Chapter 11

B rittany had not been kidding. Absolutely nothing was good about this scenario, and this latest gunman was more than a nightmare, and she didn't want to deal with him ever again. She looked back at Baron, as they walked toward his truck. "Besides," she added, "we have another patient in need of attention."

He frowned at her but followed along, as she led the way back over to where Kingston had taken her earlier—to the mama dog and her puppies. Her heart melted a little more, as Baron bent down and cooed at the mama dog. She let him pick up her puppies and examine them, her tail wagging the entire time.

"Well, she wasn't anywhere near as welcoming to me," she noted in fascination.

He looked over at her and smiled. "I have a way with dogs."

"Yes, I can see that," she stated. "I'll just reiterate that I think you should put that gift to good use."

"Heard you the first twelve times," he teased, with laughter in his tone.

She nodded. "Yet you're still ignoring me."

"Nope, I'll take it all into consideration," he clarified, with a smile as he looked over at her. "But, right now, this lady and her babies need to get checked over, and then we need to find a place for all of them to go." He looked at her and asked, "Do you have room for them?"

"For how long?" she asked cautiously, as she stared down at the pups.

"The puppies need eight weeks at least, but twelve would be better for mama's sake and for all of their well-being really."

"I have a big yard and an empty basement."

"Done," he declared. "Besides, you'll find very quickly that they'll break your heart."

"Yes, that's part of the problem," she admitted, as she stared at him. "I'm really not into broken hearts."

He grinned and shook his head. "This is a different kind of broken heart, but trust me that you'll be fine."

"If you say so," she muttered, with a sigh.

The two of them picked up the box of puppies, but the mama dog didn't get up. Brittany watched Baron's facial expression, when the mama dog just lay there. "That can't be good, can it?"

"No, it means she's most likely hurt," he suggested.

Brittany cast her glance back to where the angry stranger had been. "What about him?"

"I already texted Badger, and he's contacted local law enforcement. I'm sure they'll be tardy as usual, but, if nothing else, they can't have somebody out here, waving a gun around."

"Sure," she agreed, "but we also have the issue of whoever owns this place."

"True," he replied, shaking his head, "but that's an issue for another day. As for now, you're right. We need to get this little lady some attention."

It took a bit to get her loaded into the vehicle, all the puppies intact, and to get Kingston up in there too. The War Dog didn't want to sit in the front of the truck but with the mama dog in the back.

"Kingston's really protective of her, isn't he?" she wondered.

"He is, and that's not a bad thing." They made it to the vet hospital. Baron made two trips, very carefully carrying the boxful of puppies inside, then went back for the mama dog.

The vet took one look, raced over, and grabbed a gurney. "What happened to her?"

"Not sure, but we came from the closed-off area at the beach, where the hurricane struck, and we found her and her babies among the debris."

The vet nodded. "Ah, poor baby. Whether the birth was brought on because of the disaster or was delayed until she got free and could give birth, I don't know," he shared. "Give me a little bit to sort her out."

Brittany and Baron sat in the lobby and waited. She kept getting up and pacing and then sitting back down again.

Baron looked over at her, as she plunked down beside him. "She'll be fine, you know."

"How can you be sure?"

"I can't be certain," he conceded, "but I'm willing to go on faith that she'll be fine."

She smiled. "That's just because you're a nice man."

"That's what you said about my brother."

"Your brother was a very nice man."

"Oh, oh, I see how it is," he said in a joking manner. "Brad was a very nice man. Me? I'm just a run-of-the-mill nice man."

She groaned. "You're just trying to distract me."

"Is it working?"

"No," she snapped, and then sighed. "Yes, it is."

He laughed. "Good, at least that's one thing I'm doing right."

"You're doing everything right."

"Yet it's so messed up that I got my head cracked, and I don't even know why."

She frowned at that. "We should have gone to the hospital to have them look you over."

"It's okay," Baron said yet again. "I'm feeling a lot better, and the headache's gone."

She looked over at him and raised one eyebrow. "You're lying." The grin that flashed across his face confirmed that she'd caught him in that lie too. "What is it about guys not wanting to get themselves checked out?"

"I don't know," he replied, with a shrug. "Maybe it has to do with needles and doctors and all that stuff," he quipped, with a mock grin.

"I highly doubt you give a crap about any of that."

"Oh, you would be surprised," he noted, with a smile. "I've watched some of the biggest and the toughest badass men become an absolute jelly blob over a needle pinch."

