Trick or Deadly Treat by Livia J. Washburn Read Free Book Online Page B

to be sure, though, the next day she called her son, Mike, who was a Parker County deputy sheriff, and asked him to check.
    He promised to do so, but then asked, “What are you mixed up in now, Mom?”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Phyllis said. “I’m not mixed up in anything.”
    â€œThen why ask about possible trouble at some vet clinic?”
    â€œIt’s the one where Sam took his new dog. I told you about that, remember?”
    â€œSure, but it doesn’t explain why you thought something might have happened there,” Mike said.
    Phyllis hesitated, then said, “I was there yesterday, and there was a man who was upset with the doctor about something. I felt bad about leaving.”
    â€œWell, you shouldn’t. The last thing you need to be doing is getting involved in a fistfight.”
    â€œI know, but I can’t help being curious.”
    â€œBeing curious has gotten you in trouble before,” Mike pointed out.
    â€œYes, and it’s gotten some people
out
of trouble who didn’t deserve to be there, too,” Phyllis responded.
    He knew perfectly well what she meant. She had cleared the names of several people wrongly accused of murder, and the real killers in those cases were now behind bars because of her curiosity and determination.
    Since Mike couldn’t argue with what she had just said, he told her, “I’ll see what I can find out. In the meantime, try to stay out of trouble.”
    â€œI’m your mother. Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?”
    â€œYou’d think so. I’ll call you back, Mom.”
    Mike hung up, and Phyllis said, “Hmph.” He was probably right, but he could have been more polite about it.
    With that taken care of, she went to her computer. Sam was in the backyard with Buck, Carolyn was in the kitchen, and Eve sat in one of the armchairs on the other side of the living room with her needlework basket in her lap. Eve had never been much of one for crafts, but she had taken it up more in recent months.
    Phyllis remembered the website she had seen on the door of the angry man’s pickup at the vet clinic the day before. She opened a new tab and entered it, and a moment later she was looking at the site for Woods’s Golden Retrievers.
    A large photo of a handsome golden retriever dominated the site’s home page. According to the graphic under the photo, the dog’s name was Texas Maximus, and he was an award-winning show dog who had brought home trophies from all over the country. He had even competed in the National Dog Show, the one that was on television every Thanksgiving after the parades. Phyllis figured she must have seen him, since they always watched the dog show. Well, she watched as much as she could while cooking. It had become a tradition in her house.
    There were other pages with more pictures of the award-winning Texas Maximus, along with other dogs that had come from the breeding operation run by Kyle Woods. As soon as Phyllis saw a picture of Woods, she knew he was the same man who had driven up to the barn at Dr. Baxter’s place while she and Carolyn were there.
    He didn’t look nearly as angry and threatening in these photos, of course. In fact, he wore a friendly smile on his face. The flannel shirt and baseball cap seemed to be his usual garb. He had them on in just about every picture. He was always with one of the dogs, either Texas Maximus or another golden retriever. Phyllis couldn’t really tell them apart, but she supposed an aficionado of the breed could.
    She clicked on Woods’s bio and found that he had been in the dog-breeding business for fifteen years and was widely respected as a breeder of golden retrievers. Texas Maximus was the best dog he’d ever had, but a number of others had won awards as well.
    Texas Maximus was also available for stud service, and when Phyllis checked out that page, she was surprised at the fees Woods charged. They