Page 9 of Fight or Flight

I’m okay. No worries.

TTYL,

Karrie

Katherine wrote back immediately.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

I am worried! Are you sure you’re not in immediate

danger? I can call the police for you.

XOXO,

Darby

She knew she probably came across as an adult in her emails. It didn’t matter. If the girl was in trouble, she could at least alert the authorities. Waiting for a reply, she chewed her nails, a bad habit she should’ve outgrown by now. Her fingertips were always sore, as she bit her nails down to the quick and sometimes picked at her cuticles until they bled. Fifteen minutes passed. Sure that Karrie wouldn’t reply to her email, Katherine logged off and shut her laptop down. Her day hadn’t been this exhausting in a long time.

She lay in bed, troubled. Uneasy, she turned off the lamp, trying to fall asleep. A million thoughts raced through her head. With daylight approaching, she drifted off, only to be awakened by Sam and Sophie’s barking.

Chapter Three

“I’ll be right there,” Katherine called out, hearing someone knocking on the kitchen door. That must be why the dogs were barking. She pulled on a pair of jeans she’d tossed on the chair last night along with a gray T-shirt. After hurriedly dressing, she ran downstairs, both dogs on her heels.

Doc Baker tapped on the drape-less French doors.

“Sorry. I was up most of the night,” Katherine explained, opening the door. She really should consider blinds or some other type of window covering.I couldn’t hide if I wanted to,Katherine thought as she stood aside. “Come on in.” Sam and Sophie danced around the vet, tails wagging so fast they created a breeze. “Looks like they’re happy to see you,” Katherine said.

Doc Baker was probably in his late sixties and was in excellent physical condition. He was tall with broad shoulders, a full head of silver hair, and bright blue eyes that lit up when he smiled. Time had been good to him.

He stooped down and held one hand out for the dogs, offering them a treat. When they gobbled it up, he used his free hand to get a hold of Sam. Doc reached into his shirt pocket for a penlight and quickly examined Sam’s eyes. Once satisfied, he removed another treat from his pocket, and held it out to Sophie. Always eager for treats from Doc Baker, she approached him, enabling him to check out her eyes, too. His examination complete, he took out two more treats and tossed them high in the air. “Good pups.” He always referred to them aspups, even though they were four years old.

“So, what do you think?” Katherine asked him.

Shaking his head side to side, he said, “Their pupils are normal, no glassiness in the eyes. I’ll stand by what I said last night. Something probably scared them.”

Katherine nodded. “I’ve never seen them act that way before. Reminded me of a wild animal.”

“Could be that’s what scared them. You said they were sleeping, then went a bit cuckoo?”

She nodded.

“They hear sounds humans can’t. I’d hazard a guess and say they heard a wild animal. Maybe it hurt their ears, and they reacted. I will look around the property and see what, if anything, is out there. Tracks, carnage. I’ll be back shortly. You’ve got a lot of land to cover, but I’ll search closest to the house. You said they’d been out back earlier? Their usual jaunt out those doors?” He nodded toward the French doors. He’d spent time outside with the pair many times before, so knew their habits.

“I always let them out through these doors and can usually see them from the kitchen and the office windows.” The fact that she didn’t know their exact outdoor routine once they were out of her sight hung in the air.

Doc Baker nodded his head. “We’ll talk when I’m back.”

“I’ll make breakfast,” Katherine said, smiling. She was grateful for someone other than herself to prepare a meal for. Adam was the last man she’d cooked for.

“I’ll take ya up on that offer,” Doc said before heading out.

Katherine spent the next half hour preparing brioche French toast, crispy bacon, and fluffy scrambled eggs. Lastly, she made a whole pot of coffee, knowing Doc Baker was a coffee connoisseur just like her. She wasn’t a huge breakfast lover, but she did enjoy the smell of frying bacon, and the coffee sent a pleasant aroma throughout her kitchen.

Doc Baker tapped on the door, then came inside, both dogs tagging behind him. “I didn’t find a thing—no tracks, no evidence of a wild animal. Nothing human, either.”

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