Read Online Let Loose by Rae Davies - Free Book Online Page B

both turned to me. “Dogs?”
Phyllis beamed and Betty shook her head.
    I walked to the closest wall and rapped my
head against it.
    I kept smacking my head against the hard
plaster until one of the firemen grabbed me by the shoulders and
slowly pulled me away.
    Betty took one look at my face and marched to
the phone to call in reinforcements, otherwise known as Rhonda.
    Luckily, the firemen left before she arrived.
I had never seen my man-crazy best friend in a room with six
strapping examples of masculinity and herodom, but I was fairly
certain it wouldn’t have been pretty. Or productive.
    But with them gone, she was a godsend. She
lined up the Mountain Scouts while I went to get the dogs.
    My Jeep had seen better days, but the seats
were luckily still folded flat and thus, I assumed, intact, and
only Zef seemed to have suffered any visible signs of what might
have caused the fireman’s concern, and that was just a small,
somewhat bloody puncture in one ear.
    I held him back while Betty came forward to
take the others off my hands. By this point, Rhonda had the girls
bundled up and ready to walk the dogs to a nearby empty store where
Rhonda assured me there would be plenty of space for kids and dogs,
minus Zef, to do what kids and dogs do without causing lasting
damage to themselves, others, or my merchandise.
    With them gone, I collapsed onto my horsehair
love seat. Something wet dripped onto my hand. The wound in Zef’s
ear had reopened.
    Great. Just great.
    I roused myself to find the first aid kit I
thought I’d left in the bathroom.
    Phyllis called out, stopping me. “I wouldn’t
go in there.”
    I pursed my lips and weighed the
responsibility of being a business owner and knowing exactly how
bad the damage was with the bliss of ignorance.
    Phyllis held out a roll of paper towels.
    Choosing bliss, I took it. After blotting at
the drips, I pressed the paper to Zef’s ear and waited for the
bleeding to stop.
    Phyllis crossed her arms over her chest and
watched me with clear disapproval. “If the girls don’t get to sell
their cookies, the shop will have to buy them.”
    No, “Sorry I almost blew up your store.” No,
“Sorry, you got stuck with eight dogs.” Not even a, “By the way I
ran an ad I didn’t tell you about in today’s paper.”
    I squeezed Zef’s ear a little harder than I’d
intended. He yelped and gave me an accusing stare.
    I sighed and dropped onto the love seat. “Red
is dead.”
    “Red Benson?” Ethel Monroe stepped out of my
office. Her cane tapped on the floor as she walked closer. “I just
talked to him a few nights ago. He was all excited about his
fund-raiser.”
    I’d forgotten that Betty had said Ethel was
here waiting for me to take her... somewhere. I’d also forgotten
about the voice I’d heard coming from my office when I first
arrived.
    “Fund-raiser?” Phyllis prompted, switching
from bullying business “partner” to Southern belle in one tap of
Ethel’s cane.
    “Red was the head of the Silver Sledders.
They had the fund-raiser, where Betty won the poster contest,” I
replied.
    “Betty won?” Ethel’s baby doll lips curved
and her eyes sparkled. “I’m glad to hear it.”
    Phyllis looked less impressed. “Yes, well,
that’s another thing. Betty ordered—”
    Ethel hobbled forward and motioned for me to
make room for her on the seat. “What happened to Red?”
    Her eyes were warm and soft, and suddenly the
impact of everything I’d been through that day hit me. My shoulders
collapsed and I swallowed hard. “Someone shot him. I found him when
I went to return his dogs.” I explained then how I had found the
dogs running down the road and had to return them.
    Ethel patted my hand. “Of course, you did.
Any loving person would.”
    Her praise made me feel a little better. I
shot a look at Phyllis. Her expression was blank, which was an
improvement over the perpetual disapproval I’d endured lately. I
turned back to Ethel and kept talking.
    When