Page 46 of Death on Gallows Path

“She knew.”

I did not need to mention the conference connection. He’d have figured it out. Also that I’d filled her in on details.

For a beat, I thought he might ask me to share those with him. Instead, he said, “Getting good info from Gracie or Murph?”

“Very closed-mouthed these two.”

“That happens with witnesses.”

“You know they know more than they’re saying, but you can’t get it out of them? What do you do?”

“The first step in getting good information is asking the right witnesses.”

“Are you dissing Murphy and Gracie as witnesses? How dare you. Did you know dogs can sense people’s emotions?”

“Smell fear? Is that what you’re talking about?”

“I hear dismissal in your tone, O’Donnell, but scientific experiments show dogs sense — scent, actually — physical differences our bodies undergo from various emotions. Another experiment showed a dog would take a treat from someone who helped their owner, but not from someone who refused the owner’s request for help. They could tell us a lot.”

“I’ve known dogs to love owners who were the most despicable dregs of humanity.”

“We all make mistakes about people in our lives.”

“Yeah, we do.”

A shudder ran through me. Both dogs looked up at me.

I couldn’t tell them — or myself — how I knew, but I did. My words had hit the core of what dragged at him.

We all make mistakes about people in our lives.

Yeah, we do.

“Teague—”

“So, you and Clara have got yourselves into another situation.”

A natural follow-up? Or a deliberate turn away?

Either way, I followed his lead. For now.

“We got ourselves into?” I slathered on innocent indignation. “All we did was take the dogs to training. If you’d signed up for training with Murphy instead of galivanting off to a law enforcement junket—”

“You do know I’m in a mid-sized town in Texas talking about death and homicide.”

“—you’d be way ahead on this investigation, having seen the victim in action, which you rarely get to do.”

“I’ll have to make up for lost time when I get back. Which might be somewhat earlier than scheduled. The sheriff’s springing for a more direct flight, under the circumstances.”

His itinerary had hop-scotched more than an old-fashioned schoolgirl. More direct would be far less of a hassle for him.

Clara and I, on the other hand, would have one more member of the North Bend County Sheriff’s Department to avoid.

This one sharp-eyed and suspicious.

Not to mention he mostly lived with me.

DAY SIX