundering. Also, it’s a long trip from Guatemala to Maine. We aren’t sure exactly how Malcolm got to Guatemala. I certainly know how he evaded the law on Mount Desert Island. After the ruckus on Dorr, my father, still in his bold-alpha-leader role, convinced everyone to hike immediately back down to the Nature Center. In the case of Malcolm and Anita, he reinforced his alpha status by drawing his handgun. The tourists we encountered on our descent were alarmed at the sight of a firearm, but otherwise, all went as well as could be expected until our whole crew arrived at the Nature Center, where Buck intended to turn Anita and Malcolm over to the authorities. Instead of taking the culprits into custody, however, the two park rangers at the Nature Center politely asked Buck to surrender his weapon. Feeling the need to explain the situation, he refused. In the resulting melee, Malcolm Fairley slipped away.
    The suspicion is that a friend with a private plane, probably a grateful investor in the Pine Tree Foundation, flew him to Toronto. From there, he took a flight to Miami, and then a flight to Guatemala City. He wrote to Gabrielle from an undisclosed location in Guatemala. She says she burned the letter, which, she maintains, was almost exclusively about the rain forest. When pressed, she admits that Fairley briefly mentioned the benefactors. I asked what he said about them. “He sees them when he closes his eyes,” Gabrielle told me. “He finds them a great comfort.”
    I haven’t seen Dr. Delaney since the eventful day I discovered that he’d married Anita. My animals haven’t been sick. Or needed any shots. I may switch vets. I’d like to forget him. I’m hoping for... amnesia.
     

Author’s Notes
     
    Could such a scheme fool anyone? It did. The Foundation for New Era Philanthropy, of Radnor, Pennsylvania, lured investors with the promise of combining charity with high returns. According to New Era’s founder, John G. Bennet, Jr., matching grants from anonymous benefactors made it possible to double investors’ money in six months. The scheme collapsed. On September 22, 1998, Bennet was sentenced to twelve years in federal prison. New Era’s victims included churches, charities, and universities, as well as such