As soon as she confirmed that was flowing well, she added painkillers to the drip. The sooner Toby got some pain relief, the sooner she could check him out and get started. Once he was knocked out, and she had him secured on the table, she looked back to see Bauer, standing there watching her.

  “How bad is it?” he asked.

  “I don’t know yet,” she replied in a clipped voice, “but hopefully we will very soon.” With that, she set herself to the task and began her examination. She checked first for new wounds, but they appeared to be fairly minor, considering. “He was shot, but the bullet didn’t do much damage. It cut through the thick of his neck on the back here,” she noted, pulling one of the big lights down closer, so they both could get a better look. “This is likely to be a flesh wound, so hopefully I can clean it up and put in a few stitches. We’ll get that one fixed up first,” she stated, as she continued to check him over. “Now the amputation site is likely a different story,” she muttered, swearing, as she looked at the damaged bandage.

  She quickly stripped off all the dressing and assessed the wound. She heard Bauer suck in a breath beside her. “It’s not that bad,” she noted. “It just needs to be cleaned up and rebandaged. The stitches held through all that, which is a huge relief. Once stitches rip out on a site like that, we can’t restitch it. I would have to cut off more flesh, debride the area, trying to get back to a place where we could pull the raw flesh together again and place stitches in healthy tissue. However, so far, this doesn’t look too bad. He’s got to be in terrible pain, and I’m not exactly sure how much of his state is a combination of pain, exhaustion, and dehydration versus other new injuries.”

  And, with that, she continued her exam. “Can you help me for a minute? I want to get some X-rays to be certain there’s nothing new that I don’t know about. If you can help me position him, then I’ll have you step out. We’ll have to do that a few times to get all the views I need.” She quickly put on her safety gear, then, over the next few minutes, they took several X-rays.

  As she stood in front of a screen checking them over, she nodded. “See this right here? Those two ribs are cracked, and, judging from the angle of the break, I’m wondering if Toby had been the victim of a good hard kick.” Typing in some commands, another set of X-rays popped up beside the first. “See this? These are the ones I took before, and the ribs were fine.”

  “Jeez, why would somebody kick Toby, especially considering how hurt he already was?” Bauer asked.

  “It could be anything. He must have been in terrible pain, so he may have growled or snapped at his dognapper. Who knows? Maybe Toby even bit the guy.”

  The dog was fully sedated now, so she checked his mouth to look for any clues. She found blood, but that could be from all kinds of things. She showed it to Bauer and suggested, “It’s hard to say, but our dognapper might have taken a bite.”

  “I hope so. I hope it was a good one.”

  She smiled. “You and me both, yet I don’t want him coming back because he thinks this dog needs a bullet.”

  “It happens,” Bauer noted. “I’ll go take a look outside, if you don’t need me for a few minutes.”

  “Nope, I’m good for now,” she said. “While I’ve got him sedated, I’ll stitch up his neck, then scrub him up a bit and rebandage his leg. I need to start a clean IV port and get that switched over. Afterward I’ll run some labs and do a full analysis of what I’m seeing here,” she shared. “I’ll be busy for a while, so you go do you.”

  And, with that confirmation, he took off.

  She looked down at Toby, a gentle hand on the rough of his neck. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I don’t know why the hell this guy thought he should break in here and take you, but we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

  She knew the best way to do that was to move the dog to her house. Somebody might break into the clinic again, particularly since the broken window had just been boarded up. She hadn’t yet had the time to get security cameras installed or to even clean up everything after the last break-in. She knew she was taking a chance by bringing Toby to her place as well. Particularly if anybody thought that’s what she might have done.

  At the same time, she had a better security system up there. It had come with the house as part of the build when she’d set it up originally, and she hadn’t done anything to change it. Finally she straightened up, did a last bit of cleaning up around his neck, gave him a shot of vitamins and antibiotics, then returned to the sinks to wash up. As she stripped off the gloves, she looked up to see Bauer standing at the doorway. “Anything?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “No, not at the moment.”

  She nodded. “I’ll stay here with him in the building tonight,” she said. “He’s had a pretty rough go of it, and I want to make sure I can keep his pain levels down because I can’t have him waking up and thrashing around.” She eyed Toby intently. “I’m hoping to keep him sedated for a little bit longer, but I have to monitor it carefully because he’s just been through an awful lot. After that, I want to get him up to my house.”

  Bauer stared at her.

  She shrugged. “I’ll feel better if he’s up there. We haven’t got any more security cameras hooked up here. The damn window is just boarded up for now. After what we saw tonight, it doesn’t seem like this guy is in any mind-set to walk away from what he’s doing.”

  “No, I’m not sure he is either,” Bauer agreed. He looked down at the dog. “But moving Toby surely won’t be easy.”

  “No, it won’t be easy at all. I do have cages up there,” she noted, “and I’ve done it before with animals that I needed to keep a closer eye on.”

  “Isn’t that why you’re supposed to have a bed here?” he asked, with a note of humor.

  “Yeah, it sure is,” she replied, with a smile, “but it is more comfortable for me up there. Plus, since I still have to keep functioning on a day-to-day basis, anything that works for my comfort and the dogs is important.”

