Doggone Dead Read Free Page A

dog up the stairs. “Sunshine. Let’s go,” he said under his breath, sounding embarrassed at his dog’s lack of cooperation.
    “That’s Sunshine. She’s got the worms,” Danny announced to everyone in earshot.
    “Ooh,” said Zach, backing away from the dog.
    “It’s okay. It’s a dog thing. It won’t hurt you,” the man said, pulling on the green nylon leash. He tugged at the neck of  his shirt collar, sticking to him in the heat.
    “You want me to help you get your dog up the stairs?” Zach asked as he got behind the dog’s posterior and gave a slight shove. Sunshine, not happy about the interference, scrambled up the white wooden stairs closer to her owner.
    “Thanks,” the man said. “That did it.”
    Zach grabbed a poster from my stack.
    “Have you seen this dog? We lost our dog.”
    The man looked at the poster and then shook his head.
    “No, sorry, but if I see him I’ll let Dr. Springer know. Okay?”
    “Okay,” Zach said as he plopped the paper into his hands.
    “I see you have your number on here too. If I see …” he searched for the name printed on the poster, “… Butch, I’ll call this number right away.”
    “Day or night,” Zach said.
    “Day or night.” The man raised his eyebrows with a questioning gaze. “Do I know you from somewhere? I feel like we’ve met before. You look so familiar.”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “I’m sure I’ve seen you somewhere. I don’t know, maybe I’m crazy or confusing you for somebody else. I haven’t lived in Pecan Bayou for very long. Would you know of a good kennel to board Sunshine? Sometimes I go out of town to visit my family in Denver and don’t really want to take her on a plane.”
    “Dr. Springer will board her for a weekend. If you need a longer amount of time, we have Bayou Boarding located outside of town.”
    “Great.”
    “It’s not too far from Bonnet’s Farm.”
    “Where’s that exactly?”
    “It’s out County Road 18. Go about a mile past the ‘U Pick Em’ sign and you’ll see another sign with a golden retriever on it.”
    “Okay, thanks. Have you and your husband ever boarded any dogs out there?”
    “She doesn’t have a husband,” Danny said, placing his hand on the man’s sleeve as if breaking the news to him gently. “Her husband is in jail.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “I’m divorced.” I said flatly, hoping to cut off the next series of questions. I had to get off these steps. I cleared my throat. “Nice to meet you.”
    “Nice to meet you, too. Good luck finding your dog. I’ll be sure to call if I see him.”
    “Day or night,” Zach said again, just in case the instructions hadn’t been clear the first time.
    “Day or night,” the beagle’s owner repeated.

Chapter Four
     
    Zach and I dropped Danny at the home he shared with my Aunt Maggie after putting up pictures of Butch on every telephone pole in town. We settled around the kitchen table, and Maggie started putting out plates for all four of us.
    “Aunt Maggie, you don’t have to feed us,” I said.
    “Yes, I do. You’ve been through a shock, losing little Butch. A little bit of my fried chicken couldn’t hurt.”
    I suppose it couldn’t, and one of her giant fluffy biscuits accompanied by a glass of sweet tea might dull the pain, too.
    “Yeah! No frozen dinners tonight!” Zach cheered.
    “Zachary, please tell your great aunt that we don’t eat frozen dinners every night.”
    “We do, Aunt Maggie. It’s just awful.”
    “Zach!”
    Aunt Maggie placed her hands gently on Zach’s shoulders as he sat in his place at the table. “I happen to know, young man, your mother knows how to cook – so save your arguments for the judge. Did you call down to the station? Judd can put an APB out on Butch.”
    “No, not yet.”
    “That must be some kind of record for you. Who’d have thought you could have a crisis without Lieutenant Judd Kelsey on the case?”
    “Yeah, I know,” I said, “but he’s seemed a bit