Page 24 of Run to Ground
The howl switched pitches and increased in volume. With a huff of mingled annoyance and concern, Theo got out of bed, yanking on track pants before heading to the back door, turning on the porch light on his way. The second he stepped outside, the howling stopped, as suddenly as if someone had flicked a switch.
Theo peered through the gloom to see Viggy slip into his shelter, tail tucked. Feeling like he was suffocating on his pity and hopelessness, Theo headed back to his bedroom. He wasn’t even through the kitchen before the mournful howl began again.
Shoving the heels of his hands against his eyes, he sucked in an audible breath before dropping his hands. He reversed his path and returned to the back door, not bothering to turn on the porch light this time. Again, Viggy went silent, darting back into his shelter as soon as Theo came into view. As he stood on the porch, the cool air of the now-silent night brushing over his bare skin, Theo’s annoyance trickled away, leaving only guilt and sadness in its wake.
He picked his way toward the fenced enclosure, careful not to step on anything prickly with his bare feet. For a long time, he stared at the dark entrance to Viggy’s shelter. Theo was suddenly exhausted, more tired than he’d ever felt, and he sank down to sit on the rough grass next to the chain link.
“I’m sorry, Vig,” he said, his words sounding loud in the quiet darkness. “I should’ve done something. Not sure what, exactly, but there had to’ve been something I could’ve said or done or…something. I’m sorry for being an oblivious asshole and not seeing when Don was hurting so bad he thought death was the better option.”
Viggy’s muzzle poked out of the shelter, followed by the rest of his shape, silhouetted dark against darker. When he was several feet away from Theo, the dog sat and watched him.
“And now you’re fucked up, and I’m fucked up, and I don’t know how to fix it.” Leaning forward, Theo felt the cool chain link press into his forehead. “Don’t really see the point in fixing it.”
With a low, almost soundless whine, Viggy lowered his front end to the ground and rested his head on his paws. The silence stretched, filled only by the low whistle of the constant wind, and it felt like he and Viggy were the only living things in the world. Loneliness hollowed him out, and he tried to think of something, anything, else.
Jules popped into his mind, and he relaxed fractionally. As messed up as he was, there couldn’t be anything between them, but it was nice to have an ally, or maybe, possibly, eventually, a friend. From the little information he’d gotten from her, it seemed like she could use one, as well. Their grocery-store encounter gave him an excuse to talk to her, too. He found himself actually looking forward to going to the diner, and it had been a while since he’d looked forward to anything.
And he was back to thinking about Don. Viggy shifted and whined, as if sensing that Theo’s mood had dimmed.
“I know you miss him.” His voice came out rough, almost hoarse. “I do, too.”
They sat together quietly until the sun turned the sky orange and the neighborhood began to wake. Only then did Theo stand and stiffly walk toward the house to get ready for another shift.
* * *
“This is a bad idea.”
Viggy didn’t respond, not even to shift positions in the back. Not that Theo needed confirmation that this was indeed a very, very bad idea. It had been a long, frustrating shift, and he needed to go home. Despite knowing this, he couldn’t stop himself from turning onto the rutted driveway leading to the old Garmitt place—the one currently occupied by a squirrelly, yet extremely hot, waitress.
He told himself it was his duty to check on her, to make sure she was okay in that remote, ramshackle house. As scared as she was, Jules was obviously running from something, and the thought of what possible danger she could be in made him grind his teeth and push a little harder on the accelerator. Even as he tried to convince himself that his impromptu visit was for Jules’s safety, Theo knew the real reason he was dodging potholes and tree branches along this godforsaken excuse of a driveway was because he wanted to see her. Heneededto see her, to feel the stirrings of excitement and even happiness he always experienced when she was around. Before he returned to his tiny, too-quiet, suffocating house, and everything inside him returned to its usual deadened state, he was going to grab a few minutes with Jules, so he could feelalivefor once.
As he rounded the final bend, he saw smoke billowing from the open front door. A curl of tension tightened his stomach, and he reached for his radio as his gaze scanned the house, searching for Jules. Her SUV was parked in the front, so she was probably home. The door was open, but she wasn’t outside.
