Read Online Silent Night: A Raine Stockton Dog Mystery by Donna Ball - Free Book Online

was under stress. I could hear the crackle of police radios in the background.   “Still in town, why?”
    “Listen, can you meet me at…” I could picture him consulting his notebook, “the entrance of the Heavenly Homes trailer park?  I need you to go with me on a compassionate call.”
    I blew out a breath.  Since the Hanover County Sheriff’s Department had lost its only female deputy–due to the fact that she preferred sleeping with my husband over working with him—those informal duties that were deemed to require a woman’s touch had fallen to whomever Buck could snare.  These usually involved female prisoners or minor children who, in Buck’s opinion, would be put at ease by the presence of a woman.  And to be fair, he did usually try to find someone who was at least on the county payroll—someone from DFACS or the Health Department, or occasionally even my Aunt Mart, who, as the wife of the retired sheriff, at least had plenty of experience. 
    On the other hand, part of my therapy dog work was as a volunteer crisis counselor, which usually meant showing up with my dog and staying quiet while traumatized children or victims of violent crime clung to Cisco and tried to believe in a world that would one day be normal again.  Accompanying an officer to inform the family of a loved one’s death was not exactly within the scope of my duties, but it wasn’t entirely outside them either.
    “I tried Peggy but she’s on her way to the hospital to fill out the paperwork on that abandoned baby and everybody else is either still at the parade or out Christmas shopping,” Buck went on.  Peggy Miller was Hanover County’s only licensed social worker, and she ran the Department of Family and Children’s Services with a staff of four overworked and underpaid clerks.  I could see where this was headed.  “I’ve got to go tell a minor child that her daddy is dead and remove her from the home.  It sure would be a lot easier on her if it wasn’t a couple of policemen with guns she saw when she opened the door.”
    I groaned out loud, rubbing my forehead.  Miles speared another piece of pie.   I said, “Who is it?”
    “The victim’s Earl Lewis.  The daughter’s name is Ashleigh.  Thirteen or fourteen, I think.  Far as I can tell, no other relatives in the state.  The mother died four or five years ago.”
    “I don’t know them.”
    “No reason you should.  He wasn’t exactly what you’d call an outstanding citizen.  That poor kid couldn’t have had much of a home life, but I guess it was better than no home life at all.”
    Now you know why everyone likes Buck.  He genuinely cares about other people.  He knows how to put himself in their place.  And when he says things like that, he puts me in my place too.
    I sighed. “Okay.  I’ll stop by and pick up Cisco.  It’s out Highway 16, isn’t it?  Past the old cannery?”
    “Yeah, just pull up beside the entrance sign, I’ll lead you in.”
    I watched Miles eat the last bite of pie.  “So what happened?  Traffic accident?” 
    Buck hesitated just a moment.  “Murder,” he said.  “He was stabbed in the throat.”
     
     
     
    I didn’t spend a lot of time saying goodbye to Miles or to his ever-so-charming daughter.  That was probably rude of me.  And I’m really not certain what it says about me when I was relieved to trade the warm diner and coffee with an attractive man to rush to the aid of my ex-husband at a crime scene.  
    My house was on the way to the Heavenly Homes trailer park, and all three dogs came scrabbling to the front door when I pulled up—despite the fact that two of them were supposed to be securely crated behind a closed door.  As I have told my students repeatedly, it’s pointless to correct a dog for undesirable behavior after the fact, so I pretended not to notice that Mischief and Magic had once again let themselves out of their crates without permission.  I turned all three dogs out into