Free Dog Gone Lies (Pacheco & Chino Mysteries Book 1) by Ted Clifton Page B

guide. Hell, he was already pissed off about something all the time, so what was the harm?”
    They pondered the complications of fishing guides in fishing tournaments for a minute. “Okay, I’ll enter the tournament—and I’m going to win!”
    Tyee didn’t look too convinced about the last part. “You’ve only caught one fish in your life—how are you going to win?”
    “I’m going to use old Indian wisdom and cheat.”
    “White man very wise.”
    From this point on, most of their attention went to drinking beer.

Saturday
    Ray woke up a little groggy. He decided he’d probably had a couple of beers too many the night before—but he’d sure had a good time. He enjoyed Big Jack and Tyee’s company in a way he hadn’t experienced in a long time. He got up slowly and let Happy out for his morning activities, then headed toward the kitchen and coffee.
    Ray fixed a cup of instant coffee and decided to get dressed, a fairly simple process for Ray since he wore basically the same thing every day. He washed his clothes often, it was just that everything he had looked the same. This wasn’t an issue for him, and so far nobody else had mentioned it. While he was showering, Ray decided he would head into town and treat himself to breakfast at the Lone Post, very much aware that Sue would be working that morning.
    After dressing, he exited the bedroom and realized there was no sound at all in the cabin—Happy hadn’t returned. He felt a sudden fear. Happy wasn’t used to all the things he might encounter around the cabin. Each time Ray let him out he felt concerned. He started out the door to see if he could find Happy, when the dog appeared on the porch of his own accord. Ray noticed that as time had gone by, Happy had become a little more disheveled than when he’d first arrived. He felt bad that he wasn’t brushing him as much as he should, but it was reality: the days of getting show dog treatment were over. He gave the dog a good rub, went back in the cabin to get his jacket, and then locked the door. As he was turning to leave, he noticed something. Reaching down, he realized it was a woman’s shoe.
    This felt like an ominous sign. It could belong to Ms. Jackson. Ray figured that Happy had found it somewhere and brought it home. What seemed odd to him was that Happy wasn’t acting like it was his owner’s shoe. Ray decided he was going to search the area immediately around his cabin that day and see what he could find. With that in mind, he headed toward Big Jack’s to see if Tyee might be there and to ask if he’d assist in the search.
    He and Happy got to Big Jack’s quickly. It was apparent that Big Jack was having another good business day, which would put him in a foul mood for sure. Ray and Happy went around back and looked to see if Tyee’s boat was there, but it wasn’t. No boat, no Tyee. Ray decided they would head into T or C and have breakfast—he was starving.
    Ray parked in front of the café and made sure Happy was comfortable and had plenty of air. The Lone Post was also doing a brisk Saturday morning business, so there weren’t any tables or booths available, but there was a small counter and Ray took a stool. He’d barely sat down before Sue appeared.
    “Good morning, Ray.”
    “Good morning, Sue. Looks like you’re busy today.”
    “Yeah. Somebody said there was an article in the El Paso paper yesterday, and now we have a few more visitors than normal.”
    Ray placed his order with Sue, then went out front and got an El Paso paper from the box. He read the sports and glanced at the rest of the news. His breakfast was served and he enjoyed every bite.
    “Well, we didn’t have much time to talk today.” Sue was looking disappointed.
    “Sue, this may be an oddball question. I’m going to do some searching for a body that may be up around my cabin later on this afternoon and I was wondering if you’d like to help?”
    Sue laughed. “Well yeah, that’s an oddball