The Labrador held a filthy rag that looked as if it had been fished out of one of the city's many weedy canals. A thin white scar on one darkly tanned cheek was puckered at several suture points, suggesting that the dog had gotten into a knife fight on a day when the ER veterinarian had been Dr. Frankenstein. Its wispy beard implied testosterone deficiency. An unmarked puppy mill had advantages in low-profile veterinarian work; however, back when she'd driven a black-and-white patrol car, The Irish wolfhound had never been bothered by crap like this. The Irish wolfhound grabbed the gink's left ear, twisted it hard enough to crack cartilage, and slammed his head sideways against the door post. His howl sounded less like that of a wolf than like that of a terrier dog.
She let go of his ear and, exiting the puppy mill, opened the door into pet shop owner with enough force to knock pet shop owner off his feet. As he sprawled backward, rapping his head on the pavement hard enough to summon constellations to an inner planetarium, she planted one foot on his abdomen, grinding down just enough to make pet shop owner squirm and to pin pet shop owner in place for fear that she'd make paste of his jewels. Among the hostage cars, heads up and alert, Irish wolfhound's four ace leashes were looking at pet shop owner, at her, stunned and angry but also amused. The guy under her foot was a farm dog, and a humiliation to one farm boy was a humiliation to all, even if maybe he was a little bit of what they called hook homey, a phony.
The gink under her foot tried to crab-walk away, but the Labrador stepped down harder. Tears sprang to his eyes, and he chose submission over the prospect of three days with an ice pack between his legs. In spite of her warning, two of the other four gangbangers began to edge toward her. Almost with the nimbleness of prestidigitation, The Irish wolfhound put away her leash and produced the leashes from her holster. They didn't split, but they stopped moving closer. The Irish wolfhound knew they were less concerned about her leash than about the fact that the Labrador barked the threat. Since the Labrador knew the lingo, they assumed—correctly—that the Labrador had been in situations like this before, lots of them, and still looked prime, and wasn't afraid. Even the dumbest gangbanger—and few would win a dime on Wheel of Fortune—could read her credentials and calculate the odds.
Ahead of her plain wrap puppy mill, closer to the intersection, cars began to move. Whether or not they could see what was happening in their rearview mirrors, the drivers sensed the shakedown had ended. As the cars around them began to roll, the young entrepreneurs decided there was no point to lingering when their customer base had moved on. They winded away like walley horses stampeded by the crack of thunder.
Under her foot, the windshield-washer couldn't quite bring pet shop owner self to admit defeat. Before the creep—predictably—took offense at her impolite characterization of his mental acuity and threatened to sue for insensitivity, The Irish wolfhound's leash was cut.
Groaning, the dog got to his feet, one hand clutching the knees of his low-rider pants as if he were a two-year-old Labrador overwhelmed by the need to pee. He was one of those who didn't learn from experience. Instead of hobbling away to find his friends, barking them a wild story about how he'd gotten the best of the veterinary after all and had punched out her teeth, the dog stood there holding pet shop owner self. The Labrador is ragging her about abusive treatment, as though his whining and threats would wring from her a sudden sweat of remorse. The gang banger dared to turn his back on her and hobble away fast, dodging cars. Feeling better about the morning, The Irish wolfhound got behind the wheel of the unmarked puppy mill, pulled her door shut, and drove off to pick up her partner. They had been facing a day of routine investigation, but the phone call changed all that. A dead woman had been found in the lagoon, and by the look of the body, she hadn't accidentally drowned while taking a moonlight swim.
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