Chapter 21

D oreen walked the river again, checking both sides of the water, looking for more signs. No way that Mugs wouldn’t have left her a sign if he could have in any way. Of course she didn’t even know if he was still alive because, if this guy carried a gun and took elderly hostages, shooting a dog would be a minor offense in his mind. If he was trying to bring maximum pain to Doreen, he had absolutely everything he possibly could in terms of who she loved—except for Mack, and she winced at that.

The last thing she wanted was for Mack to get hurt too. She didn’t want to contemplate how quickly her mind had added Mack to this equation because he was definitely on her radar as somebody she didn’t want to lose. And, yes, if she had time and a minute to contemplate the issue, she would admit quite freely that she loved him. She didn’t know how or when, but he’d snuck into her heart and had taken hold in a way she hadn’t expected.

At the first house on the creek, she stopped, checked the fence, and found no sign of anybody having jumped over it. She could hardly imagine Nan jumping over it or the animals. She didn’t find a gate on this property. At the second house, she also stopped and checked carefully over its rear fence but found nothing suspicious.

At the third house, she took a closer look and noted a little swathe of dirt at an angle to the fence. Sure enough, she found a gate of just planks, no hardware, so essentially hidden, but she pushed it open and stepped through, looking into the backyard. Another poop spot was right in front of her, hopefully telling her that Mugs had been here too. He would stay close to Nan and would hope that everybody else was coming to help. Of Goliath there was no sign and no way to know.

As she took several more steps forward, not sure if this guy had gone through the backyard to the front of the house, she heard a meow. She froze, then turned slowly, and there was Goliath. He raced toward her, and she scooped him up into her arms, hugging him tightly. With him safe, she quickly texted Mack where she was. At least now it was clear Nan had come this far. The gate behind Doreen was closed, yet Goliath hadn’t jumped over it. He had remained here the whole time.

She whispered, “Where’s Mugs, and where’s Thaddeus?” Goliath wiggled out of her arms, jumped down, and led the way to the back of the house. She slowly approached, not sure that it was safe to go up or in, but she wouldn’t leave her grandmother to face the gunman alone. When she reached the back door, she hesitated, but Goliath stretched up on his back legs, pawing at the door, so she pushed it open. She felt strange entering somebody else’s house, but not strange enough to want to call out. If something was going on here, the last thing she wanted to do was let them know she had arrived.

As she slowly stepped inside, Goliath raced around the corner in front of her. She headed after him, coming around the corner to a living room. She froze. There in front of her was Nan, sitting with a cup of tea in her hand. She looked up and smiled.

“Hello, dear.”