He brought the radio to his mouth, ready to call in the fire, but then he hesitated as he stopped his Blazer abruptly, right next to the front porch. This close, the smoke was much less alarming than it had appeared at first glance. In fact, the haze coming from the house was rapidly dissipating, thinning to almost nothing. Theo decided to check things out before he brought Fire and Med and everyone else running to what might be a false alarm. Stepping out of his SUV, he hooked the radio to his belt, sending a quick glance toward Viggy. Before they’d left the station, Theo had rolled the passenger window most of the way down to give the dog some air. Although it was a warm day, the house and surrounding trees shaded the vehicle. With the window lowered, Viggy wouldn’t overheat in the few minutes it would take for Theo to figure out what was going on at Jules’s house and quickly leave. Assured of Viggy’s safety, Theo turned away from his Blazer and climbed the front steps.
The porch was old, and each riser gave an alarming, high-pitched creak as it took his weight. It was eerily quiet, especially considering the wide-open door and the smoke. Theo had second thoughts about not calling in the fire. Both times at the diner, Jules had acted scared. What if whatever—orwhomever—she was trying to escape had caught up with her? Jules could’ve been attacked or injured or taken—
Theo firmly cut off his escalating thoughts, shoving out any what-ifs and firmly blanking not only his mind, but his emotions. He’d gotten pretty good at that over the past few months. His cool shell was firmly reassembled as he stepped over the threshold, quickly checking right then left before entering the house.
What a pit.Theo couldn’t believe someone lived there. It’d been empty for at least five years—and looked it. The previous owners hadn’t done much in the way of maintenance, either, and the final result was a house that needed to have a date with a bulldozer.
“Police!” he called into the open, still-smoky hallway. “Anyone here?”
There was no response, so he took a couple of steps inside. The remaining smoke tickled his throat and gave the old place an eerie cast. Theo held back a cough. He walked down the hallway, checking in each room he passed, but except for a few items—a bright-green beanbag in the living room, an old chest in the library, a cheap drinking glass with awkwardly cut flowers mashed into it on the windowsill in the dining room—the house was empty. Empty and smoky and wrong. With Jules’s SUV out front and the door open, she should be here. He automatically unsnapped the top of his holster, resting his hand on the butt of his gun. He felt his muscles tighten with each new empty room he saw.
The smoke was lightening, but a haze still lingered, dimming the light struggling to find its way through the windows. There was an almost-closed door on his left, and he pushed it open. The hinges protested with a squeal, but the door reluctantly swung to reveal an empty, old-fashioned bathroom. He continued down the hall, his imagination going wild again with thoughts of what could’ve happened. Had Jules’s past caught up to her?
The thought of something happening to Jules made his stomach clench, and he moved more quickly. As Theo got closer to the final door on the right, the one he was fairly sure was the kitchen, he finally heard people. Multiple loud voices piled on top of each other, making it difficult for Theo to hear what anyone was saying. Pausing next to the entryway, keeping his body hidden from whoever was in the kitchen, he listened, trying to pick out individual words.
“…if he comes back!” a child’s voice wailed, rising above the babble of the others. Theo’s muscles tightened. Who was “he,” and why was the kid so upset at the thought of this man’s return?
“…long gone…” Theo barely made out a few words from Jules, but he was certain it was her speaking. The rest of what she had to say disappeared into the cacophony of sound, and the short phrases Theo was able to pick out only confused him more. Someone mentioned an ignition point, and the child shrieked something about making someone homeless, and another person stuttered in a deep, male voice about clean up. Theo frowned, the term “clean up” leading him to think about corpses. All his earlier fears for Jules rushed back, and he couldn’t hesitate any longer.
Theo surged into the kitchen.
A small crowd of people—youngpeople—huddled around the ancient stove, ignoring the light stream of smoke that still drifted from it. No one was looking at Theo, and he immediately dropped his hand from where it had been resting on the butt of his gun. The sight of all the kids made him feel a little sheepish for overreacting.
“What’s going on?”
