McKean S01 A Dangerous Breed Read Online Free

that he had other pressing business to attend.
    The woman, Zoe Peterson, was a pleasant, middle-aged redhead in a white lab coat, who’d been busy with a benchtop experiment involving several racks of test tubes when we came in. Resuming her seat after having risen to greet us, she explained in melancholy tones, “It’s a sad business, euthanasia. You get to know the animals a little, almost like they’re pets. But orders are orders and I filled out the euthanasia forms and gave them to Jaime, here.” She indicated by gesture a dark Hispanic man in blue jeans and chambray shirt who’d stood by, looking uncomfortable and out of place, and who now nodded an acknowledgement of what she’d said.
    “I work in the animal facility where the kennels are,” he explained in heavily accented English. “The day after I got the orders from Zoe, I injected all the dogs with overdoses of pentobarbital. Very painless. They don’ feel nothing. They just go to sleep.”
    “A standard laboratory procedure,” McKean acknowledged. “And you’re sure you killed them all?”
    Jaime looked away momentarily, his discomfort now greatly amplified. A visible sweat broke out on his forehead.
    “What is it, Jaime?” Zoe asked with a note of surprise. “I signed euthanasia orders on every one.”
    With eyes downcast, Jaime began, “One was missing. I didn’t want to tell you. I thought maybe I lose my job.”
    “No, Jaime,” Zoe protested. “I would never do that!”
    McKean grew impatient of their reassurances. “Do you know who took it?”
    Jaime kept guiltily silent.
    McKean, a head taller than Jaime, loomed over him threateningly. “Listen,” he hissed. “I’m betting that there will be murder or manslaughter charges filed in this case. If you know anything and don’t tell us, you could be considered an accessory. You’d better tell all, and do so right now.”
    “It was Derek Curman!” Jaime blurted. “I don’ know it for sure, because I don’ see him take the dog. But he was always playing around with it. It was his favorite.”
    “Selkirk mentioned Curman,” McKean responded. “I’d like to speak with him.”
    “Wouldn’t we all?” Zoe remarked. “But he’s disappeared without a trace. He was a very moody and temperamental guy. Didn’t get along with people very well. But he was really excited about the project. When Selkirk decided to cancel the program, he was heartbroken. When the group discussed euthanasia, he threatened to resign. He argued with me when I signed the papers. Then he just didn’t show up at all the next day. He left his notebooks, his personal stuff in his desk, everything. Just disappeared. Nobody ever saw him again.”
    “The next morning,” Jaime added, “dog 106, she was missing.”
    “Curman must have taken her in the night,” McKean suggested.
    “That sounds about right,” Jaime agreed.
    Minutes later, McKean and I were back in Selkirk’s office. Selkirk interrupted a conference call to speak with us. When told the news of dog 106’s disappearance he grew red-faced and tugged at his necktie knot to loosen it.
    “Derek Curman,” Selkirk said, slowly shaking his head. “He did some impressive work. Really quite brilliant. Very organized. But emotionally volatile. Still, I never would have guessed he’d taken an animal.”
    “Where’s Curman now?” McKean asked.
    “We haven’t seen him for four years,” Selkirk replied. “He just vanished. I tried to find him on Google and Facebook recently but no luck. Just old stuff. No one knows where he went.”
    “We’ll have trouble tracking him down, no doubt,” McKean muttered. And then his expression brightened. “Do you have some of dog 106’s DNA?”
    “We should have a sample frozen under liquid nitrogen.”
    “Excellent!” McKean exclaimed. “At least we can get a definitive answer as to whether dog 106 was the source of the coydog DNA.”
    “You think Curman turned her loose and she bred with coyotes?” I