Unleashed (A Melanie Travis Mystery) Read Online Free Page B

coat, and believe me, I watched Sam put together enough of those. From ringside, that great mass of mane hair looks incredibly thick, almost solid, like it stands up by itself. Then you go back to the grooming tent and watch someone break down a topknot and see all the layers underneath. The half dozen rubber bands, the hair spray, sometimes there’s even fake hair.
    “That’s what we’re going to do with Woof! . Go beyond the pretty surface and expose some of the stories that nobody wants talked about. Like that terrier breeder in Delaware a couple of years ago The one whose top stud dog died, but he kept taking stud fees anyway, and breeding bitches to the dog’s sons? It took years for the AKC to nail him, even though other breeders had been suspicious forever. All those pedigrees are compromised now. That stud book may never recover.”
    “And lots of people are still very angry about it,” said Sam. “If that’s the kind of story you’re planning to cover, you’d better realize that you’re not going to be very popular.”
    “We’re not looking to make friends,” Brian declared. “We’re performing a necessary service. Besides, people love to know all the latest dirt. The response rate to our subscription offer has been incredible. In a couple years, we’re going to be bigger than the Gazette. Maybe nobody wants to admit they’re going to read Woof!, but it’s obvious that no one wants to be left out either.”
    He pushed back his chair and rose. “I’m going to go outside and grab a smoke. Be back in a few.”
    Sam’s foot nudged mine under the table. “Why don’t you keep Brian company? Sheila and I will get things cleaned up in here.”
    “All right,” I said, though I wasn’t pleased by the prospect. Clearly Sam wanted a few minutes alone with his ex-wife.
    I was trying very hard not to play the role of the disgruntled fiancée. Sam could have made the whole stupid charade a lot easier if he hadn’t kept doing things for me to be disgruntled about.
    “I left my cigarettes in the car,” said Brian. “Let’s go out the front. Then we can walk around back and check on the dogs.”
    In the ten minutes the dogs had been outside, we hadn’t heard a sound. Faith, left to her own devices in my yard would have long since been clamoring to come in. Then again, that was probably the difference between having one dog and a houseful. Faith looked to me as her chief source of entertainment and companionship.
    In less than two weeks, however, that would change. Much as I was looking forward to having puppies, I hated the thought that the Poodle and I might lose, even temporarily, the special bond that we’d built.
    Which probably indicated something about one of those rules I should have learned in kindergarten. Obviously, I’m not very good at sharing.
    Brian retrieved his cigarettes and lighter from the front seat of the Boxster with a sigh. “It’s a miserable habit. Too bad it’s so damned enjoyable.” He lit up and inhaled deeply. “Did you ever smoke?”
    “No. I never saw any reason to start.”
    “You’re one of the lucky ones, then. You don’t know what you’re missing.”
    We strolled around the side of the house, where a wire-mesh fence stretched between the porch and the garage, then continued across the yard and into the woods. We headed for the gate.
    “I always figured I’d stop when I had children.” The tip of Brian’s cigarette glowed red in the gathering darkness. “It seemed like a good plan when I was young.”
    “You’re still young.”
    He shrugged slightly. “I’ve always been an overachiever. Had a lot of success, financially, very early. I guess I always thought that the rest of my life would fall into place just as easily.”
    I unlatched the gate and swung it open. “Maybe you and Sheila ... ?”
    “Maybe.” Brian didn’t match my hopeful tone. “I gather that would make your life easier.”
    “Sheila had Sam, and she left him. Now I just want