Look What the Husband Dragged In
Chapter 1
What Are You?
William Wellington was walking home alone from the office he shared with his wife, Eliza, when he heard a soft whimpering. He stopped and made a face attempting to find out where that sound was coming from. It was not the first time he heard that sound. Normally he and Eliza walked together to the office and chattered about everything. Remembering their walks and talks, William smiled because normally Eliza continually chattered without allowing her husband a word in edgewise. Her enthusiasm about her work or sometimes their joint work was one of Eliza's characteristics that he cherished.
The whimpering sound stopped, so William continued his walk on this late wintry evening in February. He stopped again at hearing the sound. Since they lived in New York City and their Private Investigators office located not far from their residence, William passed by many large multi-floor buildings containing alleys between the edifices.
As he neared the sound of the whimpering, he noticed two glowing eyes peering at him from the darkness.
"Hey," William said softly as he approached the animal. William had been dressed for the weather, so his heavy coat covered him fully as well as both his leather gloves and his bowler covering his head.
He put his hand in his coat and grasped a spare biscuit that he had not finished earlier and should have thrown out. William pulled this out and breaking off a small piece of the bread he offered it to the little animal to coax him out.
After a couple of minutes, a very small four legged animal slowly accepted the bread from William's hand. William scratched him behind the ears and ascertained that the did not have any bugs there.
"You are an emaciated little thing. Did your mother abandon you?" William asked the little shaky animal who was licking William looking for more food. William broke off another small piece and this time picked up the little guy. William also tried to ascertain if the guy was a guy and not a girl, but the skies were so dark above that William could not be sure.
"Come on. Let's explain to Eliza. Well, I can tell you're no Jack Russell, but Eliza may know. She's good with little dogs."
Eliza Scarlet Wellington was at home now for a couple of weeks. Mrs. Carruthers, their housekeeper, provided a dinner tray for her in bed. Eliza was recovering from a very disappointing failed pregnancy at only two months along. She and William have been married for no long time-a couple of months, so it was a surprise when they conceived a child so early. It seemed she must have fallen pregnant on their honeymoon. They both were ecstatic at the revelation.
They were both horrified when Eliza bent double in pain at their office a couple of weeks ago and actual blood showing through to her skirt. William carried her home himself, and the doctor visited and confirmed that she had had a miscarriage. Eliza was to stay in bed for a couple of days until she felt ready to return to work and resume trying to get pregnant again.
Only Eliza was not sure if she wanted a baby right now. She hoped one day because William wanted children so badly, but, for herself, she was not sure. Maybe it would be that she would never conceive another child again. She did not want to disappoint William, though. He wanted a big family with many children to love since he had grown up since the age of 10 with nothing but a kick from his father and harsh words from the work house superiors.
As Eliza picked at her food, she heard William come through the door. His big Scottish brogue asking about her to Mrs. Carruthers.
"She is still in bed, Mr. Wellington. I just gave her dinner on a tray."
Then a pause. Eliza heard what seemed to be a tiny bark.
"What is that little thing? He looks like he is starving!" Eliza had heard Mrs. Carruthers exclaim.
"William?" Eliza called. "William!"
"Coming, love," she heard William call.
Eliza continued to pick at her dinner when her husband's large frame filled the doorway.
"How are you feeling, Mrs. Wellington?" William asked with a smile before he ventured into the bedroom. He bent to kiss her before taking a seat on the bed.
"You need to eat, Eliza, to heal," he said as he scooped up some beef and vegetables on her fork and fed her. She opened her mouth and ate it off the fork for him. As she chewed she rolled her eyes.
"So what's happening out there. I heard a noise," Eliza inquired.
"Well, I brought something home but he's not ready to be seen yet. Mrs. Carruthers is feeding him something."
Eliza became intrigued. It did not take long for her to figure out that William brought her some type of dog.
"Let me see it, please?"
All of a sudden Eliza spotted this little hairy, wiry four legged creature find William and look up at him with the biggest of brown eyes.
William saw his wife smile. The first real smile since the miscarriage. He then bent down and picked up the little brown and black furred dog.
She moved the tray out of the way and took him from William.
"Where did you find him?"
"I heard whimpering between the store fronts about a block away. I had to coax him out of the alley. He's terribly thin. Must have lost his mother somewhere."
