Trouble at the Kennel (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery #9)(22)
“Doesn’t the kennel have insurance for things like that? I would think a dog fight among dogs staying at the kennel wouldn’t be a particularly uncommon occurrence.”
“Yes and no. You see, the pit bulls were not really part of the kennel. They were actually on property that was being leased to the Pit Bull Sanctuary. The Doggie Love Kennel insurance didn’t apply to them. What happened was pretty awful, and Mary didn’t make it any easier.”
“Why?” Kelly asked. “What happened?”
“When I returned from the vet’s and told her what happened, the only thing she said was something like, ‘Gee, that’s too bad.’ She had a real soft spot in her heart for the pit bulls. We’d argued before about having pit bulls on the property. I told her our customers would be very angry if anything happened because pit bulls were on the premises.
“I’m not a lawyer,” Kelly said, “but it does seem Mary would have had some exposure to liability if anything happened to dogs that were being kenneled here, and the owners weren’t made aware that pit bulls were on the premises. A lot of people don’t like the breed.”
“I know. I asked her if the kennel would pay Mickey’s vet bill, and she told me no, that something like that wasn’t covered under the kennel’s insurance policy. Then I asked her if that was the case, would she personally pay the vet bill, because my dog had been attacked on her property.”
“She told me no. Mary insinuated Mickey must have done something to aggravate the pit bull, and she told me she was not responsible for it. I told her how angry my husband was about the incident, because Mickey’s pretty much his dog. It didn’t help he was in New York on business when it happened, and I had to tell him what happened to Mickey over the phone. He took a red eye flight home that night.”
“What a shame. I know how I’d feel if that had happened to one of my dogs.”
“Not only was my husband mad,” Sandy continued, “he told me if I didn’t quit working here he was going to divorce me. I was hoping it was just a spur of the moment thing said in anger. My husband’s a lawyer, and he told me Mary was responsible for what happened. He said that if it had been a paying customer’s dog, the customer would have sued Mary because ultimately it was her responsibility to make sure that the pit bulls were separated from the dogs that were boarded at the kennel. He thought it was pretty fraudulent that she didn’t tell clients about the presence of pit bulls on the property. In her defense, Mary always thought she could keep the pit bulls separate from the paying customers’ dogs. It turned out she was wrong.”
“Did you agree with your husband and quit?”
“Yes, I gave my two weeks’ notice, and then Mary was murdered a couple of days later. My husband said since she’d gotten the pit bulls off the property he would give me a two-week grace period to leave the kennel. I was in the process of finding a replacement when she was killed. Now, everything’s up in the air. I don’t even know if the kennel will remain in business.”
“How did Mary take it when you gave your notice to her?”
“Not well. She said my husband was overreacting and being ridiculous about the whole thing. Mary said he was just some neurotic lawyer, which I have to tell you, didn’t sit well with me. She said it was bad enough she had to get rid of the pit bulls that needed foster homes, but I was really adding insult to injury by quitting. She was very angry and yelled at me, saying there was absolutely no reason for me to quit. She told me she didn’t have time to train someone new.”
“Well, I don’t agree with how she handled everything, but I suppose there is some sense to what she said about there not being a reason to quit once the pit bulls were gone.”
“They may be gone, and she may be dead, but I have a huge vet bill I still have to pay. My husband has no idea how much it is. He’s going to be even angrier than he has been when he finds out. He felt it was kind of rightful justice that someone murdered Mary. I know how he feels. Because of her, I nearly lost our dog and my husband. And people thought she was such a nice person. I wonder what they’d think if I told them the real truth about her. At least the people who presently have their dogs here won’t have to worry about something terrible happening to their dogs like what happened to mine.”
“Thanks for taking the time to tell me all of this,” Kelly said. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to walk through the building and see if I can spot Lady’s tag. I know it’s a long shot, but I’m kind of sentimental about it. My husband gave it to me as a present, and its real silver. Probably doesn’t have any value since it’s engraved with Lady’s name and our address and phone number, but it has value to me.”
“Of course, Mrs. Reynolds. Feel free to look around. I’ll mention it to the other employees and give you a call if we find anything. Your number’s in the dogs’ files. Excuse me, but I really do need to get back to work.”
“Of course, and again, thanks for your time.” Kelly walked out of the office and down a row of kennels, looking for the purportedly lost dog tag which was safely at home hanging from Lady’s collar.
CHAPTER 17
For the next few minutes Kelly walked up and down the rows of kennels making it look as if she was searching for the lost dog tag. She saw a door and stepped outside. She remembered Mary telling her that she’d hired a contractor to build a lake, so the dogs that liked water would have a place to swim, but she’d never taken the time to look at it. The lake was much larger than she thought it would be, and obviously it could accommodate a lot of dogs at the same time.