The Iggy Chronicles, Volume 1 by Spencer Quinn

Author:Spencer Quinn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2013-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

More from this Series

Dog on It

Book 1

Thereby Hangs a Tail

Book 2

To Fetch a Thief

Book 3

The Dog Who Knew Too…

Book 4

A Fistful of Collars

Book 5

The Sound and the Furry

Book 6

Keep reading for a preview of

The Sound and the Furry

by

Spencer Quinn

ONE

One thing’s for sure,” the lawyer said, handing Bernie our check, “you earned every cent.”

Bernie tucked the check in—oh, no—the chest pocket of his Hawaiian shirt, just about his nicest Hawaiian shirt, with the hula dancers and the trombones, but that wasn’t the point. The point was we’d had chest pocket problems in the past, more than once. And possibly more than twice, but I wouldn’t know, since I don’t count past two. What I do know is that checks have a way of falling out of chest pockets.

“What’s he barking about?” the lawyer said.

Bernie glanced at me. “Just wants to get rolling,” he said. That wasn’t it at all: what I wanted was for Bernie to put that check in his front pants pocket where it would be safe. But then I realized that I did kind of want to get rolling. Wow! That was Bernie, knowing my own mind better than I did. And I knew his exactly the same way! Which is just one of the reasons why the Little Detective Agency is so successful, especially if you forget about the finances part. We’re partners. He’s Bernie Little. I’m Chet, pure and simple.

“You did a nice job, Bernie,” the lawyer said. “Those motel pics? Perfecto. Might have another case for you in a couple of weeks.”

“More divorce work?” Bernie said.

“That’s my beat.”

Bernie sighed. We hated divorce work, me and Bernie. None of the humans involved were ever at their best, or even close. Get me to tell you sometime about the Teitelbaum divorce and what Mrs. Teitelbaum did at the end, a nightmare except for the fact of that being the night I got my first taste of kosher chicken. There’s good in everything.

The lawyer had one of those human mouths where the corners turned down. You see that a lot, but not on Bernie: his mouth corners turn up. Now the lawyer’s mouth corners turned down some more.

“Aren’t you divorced yourself?” he said.

“So?” said Bernie. He has a way of saying “so” that makes him seem a little bigger, and Bernie’s a pretty big guy to begin with.

“Nothing,” the lawyer said. “Nothing at all. Just sayin’.”

Bernie gave him a long look. Then he reached for the check and jammed it into one of his front pants pockets. Life is full of surprises, sometimes not so easy to understand. I put this one behind me as fast as I could, my mind shutting down in a very pleasant way.

•••

We hopped into our ride, a real old Porsche painted different shades of red, but Bernie says I’m not good with red, so don’t take my word for it.

“That left a bad taste in my mouth,” Bernie said. “How about a little spin?”

What was this? Bernie had a bad taste in his mouth? I felt sorry for him.

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