Free Bite the Biscuit (A Barkery & Biscuits Mystery) by Linda O. Johnston

I said. They’d probably seen me and decided to take the opportunity to silently harass me. Maybe make me so nervous that I’d run right over to them and confess.
    Not.
    “But honey,” Irma began.
    “It’s okay. Really. I’m pretty much finished, and I have to head back to my shops for a while before going to my other job.”
    “You’re still working as a vet tech too.” Joe didn’t make it a question, since he knew the answer. “You’re really something, Carrie.”
    Yeah. Something. A new business owner, a veterinary technician—and a murder suspect.
    I waved Kit over and requested my check. The Joes had offered to let me eat free, especially now when I was starting a new venture, but I insisted that I’d continue to pay my own way.
    “Believe me,” I told them both quietly. “If I hadn’t been finished, I wouldn’t be leaving now. I wouldn’t let them scare me, honest.” I began to stand, and Biscuit immediately rose to her feet too and shook her curly golden fur. I patted her, then managed a small smile that I shot first to Irma, then Joe. “But if you happen to overhear any of your customers confessing to killing Myra, please let me know.”

SIX
    B ISCUIT AND I WALKED back to the Barkery and went inside. Judy was there but no customers were. “Everything okay here?” I asked.
    She gave me a rundown of who’d stopped in. Fortunately, it didn’t include any cops, or at least none she’d identified. Instead, it sounded mostly like a bunch of Knobcone Heights residents who hadn’t been at the party yesterday and came to scope out the new section of the store and buy some of our products.
    Dinah came in and said that nearly the same had held true for Icing. We’d had a lot of foot traffic, although the place hadn’t gotten especially crowded at any time.
    “Great. Let’s see how we do for the next hour before I head to the vet clinic,” I said.
    The day continued pretty much as Judy had described and Dinah had seconded. There was a nearly steady flow of customers, not overwhelming but definitely encouraging.
    I—we—might really make a go at this new venture, I thought. Of course it was still the weekend, but even so …
    I felt pretty jazzed by the time I had to leave for the veterinary hospital. Especially since Dinah and Judy appeared to be getting along okay today.
    Because I owed the clinic a lot and always wanted the best for its patients, I loaded a sack with dog treats. I’d leave them with the clinic’s greeters to pass out in the reception area to dogs who’d been cleared to nibble on wholesome snacks. I didn’t have anything prepared for dogs with particular dietary issues, since I’d only do that if I was made aware of a pet with special needs.
    Then I opened Biscuit’s crate door and clipped her leash to her collar. She’d accompany me there. The Knobcone Veterinary Clinic also had a doggy daycare facility, so I’d always been able to bring my dog to work after I’d adopted her. Biscuit had been an injured stray, brought in as a puppy two years ago. I’d fallen in love with her as I’d helped her heal, and, after futilely attempting to find her careless prior owner, I delightedly adopted her as soon as she was well enough to leave the clinic.
    The doggy daycare part was separate enough from the rest of the hospital that I didn’t worry about any of the patients’ health issues affecting Biscuit, or else I’d have found someplace else to care for my best friend when I couldn’t be there for her. She’d gone through enough trauma as a pup. She didn’t need any more now.
    The walk to the clinic wasn’t far. It was located close enough to the town center to be convenient for the area’s most privileged families, just a block behind the town square. Mountaintop Rescue was a block beyond that, so I particularly liked this neighborhood.
    The veterinary hospital had been designed to be as stylish as a lot of the places in Knobcone. Like some of the mansions owned by