"Really?" she asked.

He nodded. "Hey, phobias are phobias, and it can even happen to the biggest men you can imagine," he explained. "All kinds are in the military. It was interesting to see. Yet it was sad because, if anybody found out, they would be teased mercilessly."

"What about you?"

"Oh, I don't care about needles so much," he shared. "It's a whatever for me. I must have it, so I have it, but not everybody can enjoy that same freedom," he murmured. "For some people it really was a problem."

An odd silence fell over them. She stared over at him for a moment and then it clicked. "Oh my God, you're thinking about going back over there, aren't you?"

That same damn crooked smile flashed, and he shrugged. "It's not so much that I'm thinking about it, as much as I never stopped thinking about it."

She frowned. "But you have no real reason to go back, do you?"

He looked over at her. "You've got a box of your grandmother's things there, don't you?"

She nodded. "But I can get those another day, and, if we don't get them, we don't get them," she declared, raising both hands. "My grandma was pretty adamant about not putting myself into further danger over it." He nodded, and yet it didn't seem to satisfy him. "And if you're looking for permission or for an excuse," she added in a droll tone, "I don't think you need me to provide it."

"No, I don't," he agreed. "I'm just unsettled over a lot of the scenarios I have seen here."

"So, why do I feel like there's more to it? Is there?"

He studied her, then shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I'm not exactly sure what is going on here at the moment."

She settled back and waited. When the vet returned and informed them that the mama dog and her puppies could all be taken home, Brittany turned to Baron, with a questioning gaze. "So, my place?"

He nodded. "If you're okay with that."

"Well, I'm the only one who has a livable place. I've seen your brother's place. It took some damage, but it looks like it could be easily repaired."

"It did look like it could be repaired." He nodded. "Yeah, I do need to take another look at that though, to see what changes must be made."

"And talk to the insurance company," she pointed out.

"I've definitely got to talk to the insurance people. Something I probably should have done already. Although I think my mother would have already started in on that."

"Will she move into Brad's house?"

"No, she has her own house and never wanted to be that close to the beach."

"So, the house could potentially be yours."

"It is mine. Brad has always been very clear about that. The house didn't seem to have been hit too badly, but, if the insurance company doesn't want me in there, well, you know how that goes."

"Right, well, you'll have to make that decision too," she noted.

He didn't say much more. As they loaded up the pups, she asked him, "How do we find out who she belongs to?"

"Or if she belongs to anybody," he corrected her. "My brother was also fostering a bunch of dogs, and, for all I know, she was part of that."

"Oh, wow, I never considered that," she replied. "What if she doesn't have a family?" She looked at their group of animals and realized that, once again, her comfort zone had been pushed out a little bit further than she was comfortable with.

He chuckled. "I'm sure we can find homes for them, but we have plenty of time to consider that. Let's get them settled in. She needs to know that she and her puppies are safe."

At that, Brittany's heart melted because the most important thing for the dog right now was to know she had a safe place to raise her puppies. "Well, my place it is then."

And, with that, they headed to her house. As Kingston, Baron, and Brittany all wandered around the backyard, checking to ensure it was secure enough for the dogs to be in, Baron nodded. "This is pretty good."

"It's pretty good, but it's not great," she muttered. "I mean, it's all right. It's just not as pretty or as nice as it could be."

He glanced over at her, a wry look on his face. "This is so much better than the places she has been."

Brittany winced at that thought.

"The biggest thing is making sure she's safe here, and now she is. We'll just need to rig up a spot for her to be out of the weather."

She shook her head. "I have the basement and also that big porch that's partially closed off."

He walked through to the door she mentioned, then stepped outside and took a look. Turning back, he looked at her and nodded. "This is perfect."

"You think it'll work?" she asked anxiously. "I really don't have much experience with animals and what they need."

"I think this will be wonderful for her," he stated warmly, "at least on a temporary basis, while the pups are small. It will do just fine."

"That's good to know," she muttered. "I am really not sure how much of this long-term stuff I can consider."

He chuckled. "Don't worry about it, at least not right now."

"Yeah, you say that, but then you disappear, and I'm left with six puppies and a mama dog that needs to be fixed."

"That she does." Baron frowned, turning to look back at the mama dog.

As if realizing she was the subject of curiosity, the mama dog got up slowly from where they had placed her in the backyard and walked around, sniffing appreciatively. Kingston was beside her all the way.

