To Catch a Treat Read Online Free Page A

involved. Having heard about possible dognappings, Janelle might have jumped to conclusions.
    But as if she read my mind—or maybe because she’d told this story often before—she continued. “I looked everywhere around there for him. I called him, and so did other nice people who were around. I had flyers made later that day and posted them everyplace I could think of, even at the nearest veterinarians and doggy daycare facilities and pet stores. I posted all sorts of notifications on social media sites, too. But I never heard anything more.”
    We kept walking on the dirt path next to the beach. Low-cut weeds grew along the waterside, and more substantial bushes grew on the other shore, at the lake’s end. The air smelled moist and earthy and wholly pleasant.
    Janelle strode beside me, and so did Biscuit. Reed and Hugo had dropped a little behind us, and I doubted Reed had heard all that Janelle had said. We all walked a little more briskly now to catch up to the other hikers.
    Or maybe I was just following Janelle’s determined lead. When I glanced toward her, she was staring ahead as if she couldn’t bear to look at me and risk seeing scorn at her losing her dog. But what she would actually see was pity. And concern. I didn’t blame her. I felt sorry for her.
    It crossed my mind that someone could have found Go and taken him in, then fallen for him and perhaps chosen not to turn him over to an owner whom they assumed was careless.
    â€œIn case you’re wondering,” she said, “Go had an ID tag on his collar, plus he was microchipped with my contact information. But no one ever contacted me, and although I notified the microchip company, they didn’t hear anything either.”
    â€œI’m really sorry to hear of your loss,” I said, knowing those were the same words people said to others who’d had beloved family members die. Pets are family members, and although Go might not be dead, perhaps he was dead to Janelle. In any event, he was lost to her, at least for now.
    I felt awful as she stumbled beside me on the path, and I reached out to steady her. At the same time, Biscuit moved in front of me to check her out, nearly causing me to trip on the leash.
    â€œCareful,” Reed said from behind us and reached out to steady both of us, one hand on each of our backs.
    â€œThanks.” Janelle’s voice came out in a raspy croak. When I looked at her she had tears running down her face. Damn. I certainly hadn’t meant to make her feel worse.
    I decided to try to change the subject, at least a little. “So what brought you to Knobcone Heights?” I made my tone sound cheerful, as if I was a representative of the town encouraging tourists to visit. In some ways, all of us who lived here had that kind of aspiration, since our town was fairly small and thrived a lot on having outsiders come to our shops. Even the veterinary clinic’s business was bolstered by people who came with pets, since they sometimes got ill or injured. Pets of those who lived here were the majority of our patients, though, and that was probably a good thing. It would certainly turn tourists off to think that visiting animals were in jeopardy in our town.
    â€œOh, I just needed to get away,” Janelle said.
    I glanced at her again as we continued walking, my breathing a bit faster than when we’d started out. There was something about her tone, too lighthearted all of a sudden, that made me sure her answer was a lie. But she still walked quickly, looking down toward her purple shoes as if to be sure she wasn’t about to trip over anything. Her hair swept forward enough that I really couldn’t see her expression.
    Then she stood up straighter again, slowing her pace as she looked at me. Although she appeared sad, there was a kind of resolve I hadn’t seen before on her pretty face. “Thanks so much for listening to me, Carrie. It’s hard to