Chapter 52
By the time Ryan and Cassandra got off the plane, it was already the middle of the night. Ryan drove while Cassandra sat in the passenger seat, feeling numb and hollow.
Ryan said, “Cassandra, try to hold it together. I know losing Snowball has hit you hard, but now’s not the time to fall apart.”
“I know.”
When they arrived at the animal hospital, Ryan’s friend, Mike Dawson, was already waiting.
He told Ryan, “Since you weren’t here, I didn’t let anyone do an autopsy yet. But honestly, she didn’t die of natural causes. She had actually been doing better lately and eating well too. But tonight, she suddenly started foaming at the mouth. She was gone in minutes…”
་་
He glanced at Cassandra, then asked Ryan, “Is this your girlfriend?”
Ryan clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks for coming here so late. I owe you one.”
“Come on, we’re brothers. No need for thanks.”
While the two of them talked, Cassandra went straight in, heading right for Snowball’s old cage. Snowball was gone, but there was still a lot of white foam in the cage and even some fresh blood.
When Ryan caught up, he found Cassandra crouched in front of the cage. She looked so small that way, her usually tall and slender figure suddenly seeming fragile.
He walked over. “Cassandra…”
“Who came by today?” Cassandra looked past him at one of the staff members.
The staff member replied, “Snowball’s dad came.
Cameron?
“When was that?”
“In the evening, a little after 9:00 pm. He came to see Snowball and even brought her favorite treats. She was so happy, wagging her tail the whole time. But not long after he left, she started foaming at the mouth.”
Cassandra’s voice turned icy. “So, Snowball was poisoned, wasn’t she?”
“We’ll need to run more tests to be sure, but the symptoms… They do look a lot like acute poisoning.”
“Where is Snowball now?”
“She’s in the back. I’ll take you.”
Chapter 57
Cassandra finally Tound Snowball in a quiet room at the back, lying motionless on a soft mat. There was still an IV in her paw, and her eyes were wide open, frozen in pain.
Cassandra reached out to touch Snowball, but Ryan stopped her.
“If you want to get justice for Snowball, don’t touch her yet. I’ve already called in a specialist for toxicology tests. They’ll be here any minute.”
Cassandra forced herself to stay put.
The specialist arrived quickly, and the results came back just as fast.
“Carbofuran,” the expert said. “It’s a powerful pesticide. This stuff is banned and nearly impossible to get these days. How could a dog get poisoned like this inside an animal hospital?
Cassandra gave a cold laugh. “What if it was someone Snowball knew?”
Snowball had been with her and Cameron since she was a puppy, at just a month old, all the way to 15 years old. From the time they met until they split up, Snowball had witnessed their entire relationship.
Cassandra had once imagined that when Snowball got old, she and Cameron would bury her together in her favorite field, letting her soul run free forever. She always knew that losing a pet was inevitable, but she never imagined it would end like this.
Cassandra strode out of the room. Ryan grabbed her hand. “Did you see Snowball?”
“Yeah.” Cassandra looked up at him. “Mr. Scott, can you do me one more favor? After I divorce Cameron, you can have everything I get in the settlement.”
Ryan frowned. “Why are you bringing this up now? Just tell me what you need.”
“I want Cameron to end up in there.”
“Where?”
“In prison.”
Back at the villa, Cameron sat alone in the empty conservatory, sipping a can of beer in the silence at midnight. The moon was bright, and the stars were sparse. The night sky over Hannover was beautiful.
He wondered what the weather was like in Stokelle tonight.
Maybe it was the alcohol, but his longing for Cassandra grew bigger and heavier, like a sponge soaking up water. But she had already blocked him on every platform. She had even set up filters to block his emails.
Chapter 53
Chapter 53