  “I won’t argue that,” Bauer replied, “but moving the dog while sedated …”

  She nodded. “I’ll crate him right now, and if we need to, … I’ll put him into one that I can move.” And, with Bauer’s help, she finally had the dog confined and resting quietly. She sighed as she looked down at Toby. “I’m so sorry, sweetie.”

  “It’s not your fault. Remember that,” Bauer muttered.

  “It’s not my fault, and yet it is,” she declared, without looking up. “I just don’t understand what’s going on and why. I mean, this dog has been through a lot already. Who gives a crap if he’s here getting treatment or not?”

  “I know. I hear you.”

  “I’m a little more concerned about the fact that that man was armed and was out there tonight.”

  “You and me both,” Bauer stated. “I’ll need you to contact the cops in the morning.”

  She looked at her watch and grimaced. “You mean, in an hour?”

  He stared at her, then looked down at his own watch and winced. “Wow. How did that happen?”

  “Oh, you know. It certainly won’t be the first time I’ve seen the sunrise from here.”

  He nodded. “I’ll run and get coffee and some breakfast. Can I bring you something?”

  Surprised, she stared at him. “That wouldn’t be a bad idea at all. It’ll be a very long day.”

  “It will. Don’t suppose you can cancel any of it, can you?”

  “Not really, but at least it’s not a surgery day, so I’ll take that as a good thing. I’m not sure how much trust I would put in my hands later today,” she admitted, with a sigh.

  “But it’s still bound to be a long day. Can you get in any help?”

  She frowned at that, while considering it. “I might be able to. I’m not sure. I’ll have to make a few phone calls.”

  At that, he nodded. “While I’m gone, I want you to lock up all the doors and stay inside. When I get back, I’ll phone you from the parking lot.”

  She followed him to the front door and locked up everything behind him. As he left, she muttered to herself, “Won’t do much good. I’ll have staff here in an hour.” Dreading having to explain it all to Sarah, Mags just shook her head. But the good news was, she had Toby back, and that was worth everything.

  With a smile on her face, she headed back to where he was sleeping. She grabbed a blanket they kept in the cupboard, then curled up on the floor, next to his cage. If she could get even one hour of sleep right now, that would be a huge help.

  It wouldn’t be nearly enough, but, hey, she would take whatever she could get. With that, she closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.

  Bauer waited at the coffee shop. He was picking up breakfast sandwiches, coffees, and some muffins. While he waited for his order to be filled, he texted Badger. Instead of texting back, Badger called.

  “That was a good night’s work,” he noted.

  “I’m just glad we got the War Dog back, and he’s being treated right now. In addition to what he had going on before, he’s got two cracked ribs and a bullet wound in his neck. Considering the ground he covered and the number of bullets that were fired last night, we probably did all right. The questions I have are, what brought on all this, and how do I stop this guy from coming back?”

  “I hear you there. I’ll give her a call a bit later and talk to her about it.”

  “Yeah, I’m not sure what kind of shape she’s in right now. She seems to think she’ll do a full day at the office.”

  “Of course she does,” Badger replied. “I also know there’ll be people at her clinic all day to see her, some with appointments, some not. Plus a few emergency phone calls as well. Since she’s the only vet in town, she’ll feel that she’s needed. So, as long as anybody needs her, she’ll show up for the job.”

  “I know, but she’s also exhausted.”

  “And wouldn’t it be nice if we weren’t always in that condition,” Badger noted. “Now, what is it you need from me?”

  “There was a vehicle parked down at the road last night that I think our guy took off in, before he came back later. I sent you photos of it.”

  “Yeah, but they aren’t clear enough for us to do anything with them. I would like to tell you otherwise, but, because of the lighting and the angle and the distance, it’s tough to get much.”

  “Right, so can you at least help me confirm the make and model? Then we can be watching for it.”

  “I can do that,” Badger replied.

  “I don’t know if it’s possible to cross-reference to the owners. I’m just wondering if anybody in this local area might be the person responsible. I’m still trying to figure out his motivation obviously.”

  “That’ll be the hardest thing,” Badger noted, “since it could be anything.”

  “I know, but now that we have the dog, Mags wants to take Toby to her place, the house on the property, and look after him up there. Yet she’ll be down at the clinic for most of the day, so I’m not sure if that’s a good idea or not. I mean, obviously I think it’s a really crappy idea, but she probably won’t listen.”

  At that, Badger burst out laughing. “No, that is true. She’s all about the animals. However, as long as she’s there during the day, the dog should be safe there.”

  “Or we’ll end up bringing the shooter into the vet clinic. It depends on what his problem is with the dog. I mean, if the goal was to kill Toby, why didn’t he kill the War Dog in the clinic in the first place, instead of trying to take it? That would have been an awful lot less trouble.”

  “What do you think is the issue?” Badger asked curiously.

  “The only thing I can think of is that the dog tried to attack the dognapper at some point, either when he was trying to kidnap him or sometime afterward, maybe when he escaped. So, in theory, he may have just decided that he should kill him because of it. Which is still pretty far-fetched.”

