Page 13 of Death on Gallows Path

This time he laughed and didn’t seem nearly as far away.

After we ended the call, I sat in bed with my arms wrapped around my knees, staring straight ahead.

Being blind in one eye seldom seemed to bother him functionally and talking about it didn’t, either.

Except the vital question: How did it happen?

And then there was the question he’d raised about my maybe.

DAY TWO

TUESDAY

CHAPTER SEVEN

I was doing house chores when Clara called.

“Can you go to the dog park a little early today? An appointment with an author client was pushed back, so earlier works better for me.”

Clara works as a virtual assistant for a number of authors. Her initial clients came through Kit. Now the word was spreading.

Last night, we’d hashed out observations from the class during the drive to my house, a discussion period we extended while sitting in the driveway.

Clara had spent most of the drive grumbling about how to get Izolde and Lucifer away from their owners.

“Izolde and Lucifer,” she said with dismay. “What happened to names like Daisy and Buddy?”

I clucked empathetically.

Other aspects, we’d dealt with succinctly.

“Berrie.” Clara shook her head.

“I know.”

No more needed to be said about that.

“That look between Damon Swindell and Zoley Georger,” she said with an arched brow.

I would have said from Zoley to Damon. Not that he was an innocent bystander, but . . . not as interested as she was? “Saw it, but . . . It could have meant nothing. I don’t know.”

“But you suspect. Me, too. Yet I heard something about the wives signing up together for the class, so they must be friends. The men . . . They’re very different,” Clara said.

“So are Teague and Ned. I’d still call them friends.”

“Mmm-hmm. The thing is, they’re both good men.”

Oh, yes, they were.

We’d grinned at each other.

“Mostly, I feel sorry for those dogs,” I said.

After I got out of the van with Gracie, I leaned back inside to remind Clara of the penalties for dognapping, even if committed by someone of pure heart and altruistic motives.

I’d watched her back out, not convinced I’d convinced her.

My uneasiness wasn’t assuaged by this proposed change of our meeting time.