Dog Collar Knockoff Read Online Free PDF Page B

maybe that was an exaggeration, but only a fool would mess with those girls. Being petite herself, Lucie liked their spunk.
    Sometimes she even encouraged it. Bad, Lucie. Bad.
    Inside the office, Oscar, in all his fluffy, white glory, scampered to them and immediately sat. Lucie bent to nuzzle him. “Good boy, Oscar.”
    “Well trained.”
    “Yes, but I’m telling you, there’s a switch in his brain. If he doesn’t like someone— bam —he turns into the Incredible Hulk.”
    “Let’s see if he likes me.” Lauren stuck her hand out and let Oscar sniff. “Good boy, Oscar.”
    Lucie closed one eye. Please let him like her . As if reading her mind, Oscar leveled his big brown eyes on Lucie— did he just smile? —before licking Lauren’s hand.
    But then he blew it by turning to Lucie, mounting her lower calf and hanging on for the ride while he humped her.
    “Wow,” Lauren said.
    Lucie gently pushed him off. “He’s a total horndog.”
    A loud voice came from behind the office door that led to the gallery. Sounded like Bart’s voice. Something about someone getting screwed.
    Ouch.
    “Whoa,” Lauren said. “That didn’t sound good.”
    No fooling there. But they were dog walkers, not eavesdroppers. “We should go. We only have thirty minutes to walk Oscar and he’s fussy about the route.”
    The voices drew closer to the door. Lucie hustled to the spot on the wall where Oscar’s leash hung. Time to go, kids.
    “You keep ducking me!” a deep-toned voice—definitely not Bart’s—came from what sounded like just the other side of the door.
    “Stop, Robert.” Bart’s voice. Definitely. “How incredibly offensive. I’m not ducking you.”
    They’re close. Yikes. If Bart walked in now, he’d think Lucie and Lauren were doing exactly what they were doing. Eavesdropping.
    Lucie bent low to clip Oscar’s leash. “Good baby, Oscar. Here we go,” she whispered, but Lauren’s attention was plastered to the door. “Psst, Lauren.”
    She spun to Lucie, who jerked her head to the door.
    “You get on the phone with that gallery and get my paintings back!” Robert—whoever he was—hollered. “They’ve been on loan for six months. They either need to buy them or send them back. I want my money.”
    Lauren made an eeekkk face and the veins in her neck popped. Time to go. Lucie paddled her hand to the door and Lauren did a half-run, half-walk to get there. Who knew life as a dog walker packed this much drama?
    “Robert, it’s almost eleven at night there. I’ll call them in the morning for God’s sake. Calm down.”
    “Don’t tell me to calm down. I’m losing money on those paintings. Get. Them. Back.”
    Lucie nudged Lauren through the door. Once outside, Oscar trotted along beside Lucie until she led him to the tree in front of the gallery. Right about now would be the appropriate time to warn Lauren about maintaining discretion when it came to overhearing things related to their clients’ businesses.
    “So, obviously,” Lucie began, “you’ll sometimes hear things that maybe you shouldn’t.”
    “Um, I guess.”
    “And I’m sure I don’t need to tell you this, but part of Coco Barknell’s excellent reputation comes from our discretion.”
    What a load of bull that was. First off, Coco Barknell wasn’t quite established enough to have a reputation for discretion. Second, half the time, the dog owners weren’t even home, so there wasn’t a whole lot happening to feed the gossip mill. And third, they’d just narrowly avoided being locked up for hiding stolen jewelry from a twenty-year-old heist.
    Great track record so far.
    “Sure.” Lauren took the leash from Lucie. “I understand. My lips are sealed. I can talk to you though, right?”
    “Of course.”
    Oscar finished peeing and began his trot down the block.
    “Sounds like Bart Owens lent someone’s paintings to another gallery. And now he can’t get them back. That’s juicy. I should write a paper on the pitfalls of