Page 33 of Through the Fire
“Hugh.” She gave him a sharp look, knowing why Theo always seemed to be at the end of his patience. Her competitive nature had flared at his words, but she’d be a miserable, air-sucking mess if she allowed him to goad her into running too fast. “If you keep this up, I’m going to have to race you, and we’ll both lose, because I’ll be puking and you’ll be limping and Theo will yell at us.”
Although he snickered, Hugh didn’t say anything else, and he gave a salute that Kit took as agreement. A tug on the lead brought her attention back to Justice, who was following his nose to the other side of the road.
They were running down Main Street, the highway that passed through town, and Kit was thankful for the following squad car keeping any incoming traffic from running them over. It’d only been six months, but she’d forgotten what it was like to have competent partners who had her back. Despite Hugh’s regular teasing and the occasional feeling that he and the other cops were holding back information, things were so much easier when she had a team helping her. For the first time in months, all she had to worry about was letting her dog lead her to the missing person.
As they passed through the center of the tiny downtown, people poked their heads out of the few businesses that were open to watch them jog down the road—dog, pedestrians, and squad car with the lights flashing. Kit got a glimpse of a few people in front of the VFW, but her attention was focused on Justice. As soon as they passed the vacant lot where the old diner had been, Justice took a sharp turn into the post office parking lot. Kit had a moment of hope that Bendsie was safe inside the heated building, but Justice didn’t pause. Instead, he headed straight for the trees bordering the back of the lot.
Hugh groaned.
“Last chance to catch a ride in the car,” Kit puffed as they plowed through the snowdrifts toward the tree line. He just shook his head stubbornly.
Once in the forest, the snow was only a few inches deep, and it got a little easier to keep from sinking. It wasn’t all easy going, however. The trees were closer together and the undergrowth was thicker here than in the woods they’d run through the day before. Justice wove his way through the evergreens, finding dog-size openings between the trees and brush, forcing Kit to stop occasionally so she could untangle the lead and find a human-accessible path. There were branches hidden under the snow, and she kept tripping over them. From the amount of swearing coming from Hugh, he was having the same problem.
Finally, the trees opened up, leaving plenty of room for two people and a dog to maneuver.
“Stop,” Hugh ordered, coming to a halt at the bottom of an old metal windmill.
Although she obeyed, she frowned at him. At the pace they’d been moving, they had to catch up with the elderly man soon, even if he had almost an hour’s head start. “What’s the problem?”
“I know this place.” He waved at the windmill as if that explained everything.
“So?”
“So I’m wondering what exactly is up with your dog.” He crossed his arms and stared at her, his frown belligerent.
“What? Nothing is up with him. He’s trailing Bendsie, who we need to find before he freezes to death!” Her voice had risen with each word, and she took a breath, trying to regain her sense of calm. “I think the question is what is up with you.”
“Fine.” From his tone, though, nothing was fine. “Let’s go. See where he’s taking us. Ask yourself if it seems familiar.”
“Nothing in this town is familiar,” she grumbled, but she turned to Justice, who looked as confused as she was feeling. “Justice, find.”
He picked up the trail in an instant, moving through the trees as quickly as Kit would let him. She ran a little faster than she should’ve, but she wanted to find Bendsie and get this call over with. Hugh was silent, but she could almost feel his judgmental gaze burning into her back. Shaking off the sensation, she followed her dog. It didn’t matter. Hugh’s strange, illogical temper tantrum didn’t matter. All that mattered was finding an old man with dementia and getting him home where he’d be safe.
It only took a few more minutes for Hugh’s accusation to make sense.
Justice burst out of the trees into a clearing, Kit behind him. No, not a clearing, she realized with a clenching stomach, a backyard. It was Jules’s backyard, to be precise, exactly where Justice had led them yesterday. She stared at her dog, confused. What was wrong with Justice? Even when he couldn’t figure out obedience commands to save his life, he was a natural tracker. Was he broken? Had the move to Monroe wrecked him somehow?
He didn’t look broken or wrecked or in any way uncertain as he towed her around the side of the huge, dilapidated house.
“I’ll have to ask the twins if they left a bag full of hot dogs somewhere around the house,” Hugh said. Although his tone was light, Kit felt her face heat with embarrassment, and she kept her gaze fixed on Justice to hide her expression.
“Let’s see where he takes us before assuming he’s wrong,” she said.
“This is the second time in two days he’s led us here,” Hugh said, not sounding as amused anymore. “Unless Bendsie started that fire yesterday and then moved in with Grace, Jules, and the others, the dog is confused.”
Quick words in Justice’s defense rose to Kit’s lips, but she clenched her teeth, holding them back. “We’ll see.”
“Hopefully soon,” Hugh grumbled as they jogged along the side of the house where the snowdrifts were higher.
Justice bounded around the corner to the front yard, pulling harder now. In front of the porch steps, he stopped abruptly and sat, facing the house. Her stomach sinking, Kit followed, looping the excess lead as she did so. It reminded her so much of the day before, when Justice had signaled at the back door, rather than the front. If Hugh was right, she’d never live it down at the station, and no one would ever trust her or her dog again.
Passing the overgrown, snow-heaped shrubs next to the porch steps, Kit came to an abrupt halt right next to her dog. A grin spread across her face, wider and wider until it ached with a wonderful, righteous burn.
“Good dog.” Pulling out Justice’s sock monkey, she played a quick game of tug with him—rewarding him for a successful track—before turning to the elderly man sitting on one of the porch steps. She heard Hugh talking on his radio, giving their location. “Hello. You must be Bendsie.”
He turned to look at her. “Who’s asking?”
“I’m Kit, and this is Justice.” The hound wagged his tail at the sound of his name. “That’s Hugh. We’re officers with the K9 unit, and we’ve been looking for you. Did you bring your gun with you?”
