Bauer didn’t know why, but that was the sense he had. As he wandered back and forth, he headed down to the nearest intersection, but, of course, there were no cameras, nothing like that here. They were just far enough out of town that nobody gave a crap. Not surprising, with only so much money to go around, so it didn’t make sense to put up cameras this far out. It would only be beneficial for people like Bauer, who needed to see something at a particular time and date.

  As he made his way back toward the vet clinic, he noted a couple vehicles pulling up at the front door.

  Bauer kept an eye out and realized that one of the compact cars belonged to the receptionist, Sarah. The other he wasn’t so sure about but presumably was another staff member. And, if Mags needed anything, it was help in that office, especially today. He continued on this trek back down, keeping an eye on the vehicles, but nobody came back out again. Presumably, by this point in time, they’d woken up Mags. As he walked in the entrance, he saw Sarah sitting there at the front desk, staring out the window.

  He studied her gaze for a long moment, just to confirm nothing was odd about it. When she turned and smiled at him, he realized it was more of a pensive look than anything.

  “Good morning,” she said.

  He nodded a greeting. “Is Mags awake?”

  Sarah nodded. “Yes, but not necessarily very bright and cheerful.”

  “No? I left her coffee and some breakfast before I headed out looking for tracks. I assume she filled you in.”

  “Yes, and just the thought of all this going on around here is enough to give me the heebie-jeebies,” she replied. “Personally I would like to lock up and to go home for the day.”

  “Can you?”

  “According to her, No, we cannot,” she stated, with a shrug. “People depend on us being here.” Then she smiled. “My feelings aside, she’s right. People do need this. It’s just that, some days, it would be nice to turn around and to walk away from the chaos. Like today.”

  “I get it,” he agreed. “Hopefully today will be an easier day.”

  “It’s a fairly minor schedule in some ways,” she noted, “because we have a groomer here today. So a lot of the traffic will be for her.”

  He nodded at that. “Interesting that you offer that here.”

  “I think it was Mags’s attempt to bring more people through the doors. We have the space, especially on specific days, so why not. And actually it really has paid off.”

  He nodded but didn’t say a whole lot about that. “Do you mind if I walk back to see her?”

  At that, she waved him back. “Go for it. I think she’s been expecting you anyway. She saw you up in the hills, stepped outside for a bit, then came inside and went to her office.”

  He smiled, then headed back to her office. He knocked on the closed door and, when she called out, pushed it open. “Hey. May I come in?”

  She smiled and motioned at him. “Sure. Did you see anything?” she asked, as soon as he had the door shut.

  He shook his head. “Nothing definitive, no. I followed the tracks back down to where the car was, but, with all that rain and lots of slipping and sliding, not a whole lot in the way of tracks to photograph.”

  “Not that I expected it,” she admitted, “but it would be nice if we could catch a break one of these times.”

  He grinned at her. “Personally I think we caught a huge break.”

  She looked up at him, realized what he meant, and smiled. “I know. Just having Toby back makes me feel so much better,” she agreed.

  “How is he doing?”

  “Pretty rough,” she said. “He looks terrible—and probably feels worse—but it’s nothing that a few days’ rest and some therapy won’t fix.”

  “That’s good to hear,” Bauer noted. “It could have been so much worse.”

  “Especially after that asshole started shooting everywhere,” she snapped, glaring out the window. “I still don’t get why people do crap like that.”

  “Unfortunately we’ll never solve those larger questions about humanity,” he stated. “So, let’s move on to the next thing we can do something about. How long before Toby can be moved? You still want to take him up to your house? What does your day look like?”

  She stared at him, nonplussed. “Are you serious about staying here for the day?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I think there’s a good chance the gunman will come back. I’m almost certain he’ll return to look for the dog. He’ll want to see if he got him last night, and, if not, he’ll check down here to see whether the dog came in or somebody found him and brought him in. If the shooter’s any kind of a tracker at all, he’ll see right away that we brought the dog out of there last night, but I doubt that our shooter has those skills.”