"Look. She seems better already," Baron pointed out. "Nothing quite like seeing an animal back up on its feet to realize that's the more normal state."

The mama dog found a corner and went to the bathroom, then slowly walked back and nuzzled her puppies. Then Kingston came over and nuzzled her. The two of them greeted each other like long-lost friends, which made Brittany stop and take note. "You think they knew each other?"

"Well, if they didn't, they do now," he stated. "Animals deal with things very quickly, whether being very accepting or rejecting unwanted attention. In the wild or in the packs on the streets, sick or injured animals are often left behind because they slow down the pack. It's cruel, and it's seemingly a horrific way to go, but it's to save the rest of the animals."

"Which is a horrible thing," she declared.

"I know, but it doesn't change the fact that Mother Nature has reasons for everything she does, and the bottom line is continuity of the species."

She winced at that, while the mama dog settled back into the box and closed her eyes, as the puppies nursed. "She's not very strong, is she?"

"No, she isn't," Baron noted. "I suspect she was abused and is suffering. She could have been a popular dog, for all we know, but the hurricane really did a number on her. Whatever happened, we don't have any history on her. I have yet to check my brother's house to see if he has any records that might help sort through some of what was going on in his world," Baron mentioned, "but I'll try to get in there today and do that. Are you okay to stay here with her? Even if I take Kingston with me?"

Brittany stared at him for a long moment. "Did you decide that I should stay here to look after her just to keep me out of trouble?"

"I'm hoping you'll stay here because I'm still a little worried that she's not out of the woods. She had a normal delivery it seems, but she's still under a lot of stress, and it's obvious she's not had an easy time of it. Therefore, if you were to stay with her, I think it would help her. Yet, if you're not up for it, just tell me."

"Then what? Will you stay with her?" she asked.

"It means I'll make my trip a whole lot shorter. I'll try to find what I'm looking for at Brad's house, maybe make some quick damage assessments, and then be back here in an hour."

"An hour won't allow you very much time to do that," she muttered. "Why don't you make it three or four hours… or longer if need be."

"That's a compromise I can live with. Deal." He walked over, stroked the mama dog's head. "While I'm gone, come up with a name for her." And, with that, he let Kingston in the front seat, then he hopped in the truck and took off.

He left her staring at the mama dog, who even now was looking at Brittany beseechingly—as if asking, begging her for a home.

"Oh no, you don't," she muttered. "I have no experience with dogs. I don't know the first thing about them."

It had always been this way. Her mother had claimed to be highly allergic to dogs and cats. Thus Brittany's childhood had been denied a furry pet. Then it just became commonplace for her to continue to live without a four-legged companion—even now, living in her own house, with her mother long gone, even with Grandma and Pocket living close by Brittany.

Looking back now, Brittany wondered whether her mother had been honest or just not wanted another responsibility dumped into her lap. Yet animals had always liked Brittany, and they always came to her for a cuddle or a visit or to garner some treat. Brittany now suspected that she would have to learn very quickly how to handle the full-time care of this mama dog and her six puppies.

Baron knew Brittany's reticence over the animals had literally been just a lack of experience, and he could understand that. Also perhaps an element of fear could be detected in Brittany, while she still doubted herself, both about her former unhealthy eating habits and more recently about her selection of a potential husband.

Baron could see how Brittany might not consider herself the best person to look after another living being, especially when she still felt that she had failed herself on two key issues. Not an easy thing for anyone to deal with, even one problem at a time, but now add to that the worry about looking after her grandmother? Yeah, Brittany could be really questioning herself.

She didn't see the good things even now, and that was something Baron wanted to help her with. He wanted something more for her. She was incredibly strong and resilient and had been through a lot of trauma and was doing incredibly well. He wanted her to see what he saw and all the good things that she had done for herself. He wanted her to be confident in her own right, and to let go of worrying about what everybody else might still be considering, expecting Brittany to fail again. This was a classic example of the pros and cons of a small town.

As he drove, his mother called, and he tapped the Speakerphone button on his cell. As he turned onto the beaten-up road, he saw more neighbors heading down into the subdivision again, as if looking for more of their things.

"Where are you?" his mother asked, her tone anxious.

"I'm heading down to Brad's house. Why? Are you okay?" he asked sharply.

"Oh,… it's okay," she muttered. "Nothing to be so alarmed about. It's just been a rough couple days."

