Chapter 3

He parked his truck in the garage and went into the house.

His two pups came running to him, barking and quivering all over. He and Christine had adopted Lad and Lady from a litter of eight that had been dumped off at the doors of the clinic. DNA testing revealed they had a beagle for one parent and a who-knew-what for the other. They were colored like beagles with black saddles, tan faces and ears, and shaped as you’d expect a beagle to be. They had the distinctive white tipped tails. They were roughly the size of beagles, with Lady being a bit smaller than average. However, their coats, instead of being smooth, were wiry. Out there somewhere was a beagle who’d had an affair with a scruffy terrier of some sort.

When Christine left she’d told Dan she would send for Lady once she was settled. He hoped she wouldn’t. To him Lad and Lady were a set, not to be separated.

“You’re home early,” came a voice from the kitchen.