Page 98 of Beckett
Interrogation started. This nightmare is almost over.
It was. I could hardly wrap my head around it all, but it was almost over.
And a new beginning was at my fingertips.
“I think we should expand the therapy dog program,” Lark said, emerging from the barn with a clipboard. Her red hair caught the light as she made notes, completely absorbed in her plans. “You’ve got such a natural gift with the anxious ones.”
I set down the water bucket, allowing myself to imagine it. A future. An actual future here in Garnet Bend, working withdamaged dogs who needed patience and understanding. Dogs who needed someone who understood what it meant to be scared all the time.
Being here with Beckett. We hadn’t talked about anything permanent, but that was becausepermanenthadn’t even been in my vocabulary until Reggie Garrison had been arrested this morning.
And now, permanent was all I could think of.
“I’d love that.” The words came out steady, sure. My shoulders weren’t hunched forward anymore.
“We could start with basic certifications,” Lark continued, her excitement infectious, stepping around Jet as he lounged in a patch of sunlight near the barn door. “I know someone who runs the testing in Billings. Once you get certified, we could take on more complex cases. Maybe even work with some of the veterans from Resting Warrior Ranch.”
The idea bloomed in my chest, warm and possible. Working with traumatized veterans and traumatized dogs, helping them heal each other. Todd would have loved that. He’d always believed in second chances, in the possibility of redemption.
“Oh, shoot.” Lark glanced at her watch. “The dog food delivery is coming today. I need to grab the invoices from the house. Be right back.”
She headed toward the main house, her boots crunching on gravel. I watched her go, then turned back to the water buckets. Just a few more to fill, then we could start planning. Actually planning, not just surviving day-to-day.
The barn felt peaceful in the morning light. Dust motes danced in the golden beams streaming through the windows. The familiar sounds of animals settling in surrounded me—horses nickering softly, chickens clucking in their coop, the rustle of hay as the rabbits moved about.
I was humming. When had I started humming again?
Jet’s sudden whine cut through my contentment like a blade.
I turned to find him on his feet, every muscle rigid, hackles raised along his spine. He stared at the barn entrance with an intensity I’d never seen from him before. Not playful, distracted Jet who couldn’t hold a stay for more than thirty seconds. This was something primal, something that bypassed all his failed training and went straight to instinct.
“It’s okay, boy.” My voice came out less steady than I wanted. “The bad man’s in jail, remember?”
But even as I said it to convince myself as much as him, my body was already responding. Heart rate spiking. Muscles tensing. That familiar cold creep of adrenaline flooding my system. My body remembered danger even when my mind insisted I was safe.
Lark’s voice drifted from the direction of the house. “No. No, you?—”
Silence.
Not the natural pause of someone thinking. The abrupt cutoff of words interrupted.
“Lark?” I called out, already moving toward the barn door. “You okay?”
No response.
Jet pressed against my legs as we walked, his growl so low I felt it more than heard it, vibrating through his body into mine. Every instinct I’d developed over fourteen months of being hunted screamed at me to run. Get to the car. Get out. Not to look back.
But Lark was here. Lark, who’d given me a chance when I had nothing. Who’d paid me cash without asking questions. Who’d just been making plans for our future.
I couldn’t leave her.
The walk to the house felt both endless and too quick. Each step revealed more of the front porch, like a picture developing in slow motion. First the steps. Then the railing. Then?—
Lark lay unmoving on the porch, her red hair spread out around her. Blood was pooling near her head. She wasn’t moving.
Before I could scream, before I could run to her, a figure stepped out from the door.
“Eye for an eye, Audra. Your brother took my brother.”
