and see if she’s got a chip. I would bet she doesn’t.”
Because they didn’t have a vet for miles. A lot of people around Papillon treated their own dogs with the exception of vaccines. He moved to reach into his bag.
Roxie ran her hand over the dog’s head and down her body. “If you find out who did this, I want to know.”
Because she would have a long talk with that unlucky person. Of course, all she could do was talk. He might think about finding that jerk and tying him up overnight in the woods. See how he liked it. “Sure.”
He pulled out the leash he kept in his bag and eased it over the puppy’s head. It wasn’t easy because this was a wriggly pup.
Roxie held her still. “I’m serious, Guidry. I don’t want to have to arrest you again.”
“Arrest me?”
“Tell me you’re not thinking about knocking this guy out and letting him wake up tied to a tree,” she shot back as he gently tightened the leash.
At least she knew him. “Fine. I’ll let you in on it.”
That got him a grin that threatened to take his breath away. “Deal.”
He needed to let her know that wasn’t likely to happen. “But you should understand that we’ll probably never know why this dog was left here. Ninety-nine percent of the time, dogs who are brought into a shelter because they were left like this are never reclaimed, and we just don’t know what they’ve been through. She doesn’t have tags. They were taken off so no one could ID her. Whoever did this doesn’t want to be found, and that likely means this little pup’s past will remain a mystery.”
She hugged the puppy close. “What happens if she doesn’t have a microchip?”
“She goes into a shelter and we all hope for the best,” he replied. “Or more likely I’ll get to the shelter, look at her sad puppy face, and bring her home with me until I can find a place for her. I might parade her by Lisa and mention that the shelter is overcrowded and it would be sad if they put her down.”
Lisa was his sister-in-law, and she had a tender heart. She would fall for the puppy and then his brother would give him hell because they didn’t have time for a dog. His brother ran the local pub and restaurant. It was pretty much a twenty-four-seven job.
Roxie gasped and held the dog closer. “They are not going to put this dog down.”
He stood and reached to help her up. “Maybe Armie needs a trained police dog.”
It probably wouldn’t be a Lab, and certainly not this one from the looks of it. She would likely lick the criminals or beg them for pets.
“Maybe we do.” Roxie stared at his hand and started to stand on her own.
She got tangled in the leash because the dog had managed to run a circle around her. She hit the ground with a thud and a curse.
Stubborn woman. “You won’t even let me help you up?”
“I don’t normally need help,” she said with a sigh.
“The ground here is rugged. Hold on to me. I promise I won’t try anything. I know how quick you are to arrest an innocent man.” She did it to him all the time. At first it was annoying, but lately he’d been wondering if it might not be her version of flirting. Not flirting exactly, but her way of staying close to him even though she thought he was a bad bet. After all, she almost never actually did anything beyond tossing him in a cell and then letting him off with a warning.
“You had unpaid tickets,” she shot back as she untangled herself. “Could you give me some light? I think I can manage this on my own if I can see. It’s so dark out here. I’m not used to it.”
He reached down and picked up her flashlight. It had fallen out of her hands when the dog had created her charming chaos. “Because it never gets dark in New York?”
She chuckled at that. “Trust me, when the power goes out, it gets really dark, and there are things in the city that make the gators look civilized.”
She managed to unwind the leash and handed it to him as she started to get to her feet.
Something caught his eye, a slight rustling of leaves and the slither of something moving through them.
“Roxanne, I need you to be very still,” he said