Double Dog Dare (The Raine Stockton Dog Mystery Series) Read Online Free

shouted, “Down!”
    He dropped to the ground a few feet behind the car just as it pulled away from the curb at a high rate of speed—a lot higher, if you ask me, than was safe in a parking lot.  As far as I could tell, the driver never saw any of us.
    Okay, so we had practiced that particular maneuver every day of Cisco’s life, and he ’d  performed it perfectly, under a variety of circumstances, ninety percent of the time.  Still, I couldn’t help thinking about that other ten percent, and wondering whether this time might have been one of them had not the bird long since flown out of sight by the time I gave the command.  And I didn’t completely relax until Melanie, trotting ahead of me, had Cisco’s leash in hand.
    Melanie was a good dog trainer, and she waited until I reached them,  praised Cisco calmly for his quick response to my command, and released him before she took a dog biscuit from her pocket and tossed it to him, ruffling his ears while he gulped it down and then grinned happily at her, wanting more.  It may seem counterintuitive to reward a dog who has just bolted across a parking lot and almost gotten run over, but one look at Cisco’s panting face and happily wriggling body confirmed that he had no memory whatsoever of any wrongdoing, so what good would it do to yell at him about it?  Dogs have a remarkable way of only remembering the things that have brought them the most recent joy.  If only people could do the same.
    I reached down and picked up the paper the woman had dropped just as Miles jogged up.  “Everything okay?” he asked.  He wasn’t even winded, but he hadn’t just chased a golden retriever at top speed across the parking lot.
    “We’re working on impulse control,” I muttered, embarrassed.
    “Say , Dad, guess who we just saw?” Melanie said excitedly.  “Beyonce!”
    I looked at her, surprised, and Miles said, “Is that right?”
    She reconsidered.  “Maybe it was Taylor Swift.  She had a scarf over her face.”
    “Could have been J.K. Rowling,” Miles suggested.
    Her eyes lit up.  “Hey!  Yeah!”
    “Celebrity watching,” he explained to me.  “It’s one of our favorite things to do here on the island. What have you got there?”
    I showed him the slip of paper I’d picked up.  “J.K. dropped her boarding pass,” I said. “She was in such a hurry she didn’t even notice.”
    He glanced at it.  “Or care.  That’s a ferry ticket, and it’s been cancelled. She was probably throwing it away.”
    I looked back at it curiously and discovered he was right. The ticket was for the 10:30 a.m. ferry from St. Martin, and it had already been used.  “Huh.  I wonder why she was at the airport if she came over on the ferry.”
    “Who knows why famous people do anything? Come on.”  He dropped an arm around my shoulders.  “We’ll stop in town for lunch.  There’s a place I know that has the best pizza this side of Italy.”
    “And they allow dogs!” exclaimed Melanie.  “Come on, Cisco, let’s race!”
    The two of them took off at top speed before either Miles or I could object, which was probably just as well.  We were on vacation, after all.
     
    ~*~
     
    The driver, who Miles explained was part of the concierge service he used whenever he was here, took us through the island shopping district where some of the most exclusive designers in the world had shops. I did not think I’d be doing any shopping on this street while I was here, but Melanie had a good time pretending to spot celebrities.  I was surprised by the way the luxury villas—hundreds of them, it seemed— crowded the lush green hillsides in staggered layers, their tile roofs glittering in the sun, all of them vying for the best view of what had to be the most spectacular array of beaches and bays I had ever seen.  The tranquil aqua waters were brilliant with the white prows of luxury yachts  and sailboats, and I have to admit I twisted my neck once or twice to