“Right, so maybe he was ex-military and just wanted to do something.”

  “Maybe, though he wasn’t some do-gooder, happy to help. He was no philanthropist, in my opinion. He had another motive here. Plus he didn’t look like he had a whole lot of money. He didn’t look like he was homeless either, by any means, but I don’t know for sure.” She shrugged. “I don’t want to make a judgment call solely based on appearances, but let’s just say, I didn’t think he could afford Toby’s vet bill.”

  “So, is that what you were looking for? Someone who could cover Toby’s medical expenses?”

  One eyebrow lifted, and her gaze narrowed. “No, I wasn’t. In this case, I’d already taken on Toby’s case as a kindness to an animal that needed help.” She gave a one-arm shrug. “I can only do so many of those a year, without running into trouble myself, trying to pay my bills.” Again she sighed. “However, in this case, no way I wouldn’t help.”

  “Right, because it was a war animal.”

  She looked at him and nodded slowly. “How would you know that would make a difference to me?”

  “I don’t,” he admitted, “but it sure makes a difference to me.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Because of my own naval service. Any animal that went through even a portion of what I went through deserves as much help as it can get. Those animals worked hard and trained hard, so to think of Toby out there suffering now makes me sick.”

  “I get that,” she agreed, “which is another reason why we were here, trying to help him.”

  He looked at her and frowned. “Are you sure there wasn’t another reason? Are you attached to Toby already?”

  She gave him a flat stare and then ignored him.

  He grinned at that. “I like how you can just shut down a conversation with a glance,” he admitted cheerfully.

  “Apparently not, because you’re still right here, bothering me,” she said, but her tone was lighter, as if realizing that he wouldn’t go away just because she wanted him to.

  “You and I both know that I need to get out there and find this dog, and I need to locate him fast.”

  “I won’t argue with that,” she said. “It would be great if you could find Toby before all his pain meds wear off.”

  “Which is when?”

  She glanced at her watch, grimacing. “Two hours ago.” He winced and she nodded. “Considering how much pain Toby may have been in before, it’s possible that he may do okay for a time without the medicine,” she suggested. “Yet you and I both know what could happen when that pain kicks in to the point that he can’t handle it anymore.”

  “I do know, and it’s the same for any animal. He’ll try to run. He’ll hide if he can, holing up somewhere, and either heal or make life very difficult for whoever is around.”

  “And you can’t blame Toby for that either,” she declared, looking at him intently.

  Bauer just let her stare, not sure what her problem was but still quite okay with her checking him out. He needed her to trust in him, when dealing with anything she had to offer in this case. “I’m all about being on the dog’s side,” he stated calmly.

  “I’m sure glad to hear that. I knew Badger was handling War Dogs, and, once I’d scanned Toby and realized what I had, I reached out. I didn’t expect it to go sideways like this. I did the surgery as soon as I could but had to stabilize Toby first, just to confirm he could even get through it. He was terribly dehydrated, and that leg was a disaster. And then, as soon as I get him through the damn surgery, some asshole comes in here and takes him.” She shook her head. “Believe me. I’ve been kicking myself ever since. That dog is not out of the woods by any means, and, if we don’t find Toby soon, he won’t make it, and somebody is likely to get hurt.”

  “Sounds like you did all you could and more. Can I take a look at this video feed on my own?”

  She stepped back and nodded. “Have at it. I’ve got to get back to work anyway.” She stopped and added, “I don’t know if you can even do anything, but please keep me informed, if you get anywhere on this.”

  “Will do. Hey, Mags. If I find him, he’ll need treatment pretty quickly, right? So, are you available, like twenty-four/seven?”

  “Of course,” she declared. “It’s my handiwork the dog is dealing with right now, and I’ll need him back here, where I can ensure he is okay. Pain isn’t the only issue. If Toby’s out on his own, he’s likely to be wet and dirty. Therefore, the odds of getting an infection started are pretty high. You call me the minute you find him.”

  Bauer nodded at that. “Wouldn’t it be nice if it were that easy?”

  With that, she gave him a look. “Make it as easy as that.” Then she turned and walked back out again.

  He knew what she meant, but it just wasn’t that simple. Sometimes these things were not very easy at all. He quickly went through the security camera footage, and it wasn’t much help. There was no sign of a camera on the parking lot or by the broken window. He walked back out to the receptionist and, finding her alone, asked her a couple questions. “So, the guy who came in asking about the War Dog, did you happen to see his vehicle?”

  She shook her head. “No. Believe me. I wish I had.”

  He nodded. “That’ll be a theme, I’m afraid, on this one. I was hoping for a lead so I would have something to track. I have a not-so-clear picture of his face, but that won’t get me very far.”

  “He must have a place big enough to hold the dog.”

  “Which doesn’t help much either, and, with an injured dog like that, depending on his condition at the time of the dognapping, it wouldn’t have been that hard for this guy to take Toby away somewhere. Do you know whether the War Dog was awake, walking, or whatnot?”

  She winced. “He should have been in a deep sleep for most of the night, but I don’t know what kind of constitution this particular dog has.” She looked back at Mags’s inner office. “I don’t know if you asked her, but she was the one who did the 2:00 a.m. check.”

