Page 20 of Hellhound AU

I saw little difference between mistreating them on purpose versus leaving them to live in shitty conditions, but Rowan seemed pretty adamant about the guy not being “truly evil.”

“What about the dog fights?” I asked.

“I don’t think he’s in charge of that. I think there must be someone else.”

I pondered that for a moment. I assumed Rowan had gotten in touch with contacts when he’d been on his phone in order to find out more. I trusted the crew, but their information had been scarce—an address that kept popping up with complaints to the police, and a lot of rumors about dog fighting.

Why the police hadn’t done anything about the place was a question I couldn’t answer. Surely they or animal control or someone could do something.

“The police have been out here and have done nothing,” I complained.

“Yeah, probably not. The guy is probably running a legal operation when it comes to the sale of puppies.”

I turned and looked at Rowan. What the fuck? “He’s running a puppy mill!”

Rowan looked back at me, his eyes sad. “Yes. And puppy mills aren’t illegal. They can be inhumane and awful but still run legally. My guess is this guy is registered and inspected and follows the basic shelter, food, and water guidelines. I’m sure the conditions are still awful, but there’s nothing the police can do about it, even if they wanted to.”

“Fuck.” How the hell could people allow puppy mills to be legal? “I just assumed they weren’t legal.”

Rowan shrugged, looking resigned. Then he added, “Dog fightingisillegal, though. But I don’t think that’s this guy. I think we need to do more research.”

I looked at the house, the sound of animals inside, and I felt a little sick thinking about the conditions they were living in.

“We can’t take all the dogs in and give them a home, either. We’ll need the authorities on this,” Rowan added.

Fuck. He was right. Even if we did kill the guy, what would we do with the dogs? I wanted them safe, not sent to shelters that might euthanize them.

“So, what, we just leave?” I asked, disappointed.

Rowan looked thoughtful, and I turned and looked at the house. He was right; I knew he was. I wasn’t sure how he knew this wasn’t the dog fighting guy, but I trusted his research skills. I was pretty sure he was more established and professional when it came to the killing business than I was (even if his cover stories sucked).

Eventually he said, “We need to do more research. And we need to find one of these dog fights. I think this guy must have a partner or something.”

I looked longingly at the house. I really didn’t want to leave the dogs for another day, but Rowan wasn’t wrong.

He put a hand on my leg and squeezed, saying, “Let me tap into my contacts. We’ll come back tomorrow, I promise. And we’ll figure out who can best deal with the dogs once this place closes down.”

I nodded my head and started the car. As I began driving, Rowan got on his phone to do research. I left him to it and drove home, lost in my thoughts. It wasn’t until I was back in town that I realized I would have to say goodbye to Rowan for the night. Itwas actually a sad thought. I’d gotten kind of used to having him around.

“Where should I drop you?” I asked.

He looked up, surprised and a little confused. I figured he was deep in research.

“Where are you staying?” I asked again.

“Oh. The hotel on Main Street,” he finally said.

It wasn’t far, and we were there within five minutes. It was a small hotel and wasn’t fancy, but it was clean and had a good reputation. I pulled into the driveway to let Rowan off, and he stared at me.

“I know where you’re staying now. Don’t worry—I won’t do anything without my strawberry milkshake along for the ride,” I promised.

He blushed an adorable shade of pink, and then he hopped out of the car, looking back and waving before he went into the hotel.

I sighed and pulled out, heading home.

Maybe I should have asked him to stay over. Maybe I should have offered to help with research. But he hadn’t asked me to or invited me in. Plus, I knew I was being silly. I’d see the man tomorrow. Everything would be fine until then.

I’m sure we could both stay out of trouble overnight.