“Sounds like tough love.”
“If I wanted woo-woo, I’d send Sun. If I wanted coddling, I’d call Rainbow. If I wanted tough love, I’d sic Kennedy on her. The psychologist is the toughest one amongst us. Hence Zeph coming here rather than heading to the ranch.”
I rubbed my eyes. “That’s way too confusing.”
“Are you at your condo?”
“Yeah.”
“Give me ten.”
“Appreciate this.”
“You owe me.”
“Yeah, I do.”
She cut the line.
What have we got?
I wish to God I knew.
Chapter Twenty
Finn
Ulysses canceled breakfast. Something about running down a lead.
I wouldn’t have made great company either—what with the continuous yawning. But I was off for the next three days, so staying up all day was imperative to reset my internal clock.
In the end, I went to Fifties by myself and sat at the counter as I devoured my omelet, tomato, and sourdough toast. Three cups of coffee later, and after a visit to the washroom, I was off to Hearts and Paws.
Yanna the shelter manager greeted me. “Oh, Finn, so glad you’re here. I need to go out for a few hours to run errands and Selah called in sick. Could you keep an eye on the front area? When I’m back, if you want to stay, you could visit the animals then? I just gave them all their walks, so they’re good.”
Disappointment panged within me, but I couldn’t very well sayno. “Would you like me to run the errands?”
She shook her head. “I need the break, and it’ll be easier for me since I have all the accounts. If you could just hold down the fort?”
“Of course.” I waved her off. I’d been trained in and done this several times, so I would be fine. “Oh, can I bring Poppin out to keep me company?”
“Sure.”
“And how’s Thelma doing?” The pittie mix still had my heart because she’d been surrendered.
“She’s been adopted. Her new owner is picking her up on Tuesday.”
“Oh, that’s great.” Relieving as well. “Any takers for Walter or Poppin?” It was always so hard to place the oldest seniors like Walter, and it’d take a special home to handle Poppin’s health issues, but I kept hoping.”
Yanna shook her head. “None yet.”
“Did Ulysses ever come back to do those spotlights?”
She shrugged. “Not while I’ve been here. Maybe he came when Selah or Meyer was working?”
I frowned. “I’ll get on him about that.” I hoped Ulysses was just busy, not using these precious pets as pawns in his investigation.
Yanna blinked. “You can tell the new editor of the community paper what to do?”
