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“Maybe. It’s been years. I just thought you should know.”

“Funny your brother didn’t mention it to me when I talked to him,” Paterno said slowly. “Guess it must’ve slipped his mind.”

“As I said, he’s not sure.”

“Anything else you think maybe we should know?” he asked, one eyebrow raising.

“Yeah,” she said. “One thing, but I’m not sure how it all fits.”

“Shoot.”

“On the night of the fire here, the one that destroyed my shed, it looks like someone intentionally harmed one of my horses.” She explained Nate’s theory about Molly, then slipped on a pair of shoes and walked the two policemen into the horse barn where they saw the mare’s singed whiskers firsthand.

Paterno’s face was shuttered and grim.

“The guy’s a real sicko,” Rossi said, his face red.

Apparently wounding an animal was worse than killing a woman in Rossi’s estimation. Or maybe he’d become jaded over the years, was used to finding charred bodies in bathtubs. An animal lover herself, Shannon understood his rage, but it surprised her in the detective. Paterno, on the other hand, remained quiet, his eyes dark and contemplative.

As they walked back to the house, Paterno said, “If there’s anything else you think of you’ll call, right?”

“Count on it. I want this maniac caught as much as anyone. He’s got my daughter.”

If he was going to say anything else, perhaps mention the fact that Shannon had given up her motherly rights to her child thirteen years earlier, he thought better of it.

Smart man.

She escorted them to their car. As they were climbing into the sedan, she returned to the house where, once she’d closed the front door, she leaned against the panels, thankful the interview was over. Her thoughts turned to Dani Settler again, just as they had continually since she’d first heard the girl had been kidnapped. “Please, please, keep her safe,” she prayed, aching inside. Why couldn’t the police and the FBI find her? Where was she? Would Shannon ever see her, ever meet the only daughter she would probably ever have, or ever have the peace of mind of knowing that Dani was safe?

That was the big, chilling question.

The thought that she might never meet the girl whose picture she kept on the nightstand by her bed tore at her heart. Surely God wouldn’t be so cruel.

Her throat filled with a lump that made it impossible to swallow, and the headache she’d been fighting all day came back with a vengeance.

From the kitchen, Khan gave up a sharp, pay-me-some-attention bark. “Did you think I’d forgotten about you?” she asked as she walked through the archway. She dropped the drawings Paterno had given her on to the kitchen table.

The mottled dog was still sitting on his rug, every muscle tense. “Were you going to sit here until kingdom come?” she asked, amused. He wriggled at the sight of her and Marilyn, from her little pen, barked and tried to climb the mesh. “Come!” Shannon said to Khan. Glancing through the kitchen window, she saw twin beams from the police car’s headlights cut through the night. A second later the engine caught and the car was rolling down the drive. Shannon let out her breath and turned her attention back to her dog. “You’re such a good boy,” she told Khan.

But he wasn’t in the mood for praise or platitudes. Toenails clicking wildly, he bolted to the front door and stood at the window, nose to the glass, eyes focused on the retreating car, every muscle in his body tense. “Yeah, I’m glad that’s over, too.” She noticed the shriveled state of her already-nuked microwave meal and couldn’t stomach the thought of reheating it again. Scowling, she tossed it into the garbage. “So much for gourmet,” she said to the puppy. “Hey, you.” She patted the velvet-soft head and felt a wet nose against her palm. “Just give me a sec, okay?”

While the puppy whined, Shannon hurried up the stairs, popped two aspirin, and holding her hair away from her face in one hand, washed the small tablets down with water from the tap. She slid into a pair of flip-flops and clapped her way back downstairs.

The pup was yipping noisily as Shannon returned to the kitchen. “Patience not your long suit?” she teased, picking up the fat little animal and getting her face washed with a wet pink tongue.

Shannon actually giggled. What was it about puppies that was so irresistible? Their smell? Their innocence? Their big eyes? Their soft, wiggling body? Or just the whole damned adorable package? “Yeah, yeah, I like you, too.”

Khan, ever jealous, was suddenly at her feet, but for the moment, Shannon ignored him as she set the newcomer back into her pen. She refilled the puppy’s food dish. Marilyn couldn’t devour her dry kibbles fast enough. As soon as the last morsel was scraped up and the pup had lapped some water, Shannon snapped a training leash onto Marilyn’s collar and walked her outside. While Khan raced ahead to sniff the bushes and fence line, hoping to scare up a squirrel or chipmunk, Shannon let the pup wander and explore her new environs.

The burned shed was a grim reminder of what was happening. Shannon reminded herself to call Alexi Demitri’s security company in the morning, despite Nate’s distrust of the man. But Nate, Shea and even Alexi were right about one thing: with everything that had gone on, she’d be foolish not to have cameras and alarms installed. If Alexi’s men couldn’t come over immediately, she’d ask Aaron to help her. Just as she had in the past.

She cringed a little as she thought about the last time she and Aaron had installed tiny cameras and recorders. She’d known that Ryan would ignore the restraining order and she feared he’d come at her with his fists flying. She’d

decided she could either fight back, even shoot him if need be, to protect herself, or she could tape his actions and take the proof to the police and the district attorney.

And the whole idea had backfired.

She drew in her shoulders protectively as she recalled Ryan’s rage when he’d discovered what she’d done. Not only had he hurt her, he’d destroyed the evidence by smashing all of the equipment.


Tags: Lisa Jackson West Coast Mystery