Read Online Ruff Way to Go by Leslie O'Kane - Free Book Online

worse, I ran into someone who apparently makes this alley his home. He
says he’ll sell me the dog for twenty dollars.”
    “Hmm. Well,
if it turns out the dog is Shogun, I’ll give him the money.”
    “That’s
generous of you, except we might get knifed in the process.” I gestured at our
surroundings, deserted except for the cars that were streaming past on the
adjoining street. “This isn’t exactly a safe house for business dealings.”
    “True.” He
held out his keys to me. “The car is parked a block and a half from here, just
off of Fifth Avenue. Why don’t you go and wait for me there? I’ll bring the
dog, if the guy comes back with him.”
    This was an
extremely magnanimous suggestion on his part, as Russell has a substantial fear
of dogs.
    “No,
Russell. We either both wait or we both leave. I’m not going to get you into a
potentially dangerous situation and then wait demurely in your car to see if
you come through it safely.”
    “Then we’ll
wait here. Otherwise we’ll probably never know for sure if this is the dog you’re
looking for or not.”
    My heartbeat
had returned to normal, and I felt safe with Russell, even in this setting. “Okay.”
I turned on Russell’s flashlight and trained the beam along the general area
the dog had been running. “I suspect he’ll come back with some stray dog
instead. Still, it’s worth twenty dollars to me to get a stray off the street
and safe at the animal shelter.” I grinned and joked, “Especially since it’s
your money.”
    There was a
puddle nearby, and fortunately, the dog had run directly through it. I circled
a wet paw print with my fingers. As far as I could recall, it was approximately
the size of the prints on Edith’s deck. This verified to me that a small
terrier could have left those prints, as could one of the puppies.
    Russell
watched me with a furrowed brow, but made no comment.
    We both
straightened at the sound of footfalls approaching up ahead. I felt Russell
stiffen at the frightening appearance of the man who’d grabbed me. He’d
returned, empty-handed. He sneered at Russell, then focused on me. “Okay. I got
the dog in a box for you, right around the corner. Got my twenty bucks?”
    “Give us the
dog and we’ll give you the money,” Russell said logically.
    The man
shook his head. “Naw. I ain’t gonna let you see the dog till I get paid for
him. If it ain’t him, you still owe me, and I got no guarantee your girlfriend
here will live up to her end of the deal. Give me the money up front or else no
dog.”
    Russell got
out his wallet. “Here’s a five. You’ll get the rest when you bring the dog.”
    He frowned,
stared at the bill in his hand then shoved it into a pocket. “Okay. Be right
back. Wait here.”
    The man took
a couple of casual steps then broke into a run.
    Russell
sighed, then looked at me. “Thought so. He hasn’t got the dog, and we just got
scammed. I just played along in the hopes that he’ll use the money to get
himself a decent meal.”
    More likely
he’d use it to buy booze, but I didn’t want to dampen Russell’s optimism. I
focused the beam at the wet tracks, growing fainter as they were farther away
from the puddle.
    Russell
said, “Let’s try to track the dog and see if it’s Shogun.”
    “Thanks. I’m
sure you’d rather we head to the restaurant, but I really do want to see if I
can locate this dog.”
    He grinned
and took my hand. “Actually, it doesn’t matter to me what we’re doing, so long
as I’m with you.”
    My cheeks
warmed, but not merely from embarrassment at Russell’s kind words. I’d had more
of a reaction to Russell’s simply holding my hand than I would have liked.
Certainly more than I would have admitted to him. I was still very unsure of
whether or not it made much sense for me to pursue a relationship with someone
who seemed to have so little in common with me. This vague sensation that my
hand somehow felt right in his wasn’t going to count for