Chapter 11 - Charles Arrives
Charles Whitmore stepped from the second SUV.
He was sixty-eight, silver-haired, and dressed in a tailored winter coat.
He looked from Rebecca to Walter and then to the open kennels.
“Dale, leave us.”
Dale remained still.
Charles repeated the order.
This time, Dale walked outside.
Rebecca held up the rope.
“Grace was here.”
Charles sighed.
“I was afraid of that.”
“You knew?”
“I knew Dale had been using company property without permission.”
“For what?”
Charles looked toward Walter.
“This is a family matter.”
Walter answered, “The dog became my business when someone left her puppies to freeze.”
Charles’s controlled expression cracked.
“Grace was never supposed to be harmed.”
Rebecca stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Charles admitted Dale operated an illegal breeding business.
He used abandoned company sites to keep stolen dogs.
Charles discovered it two months earlier.
Instead of reporting Dale, he ordered him to close the operation quietly.
“Why?” Rebecca asked.
“The county contract.”
Rebecca stepped back.
“You protected the company.”
“I protected thousands of employees.”
“You protected yourself.”
Charles insisted he believed Grace had already been sold.
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Dale told him no dogs remained on the property.
Charles chose not to verify it.
