Free Nothing To Sniff At (Animal Instincts Book 5) by Chloe Kendrick

last place in Onyx a few days ago, and I saw Barkley there. I petted him and called him by name. So I know you had him then. Care to explain?”
    His eyes rose to meet mine, and I could see some sort of passion in them. Whether it was hatred for me at that moment or anger at getting involved in a police matter I couldn’t be sure. However, I recognized strong feelings in him. For a moment, I thought he wasn’t going to answer at all, but finally he spoke. “You don’t have any proof of that.”
    “I took photos of him in your yard and emailed them to myself and the police. So yeah, I do have some proof.” While I wanted to shoot straight with him, at the same time, I wanted information, and I wanted it now. I was still standing on the front porch, the wind whipping around me, while he stood in the doorway of a heated home. I wasn’t going to play games until I froze.
    Again there was silence for a minute. “What if I did take the dog? I brought him back just fine. Nothing wrong with him.” He shrugged as if people did this every day.
    “The police are grateful for that, but they want to know why. This isn’t the prank of a group of teenagers. You bought a dog and swapped it for a police dog for a few days. Why?” I stomped my feet on the porch to keep my circulation in my toes flowing, but he didn’t take a hint. I still stood in the doorway.
    He gave me a crooked grin of unaligned teeth. “Easiest reason in the world. Someone paid me to do it. They gave me the money to buy the dog. They told me where the dog would be at a particular time. All I had to do was switch the dogs for five days. I got information on how to switch them back. Then I could keep the Beagle or sell him. Who knew that these dogs barked so much? It’s constant.” He rolled his eyes as the dog barked again as to prove his point. Obviously he knew nothing about Beagles.
    Everyone knows that Beagles bark, I thought, but I kept that to myself. “Who is the ‘they’ you’re talking about? I need a name.”
    I heard a squeal at the corner. I turned to look as a car came speeding down the road. The passenger window was down. My mind registered that it had to be freezing in the car, before I knew why they had the window down. A weapon protruded out of the window and aimed at us. As soon as the thought hit me, I shouted, “Down!” I grabbed at Troxel’s sleeve and pulled, but he didn’t budge. I hit the porch hard, and the landing forced the air from my lungs. I wheezed on the ground as shots whirred over my head. A few made a splintering noise as they hit the doorframe, but others did not. The gun had to be automatic, as the sounds came as quickly as drum beats over my head.
    The car kept moving down the street, and the scene was over – except for the consequences. Jackson Troxel hit the ground next to me, but not because his reflexes were slow. He was dead.

Chapter 6
     
    The next two hours were a blur. I’d called Sheila from my cell phone as I continued to lay on the porch floor. I was scared that the vehicle would come around again to see if I had been taken care of as well. I had a decent description for the car. It was an older model Buick LeSabre, painted black. My grandparents had owned a similar car, though in a less ominous color. I hadn’t really seen the driver, but I had the first two digits of the license plate AK, which seemed appropriate for a car with an automatic weapon.
    Multiple police cars arrived all at once.  The first responders were there and began to work over Jackson Troxel. I could have told them that it was a waste of time. He hadn’t moved since he’d hit the floor. I’d only shifted enough on the porch so that I wouldn’t be in the way of the steady stream of blood that was coming out of him.
    The use of a drive-by as a MO struck me as something that might be used by a drug dealer. If the people who hired Troxel had wanted Barkley gone for his drug sniffing skills, then this might fit in well with