Murder at Jade Cove (Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Book 2) (13 page)

Kelly stood looking from
one of them to the other. She wiped a tear out of her eye. “This little town
has had its share of bad things happen lately, but hearing this wonderful news
from the two of you goes a long way to make up for them. I wish you both every
happiness in the world.  I can’t wait to tell Mike. He’ll be thrilled!”

Liz walked out the door.
Doc followed her, and then turned back, “Kelly, I can never thank you enough.
You’ve changed my life.”

“Thanks, Doc, but not so.
You’ve paid your dues and you deserve every bit of this happiness. Enjoy it!”

When she closed the door
after them, Roxie was standing there, a smile on her face. “I’m gathering that
this is happy news. Would I be right?”

“Roxie, this isn’t just
happy news. This is simply the best news I’ve heard in a long time. Sit down
for a moment. I’m sure Doc won’t mind if I share it with you.”

Later that afternoon, Kelly left the
coffee shop and headed towards the Lewis kennel location, about forty miles
north of Cedar Bay.
I can’t believe what just happened with Doc and Liz. I
wish I was a writer. That would make a great story with a fairy tale ending. I
wonder if Mike will be standing up with Doc at his wedding if this budding
romance continues. I’m so happy for both of them. When I left home this morning
I thought I’d check out the kennel and see if I could find out anything about
Gabe’s finances. Maybe I should buy a puppy for Doc as a congratulatory gift.
He mentioned one time he was thinking of getting a dog. Don’t see him as a
hunter even though he’s a crack shot. Think a yellow lab family style dog would
be more to his liking.

She followed the kennel
manager’s directions and forty-five minutes later she saw the sign for Lewis
Kennels with a picture of a yellow lab and a chocolate lab on it. She drove
down the tree-lined driveway and noticed the large kennels at the end with
fully enclosed dog runs leading out from the buildings. It was a much larger
operation than she’d expected. She saw an office sign, parked her minivan, and
walked into the office.

An attractive middle-aged
woman wearing bifocals with a chain attached to them was sitting at a desk
looking at a computer, her brow furrowed in concentration. A wall with pictures
of hunting dogs on it was behind her desk which was cluttered with framed
photos of hunting dogs. Blue ribbons and photos of medals were attached to
almost all of the photos.

“Hi, I’m Kelly Conner. I
called earlier today and made an appointment to come by and look at some of
your dogs. Are you the person I talked to?”

“Yes, I’m the one you
spoke with. My name’s Angie Scott. I’m the manager and welcome to Lewis
Kennels.” She pushed her chair away from the computer. “Let me show you around.
Are you interested in a chocolate lab or a yellow lab?”

“Well, when I called you
this morning, I was thinking of buying a chocolate lab for my fiancé. He’s a
hunter, but then a friend of mine just shared some great news with me, so now
I’m thinking of getting him a yellow lab as a present.”

“I’ll show you the dogs
that are currently available. We have a couple of new litters, but we don’t
allow our dogs to leave the kennel until they’re at least eight weeks old.”

“That surprises me. I
thought when puppies were six weeks old they were old enough to be separated
from their mothers,” Kelly said as they walked over to the kennel located to
the left of the office.

“Most people do think that
and believe me, I get asked that question a lot,” Angie said as she opened the
door of a kennel building. “We’ve found puppies do much better when they’re
separated at eight weeks. It seems those extra two weeks makes a lot of
difference in their overall health. Anyway, here’s the kennel where we keep the
chocolate labs.”

They walked down a center
aisle with wire enclosures off to each side. In some of the enclosures, dams
were nursing pups, in others there were two or three dogs of various sizes and
ages.

“You can see we have a
doggie door at the back of each enclosure. It opens onto an outside fenced dog
run so the dogs are free to go in and out whenever they want. The building is
heated as the nights get pretty cool this time of year. We have extra heat lamps
that we use for the new litters.” She stopped and waved her arm in the
direction of the enclosures on her left. “The puppies in these three enclosures
are from the same litter. Both the dam and the sire were Bird Dog World
Champions. A couple of them are already sold. Mrs. Lewis is checking the
references on a couple of other potential buyers. She’s very picky about who
gets her dogs.”

“I’m surprised. I’ve never
heard of a background check being made on prospective purchasers. I thought if
someone wanted one of the dogs, they just paid the money, and that was it. Is
that practice common for all kennels that breed hunting dogs or is it just the
policy at this kennel?”

“Mrs. Lewis owns and runs
this kennel. Between you and me, with the lumber industry being in a slump and
Mr. Lewis’ business in real financial trouble, I would think she’d just want to
take the money from any potential buyer, but not her. This kennel is her
passion and she feels strongly about it. You can’t just buy a dog and take it
with you. She requires references and checks them out herself. I’ve told her we
should just sell the dogs and get the money for them, but she won’t do it.”

“Is she thinking about
getting rid of the business?”

“No. Believe it or not,
right now it’s a lot more profitable than Mr. Lewis’ lumber business. I heard
he needs a couple of million dollars real soon or he’s going to have to declare
bankruptcy. The rumor is he could barely make payroll last week. I shouldn’t be
telling you all of this, but I’m so worried the kennel is going to close if his
business goes under. Mrs. Lewis is the most wonderful person in the world to
work for. I would hate for her to lose her house or the kennel business because
Mr. Lewis made some bad investments.”

“I’m getting the feeling
you’re devoted to her, but not so much him.”

“Let’s just say from
everything I’ve heard, she deserves a lot better, but then again, you never
heard anything from me.”

“Don’t worry, Angie. I
don’t know either one of them, so it really doesn’t make any difference to me.”

Guess the information I
discovered on the web was right. According to Angie, Gabe Lewis is definitely
having financial troubles.