"It's been a rough couple weeks," he pointed out.

"You're right.… It's so hard to believe he's gone."

"I know."

"And what about you? Will you pack up and leave again?"

"I'm not sure what I'm doing. Technically the house is mine, and I assume it can be repaired."

"Have you been to the place?"

"That's one of the things I'll go take a look at today," he shared. "I can't promise that it'll be livable. And I can't promise that I'm staying, but it is something I'm considering."

"Really?" she asked, hope in her tone.

He nodded, but she of course couldn't see it. "Yes, but no guarantees though."

"No, of course not," she muttered. "I just feel like this damn town is taking everything from me."

"Is there any other place you want to live? Because, if so, this would be a good time to make that move."

"I don't have any place else to go and no friends to go with," she said. "Your brother was all I had."

Baron winced once again at the reminder that he hadn't been the son his mother got along with, and that she'd lost the one son she had really cared about. "I'm sorry for that," he replied, striving for neutrality, though inside it was still a blow. Even as a thirty-six-year-old man, that shit hurt. He shook his head to shake it off. "I'll take a good look at the house today and see what issues I'll have."

"I did phone the insurance company, and they should be coming out to assess the damage as soon as they are allowed into the area."

"That would be good," he murmured, "because I definitely saw some damage to assess. Listen. I'll talk to you later, Ma. Be safe." With that he hung up and tried to drag his thoughts and emotions back under control. He headed straight to his brother's house.

As he drove, he realized Brad's house was just one, possibly two houses over from the creepy house that everybody had been talking about. The very one that had been attracting the attention of the two strange gunmen.

Baron pondered all that, as he got out of his vehicle, let Kingston out from the back, and walked toward the entrance. The front door still stood, and the roof was still on, which was a good start. Yet he definitely saw some damage, and who knew what part of Brad's house may collapse in the interim. Still, the hurricane damage to Brad's house wasn't nearly as extensive as some of the other houses on the same block. Some had been reduced to random piles of wreckage, too far gone to be salvaged, whereas his brother's home seemed hardly touched in comparison.

Baron smiled as he considered that, thinking maybe he could stay here after all. Pulling out his phone, he started making notes of things that might need to be fixed. He would get some professionals out to see how stable and secure various parts of the structure were, so he could be prepared for conversations with the insurance company.

As he walked farther inside, he realized that, all in all, a lot could be said for the old days, when things were built and meant to last, because this house had come through the hurricane better than most.

Baron smiled as he saw a bunch of his brother's old mementoes and realized that staying here would entail a memory clean out at the same time. Yet it also might be fun reacquainting himself with his brother. It would be a tough thing to do regardless and would need to get done to some degree, whether he stayed here or sold the house, but he was up for the job.

As he wandered through the downstairs, he headed into the back, where Brad's office was located. It was a mess. He stopped in the doorway and winced. One of the windows was broken, and papers were strewn across the floor.

He stepped up to the desk, sat in the weather-beaten old chair, pulled it up against the desk, and opened a couple drawers. Most of them were empty, and then he noted a pattern to the mess.

Drawers had been emptied and tossed on the floor. Not only had every drawer been emptied but several of the drawers were still upside down on top of the paperwork on the floor. Slowly standing, Baron assessed it with fresh eyes, adding to the growing fear he'd been sensing but hadn't been able to prove.

Fear that something had gone wrong in his brother's world.

Baron slowly walked over to the broken window, noting that the hurricane had provided a hell of an excuse for the place to appear to be ransacked. Yet, as he studied the damage to the window clasp, he realized this was most likely a classic breaking-and-entering scenario. The hurricane would have blown out the glass and windowsill, not the locks. It would certainly not have left the glass intact.

Also his brother's house had been generally spared a good share of the hurricane damage, which made it interesting to see that just the window in the office area had been affected.

Baron sat back down again and sighed. "Brad, what were you up to? What did you know or have that somebody else wanted? Or what was going on in your world that you may or may not have even known about and that somebody else was afraid you did?"

Baron's mind kept grasping for all kinds of theoretical answers. Yet the only thing that came back as being logical was the idea that the B&E was somehow connected to the two gunmen who had been driving them crazy lately. However, even that didn't sound normal to him.

He sifted through the paperwork on the floor, seeing if anything caught his eye. His brother did a ton of volunteer work, yet Baron didn't see very much of that reflected in this paperwork. Other than that, Baron found receipts for dog food, utility bills, and even some for mileage he had apparently been keeping track of. It just looked like typical small-business receipts.

