Bushwhacked by Emily James

Author:Emily James [James, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Cozy, Crime, Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Thriller, Women Sleuths
ISBN: 9781988480008
Publisher: Stronghold Books
Published: 2016-11-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Russ must have noticed my silence on the drive home, but he didn’t push. I brought the puppy to bed with me and cried myself to sleep. She smelled a little musty, but I could fix that with a bath, and the way she rested her head on my arm put a balm on my stinging heart. Even though I knew I’d done the right thing, it didn’t make it hurt any less.

Russ picked me up the next morning. I had a feeling he noticed my red nose and swollen eyes, but he stayed quiet about it in an Uncle Stan-like waiting-me-out way. Either that or female emotions made him uncomfortable. I didn’t know Russ well enough yet to be sure which it was.

He dropped me at Quantum Mechanics for my car, and I drove on to the shelter by myself. The sky hunkered low to the ground, a misty grey. Snowflakes wove their way down.

I parked in front of the shelter next to a maroon SUV.

Craig’s SUV.

I thunked my head back against the headrest. Forgetting that I wasn’t supposed to be at the shelter with Craig alone started my day off only marginally better than yesterday ended. There was only one thing I could do.

I called Erik. The phone rang three times, and I was trying to decide whether to wait in my car until I could reach him or go inside anyway when he picked up.

“How did it go with Craig last night? I’m sitting outside the shelter, his car’s here, and I’m not sure if I should go in.”

“I thought you said you were the only one scheduled this morning.”

He was right. Craig wasn’t supposed to be in until noon. “That’s what I thought, too.” I checked the puppy in my backseat. She whimpered and squirmed against her safety harness. I’d been too upset last night to grab her any food, so she hadn’t had breakfast yet. “What do I do? I have a hungry puppy in my backseat.”

“I’m not even going to ask why there’s a puppy in your car.” A pause like Erik switched the phone to his other ear. “Go on in, but stay on the line with me. Craig told me the same story he told you. Swore he didn’t have anything to do with Paul’s death, but he didn’t care for him, either.”

I flinched. That had to be hard for Erik to hear when he was missing his friend. “Do you think he killed Paul?”

“He’s our best suspect right now.”

I propped the phone between my ear and shoulder and helped the puppy from the car. “But you don’t think I’m in danger anymore?”

“Not now that we’ve talked to him. If anything happened to you now, he’d be the obvious suspect.”

“I appreciate you staying on the phone with me nonetheless since he wasn’t supposed to be here yet.” I tugged the shelter door open. At least Craig left it unlocked for me. “What’ll happen with his job?” I kept my voice low in case Craig was working near the front.

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