Peggy Gaffney is the author of
the Kate Killoy Mysteries of Suspense for the Dog Lover, which have been
described as Die Hard meets Best in Show.
Today she offers us a short story from the series. Learn more about Peggy and
her books at her website.
The Christmas
Tree
A Kate Killoy Short Story
Kate
had been fighting months of grief since the deaths of her father and
grandfather. However, she had woken that morning, realized it was Christmas Eve
and suddenly found herself resolved to get into the holiday spirit. This would
be her first Christmas in her little house next to her kennel. She’d be going
to her mother’s for Christmas dinner, but she suddenly wanted to bring the
spirit of the holiday into her new home.
Getting
a tree wasn’t a problem. When you own fourteen wooded acres, what you do is
grab a hatchet and crosscut saw, ropes, a dog-sled and a dog. Though most of
the Samoyeds in her kennel were trained for the show ring, Dillon had also been
training on a sled team for more than a year and would be the best answer to
getting the tree home. She found the perfect tree after just half an hour of looking.
The cutting and loading went quickly. Dillon thought this was great since there
was nothing he enjoyed more in winter than racing through the snowy wooded
trails pulling a sled.
Back
in her cottage, she realized that some of her younger Sammy helpers needed to
learn the difference between outdoor and indoor trees. She made a quick save
with a fast grab for two male puppies and tucking each under an arm, called the
adult dogs to follow, and sent them all out into the yard to kept the tree from
being marked.
Back
at work, she pulled the lights her grandmother had given her from the bin. As
she set about untangling the string, she thought she saw movement. A glance
around the room showed nothing. Attaching the beginning of the strand to the
top of the tree, she caught a movement and saw the other end moving silently
across the floor and disappearing. Going hand over hand, she followed the
strand and gazed into the darkness behind the sofa. Tugging on her end she felt
a quick tug in the other direction, and two golden eyes stared out at her. Her
‘invisible’ Chartreux cat, Macbeth, was using her charcoal-gray/blue coloring
to hide her theft in the semi-dark room. Laughing, she reeled in the strand,
grabbed the cat and after a snuggle, put her on the sofa and finished adding
the light to the tree.
She
turned on the radio and set it to the station playing Christmas music and hummed
as she reached for the blue box of ornaments. Its contents moved and the angel
which would be placed on tree-top, jumped from the box and started moving
unsteadily across the room. Kate reached for the ponytail dangling from the
angel’s hair and lifting, saw white fuzzy feet sticking out the bottom.
Suddenly her white and marmalade kitten popped out of the bottom. She scooped
her up, put her onto the overstuffed chair by the fireplace and prayed both her
helpers would stay put. Amazingly, they did but were quite vocal in their
meowing critiques as the rest of the decorating came together.
After
she finished putting on the last ornament, she went into her bedroom and
gathered up armloads of wrapped packages and arranged them around the tree.
Then, opening the door to the yard, she invited her ‘helpers’ together as she
plugged in the lights. She let the cats explore the boxes as the dogs settled
in to watch the sparkling lights highlight each ornament, and for the first
time in many months, Kate felt a quiet peace settle over her. In fact, she could
swear she felt her father and grandfather’s comforting hands resting on her
shoulders just as they always had done when she was going into the ring to show
her dogs. She looked at the dogs and cats around her and let their comfort lift
the grief from her heart and replace it with the joy of the season.
National Security, a Kate Killoy
Mystery
The
third book in the Kate Killoy Mystery series of Suspense for the Dog Lover,
begins when Kate and her fiancé Harry Foyle, a former geek for the FBI, prepare
to leave with Kate’s Samoyed dogs for the National where they and hundreds of
others will compete for best. Kate gets a card from a friend saying she’ll meet
her at the show to share something secret and vital. On the way to the show,
they find out her friend has been murdered.
Kate
is determined to find her friend’s killer, but the NSA and the FBI are more
interested in the secret they are sure has been given to Kate. They don’t
believe her when she says she didn’t get anything from her friend that was
important to national security.
The
agents tend to doubt her, even more, when someone tries to kill her at every
opportunity. While Harry and her friends are trying to keep her alive, Kate’s
determined to solve the puzzle of the vital secret. Kate recruits a former
Russian spy to help.
So
between trips into the ring to compete in agility, obedience, and breed classes
with her dogs, and dodging bullets, Kate and Harry must figure out who is
behind a plot to destroy America and stop them. Though terrified and
exhausted, Kate is determined to do her best in the ring–to win.
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