"Or he was kicked out of the litter. That can happen if there are too many. He may have been the weakest one."
William watched as Eliza petted the dog and held him up and talked to him face to face. He was happy to see her smile. He missed it. It had been a rough couple of weeks. It was normal for a woman to be depressed Dr. Baker had said and William understood that but he knew Eliza felt like failure as a woman because she could not give her husband a child.
"What do you want to name him?"
"Tell you what. If you are a good girl and finish your dinner, I will give this pup a bath washing him myself then we can discuss it."
"That's bribery, husband," Eliza said giving William a sly look.
"Yes, it is. You haven't eaten anything for a couple of days now. I don't want my wife as emaciated as this little pup," William said holding the brown/black pup.
"You do realize what type of dog that is, don't you?" Eliza asked as she watched William carry the little puppy to the bathroom for his bath.
"After you eat, Eliza."
Eliza's spirits were lifting a little. She put her tray back in front of her and began to eat properly.
A few days later, Eliza was sitting on the floor of her office that she shared with William at their agency playing with Max, the German Shepherd puppy that William had found emaciated and whimpering in an alley. Eliza was teaching him to sit, lie down, and rewarded Max with biscuits. He was a good student.
William and she had decided upon his name as Max. After only a few days, Max's coat was becoming fluffier and he was putting on weight very quickly. Eliza thought him a very trainable dog, so she ventured on training him much to the chagrin of many other tasks that their agency required.
"Eliza. Eliza?" William called to her. He was happy that his wife was back to smiling and being herself but they did have clients to service.
"Good puppy!" Eliza exclaimed as Max jumped high to grasp his treat.
"Eliza."
"I heard you William. Be right there," she said as she picked up Max and brought him with her to William's desk.
They began to review William's observations on the Harbinger Missing Funds and Murder case and William rubbed his nose with Max and then patted him nonchalantly as Max tried to catch William's hand in a playful bite.
"I think he's getting bigger already," William said taking Max from his wife while she sat at his desk, on his lap, and examined the copy of the coroner's report they were able to obtain from the NYC coroner who performed the autopsy.
Jason Harbinger, the head of small credit lending association, came to Eliza and William to say that he needed a private detective to find out about who may have murdered his brother and embezzled client's money. Twofold issue which led to many a night staying late at the office or bringing the investigation home with them.
William would never divulge this to Eliza, but he felt her overworking contributed to her miscarriage.
He was glad to have Eliza in the office lending her intelligence and input to the cases and being she was not pregnant now could join him in the field. William knew no way of stopping her, so he always tried to reason with her on when she desired to accompany him on the more dangerous cases.
Max, once he was bigger, could now became an ally in the pursuit of keeping his wife from danger. William was happy about that. He was not anxious to become a widower after shortly becoming a bridegroom.
As he held the little puppy that they both grew to love so quickly and touched noses with him, William sat back and watched his wife take the reports to her desk. He was glad she had stopped thinking about the child they lost. Come summer, though, if Eliza was not carrying a child by that time, she would probably think about it. Her mind was a steel trap and she could remember details that others forgot which was what gave her an advantage over many detectives. Many times William, himself, was included in that bunch.
"Hey, I'm going to take Max for a walk. It's about that time," he said looking at his pocket watch. "Would you like me to venture across the street and pick up lunch for both of us?"
Eliza was so engrossed in the paperwork and gathering a logical sequence of events in her mind that she said offhandedly to William, "No thank you, dear. I'm not hungry now."
While William was donning his winter overcoat, Max ran over to Eliza and wanted her to pick him up.
She looked down at the little fellow and said, "No, papa will take you for something to eat."
"William, don't forget to feed the dog, please. I don't think he's had his second meal of the day. "
"Eliza, he's a dog not a baby. He ate before we left at 7:30, but I will find him a snack. Oh by the way, I am ordering you a meal. You did not eat breakfast this morning. Mrs. Carruthers left the evidence on your plate for me to see.
"William…." Eliza said in an annoyed voice. "By the way, Max is a baby. A baby dog."
"Yes, Eliza," William said picking up the little pup, rolling his eyes, and then smiling at Eliza he left shutting the door behind him.