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proven to be unerringly accurate, if often hard to interpret. So even though I pretended to be skeptical, I always listened.
    “Okay, I’ll bite,” I said. “What was she guilty about?”
    “I’m not sure,” Sonny answered. “You know how dogs are. They so often feel responsible for things that have nothing to do with them.”
    “Well, she seems fine now,” I said, watching as Cameo came over to the fence and made eye contact with Cisco, wagging her tail. Cisco immediately spun with excitement and flung his paws up on the fence. I suppressed a chuckle. “Cisco is wild about her. They played like old pals in the rescue run this afternoon.”
    “Oh, that’s good,” Sonny said. “The poor thing needs a friend now.”
    “By the way,” I said, “I took your advice and hired an assistant today.”
    “My goodness, you have had a busy day! Good for you. Who is it?”
    “No one you know. Just some stalker from the Internet. He’ll probably turn out to be a serial killer. He’s great with the dogs, though.”
    She chuckled. “Well, as long as you’ve got some help.”
    Pepper, who had been trying so valiantly to get Cisco’s attention all this time, gave it her best shot with a running dive and a nip on his shoulder. Cisco returned an annoyed snap and her ears went down; she tucked her tail and ran to the other side of the yard. Cisco leapt up on the fence again and barked at Cameo. I didn’t want anyone’s feelings to get hurt, so I decided a little judicious intervention was in order.
    “I’ve got to go, Sonny,” I said, standing. “Cisco is making an absolute fool of himself over Cameo. I’ve never seen him act like this before.”
    She laughed. “He’s in love.”
    I started down the steps. “If they weren’t both neutered, I’d be worried.”
    “Love is about more than sex, Raine,” she advised sagely.
    Once again I sighed. “Don’t I know it,” I said. “I’ll talk to you later, Sonny.”
     
     
    My last duty of the day was to feed all the boarders and turn them out into their individual outdoor runs while I washed their dishes and made sure their kennels were clean and sanitized for the night. All the kennels at Dog Daze have raised beds, but some of the boarders bring their own fluffy beds, blankets, or personal toys, which sometimes become the victims of accidents during the day. I tossed a few such misfortunes into the on-site laundry and went back to my office to close out the computer.
    I spent a fortune remodeling Dog Daze last year, and Miles, whose crew was in charge of construction, might have added a few items for which I was never billed—like the oversized industrial dishwasher that washed and sanitized all the dog dishes so they did not have to be done by hand—although I was never able to precisely nail him on it. The result was that Dog Daze is way more luxurious than my house, with air-conditioning and radiant heated floors throughout, piped in music, the aforementioned washer-drier, a kitchenette, two bathrooms—one with a shower so that I don’t have to run back to the house to clean up when a dog throws up on me or I slip in the mud during an agility class—and even a bunk room where I’d spent more than one night during the winter simply because it was warmer than my house. So I don’t really mind working long hours at Dog Daze, especially when I can take Cisco down with me and squeeze in a few extra minutes of agility practice between chores. Tonight, however, Cisco was interested in nothing but Cameo, who was still in the rescue run, and it was clear his heart was not in the practice. I left him flat on his belly with his nose pressed against the crack at the bottom of the door while I wound up the day’s business.
    According to the paperwork Crystal had given me on Cameo, her owner’s name was April Madison of Highlands, Virginia. I knew she would have half a dozen messages already from the microchip company and from Crystal, but I wanted to make sure my