Page 37 of Lure

“I really don’t care. I just—I just want to go.”

“Give me two minutes, Firecracker and grab your boots and a jacket. Both should be in the mudroom.” He was already striding up the hallway back to the room where they were tearing apart all their different angles.

By the time I had my boots on, he was back with Goblin. I welcomed the dog with head scritches as he pulled on his own boots. He was also wearing a shoulder holster with a gun in it. He covered it with his own jacket and then reached for the door.

“Ready?”

Chapter

Fourteen

VOODOO

“I’m taking Grace for a walk. Mind if Goblin comes?” I directed the question to Alphabet and not Bones. I didn’t really care what Bones had to say on the matter and I wasn’t asking for his permission.

“She okay?” Lunchbox frowned.

“No,” I said, keeping it as forthright as she had. “She’s trying to not have a panic attack. She wants to be outside and she wants to walk. So I’m taking her.”

“Take Goblin,” Alphabet said as he glanced up from his laptop. “He could use the break to stretch his legs.” Grace would probably appreciate his company.

“Take your phone,” Bones said and I gave him a mock salute before I whistled. “Come on, Goblin.”

“Go,” Alphabet said, when the dog checked with him first. He really was the fifth member of our team these days. The relief on Grace’s face when Goblin and I met her in the mudroom would be hard to manufacture. She took my gun in stride or if she didn’t, she didn’t complain.

Once I opened the door, the cooler air drifted in. The overcast clouds suggested rain, but there was no scent of it in the air. I checked my watch for time and followed Firecracker and Goblin out the door.

“Which way?” she asked as she slid her hands into her pockets. The lack of color in her face hadn’t quite drained her lips of their pinkness, but it wasn’t far off. It added to my worries regarding her.

“Let’s head up the mountain,” I said. “It’s not a steep incline, but it is steady. There’s some good lookouts along the way.” Pretty sure there were, but what I could see when I scouted wasn’t necessarily scenic.

“That means the walk back will be downhill.” A hint of a smile appeared, briefly, but it still showed up. She set off in the direction I indicated and I let her set the pace. Her legs were a lot shorter than mine, so better to not make her take two or three steps for every one of mine. Goblin played forward scout and raced ahead, then circled back to check on us before dashing on again.

Yeah, he needed the exercise too.

“How long have you guys had this place?” As much as I hadn't been expecting conversation, I wasn’t going to turn it down either.

“A few years,” I told her. “We pooled our resources, bought the land and built what we wanted. Some of the structures were here, but the house is all us.”

“You did all the work yourselves?” The faintest bit of skepticism made me smile.

“Don’t think we’re up to it?” It was meant to tease and another flash of her smile said it worked.

“Just seems like a lot of work.”

“It was, but it was the kind of work we wanted to do. We built over the summer. Pitched tents, had campfires at night. It wasalmost like having summer camp without the counselors or the girls.”

She rewarded that comment with a real laugh. What bugged me about it was how hollow she sounded when the laugh was done and how quickly the light in her blue eyes seem to just go back out.

Head on a swivel, I scanned the area. Goblin was in scout mode too. He would check ahead then come back and join us for a while before he took off again. It also let me keep an eye on Grace. She lost some of the stiffness to her movements the more we walked.

The wound on her backwashealing. The bruises on her throatwouldheal. The discoloration on her cheek, the mottling of yellow and green where someone had caught her with the back of their hand was also fading. These were all positives, but it was the wounds we couldn’t see that had me on edge now. The concussionappearedbetter. Looks could be deceiving.

“It’s a really nice house,” she said, as we reached one of the lookouts. There wasn’t much here but some sheer rock faces, but the lip overlooked the valley. “Wow.”

“Thanks and this is one of the reasons we like it up here. It’s quiet. Few to no people. We occasionally see some bears, and a moose once. We left them alone, they left us alone.”

Her eyes rounded briefly and she wrinkled her nose. “Are you teasing me?”

---