  “Not all that far-fetched,” Badger replied thoughtfully. “Dogs have been shot for a lot less. But what other kind of motivations could there be?”

  “I don’t know. That’s part of the reason why I would like to get a broader sweep on this. I’m not sure that vehicle will even tell us anything, and certainly nothing around here gives me any kind of information. But you know that I need to keep trying because, after seeing this guy out there in the dark last night, shooting things up, I don’t think he’ll give up.”

  “Unless he was concerned about the dog being dangerous and thought it should be put down before anybody out for a hike got themselves hurt or killed,” Badger pointed out.

  “That’s true. I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “See? That’s the thing. We don’t know what’s going on in this guy’s head. It could be a decent motive, though misguided perhaps, but that’s not necessarily the way it will stay.”

  “No, you’re right. Anyway, if you can come up with any information, that would be helpful. I’ll also keep an eye on the clinic today, you know, like park myself in a corner and just see what walks through.”

  “Do you think he’ll come back?”

  “He might. He might very well come back looking for the dog still or looking to see what happened and who might have been out there last night. I don’t know.”

  “Do you think he’s unstable?”

  “It’s possible. … With the shots ringing out and then him taking off, it’s hard to say. The rain is why he stopped, but that’s another interesting point.”

  “Why?”

  “Because the rain wouldn’t have stopped us,” he noted. “Yet this guy was a little unpredictable, like the weather in a way. I’ll also run out early and take a look in the daylight. I want to see what there is for tracks, and I’m hoping to figure out what kind of footwear he wore.”

  “Oh, that’s interesting,” Badger said. “Good idea.”

  “I need to just … even though the tracks from last night are probably mostly washed away, I want to at least double-check that I’m not missing something.”

  “Anything you can do to mark off something as done in your head is obviously helpful,” Badger confirmed. “We’ll keep working on our end.”

  With that, Bauer disconnected and turned around to see the waitress moving toward him with his order in a bag. Taking it from her, he smiled, then walked out to his vehicle. He stopped for a moment, sniffed the air, and realized that everything would dry out pretty fast, which was better for him. If he had to go out and track, at least then he would be able to walk without adding to the puzzle.

  He headed back to the clinic, and, as he parked here, it was still quiet. It was early, so the parking lot was still empty. As soon as he had his coffee, he would take a look at the tracks. He pulled out his phone and quickly called Mags. When there was no answer, he frowned. He called again and then again. Swearing, he walked around the building, checking all the windows. He didn’t want to break in if he didn’t have to, but he would if that was necessary.

  Knowing that the alarm was on, but knowing how to shut it off, he headed to the front door, quickly picked the lock, stepped inside and shut off the alarm. He frowned because that was way-the-hell too easy. And, with that in mind, he raced back in the dark to where he had last seen her, then stopped short in the doorway, a slow smile spreading over his face.

  There was a reason she hadn’t heard his calls. She was sound asleep in front of the dog, one hand in the cage, her fingers slipped through the wires, and the dog’s muzzle atop them, sleeping. Bauer sighed a happy sigh and whispered, “That’s a good thing, and one hell of a lot better than what I was afraid it might be.”

  On that note, not wanting to wake her, knowing she would be up soon enough, Bauer placed one of the coffees and two of the sandwiches off to the side, where she would find them when she woke up.

  Taking his coffee, he reset the alarm and walked back outside, then stopped for a minute to eat a couple sandwiches, tossing the wrappers in the garbage. He picked up his coffee and began to retrace their steps from the night before, back to where they’d found Toby. It was a perfect time to keep an eye on her at the clinic but still go see if anything was worth tracking up there.

  He couldn’t get past the idea that something else was going on here. Something that would make no sense until he got all the pieces together.

  He just wasn’t there yet, and he needed to be, … before this got any uglier.

  It didn’t take long to retrace his steps back to where they’d found the War Dog. As expected, the tracks were a mess. Between the going back and forth with Mags, Bauer with and without the dog, and the rain, it made it that much harder to see anything. But he checked over the area, looking carefully for any sign, as he followed the tracks back down to where the gunman had parked his car.

  Boot tracks.

  The owner of the boots had skidded and had slid quite a bit down the hill, which was not unexpected, given the amount of rain that had fallen so fast. That would make it twice as hard to find anything useful. As Bauer got down to where the car had been parked, he studied the ground carefully. Definitely some tracks were here, so he took a couple photos, knowing it would only be circumstantial evidence and not something that would stand up in court, not when it came to actual forensics. The priority of the case might be elevated now, since it wasn’t just about the dog any longer. Now Bauer and Mags had a shootout to report in the woods behind the vet clinic.

  That didn’t necessarily mean anybody at the police station would give a shit, but the shooting packed more weight than the theft of a dog, even a War Dog. Bauer always wondered how people could treat animals the way they did. It wasn’t in his DNA to do such a thing. He absolutely loved them and felt the benefit of having them in the world was a huge boon. But too many people used their animals to take out their anger and frustration at whatever else was going on in the world, something Bauer just couldn’t comprehend. And yet irked at the world didn’t feel like that was the issue in this case.