Free Hounds Abound by Linda O. Johnston

care for them. The prior situations I’d been involved in where people had been murdered in my vicinity also gave me experience in dealing with this kind of situation.
    But I was as uneasy as if I was a suspect.
    Maybe people who dealt with murders all the time never got used to them. I intended not to find out any more than I already had.
    This time, the cops would surely find the perpetrator, and soon. The LAPD had a good crime-solving record. My assisting by directing them to the right suspect twice wasprobably a fluke. Well, based on intelligent analysis, but still …
    As I returned to the parking lot area, I considered what to do for the next half hour till Carlie arrived. If anything was different from the way it had been before I made my call, I couldn’t tell—except that Miles’s body had been removed by the coroner’s office. Matt was still near Miles’s parked car, talking to some guys in suits, including Detective Garciana. They were all probably trading information. Matt was, after all, an officer of the law, but the laws he was in charge of enforcing involved animals more than people.
    I didn’t see Bella but figured she was inside her house being interrogated about her deteriorated relationship with Miles, and whether she had killed him.
    I hoped she, too, watched cop shows—enough to know not to answer incriminating questions without a lawyer present.
    For now, I decided to let the cops who were near the entry to the back part of the property know that a vet would soon be arriving to make sure that any animal here that needed attention would be cared for. Carlie could do that, of course, if necessary—even if that wasn’t her real reason for coming.
    Then, I would interrupt the official conclave among Matt, Garciana, and the others. As I drew near, I saw Matt scowl in my direction. Apparently he didn’t want me to butt in.
    I pondered a few seconds, then decided to trust him. Since he wasn’t part of LAPD, he wasn’t likely to be included in anything too confidential. Whatever they lethim in on should, therefore, be something he could impart to me. I could then let Bella’s lawyer know.
    For the moment, I had nothing to do. I hated to feel as if I was extraneous, with no way to help.
    Time for me to go visit some special-needs pets.
    I had to show my HotRescues ID to a couple of uniformed cops, and explain that Detective Garciana knew me and I was there to look in on the animals. After a quick phone call or two, presumably to Garciana, I had no trouble going into the rear part of the main building, into the area where pets with disabilities were housed. I’d check on them first, then head for the other end of the building to look in on the senior dogs.
    About a week had passed since my first visit. Unlike with HotRescues, where we tried hard not to keep residents any longer than it took to find them wonderful new homes, these were almost the same animals that had been around when I was last here. A couple seemed unfamiliar and had possibly been added since then, but I recognized the three-legged pup I had seen before, as well as the deaf one, the blind cat and the one with spinal curvature.
    I especially recalled the Basset hound mix who had captured my attention and sympathy most during my earlier visit, the dog who had no use of his back legs. I checked the slip at his entry gate to confirm that I remembered his name correctly: Nifty. Most of the other dogs were barking as I entered, and on seeing me they aimed their irritated comments at me. Not Nifty. He just sat and watched me with interest, as if I was the one inside an enclosure waitingfor attention and he had to decide whether I was worthy of his giving me any.
    Ignoring the others’ barks, I opened Nifty’s front gate and slid inside. I noted the shelf of cloth and paper towels and plastic bags above him and the fact he had soiled the area behind him. I did a quick cleaning job and noted that he had moved away soon enough not to dirty