Read I Shall Not Want for Free Online Page B

long time.

    “I knew it!” Cindy burst out loud enough to startle herself as well as Mark and Joseph.
    The second puppy had been taken. It had to be about the dogs.
    “Do you know for certain that Duchess was stolen, that she didn’t just run off?” Joseph asked.
    Mark shrugged. “We don’t know for sure, but a guy called the police station to complain about a dog barking like crazy in the alley next to his apartment. It took a while for an officer to go check it out. When he did, there was no dog, but there was a body. So, we’re assuming the dog was still there right around the time Randy was killed. Now, she could have run off.”
    “She was stolen,” Cindy insisted. She could feel it. Two men dead in twenty-four hours, both of them in possession of one of Joseph’s puppies, couldn’t be a coincidence. She tried to push from her mind the tears of joy on his face as Randy had accepted the dog the night before.
    Joseph’s cell phone rang and he answered it. A moment later he bolted up from the table, slamming into the waitress carrying a tray with their food. The plates crashed to the floor, showering Mark and Cindy with a spray of mashed potatoes and gravy.
    “Look!” an excited patron shouted. “There’s blooming onion all over the blooming floor!”
    Mark lurched out of the booth, struggling to maintain his balance on the suddenly slippery floor. Joseph threw some bills down on the table and then took off for the door at a run. Mark ran after him, and Cindy scrambled to keep up, her stomach growling noisily as she saw what would have been a lovely dinner covering the floor.
    When she made it out the door, Joseph was already in his car, pulling away. “What is it?” Mark yelled.
    The window rolled down, and she heard Joseph shout back, “My alarm service. Someone broke into the house.”
    With an oath Mark lunged toward his car, and Cindy stood for a moment before running to hers. She yanked on her seat belt, started the car, threw it in reverse, and peeled out of the parking lot right behind Mark. That’s when her mind stopped spinning long enough for her to wonder what in the world she was doing. This is insanity. I’m not seriously speeding toward the scene of a crime! What am I doing?
    She could still feel the adrenaline rushing through her body, courtesy of Joseph’s flight from the restaurant. He hadn’t wanted to go home. Maybe it’s a good thing he didn’t. She remembered what it had been like when her home had been broken into— the fear, the violation—and she felt for Joseph. He shouldn’t have to face that alone. She had had Jeremiah to lean on.
    Jeremiah. Her hand moved to her cell phone, but then she hesitated. Aside from his being there the night before, this really didn’t have anything to do with him. He would probably thank her to leave him out of it. Reluctantly, she let go of her phone and concentrated on following Mark to Joseph’s house.
    When they finally got there, she was relieved to discover that the police were already there ahead of them, apparently alerted by the alarm company. The front door was open wide, and lights blazed all over the mansion. Cindy followed Mark as he walked over to Joseph who was talking to a uniformed officer. She was stunned to discover that it was the guy from speed dating.
    He looked equally surprised to see her but flashed a grin. “I just started work like half an hour ago,” he informed her.
    “Oh,” she said, not sure what else to say.
    The officer turned back to Joseph.
    “What are you saying?” Joseph asked, looking bewildered.
    “Whoever it was deactivated the alarm on their way in and then on their way out tried to reactivate it and failed to do so correctly. That’s what alerted the security company.”
    “Are you saying someone has my access code and can come in whenever they like?”
    “It looks that way. We’re going to need a list of people who have that code.”
    “Nobody,” Joseph said, pulling at his hair with