Troublemaker by Linda Howard Read Free Book Online Page B

paws. Actually, it was more like a swat than a pat.
    â€œTime for a walk, princess?” She rubbed behind the silky ears, then stood. “Want to walk with us?” she asked Daina, who checked the time on her cell phone.
    â€œSure, why not? How far are you planning to walk?”
    â€œAbout half a mile.”
    â€œHalf a mile!” Her friend skidded to a halt, looking dismayed. “How long will that take?”
    Bo hid her amusement. She walked Tricks several times a day, so half a mile was nothing to her. To Daina, however, who thought walking from her car into the shop was all the effort she should expend—and who was wearing platform heels—half a mile likely seemed unreasonable.
    â€œFifteen, twenty minutes, depending on how much nosing around Tricks does.”
    â€œNo can do. Sorry. Get your trusty Breathalyzer and see if I’m okay to drive.”
    Bo would almost have guaranteed that she was, but in the unlikely event Daina had an accident, the town would be liable, so she paused to do exactly as requested. Tricks didn’t take kindly to the delay and swatted her several more times, then butted her leg.
    â€œAll right!” she said to the dog. “Hold your horses.” She checked the display and told Daina, “You’re good.” Another head butt knocked her leg sideways. “Okay, okay, I’m coming. You must really need to pee.”
    Daina left and Bo locked the door behind her, then took Tricks out the back way. Tricks immediately dropped her ball at Bo’s feet and took off running. Taking the hint, Bo threw the ball as hard as she could—which, after two years of training, was a decent distance. Thanks to having a dog who loved chasing a ball, she had nice throwing muscles. Tricks caught the ball on the first bounce and immediately paused, posing with her head lifted in a beauty-queen tilt, waiting for the praise she expected when she made a good catch. “Perfect! That’s a beautiful catch!” Bo called. With a wag of her tail, Tricks abandoned the pose and trotted back, joy in every line of her body. Despite Trick’s insistence that she needed to pee, Bo had to throw the ball three more times before the dog finally squatted and did her business.
    Bo dug her keys out of her pocket and unlocked her seven-year-old red Jeep Wrangler. Tricks bounded up into the passenger seat and happily waited until Bo had buckled her special doggie-harness seat belt.
    As she was leaving the parking lot, her second-in-command and the true heart and soul of the police department, Jesse Tucker, pulled in and stopped his squad car beside Bo’s Jeep. Both of them lowered their windows so they could talk.
    She hung an elbow out the window and squinted against the afternoon sun, which was shining directly into her eyes. “I’m finished with the paperwork,” she said. “Unless something has come up, I’m going home to do some work there.” She was a freelance technical writer, and that was where the bulk of her income came from.
    â€œEverything’s as quiet as it ever is,” he replied. “Weather report said it’s going to turn cold again tonight, maybe some snow.”
    â€œI’m keeping my fingers crossed we dodge this one.”
    Spring wasn’t in a hurry, that was for certain. Starting in February they’d had the occasional bright, warm(ish) day like today, giving everyone hope that they’d seen the end of snow for this year, but despite the calendar saying it was spring, they hadn’t turned that corner yet. Snow wasn’t unheard of in April, and her day would be the same regardless of what the weather did; that didn’t stop her from feeling disgruntled.
    â€œI’ll check in before I head home,” he said, which he always did anyway. He pulled the squad car into a parking slot, and Bo pulled out onto Hamrickville’s main street, which was named Broad instead of Main.