"I suggest we go by car" Max said, seeing how much this meant to her.  Besides, the timing of the dog's death seemed too close to that of the bombing of his bar to be a mere coincidence.

"Fine by me." Quickly, they packed, and left Jordan a note.

Soon, they were on their way, arriving at her house some time later.

"Ma?" A surprised woman with long, curly hair greeted them wearing a robe over a loose sweat pants and shirt combination.

"Amy….this is Max Cavanaugh. He's going to investigate …what happened to Socrates. Where is he?"

"A vet from the CT humane society got him, …to see…ya know. I'm so sorry ma…"

"Max is a former police detective. Tell him exactly what happened to Socrates. I'll put …on some tea." Maxine said, while bottling up her emotions.

"Hi…thanks for coming!" Amy told him lamely as they sat down in the living room. "How do you know mom?"

"I was working with her on that case…."

"Oh yeah…"

"I'm sorry, but could you tell me how you found ..Socrates?" Max asked her gently.

"Without a head, branded like cattle, legless, and stabbed." She whispered, not wanting her mother, who was putting water on, to hear her.

"What was branded on him?"

"S-H."Amy tried to keep calm for her mother's sake. "The dog was mutilated after he died.".

"That's odd" Max commented.

"Come to think of it, it is" Amy agreed. "Any idea of what the S-H could mean?"

"Any number of things. Someone's initials, a place…or a shorthand for a legal term…Your mother mentioned on the way here that you were a judge."

"I'd have to look at my reference books" she told him, trying to think. "What about Santuary House? It's a program my mom is trying to set up, for abused kids." She started to brighten a bit, maybe they were on to something.

"How far along is it?"

"My mom has a few possible sites, and has started to apply for funding. Maybe there are people who don't want it to happen?"

"Well.. ….most of the people who know about it at this point, could use other more subtle means of sabotage." Maxine wryly commented as she put the tray, with cups, and tea on the living room table.

"I agree" Max said. "Show me where  you found the dog."

Grimly, Amy led him and Maxine outside, to an area of lawn to one side of the house.

"There……." The Judge pointed to a spot with her flashlight.  Street light-accentuated darkness contrasted with the bright spots of their flashlights.

"Did anyone see or hear anything?" He asked.

"The cops are working on that" Amy answered.

"Who let him go out alone?" Maxine demanded.

"Ma!"

"I wish Jordan were here." Max said. "She'd know how to extract information out of this spot."

"She's a medical examiner" Maxine explained to her confused daughter.

What was the time of death?"Max tried to paint a verbal picture. "

"About two days, when we found him"

Days passed, and friends of Maxine's in the Hartford police department told her that the vet ruled the cause of death as being a result of a deadly injection. Max, for his part, tried to piece together what happened. Thankfully, Jordan had decided to join him. Together, they reexamined the patch of lawn, flashlights in hand. She started to get the feeling that something was up.

She got out her special light, that could detect even faded blood stains.

"Nothing here" she pronounced. "Maybe, he threw something at the dog, knocking it out."

"What about a tranquilizer gun?" Max suggested. "There are ones made for dogs."

"He shoots the dog with it, then kills him later." She turned off the special light.

"The dog would growl, or howl for a bit, but the neighbors would see it as normal." He hypothesized.

"I need to see the dog's body" She announced.

"Jordan, you're not a vet."

"I deal with mutilated corpses every day!" The medical examiner protested, crossing her arms.

"But they're human" He carried the flashlight with his right hand, and rolled his eyes.

"The only mutilations Vets deal with are burnt cats" Jordan retorted, scowling at her father. "Besides, I studied comparative biology."

"Jordan, you're not going to pull off playing vet, as well as you pull off playing detective." He tried to be diplomatic.

"I'm not going to examine the dog for diseases, dad." She tried to explain. "A dog is a mammal, as you know."

"Glad  the money I spent on tuition didn't go to waste." He wrly told her.

"The way a knife penetrates or cuts through can't be that different" Jordan argued, ignoring her father's comment.

"If Socrates had been a pig, I'd agree with you." He smiled.

"Huh?"

"Pig flesh is similar to that of humans." He informed her with a self-satisfied grin.

"I can't believe you didn't ask for crime scene photos." She muttered, again walking around the area.

"Maxine's going through a hard time, right now, and friends in the police department or not: they're not gonna give her any."

"When are they going to release the body?"

"Soon, I think"

"I need to get to it before the…pet mortuary does." She buttoned her sweater.

"You want to break in" Max rolled his eyes, pacing a bit.

"Come on dad! We need to get to the bottom of this! Help Maxine get closure" Enthusiasm filled her eyes.

"Maybe Woody knows someone at Hartford PD. See if he can get us the crime photos."  

"Nah…..he doesn't think it's related."

As they talked, Maxine cried in her room.

"How's she doing?" She asked her father a mouth later over dinner at her place. The investigation of dog's death had stagnated.

"Better. We …talk on the phone sometimes."

"I see." She figured that they'd become friends.

Two weeks passed; Jordan went to see her father about another case.

"Jordan?" Max flushed with embarrassment, as he opened the door.

"Here is the wine……" A familiar face  in a robe said before noticing Jordan.

"Maxine…Jordan's here." He told the woman.

"Oh….." Maxine flushed, and gave a fake smile,  and wore her hair loose rather than in its usual bun.

"Sorry, I..uh..didn't know you had company….We can talk tomorrow." Jordan excused herself, going back to her car.  She had trouble picturing them as a couple.

"I give it a few months, at most." she thought. "No wonder dad has been neglecting the rebuilding of the bar!"

By the end of that year, they practically lived together at Maxine's house, and were about to get  a big break on the larger case.

TBC