A Rash Decision: An Amateur Sleuth Cozy Mystery with Animals by Emily James

Author:Emily James [James, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stronghold Books
Published: 2024-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

13

Idrove down the street to the parking lot for one of the walking trails Ryan and I used to take Cooper and Orion on. I wanted to call Whitney’s father right away, but I didn’t want to do it while sitting in Liam’s driveway, where he’d spend the whole time knowing what I was doing and wondering how it was going.

I dialed the number, my chest tight. Originally, I’d wanted to find out who killed Whitney to ease my own guilt at not listening to her potential cry for help. Now I had to do it for Liam. He was never going to heal without the closure of knowing who killed her.

And maybe it wasn’t my place or my responsibility. But it felt like it. It felt like walking away now would be akin to the people in the story of the Good Samaritan who passed by the badly injured man. Liam’s injuries weren’t physical, but they were as deep and serious—and much harder to heal.

“Hello?” a man’s voice answered.

My throat clogged, and I cleared it. “Is this Bernard Leonard? Father of Whitney Smythe?”

“That’s me.” There was already suspicion in his voice.

Did he think I was a reporter? Or, if he had hurt Whitney, he might be worried I was the police? Time to launch into my planned speech so he wouldn’t put his guard up any further.

“I’m Dr. Zoe Stephenson from the Arbor Veterinary Clinic and Arbor Animal Shelter. I’m so sorry for your loss, Mr. Leonard.”

“Why? Did you kill her?”

I flinched back even though we weren’t in the same room. Talk about a confrontational man. The desire to tell him there was no need to be a rude jerk flared up inside, but I doused it. If Zoe the Volcano erupted right now, I’d never get what I wanted.

“I’ve been caring for Whitney’s dog, Sandy. Whitney’s husband has decided he doesn’t want to keep him, and I’m contacting friends and relatives to see if they want Sandy before we place him up for adoption to someone else.”

A knot formed in my stomach. I shouldn’t be lying to him. No way was Liam ever giving up Sandy. But contacting friends or relatives to see if they wanted an orphaned pet was something Judith would have done. Did that make it only half a lie?

I was committed now. Maybe it was okay because I was trying to find Whitney’s killer. Lying was part of Ryan’s job, and I didn’t have a moral problem with it there, after all. Sometimes the police had to lie to criminals to stop them from hurting people.

Bernard snorted. “Not a chance. She never should have gotten that animal in the first place. Liam was always too soft on her.”

My teeth clenched. Growing up with Bernard as a father must have been horrible. Liam was too soft on her? From the little I’d seen and heard, Liam was what a husband should be. But apparently to Bernard, a good husband was a man who denied his wife things that were important to her and beat her.

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