Page 78 of Run to Ground
Looking back and forth between them, Otto asked, “Jules? The new diner waitress?”
“Yes,” Hugh said. “This is aboutJules.”
“What’s the problem with her?” Otto put some eggs onto the only two plates Hugh owned, and then started eating his portion directly from the pan. “She seems nice. Jumpy, but nice. I’m guessing there was an asshole husband or boyfriend back wherever she came from.”
Hugh grabbed one of the plates and stabbed his fork into the eggs more violently than was really required. “That’s the problem. We don’t know where she came from or why she’s running or even who she really is. And head-in-the-sand Theo here isn’t even bothering to look.”
“She’ll tell me when she’s ready,” Theo said, pushing away from the counter so he could grab the last plate of eggs. “But I agree with you, Otto, about your asshole-ex theory. One of her brothers shows signs of abuse, too.”
Now it was Otto stabbing his eggs with unnecessary force. That information had poked him right in his soft spot for kids and animals.
“Nan just hired him to help at the kennels, so you’ll be seeing him around there.” Theo took a bite of his eggs. “Are you still working with that rescue Malinois?”
“Yeah.” The question didn’t seem to cheer him up. “She’s going to take some patience.”
Theo grinned at him. “Good thing you have plenty of that.”
“We’re off track,” Hugh said grumpily. “And, Otto, you know I hate my eggs scrambled. You couldn’t have gone over easy?”
Otto put the pan down on the counter with athunk. “You could’ve had your eggs any way you wanted if we’dgone to the diner.”
“They’re not even open yet. Besides, we need to talk about—” Otto’s and Theo’s radios chirped at the same time, and Theo hurried to turn his off before there was feedback. At the same time that the dispatcher’s voice sounded, Theo’s cell phone rang.
As he answered, he tried to listen to the call coming in on the radio with half an ear, but Lieutenant Blessard quickly took all of his attention.
“Bosco!” he barked. “You fix that dog of yours yet?”
Irritation warred with concern. “He’s coming along, but I don’t think he’s ready for the field yet. Why?”
“Officer Lopez responded to a shots-fired call and found Norman Rounds with a bullet hole in him. Med picked him up, and he’s holding on, but he’s not in any shape yet to tell us anything. Not sure who shot him, but he’s ass-deep in that militia group, so I want the place checked out before our crime scene people start crawling around. I requested help from the bomb squad in Denver. They’re at another incident right now, so it’ll be an hour—minimum—before they can respond. Mind taking a walk around with your dog, see if he alerts to anything?”
Putting aside the startling news that someone had shot Rounds, Theo considered his lieutenant’s request. After their progress at Schwartz’s truck, Theo was feeling optimistic that Viggy could come back to his former self. This might be the perfect, low-stress opportunity to try a search. If Viggy wasn’t up for it, they’d just withdraw and wait outside in the safe zone for the Denver bomb squad. It wouldn’t have the confidence-destroying consequence like the attempted search of Gordon’s compound.
“Yeah,” he said. “That sounds like a good plan. Thanks, LT.”
There was a pause before Blessard cleared his throat. “Right. Well, you’re…welcome, I guess.”
Theo held back a laugh. If he’d known that thanking his lieutenant would bewilder the man so much, he’d have done it earlier. “What’s the address?”
“It’s the Monroe Diner.”
Chapter 20
Theo froze for what felt like a long minute before he turned, his gaze hunting the clock display on the microwave. It was 4:49 a.m. His lungs released in a relieved huff. Jules didn’t start until five, and she rarely got in more than five minutes early. She hadn’t been in there. She was fine.
“Bosco? You there? Bosco!” The lieutenant’s irascible tone echoed through his phone. “Damn shitty cell reception. Bosco!” The cell went quiet and then beeped, indicating that Blessard had ended the call.
Theo called Jules, listening to it ring as he turned to tell Hugh and Otto what was happening. The other men were already moving—Hugh toward the back door to grab Lexi from the yard, and Otto to the front, where his squad car was parked. The robotic voice of Jules’s generic voice-mail message began reciting her number, and Theo impatiently waited for the message to end before he clipped out, “It’s Theo. Call me as soon as you get this.”
“Was that LT?” Otto asked as Theo hurried after him, catching the door after Otto pulled it open.
“Yeah. The first call, at least. Norman Rounds was shot at the diner.”
“Got that from dispatch.” As they separated, heading toward their respective cars, Otto called over his shoulder, “LT give you any details?”
“Just that Rounds is alive, but barely. He wants us to check for explosives before the crime scene team goes in.” Theo climbed into his squad car and fired the engine with one hand while he called Otto on his cell with his other. As soon as Otto answered, Theo started talking like there’d been no interruption of their conversation. “LT thought it’d be a good retraining opportunity for Viggy.” The dog sat up in the backseat at the sound of his name.
“Good idea.” Otto took the abrupt start to the call in stride. “Who’s in there this time of day? Megan?”
