All That Glitters (Raine Stockton Dog Mysteries) Read Free Page B

“I’m about to join the ranks of the unemployed.  I can’t take on another mouth to feed.”
    “ Do yo u know, my dear ,” Maude said thoughtfully, glancing around the vast, dusty interior of the barn, “it would take almost nothing to convert this building into a functioning boarding kennel and training facility. Your father’s horses always did live better than most families in this county… concrete floors, heating and plumbing already in place… the investment would be minimal for you.  You already have more people asking you to teach classes than you can accommodate in the summer, and if you had an indoor facility you could do it year around.   You have room for twenty boarders, easily, and even at half capacity that would be a reasonable income.”
    I looked at her skeptically.  “A boarding kennel is a lot of work.”
    “But there is something to be said for owning one’s own business.”
    “I suppose. ” I couldn’t believe I was actually considering it, however briefly.  “ And I do like teaching.”
    “You’re quite good at it.”
    I returned a half-smile to the woman who had been training me to train dogs since I was eight years old.  “I learned from the best.”  And then I shrugged.  “But there’s no money in dog training.  Besides…”  my gaze slid away uncomfortably.  “I don’t have a dog.”
    Perhaps I should have mentioned that it had been Maude who had given me my beloved Cassidy, a product of her own championship kennel, Sundance .  I suspected that in some ways losing Cassidy had been as hard o n Maude as it had been on me , and I still couldn’t mention Cassidy’s name to Maude without tearing up.
    Before that could happen, I added,  “Anyway, I’ve got to get going.  Aunt Mart talked me into being on the Families First Christmas Baskets committee, and we’re meeting at the church to fill the baskets this afternoon. You’ll put the word out about the collie, right?”
    “I will.  And you’ll think about what I said?”
    Because I wasn’t entirely sure whether she was referring to what she had said about the collie, or about the kennel, I was careful to promise nothing except to call her later , and I hurried off to meet my aunt.
     
     

     
     
     
    T here was a Sheriff’s Department patrol car in front of the church when I pulled in, and I naturally assumed it belonged to my uncle, who had dropped Aunt Mart off for the meeting.  I circled around to the basement door and parked beside the other vehicles , tuck ing my coat and scarf more securely around me as I got out into the cold.  A moment later, I was stripping gloves, hat, scarf and coat off  as the blast of overheated air from inside the church basement hit me.
    A dozen or so women were gathered in a long concrete-floored room to the left, and I could hear their voices as I approached, “Absolutely scandalous, if you ask me.  A man like that, running off with a woman half his age…”
    For some reason, I always fe lt self-conscious when I hear d the words “scandalous”,  “man” and “running off with a woman” in a sentence together… as though that sentence might in some way be referring to my failed marriage.  So I entered the room hesitantly, stuffing my gloves into my coat pocket, only to be greeted by a cheerful, “Oh, hey Raine.  We were just talking about that scamp Jess Hanson.  Have you ever heard the like?”         
    Well, it’s like my daddy always used to say: You wouldn’t worry so much about what other people thought of you if you realized how seldom they did. My ex- husband Buck and I were old news by now; of course I should have realized people had found something more interesting to talk about.
    The room was lined with long tables, upon which were stacked piles of  canned goods , packaged breads and cookies, canned hams and straw baskets.  The women had set up an assembly line, filling each basket with one item from the pile in front of them, and