she found a herd of redheaded children had descended upon her dog. Bump leaped to his feet, woofing and jumping between the kids. She could barely see him amid the chaos. “Hey, wait a second.” She tried to grab for the leash as the swarm of children seemed to grow around her.
“His ears are so long!”
“I want a puppy like this.”
“Hey, he ate my ice-cream cone. Dad! This dog stole my ice cream!”
A man came huffing over the hill, his round face red like a lobster. “Kieran, Solange! Get away from that dog. Boyd, you know you have allergies.” The small one with the freckles increased his carping about the ice-cream cone.
“He ate it! He ate it in one gulp.”
The man confronted Ellery. “Did your mutt steal my son’s ice-cream cone?”
Ellery eyed Bump, who sat amid the children grinning with his tongue hanging out, a satisfied gleam in his eyes. “I’m going to go with ‘yes.’”
“You shouldn’t bring him around people if he isn’t better trained.”
“I could say the same thing about your kids.” One of them had placed Bump in a headlock. Before the man could wind up his outrage even further, Ellery put up her hands. “Look, I’ll give you the money for another cone, okay?” Anything to make the noise and grabby hands go away.
The man took in the pink sequined bag Ellery had slung over her shoulder. “Fine. It was five dollars.”
“Five dollars. For a kiddie cone?” Ellery followed his gaze to the purse as she groped in her back pocket for her wallet, which she stopped doing the moment she realized she’d lost sight of Tula. She called the girl’s name, but no brown head popped up amid the sea of red. “Tula,” she said more sharply. She started sifting the children bodily as she searched out Reed’s daughter. “Tula!”
“Hey, what about my money?” the man demanded as Ellery jogged off, Bump hot on her heels. The street fair filled up all areas of the Boston Common, booths jammed together and throngs of people in front of each one. Ellery threaded her way through the crowds, peering at each child for any sign of recognition. Tula had worn a bright orange T-shirt, and Ellery searched for any flash of it as she pushed onward. Her panic rose with each passing second.
She yelled Tula’s name as loud as she could, the rising fear in her throat making her voice turn shrill. People turned to stare. Her heart seemed to go liquid inside her chest, it was beating so fast. She doubled back in case Tula had reappeared by the trees where they’d been waiting, but there was no sign of her. Ellery felt dizzy as she tried to think of what to do next. Go find Reed? Alert the police? She was the police. “He’s going to kill me,” she said to Bump, who whined and sat on her feet. Desperate now, Ellery nudged him off and went to stand on the nearest bench to get a better view. The crowd looked like a slow-moving river. Tula was small, only about four feet high. Ellery would never be able to see her like this.
Bump barked up at her with enthusiasm, as if asking why she had grown so tall. “Tula,” she told him. “We’re trying to find Tula.”
He woofed again and wagged his tail. His considerable nose dropped to the ground and he began to snuffle. Watching him, Ellery seized on a slim hope. Bump was no trained working dog, but he’d been born with a nose that wouldn’t quit. “Tula,” she told him again, jumping down from the bench and shoving the purse under his nose. “Find Tula.”
She grabbed his leash and her arm jerked as he set off resolutely in a northward direction. He took a meandering route directly through the crowds. She hoped like hell that he was on the scent of the little girl and not a hot dog. He veered behind some garbage cans, past a water fountain, and into some bushes. He crashed his large front paws right through the branches, leaping up and barking. “Ha, ha! You found me! Good boy.” Tula sprang up with delight, accepting the dog kisses on the side of her face, and Ellery sagged with relief.
“Yes, good boy. You, however…” Ellery grabbed the girl’s arm and dragged her out of the brush. “You scared the crap out of me. What are you doing running off like that?”
“We’re playing hide-and-seek, him and me,” she said