  He frowned and looked back at her office. “She didn’t mention that she’d seen the dog at that hour.”

  Now the receptionist’s voice dropped. “I know she feels terribly guilty about the whole thing. It’s just killing her to know that the dog is out there, suffering, and that she wasn’t here to protect it.”

  “So, what is the system here, when you have patients that stay overnight?”

  “Mags lives on the property, so she comes back and forth. Before she had the house here, she would stay here in the clinic.”

  He nodded. “I guess that’s what I would have expected.”

  “And you would be right,” Mags said, from the inner doorway. “I was here. I checked on Toby, and he was sedated. He was doing fine, yet I increased the pain meds ever-so-slightly, as I could see him shifting in his sleep. It’s always better to try and keep the pain meds stable and steady, rather than trying to play catch up.” She shook her head, “I definitely didn’t expect to have the place broken into and the dog stolen right out from under my nose.”

  “Nobody is blaming you, Mags,” Bauer said.

  “It doesn’t matter whether they are or not,” she stated bluntly. “I blame myself.” And, with that, she turned and walked away again.

  “Whoa,” he called out.

  She stopped in the hallway, then spun around to look at him, one eyebrow raised.

  “Did you see any vehicles around here?”

  She frowned. “I walked across the property, directly here.” She stared out a window thoughtfully, “I wouldn’t have seen the front of the clinic and its parking lot from the house, so I guess the answer to that question is no,” she replied reluctantly.

  “And no cameras are anywhere along the parking lot, right?”

  “No, but believe me, that will be changing now.”

  He nodded, knowing that changing it now wouldn’t be enough to help the War Dog. With that little bit of information, several photos of Toby, with images of his injuries—so Bauer could confirm he had the right dog—Bauer headed back outside again. The window guys were long gone.

  Although a few vehicles pulled in for the clinic’s services, the area looked relatively untouched—except for the fact that a break-in always changed things, including the whole concept of safety and security. He didn’t know if Mags realized it yet, but it would get a lot harder for her to be so blasé about it. He already could tell how twisted up she was about Toby’s fate. He pulled out his phone and sent her a text message, asking if she could contact the other vet clinics.

  Instead of responding by text, she phoned him. “Where are you?”

  “I’m outside, checking the security options.”

  “Oh,” she said, nonplussed.

  “Why?”

  “I thought you had already left.”

  “I’m still doing what I would consider due diligence before I leave,” he explained. “It had just occurred to me that, if this dog needs help, and the guy finally decides to do something about it, he’ll have to get another vet to look at Toby.”

  “Yeah, that’s quite true,” she agreed. “I did consider that, and I have an email half drafted. I’ll get it finished up and sent out to everybody else in the area.”

  “Don’t be shy about expanding the range here,” Bauer suggested. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this guy travels one hundred miles, if not more. He could just be on the road and traveling God-only-knows how far. I don’t know what kind of network you have, but it’s worth a shot to put it to good use.”

  “Quite a big one, actually. I belong to the vet association for New Mexico. And we have quite a collection of people here,” she shared thoughtfully, “so you’re right. I’ll contact everybody and ask them to keep a look out. Let me know if you find anything, please.”

  He heard the note of desperation in her voice. “I will,” he reassured her. “In the meantime, I’ll check to see if we can access the traffic cameras and try to find a vehicle that would fit the time frame.”

  “Oh, that’s a good idea,” she noted. “I hadn’t considered that.”

  “You did phone the cops though, right?”

  She hesitated, then went on, sounding reluctant. “I did, but they weren’t terribly happy with me.”

  “Why?”

  “I guess they figured I should have stayed in the place overnight.”

  “What? But you were here on a regular schedule and had recently checked Toby. If you had thought staying was medically necessary, you would have slept here, right?”

  “Sure, but Toby’s vitals were stable, and everything was fine. However, knowing what I know now, it would have been better if I’d stayed here and—”

  Bauer interrupted her immediately. “Don’t even go there. If this guy was serious, and he wanted that dog, it wouldn’t have mattered if you were here, and it could have gone really badly for you. As much as I hate to say it, this is better than having you injured in the process.”

  “I wondered about that,” she muttered, “but it’s pretty hard to reconcile the grief of the loss with a minor plus in all this.”

  “I get it,” Bauer said. “Still, you need to stay strong, and no good comes from you feeling guilty. I’ll let you know if anything turns up.” And, with that, he ended the call.

  Mags worked her way through the day, struggling with the sadness and the guilt. It had been over eight hours now. Toby was a hell of a dog, and she’d connected with him from the first moment he’d arrived. But then she always had a hard time not connecting to animals, particularly animals in need. She’d been working with Toby for a good week if not ten days now, hoping to save that leg before confirming it was best to remove it. She would have to check her records, but it seemed as if he’d always been here; yet she knew she would need to get him adopted by another family, which was when she had called Badger.

