Criminal Case: Grimsborough

Chapter 31: Dog Eat Dog-Part 2

After Jones and Marie got a tip from Grace that the killer wears a badge for the dog pageant, Ramirez approached them and told them that James Savage's dog has just died. Once they heard the news, Marie's eyes went wide with shock and she exclaimed, "I don't believe this?! First Molly and her dog are killed in the dog pageant arena and now Buck's just been murdered?!"

"Ramirez, what else did James say? Does he know how his dog died?" Jones asked.

Ramirez just shrugged and said, "I don't know, but he asked that Marie should come to his shack as soon as possible!"

Marie agreed to go and see James and when she looked at Jones, he sighed deeply and said, "James and I don't see eye to eye, but I wouldn't expect this from my rival. We should go see him and know how his dog died! And I just remembered that we should also check the pet beauty parlor since they're the dog pageant's main sponsor."

"Since we know the killer is participating in the competition, they probably went there to get their pet groomed," Marie mentioned and Jones agreed.

Before they could go to the beauty parlor, Marie and Jones decided to talk to James first and see how he was doing. Once they got to James' shack, Marie approached the morose hunter and said to him, "James, we came as soon as we heard the news. We're really sorry about Buck's loss."

James looked at the female officer and she saw that he was on the verge of crying and he said, "I just can't believe they would do that. I just can't."

Surprised, Jones asked, "They?! You mean, you knew who killed your dog James? You have to tell us!"

James then explained angrily, "It could've been any one of them or maybe it's all of them! Those hypocrites living their lives full of lies! They just couldn't stand the thought that my dog might win! I found Buck when he was just a puppy and he'd been thrown in a ditch. I saved his life and he rewarded me by staying by my side for ten years. He never bit anyone, he never growled at anybody and he would always bark whenever trespassers came by. And now, my best friend is dead!"

Marie hugged James and told him in a consoling voice, "James, I promise, I will find out who killed Buck." And James hugged her back and she felt his tears drip into her shirt.

Jones then said that in order for them to find out who did kill James husky, they need to inspect him first. James then pulled away, dried his tears and told the officers that the dog is in his shack. After they thanked him, they stepped inside to get the dead dog to be autopsied. As soon as Marie saw the dead dog on the floor, she knelt down and ran her hand through his fur and she thought sadly, poor dog. Jones then picked Buck up carefully and then they exited the shack and headed back to the station.

On their way there, Jones began to think if Buck was killed by Molly's killer, then maybe Nathan might find more clues on who did it. After they dropped the husky off at the station, Jones and Marie headed to the pet beauty parlor. As soon as they got there, Marie looked around and she found some torn pieces of fabric and a bag of dog kibble. Marie knew she can put the fabric pieces back together and the kibble looked like it was rummaged through. Before Marie could look through the bag, she decided to put the fabric back together and once it was whole, she saw that the fabric was a beautiful red ribbon.

The female officer then saw that the ribbon had some sort of sand in it and before she could inspect it, she decided to rummage through the kibble first. After rummaging around the kibble, Marie found a card that was buried deep in the bag. Once she looked closely at it, Marie saw that it was a loyalty card for the beauty parlor, but the ink was faded. Jones also saw it and he thought to himself, time to display your talent partner. As soon as they got back to the station, Marie extracted the sand from the ribbon and after she did that, she looked closely at the sand and saw that they were actually cookie crumbs.