He slowly sorted through what he found, knowing that he would have to file income tax for his brother as well. As he continued to sort through the remaining paperwork, another pattern emerged.

This was all about Brad's search and rescue business and the things that were important in his life. So, for Brad, that was the animals. Baron smiled at that because that was so totally Brad.

The animals would come first, which also meant that, if Brad had no money, the animals would get fed first. Baron had known many people like that. Thankfully his brother should never have been in a stage in life where he needed to make a choice between one or the other. Brad should have been fine and should have been able to feed all of them with no problem. If not, he damn well should have reached out, and Baron would have helped him.

As he continued to shuffle through the documents, he found a couple bank statements, reflecting a modest sum in the bank account. Enough to fix a few things around the house that needed attention. Baron had been subsidizing his mother's low income for quite a while. He'd been a late baby for her and not necessarily a welcome one at that. Thus his belated birth had been a hard road for her, particularly after his father had passed. Plus it had also been part of the reason she had been so much closer to Brad.

It had been just the two of them for a very long time, until Baron had made his unplanned arrival. Not that it was his fault by any means, but Ma hadn't had an easy time after his birth.

As he worked his way through the paperwork, sorting it out as he went, he could see that his brother hadn't had an easy time of it either, but had always made ends meet, which was very much his brother. Baron straightened out what he could, and, when he came across a set of photos, he stopped and smiled.

There were snapshots of the house, photos of his mother laughing while visiting Brad, which included all the animals running around the backyard. That reminded Baron that he had to check the fencing, ensure it was still secure before he brought any animals here. That way he could certainly take on the ones currently at Brittany's house.

She would probably thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to look after them, once she got used to it, but she was still hesitant, and he could understand that. He had spent a lifetime with animals, mostly because his father was forever bringing home strays, much to his mother's disgust, he was sure. That had more or less stopped once his father had passed, but Ma's two boys had been out there trying to help almost every animal imaginable.

His father had been a good person, and his brother was cut from the same cloth. It must have been horrific for his mother to endure the losses she had sustained, especially now with both of them gone. She was also that much older now. Not hugely so, not quite Brittany's grandmother's age, but Ma was in her early seventies.

As far as Baron knew, Ma was in good health, but he probably wouldn't have been told if she wasn't, which was a timely thought as he came across his brother's medical records in a file sitting off to the side. He picked it up, took a look, and winced.

His brother had been in a rapidly worsening failing heart situation for a while, knowing perfectly well that he could do nothing about it.

"Why the hell didn't you say something?" Baron muttered to the empty room. "I would have been here as much as I could have."

But it had always seemed as if there was more time. He wondered if everybody who lost someone had the same regrets at the end of the day. Always thinking they had time to fix things, time to make up for lost time, another day to make things all work out. That had certainly been his experience, but maybe other people didn't have all these regrets. Maybe it was just him. Baron winced at that thought.

Once he glanced through the rest of the paperwork, he found another folder, and this one had his mother's name on it. Slowly he picked it up and opened it, then started swearing. She hadn't told him anything about having cancer or the treatments that his brother had taken her to on a regular basis.

No wonder she was so devastated at losing Brad. Now she would have to talk to Baron about it, and that wasn't something she would ever want to do. She was very proud and hated spilling dirty laundry. Yet something like this shouldn't be thought of in that way. His mother needed help, and she hadn't told him. It was one more blow in a long line of blows that Baron had thought he had dealt with. Staring at the file in front of him, he realized he hadn't dealt with life as he should have.

"Well, damn it, Brad. You really could have told me, even if she wouldn't," he muttered.

He went through the file carefully, taking the time required to understand what was going on and to realize that he would have a conversation with her fairly quickly. She had undergone multiple treatments, had come through them, but now the most recent report that his brother had at the top of the stack documented the cancer's reoccurrence.

The report basically told Baron that he would lose his mother, after having just lost his brother. Baron sat here for a long moment, shaken by this unexpected turn of news.

"Well, damn it," he muttered. "Would anybody ever tell me? Or was everybody just waiting until it happened and then would say, Oh yeah, sorry, dude. She knew about it but didn't want you to know ?"

Well, now she didn't have a choice because he knew.

