Chương 5
His jaw tightened.
“I have work.”
He walked toward the door.
“Mr. Vale.”
He stopped.
“You move too fast around him.”
Adrian did not turn.
“I move normally.”
“For you.”
That made him look back.
Clara nodded toward Brutus.
“Not for him.”
Adrian’s face gave nothing away.
Then he left.
Nolan remained in the doorway.
He waited until Adrian’s footsteps had faded.
“You should be careful.”
Clara looked at him.
“With Brutus?”
“With Adrian.”
She picked up her coffee.
“Is that official advice?”
“No.”
“Then why give it?”
Nolan’s mouth flattened.
“Because he just let you correct him twice.”
Clara frowned.
“And?”
“And nobody here remembers the last person who got to do it three times.”
Clara stared at Nolan over the rim of her coffee.
“That sounds less like advice and more like a threat.”
“It isn’t mine.”
He pushed away from the doorway.
“That’s the part you should remember.”
Brutus watched him leave, then settled again with his chin across Clara’s foot as if the conversation had bored him.
Clara looked down at the enormous head pinning her sock to the rug.
“You have terrible taste in workplaces.”
His eyes rolled toward her without lifting his head.
“Fine.”
“So do I.”
By three that afternoon, Agnes had given up pretending Clara still belonged to the housekeeping schedule.
The bathrooms assigned to her remained unpolished, someone else took over the upstairs linen closets, and a printed copy of Brutus’s veterinary records appeared on the dining table in the small sitting room beside a yellow legal pad.
Clara spent nearly an hour reading.
There were vaccinations, weight fluctuations, sedated examinations, two sets of X-rays, notes about chronic inflammation in his left shoulder, and pages of behavioral observations written in the careful language professionals used when they did not want frightened animals blamed for frightened behavior.
One entry made her stop.
Patient displays acute defensive reaction when restrained around neck, especially when metallic equipment is present.
Clara read it again.
Below it, another veterinarian had written that Brutus tolerated topical treatment only after sedation.
She glanced toward the dog.
He was asleep near the window, one rear leg twitching occasionally.
A narrow scar disappeared beneath his collar.
Clara closed the file.
“Does that bother you?”
Brutus slept on.
She approached slowly and sat several feet away.
The collar was broad black leather, expensive and soft-looking, with a metal buckle resting near his throat.
She wondered how anyone had managed to put it on.
“Who does your collar?”
A voice behind her answered.
“I do.”
Clara turned.
Adrian stood in the doorway holding another folder.
She glanced at the clock.
“You don’t work very much.”
“I own the building.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“It becomes similar if you own enough buildings.”
He placed the folder on the table.
Clara noticed he had taken off his watch.
His sleeves were pushed higher now.
Brutus opened his eyes.
Adrian did not approach.
“You asked who handles him.”
Clara nodded.
“Mostly me.”
“Mostly?”
“Nolan can move him in emergencies.”
“How?”
“Food.”
“That won’t work if he’s terrified.”
“No.”
Adrian leaned against the doorframe.
“It doesn’t.”
Clara looked at the folder.
“What’s that?”
“Trainer reports.”
“You kept them?”
“I keep everything.”
“Agnes said that.”
“She complains about it.”
“She sounded proud.”
“Agnes is complicated.”
“She called you exhausting.”
Adrian’s eyebrows lifted.
Clara regretted betraying the woman instantly.
“She did not.”
“Not directly.”
“That sounds more like Agnes.”
He came one step farther into the room.
Brutus’s ears moved.
Adrian stopped.
Clara saw the effort it cost him not to keep walking.
“You’ve been doing that since lunch.”
“Doing what?”
“Changing how you move.”
“No.”
“You took off your watch.”
He glanced at his bare wrist.
“It was bothering me.”
“It wasn’t this morning.”
“You pay too much attention.”
“That’s what you changed my duties for.”
Adrian looked at her for several seconds.
Then he laughed once.
It was barely a sound, more disbelief than amusement.
Clara had the odd sense that he had surprised himself.
Brutus lifted his head.
Adrian’s face closed again.
That was interesting too.
He sat in the chair farthest from the dog.
“What did you find?”
“His shoulder hurts.”
“The vet says it’s managed.”
“The notes say it’s managed.”
Adrian’s expression sharpened.
“Difference?”
“Pain changes behavior.”
“He gets medication.”
“Sometimes dogs learn to hide pain before people learn to see it.”
“You think that’s why he bites?”
“I think there probably isn’t one reason.”
Clara tapped the report.
“Fear, pain, restraint, maybe learned expectations.”
“And the metal?”
“I don’t know yet.”
He nodded.
That willingness to accept uncertainty still did not fit what everyone else seemed to believe about him.
Clara opened the second folder.
The first trainer had written three pages about dominance.
She made it halfway down one page before closing it.
“What?”
Adrian asked.
“This man’s an idiot.”
“He charged six hundred dollars an hour.”
“Then he’s an expensive idiot.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“What did he do wrong?”
“He treated fear like disobedience.”
“He said Brutus needed a stronger hierarchy.”
“That’s a nice phrase if you enjoy getting bitten.”
Adrian looked toward the sleeping dog.
“He was the one whose wrist got broken.”
Clara reopened the report.
“That tracks.”
The second trainer had documented gradual exposure exercises, but his notes became less detailed toward the end.
The third had emphasized restraint tolerance.
Clara found the incident report describing the bite.
She read more slowly.
“What?”
Adrian asked again.
“The muzzle.”
“What about it?”
“It had a metal frame.”
His face changed.
Clara passed him the paper.
He read the line.
For a moment he did nothing.
Then he placed the sheet on the table with exaggerated care.
“I didn’t know.”
“That’s why records matter.”
“I was standing there.”
Clara looked at him.
“When it happened?”
“Yes.”
“You still might not have noticed.”
“I should have.”
“That doesn’t help him.”
His gaze snapped to hers.
She immediately knew she had touched something deeper than the bite.
May you like
Adrian stood.
Brutus woke fully.
