4 Yip/Tuck Read Online Free PDF

appeared sweet and vulnerable, but that gal was sneaky and a thief. Just like Caro.
    “Do you have a plan?” Darby asked.
    “Not yet. While she’s with you, I think I’ll let myself into her place and search for it.”
    Darby bit her lip, holding back what I knew was a smile. “I’m sure you’ll come up with something. You always do.”
    I stood, brushed off my jeans and took a deep breath. “Oh, please. You’re thinking what I’ve already said aloud. Payback stinks. Caro’s a worthy adversary, but in the end, I’m going to win. That’s my brooch.” I pointed to the autumn set-up she was fussing over. “Who’s coming? Anyone I know?”
    “Cheryl and Nemo. I think they’ll make a lovely October, don’t you?” Darby raked some scattered silk leaves into a pile.
    “Do you want help?” I asked.
    Darby held out the plastic rake.
    We worked quickly. Darby had a great eye for creating a realistic nature setting. I couldn’t wait to see what she came up with for Missy and me.
    Cheryl and her pooch arrived right on time. Nemo strained to greet his cohorts, but Cheryl wasn’t ready to let him off his lead. She was a tall lady with warm eyes. She penned a successful cartoon strip starring Nemo. Think Marmaduke but with a super-smart Jack Russell Terrier.
    For the past month, the comic strip story involved Nemo escaping from the backyard and all the elaborate contraptions his owners built to outsmart the little guy. Yet he’d always found a way out. Knowing the athleticism of the breed, I believed the comic was heavily biographical.
    Darby greeted her clients and made quick introductions.
    “I love your comic,” I gushed. “I read it to Missy all the time.”
    “Thank you.” She smiled shyly, pushing a lock of light brown curls off her face. “You own the dog boutique next door right?”
    “That’s right.”
    She shifted her weight. “Did you know the police are in front of your shop?”
    Darby and I exchanged a look. Thank goodness the coroner had already removed the body.
    Word was bound to get out eventually. Time for damage control.
    “Do you know Dr. Jack O’Doggle, the plastic surgeon in Newport?” I asked.
    Nemo paced alongside Cheryl. She pointed her index finger at the floor and told him to sit. He quickly obeyed, tail wagging, waiting for her next command. Instead, she returned her attention to us. “I’ve heard of him.”
    “Darby and I found him dead in front of Bow Wow this morning.”
    She gasped. “Are you both okay? What happened?”
    “A little shaken up, but fine,” Darby reassured her.
    Missy waddled over to see what was going on. She snorted and sniffed Nemo and found him acceptable. Nemo tipped his brown eyes toward his owner, begging for his freedom.
    “You can let him off his lead anytime you want,” Darby said. “Don’t worry about Fluffy. She keeps to herself, and Missy’s already accepted him into the pack.”
    Cheryl gave Nemo a couple of instructions before turning him loose. Once he was off the leash, he raced around the room excitedly, with Missy bringing up the rear.
    “What happened to the doctor?” Cheryl asked.
    “We’re not sure,” I said.
    “Do the police think he died of natural causes?”
    Darby and I looked at each other again. I shrugged, uncertain of how much to say. “Detective Malone likes to keep his information to himself.”
    The dogs dropped a ball at Cheryl’s feet. She tossed it across the room. They tore off after it. “I have a friend in the plastic surgery business. She said there have been some shady dealings in his office.”
    “Like what?” I asked.
    “Accusations that he was poaching patients from other surgeons, lawsuits. I wonder if the stress got to him, and he had a heart attack.”
    I didn’t think so. I think someone strangled him with a dog lead. That reminded me. I wanted to research something on my office computer.
    I called Missy and excused myself from the photo shoot. We headed for the boutique. Salinas and his