Page 79 of Fire Harbor

“You’re right. Sorry. So, it’s just a coincidence that Riggs drove a black SUV?”

“Cadillac Escalade,” Eastlyn amended with a nod. “Not your run-of-the-mill SUV. More like the 4Runner that Kingsley had access to and still does—the kind with the big-looking bush grille guard in the front that people might mistake for a cop car.”

“I see,” Linus said, trying to keep it straight in his head.

“It’s not that difficult,” Eastlyn pointed out. “Riggs tried to abduct Alice, a girl he believes is his fourteen-year-old daughter, from a relationship that he had with Karen Barrett. He used his expertise from the military to build four controlled devices that he thought would distract half the town by setting them off in the harbor attached to four boats. It worked. We were all focused on fighting the fires. He was able to separate Alice from the rest of her group at school by using her boyfriend as a lure. Fortunately, you came along near the bridge and rescued her. Because Lake found out his identity from the gas receipts at Wally’s, we had a name, registration, address, and bingo. When Mr. Tanaka saw him mooring off Crab Shack Cove, the Coast Guard closed in on him and he blew up his own boat out of a desperate attempt to escape.”

“There were two separate cases,” Lake clarified. “Callum Riggs kidnapping Alice and Derrick Kingsley the serial killer.”

“You got it. We live in a complicated world these days,” she noted as she turned to head back toward the entry hall and then stopped, thumping her head. “Jeez, I’m so exhausted that I almost forgot the most important reason I stopped by tonight. Derrick keeps saying he did something to your dogs while he was in the house.”

Lake stared down at Jack, then studied Scout and Farley. “But the dogs are fine. You think he gave them something?”

“You mean like put something in their water or food?” Linus asked. “Because the night he came inside here, the dogs were on a walk with us.”

“That’s the thing. I don’t know for certain,” Eastlyn replied. “He’s vague about it. But if you haven’t seen any signs that the dogs ingested anything that might harm them or make them ill, maybe Derrick is just jerking us around. I thought you needed to know, though.”

“Thanks, Eastlyn,” Lake said as she walked the cop to the door. As she waved Eastlyn off, worry settled in her stomach. “Do you think Derrick put something in their food?”

Linus scooped Jack up to inspect him for any sign of illness. “That’s been weeks ago. If it’s true, we would’ve seen evidence of that. They would have exhibited vomiting by now or some other signs they ate something bad. We’ve seen nothing like that from any of them.”

“Weird. Why would Derrick say that?”

“To mess with us.”

“Just to make sure I’m checking the bags of food in the fridge,” Lake said, heading for the kitchen. “You’re right, though. They’ve gone through almost everything I had on hand, so I placed a reorder like I always do. I received a new delivery of dog food not two days ago.”

Once she reached the refrigerator, she opened the door and stopped. “You don’t suppose he messed with the food that was just delivered, do you? The dogs haven’t eaten any of that. But it sat outside on the porch for a couple of hours until I came home from work. I’m not sure how long it was out there because things have been kinda crazy lately.”

“We’ll take a look at each one to make sure.” Linus helped her sort through the pre-packaged food, looking for any signs Derrick had tampered with the bags.

After several minutes, Lake found one of the plastic packages had one small slit at the end. Linus discovered another one with the same kind of cut near the top. Then Lake found a puncture hole in another bag.

“That’s never happened before,” Lake noted. “The food is delivered in boxes and comes sealed up. Derrick must’ve gone to a lot of trouble to sabotage our dogs’ food.”

“We should have these tested,” Linus suggested. “I’ll take these to Cord tomorrow and see what he says.”

Starting to panic, Lake huffed out a breath. “We can’t feed any of this to them for breakfast.”

“It’s okay. We have the dry food you usually mix in with the fresh. There’s also an unopened bag at my place for backup.”

“What a vile man,” Lake fumed. “I can’t give my dogs anything that’s been in the house.”

“Have I told you that I love the way you go all protective like that with the dogs,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist. He nibbled his way down her jaw to her neck, placing kisses along the way.

Despite her mood, laughter escaped. “I’m worried about our dogs and you’re trying to get me into bed.”

“I’ll make sure the dogs don’t eat anything Derrick might’ve touched. I’ll find out what he put in the food from Cord. I promise you that. But we can’t do anything about it tonight. And the dogs are fine.”

She looked across the kitchen to find three pups staring back at her, knowing he was right “Well, okay. But I want this tainted food out of my house and out of their reach.”

He swatted her playfully on the fanny. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. You get ready for bed. I’ll be up in a second after I take this stuff to my truck.”

As the night wore on, Lake found they could laugh even during challenging times. After they both took long, hot showers, they enjoyed each other’s company, finding solace in the intimacy. They were grateful for the bond that had seen them through such dark days.

Whispered promises in the heat of the moment and shared laughter had brought them full circle. Whatever darkness lurked in the world outside, as long as they had each other, they could overcome any challenges that came their way.

On the other side of the bedroom, three dogs, sensing the shift in mood as their humans reveled in their victory, wagged their tails in joyful delight and fell asleep.

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