Scents and Sensibility (34 page)

Bernie grabbed Mickles by the collar, got in a couple good ones. Mickles got in a couple of good ones of his own. That made Bernie mad, just as mad as me. We're a lot alike in some ways, don't forget. He bent, coiled up all his strength, and threw the uppercut.

Maybe not landing it square on the chin, but close enough. Mickles staggered back against the leg of cactus man, hitting it hard. The strobing stopped and I heard a strange metallic sound from overhead. Mickles hadn't gone down, something of a surprise, although his face was a satisfying, bloody sight. Except what was this? He was reaching into his jacket, pulling out a little gun? I—but I had no time to do anything, because something cracked high above, and an instant later a huge hat—a porkpie hat, but made of sheet metal—came plunging down, brim first. The edge of that brim sliced deep into Mickles's head. He went down the way humans do when it's forever.

Hey! We were getting lots of help from above tonight! That was unusual and very nice. I turned to Bernie. Bernie turned to me. He grinned and said, “Saved by cactus man, big guy. Didn't that girl ask about the deeper meaning of—”

And then stopped right there. His eyes closed. He—my Bernie—slumped to the ground and lay still.

•  •  •

There was lots of crying in the next little while. I saw Captain Stine crying and Nixon Panero. Also old Mr. and Mrs. Parsons, and Amy the vet. Lots of cops, perps—and cooks, too, plus bartenders. Plus Leda. And Charlie, which was the worst. Can't leave out Suzie, who cried plenty but turned out to be the strongest.

I myself was going out of my mind, but finally Suzie got them to let me visit the hospital. They had Bernie in a room by himself. He lay on a bed, eyes closed, pale. There were no tubes or anything like that connected to him. Maybe that was what Suzie was talking about when she said, “What's going on? Where's the ventilator?”

A nurse shook her head.

We went to the side of the bed. Bernie's hand lay on the sheet. He has the most beautiful hands in the world, as I've probably mentioned way too much. I gave that beautiful hand a lick. It felt cold.

Then slowly, so slowly it almost didn't happen, the hand moved a bit. It rose the tiniest height off the sheet, turned the tiniest bit, and came to rest against the side of my neck. Bernie's hand gripped me, so weakly you couldn't really call it gripping. But I knew he was holding on tight. I know Bernie.

There'd be no Chet and Bernie series without the hard work of my crack researchers, Audrey and Pearl. They show up every day and work for treats. A writer can't ask for more than that.

SPENCER QUINN
is the author of seven previous bestselling Chet and Bernie mystery novels as well as the middle-grade novel
Woof
. 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
spencequinn.com
.

MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT

SimonandSchuster.com

authors.simonandschuster.com/Spencer-Quinn

Facebook.com/AtriaBooks
@AtriaBooks

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

The Sound and the Furry

Paw and Order

An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

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 © 2015 by Spencer Quinn

Jacket design by Anna Dorfman

Jacket photographs © Kevin Button/Moment Open/Getty Images (Sunset & Fence),

Bernadette Heath/Shutterstock (Cactus), Oksanika/Shutterstock (Large Dog),

Eric Isselee/Shutterstock (Small Dog), Ksenia Raykova/Shutterstock (Back Cover)

Author Photograph by Randi Baird

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, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Atria Books hardcover edition July 2015

and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or
[email protected]
.

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at
www.simonspeakers.com
.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Quinn, Spencer.

Scents and sensibility : a Chet and Bernie mystery / Spencer Quinn.

pages ; cm

1. Dogs—Fiction. 2. Private investigators—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3617.U584S29 2015

813'.6—dc23

2015010341

ISBN 978-1-4767-0342-8

ISBN 978-1-4767-0344-2 (ebook)