Getting up slowly and feeling the oldest he had ever felt, he headed into the kitchen and discovered that one of the windows had blown open, causing some wind and rain damage inside the home, but nothing that couldn't be cleaned up. He quickly straightened things up. As he stared around, he had absolutely no reason why he couldn't stay here himself from now on.

Baron knew that Brad had always hoped he'd move in and to stay here for the last few years of his life. That had always been part of the plan. Baron hadn't exactly made too many long-term plans for himself, particularly not after his injury. His brother had been there for him, but Baron's recovery wasn't anything he wanted his brother to hang around and to lose time on. It seemed they were all stubbornly and fiercely independent.

He had told Brad repeatedly that, as soon as Baron was back on his feet, he would come down for a visit. Brad had been pretty blunt about Baron's attitude, telling him to forget about getting back on his feet before he came home, that plenty of people were around to help him.

Baron questioned that now, since it didn't appear that they had been there to help his brother. Swearing at the lost opportunities and wishing for a chance at a redo, Baron put on a pot of coffee, smiling at the thought that he had electricity and could even do such a simple everyday thing, after expecting the house to be halfway destroyed. So far the damages downstairs were all minor, and the insurance shouldn't have a problem handling it.

Minutes later, with a cup of hot coffee in hand, he wandered upstairs to the bedrooms, Kingston sticking close to his side, estimating what work would be needed up here. Once upstairs, he took a look around and frowned. It had been tossed, as in literally tossed by man, not by the hurricane. He set his brother's bedroom to rights, as Baron questioned what anyone could have possibly cared about in this room. In the night table drawers, still on the floor, were a bunch of dog photos tossed randomly into the drawer. It was as if the burglar had taken out the packet of snapshots, checked through each one, then just dumped them back into the drawer.

Anybody who expected his brother to have anything other than dog photos didn't know him as well as they should have. But what was the intruder looking for?

What could anybody possibly be looking for in Brad's house?

As he turned, he stepped up to the window. He saw houses in the distance, and that included the spooky Gorman house. Now that was a consideration. Did somebody worry about Brad seeing something? Had Brad been seen taking photos of something in the neighborhood? What could possibly have interested anybody about Brad's life?

No answers were evident in this room, but Baron got the suspicion, stronger than ever, that all was not as it seemed. Whether it was something Brad had even realized was an issue, Baron didn't know. Up until now, Kingston had been at his side, happy to wander and nuzzle up against him, only to lie down until Baron was ready to move on to the next room. But suddenly the dog stood and ran downstairs, barking.

"What do you want, buddy?" Baron went to find him at the back door, still barking. "Need to go out for a few minutes?" When he opened the door and stepped outside, the dog bolted forward. Instead of heading out to the backyard to do his business, he bolted around the corner of the house and started barking again. Baron raced around the house just in time to see the dog jumping up at the fence, but it was just a shade too high. In Kingston's prime War Dog days, he would have managed that jump of the tall fence without a problem. However, now with the many broken legs the dog had sustained, plus the pins now put in multiple places, it was a challenge.

Baron moved over to the fence and hauled himself up. He watched a man running away in the distance. Baron didn't know for sure that this particular man had been in his backyard, but, given Kingston's reaction, it was quite likely. "Well, buddy, what did we get into, huh ?"

Kingston barked at him.

"I know, but we're not exactly prepared to run down there after him."

On the other hand, if this guy had any idea that Baron had been here at the house—though how could he not, since the truck was parked out front? Maybe the stranger had been surprised to find them here and inside the home. "What was he thinking?" Had the man been the one who had tossed the place but now came back for another look? Was he expecting Baron himself to have found whatever it was the stranger had been looking for?

Baron had no clue what anybody was after from Brad's house or why anybody even would care. This just puzzled him even further.

His phone rang just then, and he looked down to see it was Brittany. "Hey. Well, the good news is that my brother's house is in very decent shape."

"Oh gosh, that's wonderful," she cried out.

"It's livable right now."

"You think so? I just heard that they were finishing up the safety checks and that we should be allowed back in pretty soon."

"That's good news,… certainly for me. I think maybe I'll just move in here."

"Really?" she asked. "I mean, is it really that untouched?"

"It's in so much better shape than other homes nearby, which is amazing. When I was here before, I only saw the outside damage, but, after taking a closer look, the damage inside?… Well, it appears to be largely manmade."

"Oh, those damn looters," she grumbled. "I hope they didn't take everything."

