Free 1 PAWsible Suspects by Chloe Kendrick Page A

Maybe I was cute after all.
    I walked outside and went back to my car. I took out a pad of paper and started writing down what I wanted to know. I had solved a few things. I knew who the murderer was, but I didn’t know a name yet. I only had a category. I wanted to tie this up with a bow as a present to the detective with the silver eyes.
     
    Finding out the name of the son of Ruby’s friend had taken me longer than I’d expected. Everyone had just called him the son of a friend as if no other name was needed. They didn’t know who the boy was and they didn’t know who the friend was. So it was difficult to track someone down like that.
    It took me the better part of four hours along with my mother’s help to find a name and phone number for the guy. I called as soon as I hung up with my mother, who had found a woman who knew someone who knew someone else. Old-fashioned women’s networks were never to be scoffed at.
    The son of Ruby’s friend was named Jimmy, and he answered the phone on the third ring. I was glad, because the explanation of what I wanted would have used all of his available voicemail space. He agreed to talk in person, and he even offered to come over so that he could visit with the dogs as well. It sounded good to me, since I wouldn’t have to leave again. I was feeling a bit weary of the world after my experiences at the abandoned house.
    He showed up about an hour later. I hadn’t asked where he lived, but everything is within easy driving distance in Toledo. It couldn’t have been much of an inconvenience for him.
    The dogs recognized him instantly. Della talked to him, while Perry wagged his tail so hard that I felt the breeze from it. He crouched down and played with them for a few minutes, nuzzling one and then the other. This guy was definitely a dog person.
    “So you heard about Ruby?” he asked when he finally stood up and looked at me. He was a younger guy, probably 19 or 20. He was thin in that high metabolism way, and he had dark brown hair and darker eyes that reminded me of Della’s eyes. He had an infectious smile that made me want to grin even after the day I’d had. No wonder Ruby liked him. He would be great working with pets.
    “I did. The police told me about it.” I thought again of what I’d seen at the house. It would take a while to replace those memories with something else. The gruesome fingernails had already haunted my thoughts.
    “I still can’t believe she’s gone,” he said, looking back to the dogs. I wondered if he would volunteer to take them now that she was dead or if Ruby’s will had provided for the dogs in the event of her death. I’d have to ask about that.
    “It’s hard to believe,” I replied, not wanting to say that my motives in helping out were less than altruistic.
    “So what exactly did you want to ask me about?” he said, facing me again.
    “Well, first, I was hoping to find out their routine, what they ate, what activities they did. You know. Things like that.”
    He flashed me a grin. “Aren’t you supposed to be that dog talker? Didn’t they tell you all that stuff?”
    I mentally rolled my eyes. This was a hard reputation to live down when everyone thought all the answers in the world were handed to you by the family pets. “Dogs aren’t specific like we are. Della will tell me that she wants to eat, but she won’t tell me what brand she eats or where I can get it. See what I mean.”
    He nodded, like he believed what I was saying. Good for him, I thought. A new generation of clients would be heading my way. “Yeah. Do you have some paper? I’ll write it all down for you. Ruby had very specific instructions for me when I stayed there.”
    I handed him a pad of legal paper, and he began to write things down. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to continue talking or let him think and write in peace, but since time was becoming more important for me, I decided to talk. He could shush me if he wanted to. “What types of