Page 32 of Texas Scandal

The sheriff would have to believe her now. Have to take her off the suspect list. It dawned on her that she needed to call Bebe to cancel their dinner plans. Melody hated to do it but she had no other choice. They would need to stick around to give statements and find Loki.

Ice ran through her veins at the thought someone wanted her dead. Because of her, Tiernan could have been killed and Loki was missing. She had to face the fact it might not be good for Tiernan’s longevity if she stuck around. The idea of anything happening to him was worse than her being murdered.

She lived alone and had very few friends. She’d distanced herself from a dysfunctional family. She wasn’t close to anyone at the office. Would anyone even miss her?

The answer was sobering.

“I have to find him,” Tiernan said to her, breaking through her heavy thoughts. “Can you handle things here?”

“Yes. Go,” she said, praying he could find him and wishing she could go with him to hunt for the dog who’d made his way into her heart.

In a surprising move, Tiernan dipped his head down and kissed her before taking off in the direction Loki had gone.

Melody figured this was as good a time as any to reach out to Bebe. She retrieved her cell phone, which thankfully had survived along with her handbag that was wet but okay, and made the call.

“Hello?” Bebe sounded unsure if it was a good idea to answer.

“Hi, it’s Melody,” she said.

“Oh, Melody,” Bebe repeated the name.

“Everything all right?” Melody asked. She didn’t like how shaken Bebe sounded.

“Yes. Fine,” Bebe said. “What’s up?”

Melody didn’t want to worry Bebe but she didn’t want her to think they were blowing her off. “There’s been an incident at Tiernan’s house and we need to stay in tonight to deal with it.”

“Nothing bad I hope.” Bebe’s tone raised with concern and a defensiveness that said she couldn’t take much more bad news.

“An accident happened in the workshop,” she reassured. “I’d still like to come for dinner. Maybe tomorrow night? Would that work?”

“Sure,” Bebe said with a twinge of disappointment in her voice. The loneliness must be almost unbearable. Melody’s heart nearly cracked in two. “Do what you need to. I’ll be around.”

“Is it okay if I reach out later once we get this all sorted out?” Melody asked.

“Sure is,” Bebe said, a little more reassured-sounding now.

The fire didn’t take long to put out with the proper equipment.

“Fire Marshal is on his way,” one of the firemen said. “I’m Jerome, by the way.”

“Melody,” she said as he tipped his chin in acknowledgment. “What about the sheriff?”

Jerome shrugged. He wasn’t nearly as tall as Tiernan. Jerome was thick. Thick hands. Thick neck. Thick arms. Stocky would be a better term to use to describe him. The two-man team had stood rooted to their spots as they’d sprayed chemicals to put out the fire.

“All I know is the marshal wants us to be careful now that the blaze is out, so we don’t trample all over possible evidence. Basically, this is being treated as an arson case.”

A yelp echoed through the night.

Loki.

Chapter Thirteen

Loki was in trouble. Tiernan had heard the same sound coming from his dog when he’d got himself tangled up in barbed wire on the neighbor’s property. The panicked yelp cut right through Tiernan’s chest. He pivoted toward the sound and pushed his legs until his thighs burned. Branches slapped him in the face as he zigzagged through the trees.

The toe of his boot caught on scrub brush, causing him to take a couple of giant steps forward and ending with him face-planting into a tree trunk. Arm out in front, he managed to minimize the impact and come up with only a couple of new scratches and—thankfully—no brain damage. Something cold and wet dripped into his eyes. His first thought was sweat. As he wiped away the moisture, he realized it was blood. Not great but not enough to stop him, either.

Calling out to the dog would be a mistake in the event the person who’d set the fire had Loki. Not a thought Tiernan was thrilled about but he had to consider the possibility. Alerting the bastard to Tiernan’s presence would take away the element of surprise and put him at a severe disadvantage.

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