Muzzled by June Whyte Page B

poodle and made for the door, scraps of dog spilling from her soft fleshy arms.
    The vet shook his head at the woman’s departing back. “I mean it, Mrs. Cruskit—if you don’t put Lala on the diet I recommended and walk her twice a day, you could lose her.”
    With one hand holding the door open, he beckoned me into his surgery.
    “You okay?” he asked, concern crinkling his forehead as I brushed past him and entered the room.
    “Never felt better.”
    “Liar, liar, pants on fire.” One eyebrow hitched skyward, he peered down his nose at me. “Come on, Kat, I know about you and Tanya finding that man’s body in a refrigerator. It’s all over Facebook.”
    I closed my eyes. This couldn’t be happening. So much for keeping my recent crappy life a secret. Oh for the good old days—the days before social networking made everyone’s life an open book. “Did you also hear that we spent time in a holding cell rubbing shoulders with prostitutes, men in drag, and drug pushers?”
    Terry shook his head. “No, but what I don’t understand is what you and Tanya were doing inside the dead man’s house at all?”
    “I told you yesterday I was going to question the guy about why he was after my dogs.” I paused but when Terry’s lips pursed and his eyes narrowed, I quickly went on. “And when we got there his demonic guard dogs chased us into the house. It was a total nightmare.”
    “Which is why you need to be more careful.” Terry sighed, indicated a chair for me and perched his butt on the desk. “Now, I don’t know if this has anything to do with the case, but did you know Stanley’s ear brands have been tampered with?”
    “No.” I shook my head. “Can’t say I bothered to look.”
    “Before I began the operation, I checked the dog’s ear brands and noticed the last number in his left ear had been changed.”
    “Why would anyone do that?”
    “Well… I have a theory. Maybe—”
    “Sorry to interrupt, Terry, but an emergency has just come in.” It was Val, popping her head around the doorway. “Mrs. Davies cat got squashed when it bumped into a farm vehicle and several bags of wheat fell on top of it. The cat was chasing a bird, ripped off the bird’s legs and Mrs. Davies has brought both the squashed cat and the legless bird in.” She screwed up her nose. “Neither patient looks good.”
    Terry scrambled to his feet and preceded me to the door. “Bring them straight in, Mrs. Davies and I’ll see if I can save them.” He turned to Val. “I’ll need your help with this—but first, can you please get Stanley for Kat?”
    “No, no, don’t bother.” I insisted. “You need Val here. I can get Stanley.”
    “Okay, you’ll find him in the last cage on the left.” Terry stopped, placed one hand on my arm and gave a reassuring squeeze. “You know, I honestly think now Jack Lantana’s out of the picture, Stanley will be safe.”
    “Let’s hope so.”
    “But whatever happens, young lady, I want you to promise you’ll be careful.”
    “I’ll try.”
    Leaving Terry to care for the two emergency patients, I fossicked in my tote for Stanley’s collar and lead then strolled across to the door on the other side of the waiting room.
    The door was painted a flat white with the words Animal Hospital etched in black letters across the top. I’d been visiting the clinic the morning Val chose the two cartoon stickers pasted each side of the lettering—a cute but scruffy Thelwell dog and a twinkly-eyed Cat in the Hat.
    Stanley would be so pleased to see me.
    Smiling, I turned the brass handle and entered the large cool room. Immediately a lemony disinfectant smell snipped at my nose and the piercing yap of a pocket-sized Chihuahua assailed my ears. Cages, deep in shredded paper lined the four walls. A fluffy black and white rabbit with a twitching nose and one leg in plaster regarded me with curious black eyes from the first cage. On the indigo colored wall straight ahead squatted a large