To Love Someone (Baytown Boys #14) - Maryann Jordan Page 0,48
through her. “I know if this is dealing with an active investigation there’s little you can tell me, but why all these questions? Please, tell me we don’t have wolf-dogs illegally here on the Eastern Shore.” Her attention was drawn to Liam since he was hosting the meeting of law enforcement leaders.
“We don’t have anything concrete, but at these meetings, we discuss things that come up that might have ramifications. There is a major investigation going on in Norfolk of dogfighting. As soon as they shut down one area or ring, another one crops up. The investigation has taken them out of some of the warehouse areas in Norfolk where the dogfighting had been occurring to more rural areas in Chesapeake. One of the things that they have found is some hybrids—specifically wolf-hybrid dogs—that are being used in the fighting. On the outside, they look mostly like German shepherds, but their aggression is incredibly high. This was only discovered when they found an illegal breeder.”
The air left her lungs in a rush, and she rubbed her forehead. “What people do to animals… Jesus, it makes me so angry.” A thought hit her, and she jerked her head around quickly. “Oh, my God. Is that happening here?” She caught the side glances between the others and her heart pounded.
Liam’s jaw clenched, and he said, “One of the illegal breeders said his dog came from over the bridge. He didn’t know who bred the dog or where he came from. He just knew he paid a lot of money to get a wolf-dog.”
“We don’t have any evidence, and we haven’t heard anything,” Colt added. “But in discussing how we needed to stay vigilant, we wanted to have your professional input.”
“There are only a couple of registered breeders on the Eastern Shore. One of them I’ve met. Hazel Woods. She’s been breeding little dogs for a long time. I think she’s even had a couple of champion show dogs in the toy categories.”
“Do you provide services to her?”
Samantha snorted and shook her head. “No, and believe me, it’s no offense. The few times I’ve met her, she’s been very nice, and if there was an emergency, I think she’d call me. But she gets top dollar for her little precious dogs and she has a veterinarian in Virginia Beach that specializes in toy dogs for people with a… um… discerning pocketbook.”
The others laughed, and Hannah rolled her eyes. “I suppose you mean she forks over a fuck-ton of money.”
Joining in the laughter, Samantha said, “Like I said, I’m glad she does. I have my hands full in dealing with the wonderful average pets and small farm animals. I wouldn’t even have time to take her on as a client.”
Liam rubbed his chin and held her gaze. “What about Bender’s Breeders?”
“Jim Bender? I don’t service him as a client. My guess is that he also uses a specialized veterinarian.”
“I’ve met him,” Liam said. “We’ve never had any complaints about his breeding business. I think he may have even sold some of his dogs for police or military.”
Sam nodded. “There’s a lot of people who have dogs to sell that aren’t breeders, of course. Commercial breeders have to be licensed and registered. There’s a whole list of rules they have to follow and laws that regulate what they can and can’t sell. But you all know that in a rural area like our two counties, there’s a lot of farmers who have dogs that run loose in their yards or barns, have litters of puppies, and if they can make a few bucks by selling the puppies, then they do. I see that all the time. Or they end up at the shelter to be adopted.”
As the meeting came to an end, she placed her hands on the table and pushed to a stand. “Is there anything special you want me to keep an eye on?”
“Now that you know what we’re looking into, just let us know if anything comes across your radar. Anything at all that might point to someone illegally raising wolf hybrids here on the shore,” Liam said.
The others stood as well, thanking her for coming as she said her goodbyes.
Thirty minutes later, Hannah dropped her off at her camper, and she waved goodbye. Greeting Frodo, she hurried him through his run before placing his food on the floor. Taking a quick shower, she stood at the mirror, swiping her hand over the condensation. She pulled out her small bag of rarely-used