Trouble at the Kennel (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery #9)(3)
While she looked out the window, she thought back to how she’d gotten to this place in her life. She remembered when she’d been happily married to Jerry Yates. They’d lived in Cedar Bay in a house that overlooked the water. She’d loved the house with its tubs and baskets that she filled with brightly colored plants. As soon as the plants started to lose their blooms, she replaced them with fresh ones, so there was always plenty of color on the steps leading up to the house and on the patio.
Things started to take a turn for the worse when Jerry lost his job. The sawmill where he’d been employed for many years had closed, and he couldn’t find any work. He became despondent and started drinking heavily. One morning she woke up and found a note from him, “Susan, I’m sorry. Goodbye. You deserve better than this. Since most of the lumber that comes into the United States comes from Canada, I’ve decided to go up there and see if I can find work. I’ll call for you when I find a job.”
She turned away from the window and sat down, wondering if he was still alive. She’d never heard from him, and shortly after he’d left, she’d fallen over a box someone had inadvertently left in the hallway of the medical building where she’d worked as a receptionist. Het back was injured in the fall. Several operations later her back was no better, and her bank account was depleted. Although she’d been given a personal injury settlement by the insurance company who insured the medical building, it all went to pay for the unsuccessful surgeries. Her parents died in an automobile accident about that time and left their house to her. She couldn’t afford to stay in the house she and Jerry had owned, and she let it revert to the bank which had put a lien on it for nonpayment of the mortgage. She’d moved to her parents’ home and spent much of her time thinking about the past and how her life was seemingly over.
Mary Barnes, the owner of Doggie Love Kennel had been to see her several times, telling Susan she’d like to buy her property so she could expand her kennel. Susan had nowhere else to go, so each time she’d told Mary no.
She spent many an hour looking out the window towards the barn that had been converted into a kennel with heated and air conditioned rooms for the dogs as well as the artificial lake Mary had a contractor dig, so the dogs could play in the water. Each time she saw Mary and her employees walk out to the kennel to feed the dogs she got angry.
Those dogs have it better than I do. It’s not fair. I get hurt and can’t work, and my husband loses his job and leaves me, but the dogs get to play in a man-made lake and have plenty of heat and air conditioning. I couldn’t even afford to heat this little house last winter, because I didn’t have the money. I wonder what would happen if someone released the dogs from their kennels and opened the main kennel gate. Might serve Mary right for being so high and mighty. Maybe she’d never be able to recover from the bad publicity, and she’d have to close the kennel. Then I wouldn’t have to listen to the dogs yap all day and night.
She smiled as the beginnings of a plan flitted into her mind, a mind that had become demented over the years from the events that had worn her down to who she was now, a very angry woman.
CHAPTER 3
Jack Powell sat at his desk deep in thought as he idly let his three dogs lick his hand that was dangling next to his leg. He looked down at Nick, Sheila, and Joe, his beloved pit bulls, and once again became furious. He still couldn’t believe Mary Barnes had called to tell him she would no longer let his organization, the Pit Bull Sanctuary, rent a portion of her property at the Doggie Love Kennel. She told him the pit bull rescue dogs that were there would have to be off of her property within twenty-four hours, and it was all because of one little unfortunate incident.
It was still fresh in his memory. Mary had called him and said there had been, as she put it, an incident involving one of the rescue pit bulls. Evidently the manager of the kennel had brought her Labrador retriever to work with her that day. According to Mary the Labrador had intruded in the pit bull’s space, and the pit bull had attacked the Lab and almost severed his right rear leg. It required immediate surgery and while the prognosis for the dog’s recovery was good, the Labrador’s leg was in a splint, and the veterinarian was unsure if the dog would ever again be able to walk normally.
Well , Jack thought, served the Labrador right for getting too close to the pit bull. Everyone knows dogs need their space, no matter what the breed, and they’ll fight to protect it. Fortunately, I was able to find foster homes for the five pit bulls I had on the property I rented from Doggie Love Kennel. Problem is, I don’t know where else to go. Mary and her manager have made such a big deal out of it, I’m not sure any of the other kennels around these parts will rent space to me. Seems like all the stupid people in the world are always unfairly blaming pit bulls for everything. It’s not as if every large dog isn’t capable of severing a leg if their space is invaded. Guess the manager threatened to quit immediately because her husband was furious when he found out. It was actually his dog.
Jack thought back to when his love affair with pit bulls had started. He’d been a little boy and his parents decided it would be good for him to have a dog to take care of. They thought it would teach him to be responsible. The three of them had gone to the animal shelter, and from the moment Jack saw the little grey pit bull puppy he later named Lekko, his choice was made. His parents were just as enamored with Lekko. He was a faithful companion to Jack, and his parents never worried about him when Lekko was with him, which was pretty much all the time. Jack and Lekko were so inseparable that his parents became concerned about what would happen to Jack when it was Lekko’s time to leave this earth.