The Sound and the Furry (38 page)
Read The Sound and the Furry Online
Authors: Spencer Quinn
Tags: #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #General, #Thrillers, #Suspense
They took the slug out of Bernie at the nice little hospital in St. Roch. After Bernie
got bandaged up, Mr. Sim, VP, Consumer Affairs of Green Oil, paid us a visit. He was
a distinguished-looking dude with silvery hair, smooth skin, and a nice suit.
“Can’t thank you enough,” he said.
“Huh?” said Bernie.
“Talk about going rogue,” said Mr. Sim. “Enlisting the help of
some Central American drug gang—can you imagine? Naturally, Donnegan’s denies all
knowledge—as if that’ll stop us from suing the pants off them.”
“Uh-huh,” said Bernie.
“But none of that concerns you,” Mr. Sim, reaching into his pocket. “Here, as a token
of our appreciation, is a check for fifty thousand dollars.”
Fifty grand! Had I ever even heard of so much money? I actually didn’t know.
Bernie shook his head. “No thanks.”
Mr. Sim rocked back. “I’m sorry?”
“We’ve already got a client.”
Mr. Sim tilted his head in a way that actually reminded me of Bernie. “Kind of easy,
isn’t it?” he said. “Maybe even lazy, from an intellectual point of view.”
“What are you referring to?”
“Hating the oil business.”
“I don’t hate the oil business,” Bernie said. “I hate what you did to Ralph Boutette.”
We had a client? That turned out to be the Boutettes, a fact that kept slipping my
mind. They threw a big party for us at Rooster Red’s with the whole town coming, the
exception being the Robideaus, who had all left suddenly on a long vacation, and Lord
Boutette, who turned out to have some outstanding warrants up in the city. Bernie
laughed a lot, especially when he realized our three shrimpy grand, all gone, had
come from Cale Rugh originally, by way of Mack and then Vannah, or something like
that, not so easy to track, and laughed even harder when he learned for sure there’d
been more originally, before Vannah did a little skimming. We got to sample Mami’s
sweet potato pie, and the
Boutettes took up a collection for us. We walked out of there with eight hundred dollars
and seventy cents, not too shabby, unless I was missing something. Did I mention Mami’s
sweet potato pie?
On the way home, Bernie finally reached Suzie on the phone.
“It’s crazy to let silly misunderstandings come between us,” he told her.
“How about serious misunderstandings?” Suzie said.
Bernie laughed. “Them, too.”
Then they were both laughing. What was funny? Don’t ask me. But the sound of Bernie’s
laughter couldn’t be beat, and Suzie had made it happen, so therefore . . .
Almost forgot: Bernie handles the so therefores. I bring other things to the table.
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to my wife, Diana, and my sons Seth and Ben for first getting me interested
in Louisiana. And I’m deeply grateful for Atria’s enthusiastic support of the Chet
and Bernie series—special mention to Ariele Fredman.
SPENCER QUINN
is the author of five previous Chet and Bernie mystery novels:
Dog on It, Thereby Hangs a Tail, To Fetch a Thief, The Dog Who Knew Too Much,
and
A Fistful of Collars
. He lives on Cape Cod with his dogs Audrey and Pearl. When not keeping them out of
mischief, he is hard at work on the next Chet and Bernie mystery. Keep up with him—and
with Chet and Bernie—by visiting
ChetTheDog.com
.
MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT
Also by Spencer Quinn
Dog on It
Thereby Hangs a Tail
To Fetch a Thief
The Dog Who Knew Too Much
A Fistful of Collars
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people,
or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events
are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or
places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Spencer Quinn
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof
in any form whatsoever. For information, address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department,
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First Atria Books hardcover edition September 2013
Jacket design by Anna Dorfman
Front cover photograph of Swamp © Ian Shive/Aurora/Getty Images
Back cover photo © Chad Latta/Flickr/Getty Images
Author photograph by Randi Baird
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Quinn, Spencer.
The sound and the furry : a Chet and Bernie mystery / by Spencer Quinn.—1st Atria
Books hardcover ed.
p. cm.
1. Dogs—Fiction. 2. Private investigators—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3617.U584F57 2012
813’.6—dc23
2012005329
ISBN 978-1-4767-0322-0
ISBN 978-1-4767-0326-8 (ebook)