  The break-in last night had been shocking, since it seemed it was planned, with Toby as the target. It was also surprising since she hadn’t had any security problems at all, up until then. It bothered her, since it came on the heels of the one stranger yesterday, who’d come in asking about Toby. She’d been quite happy to talk about Toby with the man, including explaining about the whole adoption process. Obviously he didn’t like the sounds of that, and, although Mags couldn’t be sure he was the guilty party involved in the dognapping, it sure seemed likely.

  But seeming likely also wasn’t a conviction. Supposedly people were innocent until proven guilty, but, in her heart of hearts, she understood perfectly well that this guy, whoever he was, had wanted that dog and hadn’t been too particular about how he went about getting Toby. The question was, why? When she’d pressed him for more details, he hadn’t been forthcoming.

  He had been dressed in camo gear, and she wondered whether he was one of those prepper types, who were very popular in the US now—or those who really personified the military but hadn’t actually served. She knew there was probably a word for them but didn’t quite know what it was. She also didn’t understand that mentality. I mean, if you love the military, then go sign up. Of course not everybody was eligible. Not everybody passed the physicals. Plus there were all kinds of other reasons why some couldn’t get in.

  But Toby, as a War Dog, had done his time. Judging by his scars, Toby had worked damn hard, had trained, and had suffered badly while in service to the nation—not to mention whatever had happened that resulted in him being left near the clinic, badly injured and abandoned. Bauer and Badger probably never would figure out that part.

  She just didn’t want Toby to suffer anymore. This guy who dognapped Toby might know how to look after the dog, but he might not. And the fact that the dognapper had intentionally taken Toby away post-surgery was unforgiveable, considering that pain management and the potential for infection typically required close follow-up care.

  As far as Mags was concerned, it was one thing to take an animal but quite another to cause it unnecessary hardship. And, in this case, the dognapper just didn’t care.

  That guy knew perfectly well the War Dog would need both time and care because Mags had spelled that out for him. If he was a prospective adopter, he must know all the responsibilities entailed with Toby. The guy also didn’t appear prepared to put any kind of money into the War Dog’s care or to help cover current costs. He sure didn’t make any such offers.

  She didn’t know the criteria to adopt a military dog like Toby, but maybe it was something she should look into, just so she had a better idea how the system worked. But honestly, at the moment, she was still too overwrought over the poor missing dog to even contemplate what would need to happen for Toby to get adopted out of here safely. They had to find him first.

  She wandered through the surgery area, where Toby had been recovering in an open crate. She frowned at the sight of the tubes and other items scattered about, then immediately picked up her phone and called Bauer. When he answered, sounding distracted, she said, “I don’t know if there is funding for such a thing, but I just realized that the dognapper had ripped out the IV lines and everything else from Toby, so there could potentially be fingerprints or DNA left behind.”

  “Interesting. Let me check on that, and I’ll get back to you.”

  When she looked up at a noise, Sarah walked in. “Problems?” Mags asked, as Sarah looked at the empty cage, and her bottom lip trembled. “I know,” Mags said, with a nod. “I was just wondering if they could get fingerprints or anything off any of this.”

  Sarah frowned at her. “I didn’t even think that was possible.”

  “Honestly I don’t know that it is,” Mags noted, with a shrug. “Not to mention the cost factor involved.”

  “Right. But if they could—”

  “I just asked Bauer, and he’ll check and get back to me.” Her phone rang almost immediately.

  “I’m on my way over to take fingerprints,” Bauer announced.

  “Can you do that?”

  “I can.”

  He didn’t elaborate, and she didn’t ask. He had ended the call already. She pocketed her phone. “He’s on his way back. Apparently he can take the fingerprints.”

  “That would be good. I suppose it still costs money to get it run though.”

  Mags grimaced, while nodding. “Just one more thing we’re up against right now.” She looked around and asked, “Did the security guys talk to you before they left?”

  Sarah shook her head. “Just to say they would be back this afternoon though.”

  She shrugged. “Of course they will. Nothing is ever as simple as getting to the bottom of anything in one trip anymore. It takes multiple visits every time now, which I never understand.”

  “I think it was something about stock issues for the replacement window that they were looking into and to get you a price.”

  “As much as I don’t want to pay for that, it’s not something I have a lot of choice in. I’m sure my deductible is more than the replacement costs. Plus I can’t have my windows busted out and expect anybody to trust me with their animals. And, right about now, I’m not sure I even trust myself.”

  “Hey, it’s not your fault,” Sarah stated.

  “I know, and yet, at the same time, it is.” Mags groaned. “What does our afternoon look like?”

  “It’s still relatively calm,” Sarah noted. “You’ve got several more appointments, but it’s lunchtime now.”

  Mags smiled. “That’s a good thing because I do need some coffee.” And, with that, she turned and walked toward the coffeepot. “I wish I had noticed something when I returned last night, but I came from the other side of the property, so no way to see what was happening on this side.”

  “But there’s no sense in beating yourself up over it,” Sarah told her boss and friend. “It’s really not your fault.”

  She looked at her. “You know you can say that until you’re blue in the face but …”

  “I know, and you aren’t listening to me. I get it, and I’m sure, if it were me, I would probably feel the same way, but we must focus on what we can do something about.”