"I'm not sure what they were looking for, but they didn't take anything that I can see. Not the usual stuff anyway. The TV is still here, as are several appliances, so I don't know what they would have been after," he noted. "Yet the desk in the home office has been tossed, with all the drawers pulled out, and the same thing was done in the master bedroom. The night tables, every drawer in there had been stripped. Just from the way I found it, somebody came here, looking for something specific, and was systematically going through everything to ensure they found it."

"Do you think they did find it though?" she asked curiously. "I can't imagine what Brad would have been hiding."

"I'm not sure he was hiding anything, as such, but maybe he just picked up something nobody else wanted him to. He spent hours and hours wandering these areas, whether searching for lost people or dogs, or cleaning up the beachfront, or planting trees or whatever."

"Yes," she agreed. "I remember all that. He used to come around with garbage bags and collect all the trash that the young kids used to leave on the roadsides or at the beach. He used to tell them off every time they would leave behind their trash, and they would laugh and just drop more in front of him."

" Great , so he was not as well-loved as you would have me believe."

"He was, absolutely he was, at least by the older folks. He was just considered a little off as far as the rest of the community was concerned. The townsfolk didn't understand how he made money, since he didn't really work, not the standard nine-to-five job. Yet he did a ton of rescue work.… So people just didn't quite understand him. But they did care about him, and he was well loved. Don't you dare think anything different."

"Right," he said, as he walked back into the house. "Kingston just caused quite a ruckus, and somebody may have been in the backyard."

"Seriously?" She gasped.

"I don't know for certain. That's the problem. I don't really understand what someone could have been looking for. Thus it's hard for me to know if they were just here or if the person I saw running away had nothing to do with it."

"And yet…" she added in a dour tone.

"And yet it feels very much like they were specifically here, either checking out the house or checking out my presence to see what I was up to."

"Well, you be careful," she said in alarm. "Are you coming back here anytime soon?"

"I was just checking on the fence, and I think the dogs can probably come here," he suggested. "It appears to be safe enough for that."

"It's not safe enough until we know for sure you're safe," she pointed out. "Not if you've got people running through your house."

"It could just be looters, and, once everybody starts moving back in again, that should ease up somewhat."

"Maybe," she agreed, "but what about those two gunmen who were down there? They were scary."

He chuckled. "They were scary, and I won't lie. They were definitely serious and up to no good, but that doesn't mean they'll come back."

"I don't know about that," she murmured. "It seems very likely that they'll be back."

"Do you have any reason for saying that?" he asked lightly, yet knowing full well that his instincts had saved his ass more than a few times.

"I don't know.… It just seems to be unfinished business to me."

He agreed but didn't want to say that to her. "Let me finish checking over the fence line and see what else I can see around here. I did make some coffee," he shared, "and something was so reassuring about being able to make coffee in your own space."

"So, will you stay now?" she asked in a teasing tone. "I mean, it's not a bad deal, getting the house to yourself, especially if it's not been trashed by the hurricane."

"Yeah, but I would leave it in a minute to have my brother back here instead," he pointed out.

"I didn't mean it that way. I'm sorry."

"I know. I know you didn't, and having my brother's house will be great, but it definitely needs some work, but not just from recent events."

"I wondered about that, since he never seemed to put any time into fixing up the house."

"I didn't ever talk to him about it, but he always seemed to be pretty happy with it just the way it was. The hurricane damage and the intruder mess may be minimal, but the house needed maintenance work long before that."

"I get that.… I thought the same about my grandma and her place."

"I also found Brad's medical records, and he wasn't doing very well, worse than I was led to believe. So I'm pretty sure he didn't consider making any of the changes or upgrades to the house a priority, since he always intended this house to be mine when he was gone. I almost expect to find a letter from him that would explain something .… I don't know why."

"Well, keep looking," she murmured, "because, if you find a letter, it will be worth everything, particularly when you never got a chance to say goodbye. Let me know when you leave there, and I'll put on something to eat for us here."

"Sounds good," he replied.

In the distance, he heard Kingston again. Stepping out to the backyard, he was once again barking at the fence line and glaring at Baron for not understanding. "Come on, buddy." He walked over to the fence again, hopped up a little bit so he could look over but saw nothing.

"I'm sorry, Kingston. We won't go on a chase right now. Let's go back inside." The thought of a letter or something from his brother made a whole lot of sense. If such a thing existed, Baron really wanted to find it.

