Page 46 of Knight's Fall

Wings shook his head. “I don’t want you walking around here at night by yourself.”

She squeezed his hand. “Relax. This is a safe neighborhood, and I know how to take care of myself. I’ll stick to this side of the neighborhood.” She pointed down the street in the opposite direction of Mrs. Dobbs’ home. “I know all of the neighbors, so if something feels off, I can knock on any of their doors for help. You can go that way and check out the dog park and the woods beside it. He likes to run off through there to chase squirrels. It’ll be fine. I promise.”

She couldn’t see his face clearly, but she felt his doubt rolling off him.

“Didn’t Mrs. Dobbs say he was running this way?”

She shook her head. “He’s only been to my house once. I’m thinking he’s more likely to go to the park before he comes here, but we can cover both to be sure if we just split up.” She stepped into his arms and squeezed around his middle in an attempt to reassure him. “It’ll be fine. We split up and look for like ten minutes. If we can't find him, we’ll meet back here and get the car. We have our phones, so we can text updates. You know this is the fastest way. One of us will find Bogie, drop him off, and then we can get back to our naked time.”

“Naked time, huh?”

“Oh, yeah,” she drawled, feeling him start to relent.

He hesitated. “Fine. Ten minutes and then back here. If anything feels off, you go to a neighbor you know and call me. No exceptions.”

“No exceptions. Go. The longer we wait, the farther Bogie gets.”

He kissed her head and then moved off down the street. She set off in the opposite direction using the streetlamps and her phone’s flashlight to illuminate the way. She called out for Bogie but doubted he would respond. The damn dog never listened to her when she gave him a command.

“Bogie! Bogie!”

She paused, thinking she heard a noise. She swung her phone around to cast her flashlight through the darkness. When she saw nothing, she kept walking, but her pace was slow and her eyes watchful.

Then she heard a bark. She rushed up to a side street that she rarely traveled. The road had no outlet, so vehicles only drove down the road if they had a reason to. The houses were more spaced out, and most sat back from the road, as if the owners didn’t want their neighbors to notice their comings and goings.

When she pointed the light down the road, she saw Bogie streak across as if chasing something. He dashed into a yard and out of her line of sight.

“Damn dog.”

Holding her phone in front of her, she sprinted after him and prayed she caught up to him before he could get too far. She slowed to a quick walk as she neared the house.

A real estate sign was staked into the ground at an odd angle, like someone knocked it as they backed out of the driveway. The grass was overgrown and choked by weeds. The house appeared dark and empty, so at least she didn’t have to deal with the owners when she trespassed on the property to get the dog.

“Bogie. Come to Coco, Bogie.” She had no idea why she whispered. There was no one within the immediate vicinity to disturb, but something about the house and property called for caution and quiet. “Bogie. Where are you, you damn dog?”

She heard a rustling off to her right. She moved to take a closer look and discovered Bogie digging at a spot next to the house, trying to make a hole big enough for him to fit through. She hurried over and scooped the Corgi up before he could take off. Bogie let out an ear-splitting yelp and squirmed, but Courtlyn held on tight. She stood and scratched behind his ears to calm him.

“It’s okay, Bogie. Let’s get you home. Your mama is worried about you.”

She withdrew her phone to text Wings, but Bogie twisted in her hands to attempt a get-away.

“Stop, Bogie.” She tried to slip her phone back in her pocket, but it fell from her hand. “Dammit!”

Before she could bend down to retrieve it, her eye caught movement through a window. Her mind told her it was probably a rabbit or something that had found its way inside, but then how would she notice a rabbit moving through the window?

It didn’t matter. She had Bogie. It was time to get her phone, get Bogie home and get back to her boyfriend.

And yet she stepped closer.

There was a lantern in the corner with a faint flickering flame. Her eyes followed the beam across the near empty room to the one solitary chair set on a sheet of dirty plastic. No, not dirty. Coated in thick rivers of blood flowing from the body of the man slumped over in the chair.

She couldn’t make out his face, but when his hands twitched against the binds holding his arms to the chair, she gasped.

“Oh, my God!”

Her brain was slow to process what she was seeing, but once it did, she burst into action. She turned to hunt for her phone, so she could call 911 and then Wings. Bogie barked as she frantically felt along the ground where she thought her phone had fallen.

“Looking for this?”

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