Page 14 of No Good Deed

“You’re always welcome here. Take him off his leash and let him wander. I’ll grab him a water bowl.”

“Do you let other dogs off leash in here?”

He shrugged. “Yep. Most of the dogs around here are well-trained. People use leashes until they know how the dogs are going to react to strange situations. Some dogs always need them, but others roam free.”

When he came back with the water bowl, he found Piper adding more notes on her tablet while Oreo sniffed at the shelf containing cleaning supplies.

She looked up at him. “Do other business allow dogs inside?”

He nodded. “Fiona lets them come into Phail Phoods as long as they’re leashed. Same with Ginny at the diner, although they’re not allowed in the kitchen. Rachel owns Yoganna Love it, and I know she lets her clients bring in their pets if they like.”

Piper grinned and typed some more. “Have you taken a yoga class?”

“No.” But with the twinkle in her eye, he figured he might be taking one soon.

By the time they left the store, the sun had long since set, but the snow kept everything bright as they strolled to the B&B.

Piper’s gaze never rested. Neither did her mind. “Do you always have snow before Christmas?”

He shrugged. “Most of the time, although climate change is causing that to be less certain. We tend to have our first snow in either October or early November. It’ll melt and then snow again a few times, before it settles in for the season. It’ll start melting in March, although we’ve sometimes still had snow in May.”

She laughed at that. “Chicago’s winter usually isn’t quite so long.”

When they approached the corner leading to the B&B, Oreo bounced and then danced in a circle. Piper grinned. “I think you know we’re almost home, don’t you?”

Home. He wondered if she realized how she smiled when she used the word. And that she used the word for a B&B where she’d stayed for only a few days. Again, he wondered about her past. She’d referenced her recent bad luck a few times, but had never gone into more detail.

Snow drifted down as they stopped at the corner. Piper turned her face up to it and let the flakes drop to her cheeks. “It’s lovely without the icy wind that usually blows through Chicago.”

“We get those days too. It’s not always this idyllic.”

Piper gestured down the street. “This scene is totally idyllic. The pretty houses, the soft lights from the street lamps, the huge snowflakes. Definitely some good advertising fodder right here.”

He followed her gesture to check out the street. To him it was just a street in his town, but she was right and he could see it from her point of view.

As he studied the scene, he watched someone dart from a tree and around the hedge that bordered the B&B. The figure wore all dark clothing and a hood. Troy didn’t recognize the person from this distance, but everyone on this street was elderly. “Anyone else staying at the B&B?”

“No. Jim said they don’t have any other reservations until the weekend. This time of year is slow until families arrive for Christmas.”

The house next to the B&B was empty for the winter. No one should have been there. Over the top of the shrub, Troy could see the hooded figure stop. Right beside Piper’s car if she hadn’t moved it. Every sense he’d honed in the Army flared to life. Whoever he was, this guy was up to no good.

A loud crack came next and Troy’s body reacted immediately. He scooped up Oreo and put him in Piper’s arms. He leaned in to speak quietly into her ear. “Take Oreo, and stay behind me. When we get close enough, get into the B&B with him.”

As he spoke, the crack repeated twice more, along with the sound of glass breaking. Oreo barked loudly at the sound.

Troy raced ahead without a word, hoping to catch whoever was at the car. He couldn’t see any movement now. His steps creaked on the snow, and he hoped it wasn’t enough to alert the guy if he hadn’t heard the dog.

When Troy rounded the hedge, he found the rear window of Piper’s car shattered, but no one was in sight. Footprints headed to the back yard, spaced wide apart as if the person was running.

Troy ran around the other side of the car, hoping to preserve any evidence. If it was Jim or Carl checking out the noise, the prints would lead to the house. Instead, they moved past the garage and into the woods behind. Troy jogged into the woods but lost the trail quickly. The snow brightened the evening, but figuring out the prints was still tricky.

Instead of trying to figure it out, he jogged through the empty lot behind the B&B and into the street behind. This was a mostly empty road that led to a few farms and the next town over.

Troy stayed under the cover of trees as he searched the area beyond the bush. There weren’t any streetlights along this stretch, but he should be able to spot anyone moving against the snowy backdrop.

For a few minutes, he simply stood and watched, listening for noises around him and stretching his senses. After more than a decade in the Army, he’d learned to feel the air move in advance of an attack.

When nothing stirred, he eased back from his position and checked the other yards around the B&B. In those yards, the recent snowfall made it easy to see nothing had been disturbed.

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