He headed back to the office, but he had already gone through most of the materials while he was in here earlier. The only other place he hadn't been to yet was the spare bedroom, which was technically Baron's, since that's where he stayed whenever he came here to visit. He'd been on so many missions, nearly back-to-back, that he had used this as his home base when he wasn't otherwise deployed, which also gave him a place to come and visit his family. He was still struggling with the information about his mother's health and the knowledge that he would lose the last of his family soon.

As he wandered into his bedroom, he looked up to see the same stars that his brother had put up in his bedroom so long ago. This had been their childhood home, and that was something else Baron had never quite understood either. How did Brad end up with it? Maybe Ma didn't want to stay here because his father had passed away in this house. Baron remembered vague details and his brother telling him that the house would be Baron's, whenever it was time.

As he stared around his childhood room, his gaze landed on some paperwork that had fallen to the floor. He picked it up, and his heart lurched as he read the cover letter.

Dear Baron, if you're reading this, it's time for me to say goodbye. Yet, in truth, I should have said goodbye a very long time ago. I was trying to get Mom through her cancer treatments, and don't be mad, but she didn't want you to know. It was more that she didn't want you to worry, and she didn't want you to come home to look after her.

I don't know where we're at in terms of that stage of her life. I can only hope that she is still okay and can enjoy a few more years. If not,… I'm sorry, bro, because that means both of us are gone.

Baron stopped and took a deep breath, as his brother's letter continued.

Everything here is fine and dandy. The house needs work, and, as you'll see, I've only done the bare minimum. Sorry, bro. Looking after the house was not on the plan because that was never my thing. Since it wasn't Dad's either, the house definitely could use some work. I'm not exactly leaving you a whole lot in terms of an inheritance either. You get the family home, and it's been a good one for me. I hope it'll also be a good one for you.

I know that you're not coming home in the same shape that you left, but you've never been one to run away from responsibilities. At least this is a place that you know and can call yours, if we survive climate change or all the other doomsday forecasting that's going on.

Just enough of his brother's humor filled these words that it made Baron smile. He sagged down onto the bed and kept reading.

I've been helping one of the old neighbors here. He's getting on and not doing so well, but he's also having some issues. Now that the old guy had to go in for some surgery, I promised I would look after things for him, including taking care of Kingston, the War Dog. Then fate stepped in, and I needed to be in the hospital, so the old guy got the War Dog back. Then we knew that the hurricane was on its way, and that is one of the reasons I'm writing this letter. My last checkup wasn't good, and the doctor gave me weeks, not months, and that was already weeks ago. So I don't know at what point in time I just won't wake up one day.

But please consider looking after the animals. I've got a couple dogs that come and go, though I don't know what will be here when you are reading this. I've got a pregnant female that was abused, and I've been working with her, trying to get her to the point where we can reestablish a home for her somewhere else, but, if not, well, she stays with me forever. She's just that kind of a dog. Kingston is also pretty attached to her, and, since I've had him here, the two of them have become quite close.

There was a wrinkled spot on the letter, and Baron wondered if his brother had shed a tear while writing this part. Just the thought broke his own heart.

I'm sorry, bro. I had always hoped we would have some time together before this event came, but no point in telling you, since you were dealing with your own injuries and trying to get back on your feet. I know you're coming, and maybe this will all blow over, and I can tell you in person, but I can't promise that.

As it is, the old guy across the way, who looks after Kingston, told me a strange story. I'm not sure I believe him, but he seems to think that, if he doesn't come out of this alive, some restitution needed to happen. So, I put this letter in our hidey-hole. It's pretty damn strange that I did this, but I figured it might be up your alley to try and fix. I'm waiting for you to come back before I even consider tackling it myself. And, if I'm not here to tackle it with you, well, it will all be on you. I'm sorry again, but please remember that I love you and that you were never, ever unwanted. I know that's always been a thing for you, but you were and still are loved. If I'm not here to greet you as you come home, just know that I'll be watching over you from above.

Your loving brother.

Baron sat here for what seemed like hours, but then he heard Kingston barking like crazy again, this time in the front yard. He folded the letter and put it in his pocket, as he raced downstairs. Kingston was circling the truck like a madman and kept bumping the side of the truck.

Baron quickly closed the front door and ran to him. Then Kingston ran off, still barking, at a speed that raised the hairs on his arms. Definitely something was wrong. Seriously wrong.