The Telltale Turtle (The Pet Psychic Mysteries) Read Online Free PDF Page A

might help if you'd tell him not to bite everyone who comes through the door," Danny added. "I think he only likes you, MC."
    "He seems to like Bernie," Jenny said.
    "The handyman?" Danny's dark eyes looked hurt. "I can't believe it! He doesn't even know him."
    "We haven't found the right person for him," Mary Catherine agreed. "But not tonight. I'm starving and exhausted. If you'll excuse us, we're going upstairs."
    "We haven't exactly had a picnic here waiting for you, either," Jenny assured her. "I'll look at the turtle-then I'm out of here."
    "Thank you." Mary Catherine smiled at them. "I appreciate you worrying about me." She sighed. "Yes, Baylor. They were worried about you too."
    Jenny and Danny bent down to scratch Baylor's ears and talk to him. Mary Catherine dragged herself upstairs to her apartment, not needing to add to Baylor's already overly large ego. She fell back in one of her red velvet chairs and closed her eyes.
    Danny called out to her as he and jenny left for the night, shutting off the lights and locking the door to the clinic behind them. Baylor slowly crept up the stairs and found a soft place to flex his claws between Mary Catherine and the side of the chair.

     
    She didn't realize she'd fallen asleep until a loud knocking at the clinic door brought her to her feet. It was a little after midnight. She'd tried again to call Colin around 9:30, but there was no answer at his condo or his cell phone. She realized he might still be at the police station.
    The knocking downstairs continued until she found her pink chenille robe and slippers, touched up her hair and applied a coat of lipstick. She still looked like she'd been asleep.
    "I know there's nothing wrong with that since I was asleep," she argued with Baylor. "But I have a reputation to protect, you know. What am I saying? You can't possibly understand. You lick your fur a few times a day and everyone says you're beautiful! Never mind."
    She slid open the peephole in the clinic door. The original iron bolt-and-slab door was still on the building. The carpenter who'd done her remodeling assured her it was once used to keep rowdy pirates out. Her building had been a public house in the late 1700s; closing in the early 1800s to reopen again as a hotel.
    A tall, thin man dressed in a tweed jacket with patches on the elbows was standing on the stoop. He reminded her of a young Jimmy Stewart, as he appeared in Fire Creek, one of her mother's favorite movies. "Yes?"
    "I'm Charlie Dowd. I found this dog in the street. No one else will help him. He's just a pup."
    "Our vet has gone home, too. What's wrong with him?"
    "I think he was hit by a car."
    She bit her lip. The beagle puppy's thoughts of pain and fear filtered through her mind. There was no way she could stand there and not help. "Come in." She opened the door. "I'll call our vet and have her come back."
     
    "Thank you." Charlie extended his big, raw-boned hand to her. "I'd be happy to pay, if that helps."
    "I'm sure it will." She shook his hand. Nice hands. Strong and confident. "I'll call Jenny. You try to make him comfortable over there in the doggy bed. He's in a lot of pain."
    "Thanks. I appreciate your help. I saw the car hit him. It just kept on going."
    "People don't value a dog's life much," she commiserated as she dialed Jenny's number. The cantankerous old vet wouldn't be happy about being disturbed. "Come to think of it, some people don't overly value human life, do they?"
    He agreed with her, glancing around the clinic's waiting room. "You're Mary Catherine Roberts, right? The pet psychic? I've seen the ad for your talk show on the sides of buses. I hope I didn't disturb you and your husband."
    Her eyes narrowed. Was this a fishing expedition or was he immediately taken with her?
    It had happened before with her third late husband. Per was immediately in love with her after they'd met at a rooftop party in Manhattan, given by a paranormal magazine publisher she worked for at the time.