Sounds of dogs barking and
yapping made talking difficult and they walked back to the kennel entrance.
“Angie, I don’t know anything about hunting dogs, but these dogs are beautiful.
How do they get trained to hunt? Do you do something special to get them used
to the sounds of gunshots?”

“Buyers have two options.
They can train the dogs themselves or we can do it for them. Most of the buyers
who train the dogs themselves have had hunting dogs before so they know what’s
involved.  We keep the dogs for six months when we do the training. Mrs. Lewis
has two men who do nothing but take the dogs out each day and work with them.
The dogs are trained with live birds that are planted in a field so they hear
gunshots every day, and eventually they get used to it. When they’re returned
to their owners, they’re fully trained to hunt.”

She opened the door to the
second building. “This is where we keep the yellow labs. Most hunters prefer
the chocolate labs to the yellow labs. The yellow labs are more social and are
particularly good with children. We generally sell them to families.”

The layout of this kennel
was exactly like the one they had just left, but these dogs were far more
interested in Angie and Kelly than the ones in the first kennel. Tails wagged
and noses were pushed up against the enclosures, begging for human attention.

“These are simply adorable
dogs. I can’t imagine a child walking out of here without wanting one. It must
really be hard for them to wait until Mrs. Lewis checks the parents’
references.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I
misspoke. She only does that with the chocolate labs. I think every child who
comes here would leave in tears if they had to wait to be approved. No, she
doesn’t ask for referrals for the yellows, but she still wants to meet with the
families. I remember once she turned down a family and I didn’t blame her. She
saw the little boy trying to pull a puppy’s tail when she was talking to the
parents and they weren’t looking. That family left without a dog. Mr. and Mrs.
Lewis don’t have any children and I kind of think she regards the dogs as a
substitute for the children she never had. She’s fiercely protective of them.”

“Is there a price
difference between the chocolate labs and the yellow labs?”

“Yes. The chocolates are
much more expensive, even though the yellows are all from champions, just like
the chocolates. I think she keeps the prices lower so families can afford them.
If a hunter wants a dog from a top hunting lineage, money’s probably not a
problem for him. I know she really enjoys seeing the happiness that her dogs
bring to the families that buy a yellow lab.”

“Angie, why is that little
puppy at the end all by himself?”

“The people who are
willing to spend the money on these dogs, and even the yellows aren’t cheap,
want to breed them. There’s a lot of money in stud fees and litters. As I said
earlier, these dogs are all from champions and highly desirable. That poor
little guy had one testicle that didn’t drop. He can’t be shown and should
never be bred. That way his unfortunate characteristic will never be passed on
to future generations. Mrs. Lewis took him to the vet we use and he said there
was an operation a veterinarian could do that would allow the testicle to drop,
but he felt it was unethical and he wouldn’t do it. She agreed with him. We
just found this out yesterday and she hasn’t quite decided what to do with
him.”

“How much do you want for
him?” Kelly asked, putting her hand through the enclosure and petting the young
pup while he wagged his tail and licked her hand.

“Why, are you thinking of
buying him?”

“I wasn’t when I walked
in, but yes, I think he’d be perfect for my friend.”

“Let me call Mrs. Lewis.
I’m sure his price would be considerably less than the other dogs because of
his condition. Let’s go back to the office.”

“You go ahead. I’ll stay
with this little guy and get to know him.”

“All right. I’ll be back
in a few minutes.”

Ten minutes later, Angie
returned, smiling. “Mrs. Lewis said you can have the puppy for $300.00. You’re
really lucky. That’s much less than what she usually charges, but she doesn’t
think it would be good for business if people saw a dog with that condition
here in our kennel. They may worry that litters from some of the other dogs
will have the same problem. She’d like to meet you, but she was just leaving
for a meeting with her lawyer. She said you can take the puppy now, if you’d
like.”

Kelly turned to the puppy.
“Well, little guy, guess you were meant to be Doc’s.” She stood up and said,
“Angie, do you have an old dog bed and some dog food I could buy? When I came
here I never thought I’d walk out with a puppy and I can’t take him to my
friend without some food and a dog bed.”

“Kelly, you’re not the
first one to have this problem. I keep a few dog beds here for people like you.
I can give you some puppy food as well. Actually, it would probably be better
if he stays on the puppy food for a few days before he’s introduced to
something new. It could be hard on his little tummy and I rather doubt your
friend would want to deal with that problem.”

“Thank you so much. I can
pay with a credit card or check. Which do you prefer?”

“A check would be fine.
Just make it out to Lewis Kennels. That way it will at least go in her account,
not his.”

Ten minutes later Kelly
put the dog bed on the back seat of her minivan and went back inside the
kennel. She came out holding a squirming little yellow lab puppy that was
showering her cheek with wet doggy kisses.

“Well, little guy, hope
Doc likes you as much as I do, but if he doesn’t, I think you can come home
with me. Maybe it’s a good thing I stopped on the way here and left Rebel at
home. At the very least, I better wash my hands before I see him. He may begin
to doubt my loyalty to him when he smells you all over me.”

She drove to Doc’s ranch
and was glad to see his truck parked in front of his house. When he heard the
minivan pull into his driveway, he opened the front door, and walked over to
it.

“Is there some sort of
occasion for this visit Kelly, although you know you’re always welcome out
here? Seems to me you haven’t come out here too often, and when you do, it’s
usually for something important.”

She opened her door and
stepped out of the van with a strange look on her face.

“Kelly, are you all right?
I’ve never seen you at a loss for words. Is something wrong?”

She took a deep breath and
opened the back door of the van. “No, Doc, everything’s fine. I brought you a
congratulatory gift and I’m just a little nervous about it.” She scooped the
wriggling puppy up in her arms and turned around. For a moment there was no
expression on Doc’s face, and then he broke out in a wide grin.