Free 1 PAWsible Suspects by Chloe Kendrick

noise as well, corroborating my theory. “Mr. Lindauer heard a shot that night. I don’t have to blame Della for being wrong when there are humans ready to back her up.”
    “The old neighbor? The guy next door? When did you talk to him?” The color went up in her cheeks.
    I told the story quickly. I left out a huge part of the story in telling her when I’d talked to him. I just mentioned that I’d gone back to the house, and he was there.
    “You know that could be considered witness tampering? Talking to people about potential evidence. How do we know that you didn’t pay him to tell that lame story after you realized you were going to be busted on the whole gun scenario? You could be making it impossible for us to ever get a conviction on this case if you keep telling people your theories and observations.”
    “I didn’t do that, and you know it. He heard a gunshot that evening.”
    She shrugged. “He’s old. He probably has a hearing aid. It’s not real proof.”
    “The woman across the street said so too, though she called it a backfire.” I crossed my arms over my chest. No one was going to get the better of me when I knew something like I knew this.
    She gave a wry laugh. “You just keep getting yourself in deeper and deeper. Now it’s two people that you’ve tampered with. Want to go for three? You don’t know when to stop.”
    I figured that the color was probably up in my cheeks too. I was mad, though a part of me did call this our “first fight.”
    “I don’t have to stop when I’m right. There was a scream, a gunshot, and then she was gone.”
    “You know what else is wrong? People don’t scream before they’re shot. They’re usually worried about pissing off the person with the gun. So they stay still. Why scream and make it worse for yourself – but why am I asking you that? You seem to want to make it very difficult on yourself.” She shook her head at me. I was guessing that I wasn’t looking very cute to her at the moment.
    She had a point though. Why would Ruby have screamed before the shot? Had the intruder been someone she recognized, or had the intruder hurt Perry before he’d hurt her? I tried to think about my reaction if someone hurt Bruno. I wouldn’t be worried about making noise or appeasing an intruder. I’d be angry and want revenge. I wonder if she’d been conked out, because she had been adamant in saving her pets. They’d have to knock me out cold to keep me from protecting Bruno and The Countess.
    Yet I still knew that Della had been scared stiff. She’d been hiding and shivering when I found her that morning. She’d heard a loud noise like a gunshot. That had been confirmed by two witnesses, even if Detective Green thought that I’d made that happen. I knew I hadn’t, and I knew that someone had shot a gun or made another loud noise that night. I was just stuck now with finding out who that was and what the noise had been.
    Green was staring at me again. “What is going on in that head of yours? Are you trying to come up with some way of blaming all this on that little dog?”
    “Wouldn’t dream of it. I was just thinking that I had a few more people to see before I announce the solution to what happened to Perry. I remember you saying that I’m not allowed to work on the murder case, now that it is murder, but a hurt dog is fair game for me.” My brain was suddenly popping out ideas. Seeing Ruby’s body had answered a few questions and brought up a few more. I needed to ask some questions before I’d be done though. None of my answers would be found from sparring with the police.
    “Listen Fitzpatrick, you’d better not get any more involved in this. You’re in too deep as it is. Someone already broke into your home to steal the dogs. Next it could be an attempt on your life. I wouldn’t want to see that – even with as much as you annoy me.” She tried giving me a small smile, but it looked forced. Still, I gave her points for trying.