  “Right,” she muttered, “but either way you expect him to show up. Great. I was hoping he would just go away.”

  “Maybe he will, but I don’t believe in fairy tales very often. Do you?”

  She winced. “No. Believing in fairy tales? … Let’s just say it never did me any good.”

  He smirked. “In that case,” he stated, looking at her shrewdly, “let’s presume that this guy will be back—at least to maybe ask questions even—so you’ll need to talk with Sarah and warn her.”

  “Right. Maybe we should do that together. Do you mind?” Not waiting for his answer, she hopped to her feet and called Sarah to come back to her office.

  As Sarah came in, her coffee cup in her hand, she asked, “What’s up? Ugh, if you’re about to tell me that more crap will happen, I’m more than happy to go home.”

  At that, Mags looked over at Bauer. “Do you think it’s dangerous?”

  He shook his head. “Do I think so? No,” he replied. “This guy, if he does come here, will probably ask questions. I wanted to give you both that heads-up, so that you two would be prepared. Sarah, if you can be on the lookout for somebody asking questions and acting suspicious, maybe nudge him a little and be ready to deal with him carefully, plus let us know immediately.”

  “I’m always half suspicious anyway,” Sarah declared. “But, if he’s coming in with a gun, that’s not my cup of tea.”

  “I wouldn’t want it to be your cup of tea either,” Mags declared. She hesitated, then looked at her assistant and asked, “What does our caseload look like for today?”

  “The groomer will be seeing clients, so more people will be in and out. However, for us, the schedule is just steady,” she replied. “Not terrible, just steady.”

  “Okay.” Mags frowned. “I don’t want to ask you to stay if you’re uncomfortable. I can handle the front desk, if you want to go home and just skip out of this.”

  Sarah hesitated, looking a bit embarrassed. “You know I want to go, but I also don’t want to leave you here alone.”

  “I’ll stay,” Bauer said. “It won’t be obvious, but I’ll be nearby the entire day, watching to see if this guy shows up.”

  At that, Sarah looked at the two of them with relief. “In that case, I’ll stay. I was just worried that, with the two of us here alone, it could get ugly.”

  “It still might get ugly,” Bauer noted. “I won’t lie to you about that. It’s definitely possible, but I wouldn’t even have you be open for business if I thought it would be a danger to the public.”

  “That’s what I was questioning,” Mags muttered. “The last thing I want is anybody else getting hurt here.”

  “We don’t know for sure that this guy will even come back,” he reminded her. “We don’t know what his motivation is or what he might have in mind in terms of a potential next step.”

  At that, Sarah nodded. “Fine, I’ll stay. We’ll keep the clinic open and get through the schedule. If it doesn’t get busy with extra patients or emergencies, maybe we’ll close a little early,” she suggested, looking over at her boss.

  Mags replied, “Why don’t we just see how it goes?”

  And that’s how they left it. As Sarah took off again, Mags looked over at him. “You would tell me if you thought it was dangerous, wouldn’t you?”

  “Of course. We’ve been friends for quite a while. I would never put you in any more danger or not be straight with you.”

  “We have been friends, haven’t we? I guess I hadn’t thought of it that way. I’ve just been so caught up in getting this mess resolved. I’ve been kind of a jerk to you, if I think back a day or two. Not how someone would treat a friend,” she admitted, shaking her head.

  “Look. We were both just doing our jobs. Don’t worry about it,” Bauer told her, with a smile. “So, the plan for the day. You do you, and we’ll keep the dog here for the workday. I would also like to spend some time with Toby and have him get to know me a little better, so I don’t have to fight with him anymore,” he shared. “Are you comfortable with me going in to sit and talk with him a bit?”

  She stood. “Yes, that’s a great idea. Anything that makes Toby more comfortable is bound to help him heal.”

  At that, she walked around her desk and headed for the hallway. He got to his feet and followed. She smiled as they headed down to the back. “I wish I had a way to put some sort of an alarm back here,” she added. “Then I wouldn’t have to worry about somebody messing with the dog, while I’m busy with clients.”

