The Puppy Present by Kelsey Browning

Author:Kelsey Browning [Browning, Kelsey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steele Ridge Publishing

5

As Shep had expected, the trail went dead at the sidewalk edging the perimeter of the park. No more foliage meant no more flattened grass. “She was probably put in a car.”

“I just don’t understand this,” Joss said, turning a circle. “Whoever has Charley took her or lured her from backstage, then brought her to the park, then left. Why bring her to the park at all?”

“Maybe she ran and they had to chase her?”

“Oh.” Joss’s eyes brightened. “There’s an idea. And if a man was running through the concert crowd, surely someone saw him, right? Wouldn’t it seem strange for a man to be running at an event like that?”

She had a good point, but the concert had been over for at least an hour now. Everyone would’ve gone home. Then he remembered that the Blackwells were also looking for Charley. Maybe they’d found something. Shep didn’t much care for talking on the phone, but he dialed Zeke’s number.

He answered with “Blackwell Asset Recovery.”

“This is Harris Sheppard Kingston.”

Zeke chuckled. “I know who you are, Shep.”

“We are still looking for Charley.”

“I know, man. I know. We asked everyone who hung around after Joss’s concert, but no one has seen Charley. Sorry to say, they were too busy watching your girlfriend on stage.”

Shep would not tell Joss that she’d distracted people from noticing Charley. It would make her feel even more responsible than she already did. “We think someone took her and that they were at Barron’s Park.”

“Why would someone do that? A doggie playdate?”

“No, we think Charley ran and the person had to chase her.”

Joss went on tiptoes and said loudly so Zeke would hear, “There’s nothing she loves more than a good bout of catch Charley. If someone was running behind her, she would have made it into a merry game.”

By the volume of Zeke’s voice, he’d angled the phone away from his mouth. “Hey, guys. Anyone mention someone who was running through the crowd? A person, not a dog.”

Shep couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, but the voices held an excited tone, and Zeke came back on the line. “Cruz says some folks were grumbling about a dude in a Santa suit lumbering through everyone.”

He hung up on Zeke and dialed his sister. “You told me a man took Charley.”

“I said Kyra followed a Santa with a black dog.”

“No, you did not.”

“Shep, I… Well, damn.” Maggie sighed. “I’m sorry. We’ve had so much chaos that I might have omitted that detail. How did you—”

“The Blackwells. I have to go.” Shep disconnected and let the information filter through his brain.

Santa. Santa… His cousin Jonah had been dressed as Santa in the parade tonight. But why would he have been running through the crowd? Jonah was rich and had every damn thing a man could want.

Except no one but Shep and Joss had a Charley. “It’s Jonah,” he told Joss. “Jonah took Charley.”

“What? Did Zeke or Maggie tell you that?”

“Zeke said Santa was running around at the concert. You saw Jonah riding on the fire engine during the parade.

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