alarm

The dogs had been barking all night and well into the morning, and then a neighbor reported seeing one of them running loose. A door was open.
The police entered the house and found her; she had been shot in the back of the head.
There was much speculation.
If only the dogs had been able to speak.
The neighbors had a lot to say. Some suggested the housekeeper
(who kept a gun in her purse), others, the boyfriend (whose first wife had disappeared), and then, there was the quiet groundskeeper.
The dogs were given to a no-kill shelter.