BIG SKY SECRETS 03: End Game (10 page)

“I can promise you that we’re doing everything we can, and the DCI has been involved, too. We’re following up on every lead we get.”

“Believe me, I’m not questioning what’s being done. I’m just glad you’re on board, and that the county has a sheriff who will do a good job. Do you remember the alcoholic we had back when we were kids?”

“Sheriff Nelson.”

“I’ll never forget how he bungled the investigation of Laura’s murder. If he’d acted faster, maybe she would’ve been found in time—before that monster killed her. I only hope she didn’t suffer too much.”

Megan had seen the original reports, and Laura hadn’t ever had a chance. But those terrible details were something she would never repeat to her cousin.

“The sheriff didn’t even start
looking
for her for three days, insisting she was just a runaway. Yet just the month before, he’d been given information about a known pedophile who’d moved into the area and he didn’t follow up. Apparently—” Megan tried to quell the bitterness rising in her voice. “He misplaced the report. He was probably busy hitting the booze or focusing on one of his wild kids. They were always getting kicked out of school.”

“I remember. Kenny, Bobby and…” Erin frowned. “Randy…Rick…”

“Rex. Apparently Nelson wasn’t too effective as a dad, either, because those kids were in constant trouble.”

“Rex nearly died in that big meth lab explosion up at Copper Creek, didn’t he?”

“Yep. But I’ve researched everything that happened around the time of Laura’s death, and there’s absolutely nothing about it in the files. Nelson apparently destroyed the records and the evidence to protect his son. It would’ve been easier back then because the records weren’t computerized.”

“It was a good day for the county when Nelson lost the next election for sheriff and they all moved away.” Erin smiled sadly. “And maybe it gave the family a good fresh start somewhere else. I hope so.”

“I hope so, too. I never heard another word about them after that, so they must have been fine. But Nelson was still my biggest motivation for going into law enforcement. I wanted to make sure that kind of incompetence never happened again. Not on my watch, at least.”

A brief memory flashed through Megan’s thoughts, of a warm, sunny day when she’d been in town all those years ago. The Nelsons had been driving out of town in a minivan, their faces grim. Rex, his face still ruddy with healing burns, had looked out the window. Though he was an older boy and she’d barely known him, she waved goodbye. He’d just scowled in return and mouthed some words she couldn’t hear.

Probably just as well.

“My biggest fear is that you’ll take too many chances and get hurt somehow. There are just too many crazy people out there.” She rested a hand on Megan’s forearm and squeezed tight. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”

Megan grimaced. “I keep hearing that from people these days.”

From somewhere outside, a young boy started calling Erin’s name in a high, excited voice.

“I think you’re being paged.”

Erin rolled her eyes, though the affection in her gaze was obvious. “Three guesses on what Max found.”

Now Megan could see a young boy zigzagging through the crowd at a run, with Erin’s fiancé in hot pursuit. “Erin! I found my kitty. Come quick! Erin!”

“You’d better go, future stepmom. I’ll catch up with you later.”

The sparkle in Erin’s eyes matched the one on her left hand. “Don’t forget—it’ll be a small ceremony out at the lake, end of July. And I definitely want you in the wedding, if you’re free.”

“Absolutely.” Megan watched her cousin step out into the rain to catch up with the eager child and Jack.

Erin bent down to give Max a hug, and then they all walked hand in hand toward the barn on the hill, Jack’s arm draped around Erin’s shoulders.

A family in the making.

Exactly what Erin had wanted, and Kris, too, back when they were all kids, playing house in the little cottage behind Grandma Millie’s General Store out at the lake. It even looked like Kris was on the way to her own happy ending, too, which made Megan’s heart expand with quiet joy for both of them.

Please, Lord, watch over them…bring them the happiness that escaped them for so long—be with them, and bless them. And please, keep them safe.
Her bright spirits faded as quickly as they’d come.

The “keeping them safe” part was her department. But so far, she hadn’t worked hard enough, hadn’t been smart enough, hadn’t been able to see the pattern and the clues clearly enough to stop that killer in his tracks.

Seventeen days until the next full moon.

And if she hadn’t done her job well enough by then, someone else might die.

“I
really didn’t mean to buy a goat,” Scott muttered, standing with one foot hitched on the bottom rail of the corral by the barn. “It just…happened.”

In the background, the crowd had followed the auctioneer to a rusty, ancient vehicle, where he began his rapid-fire patter extolling all of its amazing qualities.

“Did you say you bought a
goat?
” He looked so grim that Megan tried to smother her laugh. “By accident?”

“A big one.”

She followed his gaze to a white goat with impressive horns and a long beard. It appeared to be eating the fence. “Look—he’s trying to spring all his buddies.”

“I know. I’m sure he and Attila will get along just great.”

“Not that it’s my business, but how did this happen?”

“Some teenagers standing next to me were really upset. They were talking about how they’d miss their grandpa’s hobby farm and all the animals he kept for them. One of the girls started crying, saying she’d caught some kids mercilessly teasing the goat and the other animals. When she tried to intervene, the kids said their parents were planning on buying every one of those animals, so she should mind her own business.”

“So you bought the goat.”

He cleared his throat. “And a pony.”

“I really needed to get up here sooner, didn’t I,” she said solemnly. “Was there anything else?”

“The tractor…and a goose. Not much.”

“A goose. How sweet. I think we need to get you home.”

A corner of his mouth tilted up in a boyish grin. “The tractor is old, but it’s perfect for what I need, and the price was right. This was a great sale.”

She finally gave up and laughed. He’d seemed distant and even a little cold when she’d first met him, and until recently she’d even considered him a suspect in the Full Moon murders. Finding that his tough shell hid a soft heart made her like him all the more. “Maybe God was rewarding you for saving some of his creatures.”

