Read Online Give the Dog a Bone by Leslie O'Kane - Free Book Online Page A

policeman stood. This officer, a slightly pudgy man, nodded in greeting to his fellow officers, then focused his gaze on Ken and said sternly, “Ken Culberson?”
    “Yes.”
    “Would you come with me, please?”
    “Am I under arrest?”
    “No, sir. We’d just like to ask you some questions at the station house. We’ve got an open case of grave desecration that we’re hoping you can help us resolve.”
    Ken straightened his shoulders and said indignantly, “I’d never let my dog desecrate on somebody’s grave!”
    All three police officers tried to cover their laughter. “No, Ken, he’s talking about grave robbing,” I explained. “You’re thinking of something slightly different.”
    “Grave robbing?” Ken repeated. He returned his attention to the policemen, who had quickly regained their composure, and said, “But Mary ain’t got a gravestone, so how was Maggie ’n’ me s’posed to know we was robbin’ her grave?”
    I winced. Predictably, the officers exchanged glances. The last to arrive placed his hand on Ken’s shoulder and said, “How ’bout telling me all about that on our way to the police station?”
    Ken grabbed his head, his eyes white with fear. He nodded. “Allie? You’ll see to it that my Maggie is taken care of while I’m gone, won’t you?”
    “Of course I will.” I grabbed a pen, scribbled my number on a corner of the top sheet of newspaper in the nearest stack, tore around my writing, and handed the fragment of paper to Ken. “Here’s my home phone number. But, Ken, get yourself a lawyer before you say another word.”
    He shut his mouth, gave me a single nod, then went out the door. Predictably, Maggie tried to bolt out the door with him and nearly succeeded in pulling me along. As the last officer started to shut the door behind him, I asked, “How long do you think this will take?”
    He shrugged. “Now that a
lawyer
’s going to be involved, I wouldn’t hold your breath.” He looked back at me, his surly demeanor softening a bit. “Best case, a couple of hours.”
    “And worst case?”
    “That’s going to depend on what he has to say.”

Chapter 5
    The moment the officer pulled Ken’s front door shut, Maggie scurried up the stacks of newspapers in front of the window. Hoping it would help her to feel at least slightly more in control, I released my grip on her leash. As the car bearing her owner drove from sight, Maggie let out a great howl that had some ten different tonal pitches within one long exhale of canine despair. The effect was halfway between a ghostly wail and the greatly amplified rumblings of an empty stomach.
    She raced to the kitchen to see if the back door was open, which I’d already slid shut. I followed her and took a seat at the table to demonstrate that I wasn’t on the verge of leaving her completely alone. After pacing and whining at the glass door, Maggie rushed to my seat at the kitchen table and tried to jump into my lap, which I prevented; cuddling her would only reinforce her behavior. When I bent down to pet her, she pulled away. She was so desperate to convince me to follow her to the door that she put too much body English into her turn and fell into a scrambling somersault.
    “Oh, my goodness,” I cried. “You poor thing. It must be so frightening to be separated from your owner for the first time. I’m so sorry, Maggie.” It struck me a moment later that I was doing exactly what I’d admonished Ken for doing earlier—treating her as though she were human—but then I decided that nowhere in the Great Book of Dog Psychologists was it written that we can’t talk to our patients. This was especially true when there were no witnesses.
    “Come, Maggie,” I said, rising and heading toward the living room. She was about to go there anyway, but this way I could reward her for responding to my command. She trotted toward me, but she appeared to not even see me. “Good dog!” I got on my knees and tried to throw an arm