Free 1 PAWsible Suspects by Chloe Kendrick Page B

things did she have you do?”
    He continued to write for a minute and then stopped. “She walked them twice a day, morning and evening. Fed them 45 minutes after the walk each time. In the morning, they both got fish oil and another medication, but I forget what it’s called. It’s a powder of some sort.”
    I nodded. I’d actually heard worse instructions than this, so I was pleased. “What else?”
    “They had their own beds in the spare room, but normally when I slept there they slept on the sofa with me. They were never allowed out the front door. We always had to leave from the back, in case one of them got off the leash, they’d still be fenced in. Then we could go for a walk.”
    For those who think that pets aren’t canny, both dogs perked up their ears at the word “walk” and began jumping on Jimmy’s leg. They knew the word and what it meant.
    “What type of food did they eat?” I interrupted. I wanted to get to the information that I needed to know about Ruby’s house.
    “One of those holistic type dry foods. You’d have to check the house. No grain, no chicken. Only natural products. It was pretty expensive. Perry gets a little more than Della, because she’s a bit more compact.” He leaned down and scratched her behind the ears, while he mouthed “fat” in my direction.
    I nodded. I could easily see that she didn’t meet the criteria for a lean dog, but she was still cute as she leaned into the ear scratch. “It sounds like it would be best if I just went over and found the things I need. I hate to trouble you anymore, but could you write down where to find all of these things? I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get these things or if the police will want to bring them to me.”
    “Yeah, I was so shocked when I heard. I’d never have thought that Ruby would end up that way. Nice lady, loved her dogs. Very particular about things, but nice.” He looked a little sad for a moment, in the way that the young do about death and finality. I don’t think Jimmy had ever stared it in the face like I had.
    “Particular about other things besides the dogs?” I asked, my ears perking up. He’d brought up the topic I wanted to discuss, which was my good luck. It would look more natural this way and less forced.
    “Yeah, Ruby was supposed to be very moralistic about some things. The person who used to watch the dogs had taken a nickel out of some change on the coffee table, and she’d thrown him out of the house. She stayed home until she found someone else. Called him a thief and much worse.”
    “For a nickel? Did she put things where you couldn’t get to them? I think that would be safer. If she didn’t want her money touched, she could have put it away. You know, put the valuables in a room and lock the door?”
    He laughed. “Oh yeah. One of the bedrooms was strictly off limits to me. You’d have thought that the crown jewels were in there. She locked the door as she left, and she always checked the door when she returned. Sometimes she didn’t even wait until I was gone before she ran in and checked.”
    “Wow, that’s pretty intense. What was in there?”
    He shrugged at me. “Damned if I know. I never tried to bust down the door. The pay was great for a few days away from my parents’ place. It wasn’t worth the trouble to find out what was behind the door.”
    He gave me a rundown of the house, including the locked room, and what supplies I’d need for the dogs. Jimmy gave them another scratch behind the ears. Before he left, I got his contact information. He seemed like an ideal house-sitter in case I ever needed to be gone. 
    I wasted no time in calling Detective Green. I wanted to find out what was behind that door, but I needed to do it legally. She didn’t answer, so I left a message for her. In it, I just said that I wanted to gain entrance to the house to get the dogs’ supplies so they could stay with me indefinitely.
    I hung up and waited. I still only had a