Read Online Nothing to Fear But Ferrets by Linda O. Johnston - Free Book Online

eat,” I replied, tearing my stare from his big and beautiful bod.
    For an instant, I thought of Chad and how good-looking he’d been. What a waste—even if he hadn’t been the great guy my initial impression suggested.
    Jeff had brought in Peruvian takeout, some lomo saltado sautéed beef for him, and pescado sudado, steamed fillet of fish, for me. Good stuff, and filling, with aromas obviously enticing to our respective imploring canines.
    But unlike Lexie and Odin—whom we made settle for simple dog food despite their exceptional begging efforts—I hadn’t a huge appetite as I told Jeff about Lexie’s earlier excited behavior, leading to the discovery of Chad’s unenviable end.
    “Ferrets?” he said after swallowing a chunk of bread. “Chewed on a corpse?”
    “Or converted a living person into a dead one,” I replied.
    “Is that in their nature?”
    “Doubtful, but . . . have you ever read ‘Sredni Vashtar’?”
    Unsurprisingly, he hadn’t, so I described the century-old story that had been circulating through my synapses since I’d discovered Chad Chatsworth with the ferrets in my den.
    “And the ferrets killed the kid’s guardian?” Jeff said as I finished, his dusty blond brows dipped dubiously.
    “That’s the implication.”
    “We’ll see.”
    I wondered for a minute if he intended to find a few ferrets and test their fondness for human flesh—not an easy task in a state that turned ferrets into fugitives.
    Instead, he headed for the Internet, used some of the most-sought-after search engines, and spent an hour checking out ferrets on some websites I’d visited before and many I hadn’t.
    We learned that ferrets are in a classification of mammals known as mustelids, along with weasels, wolverines, badgers, polecats, and similar sorts.
    Like their cousin skunks, they have simply awful smells unless their scent glands are removed, which is often done when they are pets.
    Fortunately, the ferrets Charlotte and Yul had brought into my house had apparently been deskunked, since I hadn’t smelled anything putrid the first times I’d seen them. And the last time, what I’d smelled had most likely been human corpse.
    Speaking of which, we found nothing at all that suggested that ferrets are lethal to anything but small animals such as rabbits and birds, including some endangered species of the latter—which I’d already learned was what rendered ferrets unwelcome in California. But the long, furry, mostly masked-looking little buggers are definitely adorable.
    And are not reputed to be homicidal.
    Eventually, we got our fill of finding out about ferrets. Especially when, sitting beside him, I rested my chin on Jeff ’s shoulder. He turned, I turned, our lips locked and . . .
    Well, you can guess what we did for the remainder of the evening.
     
THE NEXT DAY, Tuesday, I got up later than I should have—I was distracted from getting dressed upon awakening in Jeff ’s bed—and kissed him goodbye. Lexie and I practically flew out the door toward my pet-sitting rounds.
    I’d be more prompt next week, I promised myself, when I’d wake up only with Odin and Lexie around. Jeff would be gone on business.
    The early routine went well, despite a couple of disgruntled housebroken hounds all but attacking to get outside to do what they’d been waiting for.
    Late morning snuck up on me all too soon. I’d picked up a new client a couple of weeks before—a cute terrier mix named Widget. Widget’s temperament was of the manic kind, which was why I’d been hired to step in a few afternoons a week to give him a midday walk. Better yet, a run, to burn off his excess energy. Heck, the ten-month-old pup was all excess energy. And unfortunately, the word training had eluded his owner’s vocabulary, so Widget bounced all over the place even on a leash.
    That meant leaving Lexie at home or dropping her at Darryl’s while I dug in for a little Widget discipline. That day, she was already along for the