Silent Night: A Raine Stockton Dog Mystery Read Online Free

like most of the people here, missed the pets of her youth, which was one reason my visits with Cisco were so valuable.  But what made visiting with Esther so enjoyable for me was that she not only held up her side of the conversation, she usually had far more interesting things to say than I did.
    That’s why I was a little disappointed when, after chatting for only three or four minutes, she declared decisively, “Well, you’ve got things to do and I won’t keep you.”  She fumbled for her cane and I put it within reach.  She pulled herself to her feet.  “Come on back to my room, sweetheart, I’ve got a little something for you.”
    I thought she had probably gotten someone to bring in a Christmas present for Cisco, or perhaps she had knitted me a scarf, and I was touched.  “Now, Miss Esther, I hope you didn’t go to any trouble on our account.”
    She moved fairly well on her cane, but I had to bring Cisco into a close heel and slow our pace by half in order to stay well behind her.  We edged past medicine carts and wheelchairs, I.V. stands, and half empty lunch trays, and as much confidence as I had in Cisco’s training, I never took my eyes off him—particularly around the lunch trays.
    We maneuvered safely through the obstacle course and reached Esther’s room without incident.  As soon as we were inside, she turned to me with her finger laid across her lips in a shushing gesture, poked her head outside the door, looked up and down the corridor, then quickly pulled the door closed behind us .
    “A secret?” I teased her, smiling.  “Well, I guess it’s that time of year, isn’t it?”
    But Esther was not smiling when she turned away from the door.  She gripped my arm with more force than I would have thought possible from such a small woman, and, leaning in close, said seriously, “Didn’t I hear you were married to the sheriff?”
    Terrific.   It’s not that I don’t love explaining to people how I could have divorced a wonderful man like Buck, but this was twice in the space of an hour that the subject had come up.  My Christmas spirit was starting to sink.
    “Actually,” I said, “I used to be, but I’m not any more.  That is, he’s not really the sheriff, he’s just serving out my uncle’s unexpired term, who used to be sheriff.  But we’re not married now.”  Even I was confused by that, and when I saw her eyes start to cloud over I clarified, “Acting Sheriff Lawson is my ex-husband.”
    She frowned a little, then said decisively, “Well, that’s almost the same thing.  Just as long as you have somebody to go to if things get rough. Come away from the door.  I have to tell you something and I don’t want anyone else to overhear.  This is just between you and me.”
    The room was small and starkly furnished with hospital bed, a clothes locker, one guest chair and a chest of drawers.  Leaning on the cane, she went over to the locker.  Cisco and I followed slowly, pausing in the center of the room.
      “I don’t know how they found me here, but I should’ve known they wouldn’t let me leave the state without making one more try for it.”  Her voice had a grim note that wasn’t at all like her.
    “Who?”  I was starting to get a very bad feeling this had nothing to do with a gift-wrapped dog toy or a hand-knit scarf. “Who's making one more try for what?” 
    She swung open the door of the clothes locker and then paused, resting a moment with both hands on the handle of the cane.  “Honey, will you come over here and give me hand?”
    “Cisco, down.”  In a room that small, a dog Cisco’s size seemed twice as big, so it was safer for everyone to leave him stretched out in a corner.  He watched alertly as I went over to Esther.  After all, he had received dog biscuits everywhere he had gone today; he had every right to expect that more were forthcoming.
    There were only a few items of clothing hanging in the locker: a quilted satin robe, a