The Judge's Daughter (Raine Stockton Dog Mysteries Book 15) by Donna Ball

Author:Donna Ball [Ball, Donna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-09-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

I banged on the window of Casey’s van with both fists, shouting his name. Cisco, eager to do his part, put his paws on the van window and barked. When there was no answer, I cupped my hands around my eyes and peered in. Finding it empty, I spun around and marched to the house.

After the party, I’d had Miles drop me off at my house, telling him I planned to make a sandwich from the leftover ham Aunt Mart sent home and get a head start on my spring training class schedule. I’d see him in the morning. He looked at me sternly, not believing a word of it. “Don’t make me follow you,” he said.

“All right,” I returned impatiently, “I’m going to talk to Casey. I want to hear his side of it, don’t you? I’ll be back before dark.”

From the backseat, Melanie said plaintively, “Raine, hurry up. I’ve got to pee!”

Miles said, “Text me when you get there.”

I said, “I’ll text you before I leave.”

He said, “If I don’t hear from you before 7:00 I’m calling the sheriff.”

Melanie said urgently, “Raine!”

I opened the car door. “She has to pee,” I said.

“I have a tracker on your phone,” he called after me as I got out.

“I know!” I returned a dismissing wave and ran toward the house through the cold.

Naturally, there was no way Cisco would let me leave again without him, so that’s how we both ended up banging on Casey’s van window. By this time, it was past 4:00, twilight in the mountains, but there were no lights on inside the house as I mounted the porch and pushed open the door. “Casey!” I shouted. “Where are you?”

Cisco galloped ahead of me, skidding on the wood floors, as I made my way through the shadowed house. “Casey!”

I heard a muffled reply, and when I turned on the kitchen light, I saw the attic stairs were down in the hallway. Cisco stood at the bottom of them, watching with interest as a pair of sneakered feet appeared in the opening, then a pair of legs. Cisco barked and stepped back in surprise as Casey descended from the attic. “Hey, buddy,” he greeted Cisco. He skipped the last couple of steps and leapt to the floor, switching off the flashlight he held as he said, “What are you doing here? I thought you had a party today or something. There’s a bunch of boxes of Christmas decorations and stuff up there. You want me to bring them down?”

I glared at him, hands on hips. “Who are you?” I demanded.

He looked baffled. “What?”

I swung out my foot and kicked him hard in the ankle. He yelped and staggered back, reaching to clutch his leg. “Damn it, Raine! What was that for? That hurt!”

I looked into his angry eyes and said, “You don’t even exist before five years ago. You turn up here claiming to be Maude Braselton’s son and then conveniently destroy the only evidence you have of that.

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