Three Dogs, Two Murders, and a Cat: A Nicolette Briggs Mystery (Nicolette Briggs Mysteries Book 1) by Rodney Strong

Author:Rodney Strong [Strong, Rodney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LoreQuinn Publishing
Published: 2025-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Dominic had the car warming up when Nicolette slid into the passenger seat.

‘You’re going to pay for that later,’ he said.

‘She’ll get over it.’

‘If I know my niece, not for a long time.’

‘Just go.’

He eased away from the curb. ‘Want to tell me what’s going on?’

‘I don’t know. My neighbour called to say the dogs were going berserk. I could hear them from her place.’

‘I’m guessing that’s not normal.’

‘No, but Fig is new, so maybe she got spooked and set the other two off.’

‘But you don’t believe that.’

‘I don’t know,’ she repeated. What she did know was her hand was clamped to her right leg to prevent it jiggling up and down.

‘You didn’t have to come,’ she said.

‘No, but I took an oath.’

‘I didn’t know the police had an oath.’

‘Not when I became a cop. When I became a big brother.’

In the dim light she saw the grin on his face. A nervous laugh escaped her mouth, and her hand relaxed its death grip.

As they got closer to home, Dominic asked, ‘On a scale of one to ten, how certain are you we’re about to walk into something?’

She didn’t reply. She didn’t want to admit she might be overreacting. When it came to her dogs – and her family – she knew she didn’t always think rationally.

‘What I’m essentially asking is should I be calling for the Armed Offenders Squad or has one of the dog’s lost their favourite chew toy?’

‘I can say I don’t know again if it’ll make you feel better.’

‘I’m not asking what you know, I’m asking what you feel.’

She shifted her shoulders sideways so she could look at him clearly. ‘I thought cops worked with logic rather than instinct.’

‘Good cops work with whatever they need to solve a case.’

She watched him watching the road and forced her mind away from home. Dom had always been the logical one in the family, preferring facts to conjecture. Growing up, there wasn’t a problem he couldn’t solve by applying logic to it. On more than one occasion she’d teased him about being like a pointy-eared Vulcan, but it was said with affection, and because she knew it irritated him.

‘Thank you for coming with me,’ she said.

‘Any time.’

‘I’m sorry about you and Jamie. I liked her.’

‘And I loved her. But there you go.’

‘No AOS, but approach with caution.’

He risked a glance towards her before focussing back on the road.

‘They don’t bark. Not like that.’

‘Ever?’

‘Never. I think it’s the insecurity of having been abandoned. They don’t want to make a fuss in case they get dumped again.’

‘That’s not a nice way to live.’

‘It’s better than the alternative,’ she muttered.

‘Alright,’ was all he said.

When they were fifty metres from her driveway, Dominic slowed right down and turned off the headlights. Nicolette widened her eyes to help them adjust to the darkness outside the car. Streetlights were few along the road to her house. They turned into the driveway and she waited for the sensor security light to click on. When it didn’t, her anxiety ramped up.

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