Page 73 of My Fiancé's Brother 2

I could hear a rumbling in the background. He sounded like he was on a plane.

I explained to him that Chloe had eaten rat poison.

“What?” his voice sounded incredulous.

“Someone did this deliberately. This meat was in the middle of our backyard. Chicken laced with poison. Someone wanted to hurt Chloe.”

“Who'd want to do that?”

“I don’t know, a dog hater?”

“Are you sure it wasn’t dragged into our yard by some other animal?”

I had never seen another animal in our yard before. “I don’t know.”

“Just don’t jump to any conclusions, okay?”

“Okay.”

A long pause. “Emily, I’m so sorry. I wish I were there, and I wish I could talk more, but I have to go. Let me know how Chloe is, okay?”

“Okay.”

It was a long night, but by morning, Chloe was standing up on the examination bed and stretching.

“It looks like she is going to be fine,” the vet said, “Keep her close to home and when she goes outside, be sure to keep a close eye on her.”

“Do you think this was accidental?”

“I want to tell you, yes, but the truth is, I have seen all sort of sick things that people do to animals. Maybe someone left out the chicken for some rats and was careless about it, and maybe another animal dragged it into your yard, I don’t know. But you need to be vigilant in watching her. Never let your dog eat anything from outside. When she goes out to your backyard, be sure to go out there with her.”

“Okay.”

Chloe moved pretty slow.We got home, and she went straight upstairs to go to sleep. I cleaned up the vomit, careful to use rubber gloves. Then I had a shower. I was so exhausted. I was just about to lie down when my phone rang. It was my realtor in New York.

“Hey, Jean.”

“Hi, Emily.”

“How’s it going?”

“Well, I was wondering if you changed your mind about selling the loft?”

“No, why?”

“Well, I went there yesterday afternoon to do a viewing, and the locks on the loft were changed. We couldn’t get in.”

I went completely still. “Excuse me?”

“I even double checked my keys, and the key wouldn’t even go into the lock. We could hear music playing inside. I wasn’t sure if you changed your mind…”

“Wait,” I stopped her. “You heard people inside?”

“Yes.”

“Coming from the loft? My loft.”

“Yes.”

---