Fifty Shades of Greyhound (The Pampered Pets Mystery Series) Read Online Free PDF

me. Had she forgotten she’d called me?
    “Oh, where are my manners?” Blanche stepped to the side and motioned for me to enter. “Please come in.”
    Her home was comfortably furnished with Arts and Crafts-era antiques. An oak bookcase, a couple of Stickley chairs, a mission-style library table. Classy and solid.
    I asked her to describe what her dogs had done to make her feel they were traumatized by their experience at the Greyhound event.
    Blanche paced and circled as she talked, and the dogs followed her steps.
    “I’m so worried about you two.” She stopped for a moment, reached down and chucked each dog under the chin.
    I’d only seen her at animal charity events, so I didn’t know what her usual casual hang-around-home outfit was. But I guessed it wasn’t a coffee-stained blouse and wrinkled slacks. Plus, I was pretty sure her usually sleek silver hair had not seen a brush today.
    It could be that her Greyhounds, Blaze and Trixie, were agitated because of the incident at the fund-raiser as Blanche thought, or it could be the dogs had picked up on her agitation. Maybe I needed to calm the owner before I could deal with the dogs.
    “Would it be possible to take them into your backyard?” I asked.
    “Yes. I guess so.” She indicated a path through to the back. “I don’t want to get too far from the phone, though. I’ve left several messages for Dave at the Greys Matter foundation office and I’m expecting him to call me back.”
    “Perhaps you could take your cell phone.” I pointed at the device lying on the table.
    “Oh, my goodness. Of course. What am I thinking?” She grabbed the phone. “This isn’t like me.”
    We walked through the kitchen and dining area toward the wide French doors. She had a beautiful house, but it wasn’t difficult to tell that Greyhound dogs were her passion. There were pictures on every wall of different dogs. The hallway was lined with photos of Blanche with various celebrities who had helped with Greys Matter and the Greyhound adoption cause.
    She hesitated, her hand on the doorknob. “I feel terrible that the fund-raiser went so badly.” She sighed. “People brought their dogs to what we’d promised was a safe dog-friendly environment and then their beautiful babies were traumatized.”
    “And a man is dead,” I pointed out.
    “Oh.” She stopped. “Of course. That sounded heartless, didn’t it? I didn’t mean it that way. The poor man. I don’t want to minimize what happened, but I can’t really do anything to help find out who killed him. The police will sort all that out.”
    “I’m sure they’re working on it.”
    “But I do feel responsible for the dogs,” she went on. “I’d like you to check with each of the owners for me, and if they need your services, I’ll pay your fee for them. It’s the least I can do.”
    “Let’s start with Blaze and Trixie and we’ll go from there.” The two sighthounds were older and quite well-behaved.
    The dogs slipped out as Blanche opened the door. They circled the small yard, nosed some dog toys by the small pool, and then settled in the shade.
    Many people believe Greyhounds are busy animals because they’re racers, but the truth is, they really are couch potatoes. When they chase, they run like the wind. The rest of the time they sleep, often up to eighteen hours a day. I could see why Blanche had thought there would be no problem bringing them to the charity event.
    I glanced at the two dogs reclining at the side of the pool—the perfect relaxed socialites. At any moment I expected them to pull out their floppy hats and Ray-Bans.
    Though Blanche had been worried about Blaze and Trixie, the truth was they seemed pretty calm. It was Blanche who remained traumatized.
    Blanche lived alone. Maybe she just needed to talk.
    “Have you heard anything from the police?”
    Blanche tapped a fingernail on her phone. “Not a thing.”
    “How about D’Orange Maison ?” I asked. “And where on earth did