Trouble at the Kennel (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery #9)(32)
“He’s coming home tomorrow evening,” she said, trying to keep the tears that had welled up in her eyes from flowing down her cheeks. “I want to talk to him first before I see anyone. He promised it would never happen again, and I know how much he wants our baby.”
“Sandy, I hate to say this, but from what my husband has told me, every man who’s involved in a spousal abuse case says the same thing. You can’t put your baby’s life at risk.”
“Kelly, I’m sure Hank means it this time. I’m going to give him another chance. You can’t make either one of us see a psychologist.”
“That’s true, but you might tell your husband if it ever happens again I’ll make sure he’s arrested for spousal abuse and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
“You don’t know him. He’s a wonderful man. Anyway, I have to go. It’s late, and I need to eat something. You know how fragile we newly pregnant women are.”
“Yes, Sandy, I’m well aware how very fragile you are right now. Take care of yourself. I want to give you my cell phone number and the number at the coffee shop. If you feel you need to talk to someone, please call me.”
“Thanks, I will. Now go on, I have to turn off my computer and lock up.”
As Kelly walked back to her minivan, she felt sick thinking about the conversation that had just taken place. I know it’s going to happen again. His anger is classic and so is her response to it. I just hope the baby will be all right. The little innocent had no part in this. Life sometimes isn’t fair, particularly to those who have no voice, such as unborn children and animals.
CHAPTER 25
When she got home Kelly pulled her minivan into the driveway next to Mike’s county sheriff’s car. She pressed the garage door opener and drove into the garage. Although she didn’t think Skyy would run away, she didn’t want to take any chances, so she closed the garage door before opening the minivan’s rear door for the dogs.
“In you go, kids. Mike’s already home and that means Lady is too. I’ll get your dinner in a minute.” She walked into the house as the two dogs scampered in front of her. “Mike, we’re home. Sorry we’re late. Hope you didn’t worry.”
“Are you kidding?” he said, coming out of the kitchen. “I always worry when you’re not where you’re supposed to be, but I felt better knowing you had Rebel with you. Thought you might be able to use this,” he said, handing her a glass of wine.
“You’re right about that. The last couple of hours have been very challenging. Let me get the dogs fed, and then I’ll tell you all about it, but first this little one needs to go outside.” She opened the patio door for Skyy who was whimpering in front of the door.
A few minutes later she said, “Mike, if you believe in miracles, I think one just took place. Skyy whimpered and then ran outside when I opened the door. I can see that she’s communing with nature at this very moment. This is definitely a good omen for the young pup.”
“Couldn’t agree more. Now if we can just teach her to stop running around the house with a roll of toilet paper in her mouth or from chewing on our glasses, she might just get my vote to stay.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Kelly said grinning. “But right now I really need to talk to you. I’m troubled by some things I learned today.”
“Yeah, I can hear it in your voice. Let’s go sit down in the great room, and we can talk.” After they sat down on the large couch that faced the windows which looked out onto the bay Mike turned to her and said, “What’s wrong?”
She told him she’d talked to someone earlier in the day who mentioned that Hank Reston had a very bad temper, or as the person had said, he had anger issues. Then she went on to tell Mike about her visit to the kennel and her conversation with Sandy.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“Exactly what you’re thinking. It sounds like a classic case of spousal abuse, but I’m not sure how it fits into Mary’s murder.”
“Just listen to me for a minute. I need to talk this out and see if I can make something fit. I’ve had a lot of thoughts floating around in my head since my conversation with her. What if Hank got really angry when Sandy told him Mary had said they needed to seek counselling concerning his anger issues because she was pregnant? Maybe he wasn’t planning on murdering Mary, but instead he wanted to damage her reputation with her customers by letting the dogs loose. Let’s say Mary saw him do it and confronted him. He saw red, became violent, and killed her. That’s one scenario that might work.”
“Kelly, from what you’re telling me that’s entirely possible, but how can anyone prove it?”
“Maybe Sandy knows and isn’t saying anything because she doesn’t want her husband to go to prison. Maybe you could arrest him for spousal abuse and see if he’ll admit to anything else once you start questioning him down at the jail.”
“Sounds good on paper, Kelly, but it doesn’t work that way. First of all, if a wife is unwilling to accuse her husband of spousal abuse and no one else can attest to it happening, he can’t be arrested. That’s the major problem with cases like that. Typically, the wife lives in fear of her husband and won’t cooperate by testifying against him. That’s the first thing that presents a problem.”