  “I can always just stay back here,” Bauer suggested, and as he looked at the windows along the back wall. “Actually that’s not a bad idea because I could keep an eye on the hills up there too.”

  “What would that do for you?” she asked curiously.

  “I’m expecting this guy to go back up there to look and see if he can find the dog he shot at.”

  “Right, so he’ll be checking to see if he managed to kill Toby.” She shuddered just saying that.

  As she led the way into the back of the vet clinic, Bauer turned to study the layout and the lack of security. “I guess there really is no security in place back here, for something like this, is there?”

  “I’m not even sure what this is,” she stated. “And honestly I don’t know any vet clinic that has security in case of a gunman coming in through a window to steal or to kill a dog.”

  He smiled at that. “You’re probably right, but that’s not quite what I meant.”

  She laughed. “Be honest. That’s exactly what you meant.”

  He shrugged. “Okay, fine, for a worst-case scenario. However, I really was just trying to figure out if this guy could get in the back door without anybody knowing?”

  “Theoretically, no. We keep it all locked up but—”

  “I picked the lock and came in and found you sleeping this morning. So these locks won’t keep anybody out who knows how to pick a lock.” As he kept walking, he realized that she had stopped. Turning slowly, he looked back at her.

  “You did what?” she asked.

  He nodded. “When I came back with the coffee and food, the door was still locked, and you weren’t answering your phone, so I was worried. Remember how we left it? I was supposed to call you to let me in, when I got back with breakfast. When I got here, you didn’t answer, so I picked the lock, turned off the alarm, and came in.”

  She just stared at him, and he watched as she swallowed several times.

  “I’m sorry. You didn’t know, did you?”

  “No, I didn’t know, and I had no idea it was that easy,” she whispered, feeling short of breath.

  “Yeah, it is that easy. That’s one of the reasons we need to get your security beefed up. And not just for this situation but for business as usual.”

  She nodded. “I just hadn’t considered that anybody could do that.”

  “It’s not hard,” he said, “particularly for someone who has been trained with my kind of skills.”

  “But what are the chances this shooter guy has that kind of skills?”

  He frowned at her. “What we can’t do is make an assumption that he doesn’t,” he suggested. “So let’s go on the assumption that there is a good chance that he could.”

  She nodded slowly. “Great.” Then she turned and headed to the back of the clinic.

  Bauer stepped into the area lined with cages, each one empty, except for the one cage at the back. There, looking out at them with a watchful gaze, was Toby.

  At that, Mags bent down and smiled at him. “Hey, Toby. How are you doing?” When his tail wagged ever-so-slightly, she nodded. “So, in other words you’re doing okay, but you’ve felt a lot better, right, buddy?” She slowly reached through the cage and stroked his muzzle, pushing toward her hand. She looked over at Bauer. “As you can tell, he’s pretty friendly.”

  “He is? That’s great.” He bent down and held his fingers up against the cage and let Toby sniff them.

  Toby sniffed and then licked.

  “Oh, that’s lovely,” Mags muttered.

  “I imagine he remembers me,” Bauer noted. “So anything that helps him to remember me is a good thing right now.”

  She smiled. “Isn’t that the truth,” she muttered. “It really does my heart good to see him at least appreciate that you’re one of the good guys.”

  “Now, if only he knew how to tell us who the bad guy was,” Bauer said.

  At that comment, she nodded. “It’s never that simple though, is it?”

  “No, it sure isn’t,” Bauer confirmed, with a gentle smile. “Now, you head off to work. I’m sure you’ll be busy enough to keep your mind occupied. I’ll just sit here and visit with Toby. You might want to let Sarah know where I am and maybe give her my number.”

  “Oh, good idea. Now, keep it low-key with Toby. I don’t want him moving around just yet. Don’t let him get excited. Remember, keep it low-key,” she warned.

  He shook his head. “I won’t get him riled up. I promise.”