“I’m not sure He cares much about what I do. But if that’s the case, I guess I’ll accept it and be thankful.”

Startled, she looked up at him.

He caught her expression. “Oh, I’ve been a believer since I was a child. My parents never miss a Sunday at church, and that’s how I was raised. I’m just not so sure that God is listening to me anymore.”

“But…”

“I worked the streets of Chicago, Megan. Tell me that violence and greed and injustice doesn’t change you, if you see it every day. And if you’ve been in situations where a little intercession could’ve saved a life and God doesn’t answer—then you start to figure that maybe you’re in this alone.”

Megan took a deep breath and led her old dog to the door of the vet clinic. She could feel his body trembling against her leg. “Whatever we have to face, we’re a team now,” she whispered. “And no matter what anyone says, I made the right decision when I brought you home.”

He balked, then gave up and followed her inside, tagging along at the end of his leash, his head low and tail tucked between his legs. “It’s okay, Buddy. Neva Baker is the nicest vet around. You’ll see.”

The old retriever’s eyebrows wobbled up and down as he looked up at her, then he sighed heavily, his head resting on her thigh when she took a chair in the waiting room. He clearly trusted her, but he’d been trembling from head to tail since they first arrived in the clinic parking lot.

Now, if only the news here would be good.

“We’re all set for you.” Cara, the tall, slender vet tech, motioned them to come in. “Dr. Baker wants to do an exam, and then we might need some X-rays.”

Megan led the dog into an exam room and helped the tech lift him onto a stainless steel table. A moment later, Neva bustled in wearing pale green scrubs. At almost forty, she was trim and petite, a pixie of a woman with the firm handshake of a lumberjack and the most infectious laugh Megan had ever heard.

She fixed Megan with a keen look. “I figured it wouldn’t be long till we saw you again with another dog. What do we have here?”

“A friend runs the new shelter in Battle Creek. I was looking for a younger dog, but she figured this old guy was abandoned. He…well, he just looked like he needed a home.”

“Do you have any health documents from the shelter?”

Megan pulled a set of folded papers from her purse. “He had a veterinary exam two weeks ago. He was previously neutered. They gave him tests for intestinal parasites and heartworm, plus his vaccinations for rabies, DHPP, Lyme and Bordetella.”

Neva nodded her approval. “What about flea and tick prevention?”

“Done. Heartworm, too. He was anemic and seriously underweight, but he’s been eating like a horse since I brought him home.”

Neva cradled the dog’s head in her hands and looked into his eyes. “That’s what you needed, isn’t it? Your own home. Does he have a name?”

“I guess I’ve mostly been calling him Buddy, for lack of anything else. Not very unique.”

“It’s a good name. We’ll put that down for now.” The vet looked up at Megan. “So tell me about his symptoms.”

“I’ve only had him for a few days, but he seems stiff in the mornings and he limps during the day—especially after he first stands up. I just don’t want him to be in pain.”

Neva began her examination. “Does he do better after he’s warmed up a little?”

“Some.”

“When he runs, does he have an odd sort of bunny hop gait?”

“No. Not really.”

She continued her exam by gently flexing Buddy’s back legs. “This doesn’t appear to hurt him, and his joints feel good and tight. I’d like to take a couple of radiographs, just to be sure, if that’s okay?”

Megan nodded and stepped out of the room. She paced the waiting area for a half hour until Neva came out with Buddy at her side. “Is he all right?”

“Without sending the X-rays to a specialist, I can still safely say that he has some arthritis, but not dysplasia—which is good news. The sad news is that he shows evidence of an old hairline fracture of his femur, and has four healing rib fractures that are newer. He might have been kicked, or beaten or maybe hit by a car. It’s too far out to tell, since the soft tissue damage has healed. He probably had deep bruising and was in a world of hurt while he was on his own.”

Megan knelt at his side and gave his neck a gentle hug. “You poor baby.”

“For more comfort with the arthritis, I’d make sure he has a soft, well-padded bed and has a warm place to sleep at night. Excess weight obviously isn’t an issue now, but I wouldn’t let him get heavy. Regular, mild exercise every day. I’ve got a good glucosamine-chondroitin supplement that should help, too.”

Megan grinned. “He’s already got the warm place. He sleeps on the foot of my bed.”

The vet didn’t smile in return. “I do have some other concerns.” She hesitated, as if searching for the right words. “I think it’s wonderful that you’re willing to give this old guy a home, and I know you’re an experienced dog handler. But I also think he was badly abused, and that could make him aggressive if he feels threatened.”

“A
golden retriever?
” Megan stroked Buddy’s soft golden fur. “I can’t imagine that.”

“They’re the sweetest dogs on the planet, but people can be unbelievably cruel, and that can change even the kindest of breeds. Maybe this is the wrong dog for you. He could go back to the shelter and you could find a different—”

“No way. Buddy is the right one—I knew it the minute I saw him.”

“If you keep him, you’ll need to work with him and be very careful…at least until you know him better and can build up his confidence.”

Appalled at the vet’s subtle insistence, Megan firmly shook her head. “
If
I keep him? Of course I will.”

“We’ve never had a golden growl at us. Cower, balk or tremble, yes. But he growled when we took him back for X-rays.”

“Maybe he thought he was being hauled back to dog jail.”

“I…think it’s more than that. Has he shown any signs of fear or aggression with other strangers? Men, in particular?”

Megan looked up at her. “Good question. Yesterday a friend and I went to an auction, and he had to ride in the backseat of a crew cab pickup. He seemed really wary of Scott at first, and refused to get in.”

“Worry over self-preservation and a lack of trust are probably big issues for him right now, so he could be unpredictable and act totally out of character for the breed until he acclimates to home life. You just need to know what you’re getting into here. Insurance issues…lawsuits…”