“How long did you and Delilah go out?”
“Not long.” He folded his arms over his chest and leaned back. “I wasn’t nearly highbrow enough for her. Looking back, I suspect I was a revenge fuck to get under her ex-husband’s skin.”
“Ouch.” Harper took a gulp of her wine. It hurt to be used, to even suspect one had been used.
“And while Delilah was fascinating,” Tariq continued, “she had some pretty wild ideas. She had some odd views of science, for instance. And she was used to having money, so my military brat background and modest aquarium salary didn’t exactly bowl her over. Not really a match made in heaven.”
“Did Delilah have a dog?”
“Not when I was seeing her. Why?”
She shrugged. “I just…I saw a dog hanging around there. You didn’t notice it, did you? Big and black, or very dark brown? Hard to tell in the dark, and of course that night was chaotic.”
He shook his head.
“Thing is, I saw it again yesterday evening, when I went home. I tried to call to it, then was afraid it might be looking for its person, so I went over to the Perles Mansion in case it was Delilah Mason’s dog and had gone home.”
“I always thought of Delilah as a cat person. I doubt she’d have gotten a dog.”
“That’s what Sigrid said.” At his inquisitive look, shecontinued. “When I got there, a woman named Sigrid was at the garden gate, said she was a friend of Delilah’s. She suggested the dog might be a hellhound, or a harbinger of death.”
“That seems like quite a leap of illogic. More likely a poor lost dog.”
“That’s whatIsaid.”
They shared a smile.
“Problem solved, then. It will go back home, or a kindhearted person will take it in.”
“I hope so. Hey, you’re a biologist…Why do some animals’ eyes glow in the dark?”
“They don’t glow, exactly. They reflect. It’s called ‘eyeshine.’ Some animals, mostly those who are nocturnal, have a special membrane, called the tapetum lucidum—literally, ‘tapestry of light,’ which I’ve always found poetic. The tapetum is a reflective surface directly behind the retina, which helps animals see in the dark. When it reflects light, it makes the eyes look as if they’re glowing.”
“Interesting,” said Harper.
“What brought that up?”
“At night the dog’s eyes look like they’re glowing.”
“Are you scared of it? I seem to remember you’re an animal lover.”
“I am. Ellen reached out to an animal rescue, so they’ll try to find him.”
“Good.”
They sat in silence for a moment, each lost to their own thoughts. Two guys at the dartboard were loudly jeering each other’s aim and kept upping their bets. The tattooed server dropped a tray of drinks, which hit the floor with a dramatic crash of glass on tile; onlookers cheered, and the server held up his fists in mock victory.
When Harper looked over at the source of the ruckus, her eye was caught by a distinctive orange aluminum water bottle emblazoned withI ain’t afraid of no ghosts.
“Hey, isn’t that Joel over near the jukebox? The ghost tour guy?”
Tariq leaned back to see around a trio of women. “Looks like it. He doesn’t seem pleased.”
Joel appeared to be engaged in an intense, unpleasant discussion with a heavyset, gray-haired man in a suit, who sat with his back to them.
“Probably a disgruntled client wanting his money back for the lies Joel spews on his tour,” Harper suggested.
“Lies, or exaggerations?”