  And, with that, she turned and headed out to start her day.

  Chapter 5

  Even though Mags was tired before her workday even began, she was constantly busy, and she couldn’t cut back and close early. She met with a steady stream of scheduled visits, plus worked in a number of urgent-care appointments. If she knew an animal would just get worse by waiting, she couldn’t put them off another day, appointment or not. By the time the end of the workday rolled around for the clinic, Sarah had left, and Mags sat at her desk, trying to get the rest of her case notes and documentation done for the day.

  She needed to check up on Toby again, but, so far, it seemed he was doing just fine. She was grateful that no more serious damage had been done through his hardship over the last couple days. As she quickly tried to finish up her paperwork, she realized she hadn’t seen or heard from Bauer in the last little bit.

  She struggled with his presence. Yet it was good to see him and good to have him around. She felt a sense of security in having him here, but she also knew he couldn’t stay here all the time. It was not the kind of work he did, and she certainly wasn’t in any position to hire a bodyguard. This was an extenuating circumstance, one that she needed to bring up with him.

  But, at the moment, she knew it would likely piss him off if she mentioned anything. She didn’t know him that well, but she’d met him off and on over the last many years. There was certainly nothing not to like. Just because she’d sworn off men, or at least long-term relationships, that didn’t mean she had to not like men in general.

  By the time she finished her last report, she stood and stretched, just as she heard a voice at her office door.

  “Are you done?”

  She looked over at Bauer and nodded. “Yeah, finally. I have a rule about completing my case notes each day. It’s a disaster if I don’t. But, man, for what was supposed to be a fairly slow day, it ended up being crazy busy. I think it’s almost as if fate overhears you. The minute you say something about it being an easy day, the universe slams into you.”

  “Really? We should fix that,” he teased, with a smile.

  She nodded in agreement. “That would be great, although, from a business perspective, being busy is a good thing. So maybe we better leave it be. I will say, Toby is good motivation for me. I’ve plowed through getting all these case notes done, so I could go check on him.”

  “He’s doing just fine,” Bauer shared.

  She nodded. “That’s good. It’s a huge help to see that he won’t have any long-term damage from this.” She looked over Bauer, as they walked to the back. “Presumably it was a quiet day for you.”

  He nodded. “Yep, no sign of the shooter. I went back out and took another look, but no sign of him there either.”

  “That’s huge,” she said. “What do you think about trying to move Toby now?”

  He raised his eyebrows. “I wondered if you still wanted to.”

  “I do. I’ve got to get some sleep tonight. I could stay here, but I would really rather be at home. Plus, if the shooter comes back, I would rather he destroy the clinic in a temper fit than go after me in the dark.”

  “Exactly,” Bauer agreed. “If you were planning on staying here, I would be staying here too.” She stared at him in surprise. He shrugged. “I’ll hardly leave you in the lurch now,” he stated.

  “Yet your job is the War Dog.”

  “Yep.” Bauer gave her a big smile. “And it looks to me like maybe this War Dog has a defender already.”

  She smiled. “As much as I would love to keep Toby, if somebody has a prior claim or a better claim on him, that would be fine with me too,” she shared hesitantly. “I am very busy, and, if a War Dog needs a ton of work, I’m not sure what I would do.”

  “You would survive,” Bauer replied. “I can talk to Badger about it.”

  “Don’t mention anything yet. I mean, I’ve done everything I could in terms of keeping him safe, but I failed miserably on one very big aspect.”

  He shook his head at that. “You need to stop thinking about it being a failure.”

  “Hard to do,” she muttered. “It seems pretty obvious to me that it’s a hell of a failure.”

  “Nope, not at all. You couldn’t have known Toby would be dognapped. Nobody could have. You said yourself that the guy asking about the War Dog wasn’t threatening. You also noted that he didn’t seem pleased with the requirements to adopt Toby from the government. Who would have thought someone would just skip that legal adoption part and go straight to dognapping?” he argued. “So stop taking on all that guilt.”