Paws before dying

neck. It’s two points, spikes, like bullets. They stick out of the inside of the collar and into the dog’s neck. So if it burns, it’d leave two marks.”
    He shrugged.
    “Steve, that’s what they found on Rose’s body. Two burn marks.”
    “On her neck?”
    “No. Her hand.”
    “What would...?”
    “Well, that’s what I’m asking you. But in theory, it’s possible, right?” I pushed my way through some scrubby maple saplings.
    “Hmm. She was opening the gate. She was found next to it. The marks could’ve come from the gate. It’s galvanized. It’s like a dog run. That’s something we do see injuries from. The dog gets its paw caught in the chain link, that kind of thing. Has anyone taken a good look at the gate?”
    “I assume. They must’ve. Anyway, we can look on the way out. But how would that bum? It isn’t as if she’d scratched herself on it or got cut. Obviously, chain link could do that if it was loose. Torn. But Kevin said bums.”
    “If the whole thing was electrified? Say what’s hit by lightning is a tree. Then the ground currents can radiate from the tree, or whatever’s taken a direct hit.”
    “But the point is, there was no direct hit. There are these people who live across the street, right across the street from the entrance, where the tennis courts are. And they are positive. I talked to the woman. They were home. And they swear that lightning did not strike there. It’s possible that it did and they didn’t notice, but this woman sounds reliable.”
    “Then what...?”
    “That’s it. What did? If lightning didn’t strike, what was it? How did Rose die? I didn’t see the autopsy report, obviously. Who’s going to show it to me? But if her pacemaker had just sort of broken, if there’d been something wrong with it, there wouldn’t be an inquest. Why inquire? Look, could it have been a shock collar? It’d leave two burn marks, and that’s what she had, two burn marks. Could that do it? By the way, do you know where we are? I’m lost.”
    Four or five little paths led from the wooded clearing where we found ourselves.
    He shook his head and took my hand. “No idea, but it doesn’t matter. We’ll just follow the dogs.” My soulmate. “Anyway, could it bum? Yes. If it was old. If it was malfunctioning. Or if it’d been tampered with.”
    “Could you do that? How hard is it to tamper with them?”
    “Can you up the voltage? Yeah, up to a point. It’s no high-tech project. Anyone who’s had high school physics or knows a little about electronics could do it. And the expensive, new collars are supposedly a hundred percent waterproof. Hunters want something they can leave on a retriever when he hits the water. So waterproof and water-safe are big selling points. The old ones weren’t, and if the seal’s broken... and in this situation, you’ve got water. Maybe she was standing in it.”
    “We can look,” I said. “On the way out. We can see if there would’ve been a puddle there, in heavy rain. There was a real downpour, at least in Cambridge, and I gather here, too. Anyway, the burn marks are sort of confusing me because the other thing is that across the street, that woman who’s making me the scarf for Buck—Marcia Brawley—has one of those damned electronic fences. Actually, you know what’s the worst thing about it? These people, the Brawleys, have a border collie. Jesus, what kind of person would give electric shocks to a border collie? Border collies are about ten times as intelligent and sensitive as most people.”
    “They vary,” he said. “But, in general, they’re real bright.” He rubbed Lady’s head. “It’s more apt to be these guys.”
    “Pointers?”
    “Bird dogs. Hounds. Hunting dogs all work at a distance.”
    “Steve, I saw this dog, and what he does is, when he gets near the edge of the lawn, he acts really strange. He stops and backs up. But also, it’s hard to describe, but he has an odd look. Their eyes are always eerie, but he looks abnormal, not like a border collie. Anyway, his collar is definitely not a regular collar. It’s light-colored, flat, with a sort of box. Obviously, it’s a shock collar. So I assumed it’s one of those damned electronic systems, with wire buried around the perimeter of the yard. I know they work on radio waves. That’s what triggers the shock. When the dog gets in range of the wire, the collar picks up the radio waves, and the collar gets a signal to give a shock. Right? So