Chapter 21

chapter

twenty-one

Sawyer Murphy knew that bark.

He paused mid-throw, much to Zelda's annoyance. She huffed her displeasure at having her game of fetch disrupted.

"Hang on," he told her and tilted his head, waiting for the bark to sound again.

There.

Yeah, that was definitely Raszta. There was no mistaking that weirdly raspy bark. Razzy always sounded like he indulged in three packs a day.

"Hey, Pierce. Where have you been?"

No answer.

That was weird. Pierce often whistled in two short bursts when he was in the vicinity, so he didn't startle Sawyer.

"Pierce?"

Nothing.

A cold nose bumped against his hand. Not Zelda. The nose was much smaller. He rubbed a hand over the dog's head and found Raszta's ponytail knocked askew. He looked down and tried to focus, but Razzy was standing too still. Without movement, he couldn't see anything but the blurry impression of a dog. "Hey, buddy. Why are you out here alone? Where's Pierce?"

Raszta gave an anxious whine and gently nipped at Sawyer's fingers.

Something was wrong.

His stomach knotting with dread, he straightened and grabbed his cell phone from his pocket. "Call Ash," he told it.

The line rang twice before Ash picked up with a curt, "Yeah?"

"Raszta just showed up from the woods without Pierce."

"Fuck," Ash muttered. "Cal and Ellie are missing, too."

That knot in his stomach twisted ever tighter. He called Zelda to his side and strapped her back into his harness. "I'll round up the team. Or at least what's left of it." With Pierce missing, Shane on his honeymoon, and Connelly away on a book tour, there wasn't much of a team right now to round up.

"Yeah, you do that," Ash said. "I'll be there in ten."

Zelda led the way and Raszta trailed at his side as he hurried back to the rescue. He'd just reached the back door when he heard tires screech to a halt out front.

That couldn't be Ash already.

He changed directions and headed toward the parking lot. There he found a flurry of movement that his wonky eye-brain connection struggled to translate. People were spilling out of a vehicle that looked like Pierce's SUV.

"Sawyer!" Ellie's voice. She rushed toward him, and he had the impression of blond curls and blood-stained hands before she stopped moving and faded into blurriness again. "Call Ash. We need an ambulance."

"Who's bleeding?" he demanded.

"Tyler."

Who the fuck was Tyler?

Still, he grabbed his phone again and told it to call Ash. As he waited for the sheriff to pick up again, he asked, "Where are Cal and Pierce?"

Ellie's voice came out strained. "In danger."