Read Online Rose Hill by Pamela Grandstaff - Free Book Online Page A

have figured it was Theo who’d done it, and could have pressed charges.”
    “Maybe,” Drew said. “If he just stole the dog and didn’t destroy the clinic I probably wouldn’t have minded very much. It would be an awful lot of trouble to go to for a stray that would have food, water, and shelter at Theo’s.”
    “You have a very elastic moral fiber,” Scott said.
    “I’ve treated so many victims of animal abuse,” Drew said. “I may not have approved of his breeding practices, but compared to the lives most dogs lead, Theo’s dogs have it made.”
    “Will you be able to make it without Theo’s monthly fees?” Scott asked him as he stood to leave.
    “We’ll see,” Drew said. “I may have to move into the office.”
    “It would be a distinct improvement over this,” Scott said, not bothering to hide his look of pity.
    “There’s not a lot to choose from in this town that isn’t student housing, and my late night partying days are way behind me.”
    Scott agreed, but made no suggestions, even though he knew of a couple available places. It wasn’t that there weren’t any, it’s just that arrangements were usually made among Rose Hill families, and rarely accommodated outsiders.
    Scott said goodbye, got in his SUV, and then turned around in what used to be Maggie’s driveway next door. The man who plowed the narrow gravel road still plowed that driveway as well, even though there was no house. It was now just a handy place to turn around, an empty lot covered in snow.
     
     
    Scott was dead tired, but he wanted to see Maggie. When he got to the bookstore he found her helping a student find textbooks using the young woman’s class schedule. As soon as she had the stack of heavy books piled on the counter, she turned the customer over to a clerk and led Scott back to her office.
    “I thought classes had already started,” Scott said.
    “They have,” Maggie replied. “She’s a late registration transfer.”
    “Has it been a good semester so far?”
    She shrugged and Scott thought she wouldn’t admit it if it was. When it came to business, Maggie took after her mother, a savvy businessperson descended from a long line of tight-lipped, frugal Scottish tradesmen.
    He followed Maggie into her office and closed the door behind them. She sat at her desk and, after removing a stack of books lodged on the seat, Scott sat on the chair next to it. The computer took up half her workspace, and a stack of trade magazines and publisher’s catalogs covered the other half. There was an in-box filled to the brim with what looked like packing slips and invoices, and the glass of the window into the bookstore was covered in yellow sticky notes vying for her attention.
    “You look busy,” he said.
    “I am,” she said. “In between everything else I’m expected to do, I still have a business to run.”
    “Would you rather I didn’t take up your time talking about the case?”
    “Of course not,” she said, and gave him her full attention.
    “Well, first of all I need to ask whether you saw anything unusual last night when you walked down to the station.”
    “I’ve been thinking about that. I did notice Theo’s Hummer parked in front of the Thorn, but it often is, so I didn’t think it was unusual. The fog was so thick I could barely see across the street. Evidently there was a big party in Mitchell’s ex-girlfriend’s building, which may be why no one heard Theo breaking into the vet’s office.”
    “What are the scanner grannies saying?”
    Maggie told him what Hannah found out about Gladys Davis turning off her hearing aids because of the party noise. He made a note of it. She also told him the vicious gossip going around about Mitchell, and he shook his head.
    “Tell him to let me know if anyone gives him any crap. I won’t tolerate it.”
    Scott got her caught up on all he had done since he saw her last, and although he stayed on the subject, internally he was swooning from her