Chapter 8 #2
Joel nodded and continued. “I let him roam while I run. He normally stays by me but this morning he took off for the pond. I didn’t think anything of it because he’s done that before.
But when I finished my first lap, he was still at the edge, crouched down, so I went over to see what he found.
” The man stopped and took a deep breath.
His exhale was accompanied with a shake of his head. “He was licking her face.”
Good Christ.
“I pulled him away as soon as I… understood.”
I didn’t need him to elaborate on what he understood.
“Is that when you called emergency?” Ethan prompted him to continue.
“Yeah. From my cell. The operator asked me to wait with the… umm...”
“And did you?” I asked.
“Yeah. I stayed here and waited.” Joel’s gaze went to the now-empty bank of the pond. “She was just… dead. I didn’t…” He stopped again, jerked his head as if he were trying to dislodge a bad memory that I knew from experience wouldn’t be easily extricated. “Fuck, man, my dog was licking her face.”
There was nothing to say to that.
Ethan knew it, too, when he sidestepped the comment altogether. “We appreciate your time and won’t keep you any longer.” He pulled out his wallet, fished out a business card, and held it out to Joel. “Here’s my card. If you think of anything else, please call us.”
Joel wordlessly took the card with a nod.
“One more question,” I started. “You said you run the park every morning. Have you seen anyone around recently?”
“A few months back. There were a couple of teenagers. Can’t say their ages for sure because they were sitting in the grass on the far end of the pond and when I got to the other side they’d already booked it.”
“What makes you think they were teenagers?”
“The smell of pot was still lingering. They weren’t close to the trail, but not far enough away.
I didn’t see the cans they left. When I was done with my run, I went over and tossed the six-pack of empties they’d left.
Not saying adults wouldn’t litter or leave the park where they were enjoying an early morning joint. But they ran, like they’d been caught.”
“Did you see a car?”
“Nope. They were on foot.”
Teenagers got up to stupid shit. At least they didn’t get behind the wheel and turn their stupidity into tragedy.
Ethan sighed and I felt that—as a cop and a dad.
“Thanks again for your time,” I told him. “Mind if I give Linus some scratches before you take off?”
“Free,” Joel mumbled.
The dog stood up, his back end now shaking with excitement, and came over as soon as I dropped my hand for him to smell.
I could’ve done without the lick to my palm. But a dog’s gonna dog, and being a dog lover, I couldn’t let Linus leave without a rubdown. Ethan’s also a dog guy and gave the pup some love before Joel called Linus to his side and they loped off.
“I don’t know which one of them I feel worse for,” Ethan muttered when Joel was far enough away not to hear.
“The man because of what he saw, or the dog because no way in fuck is Joel gonna be on the receiving end of dog kisses for at least the next decade, and poor Linus isn’t gonna understand why daddy’s not feelin’ the love. ”
Seeing as I had an overwhelming urge to wash my hand, I knew Ethan wasn’t wrong.
“The dog,” I decided. Then made another decision. “Now that we got some light, let’s walk the perimeter.”
Ethan set us in the direction of the woods. “Are we gonna talk about your run-in with your ex?”
Christ, I knew this was coming.
Before I could shut him down, he continued, “Heard there were sparks lighting up Balls Deep when she walked in.”
“Fuckin’ Valentine,” I muttered.
“Wrong. Matt called. He said Chels pulled out the fire extinguisher just in case your table spontaneously combusted from what she called, ‘sexual tension.’”
“Chels misread what she was seeing. That wasn’t sexual tension. It was evasion and annoyance.”
And now, after two days of thinking about nothing but Rainy, I was even more annoyed.
Annoyed with her. Annoyed with myself. Annoyed at both of us for being dumbass, immature idiots who let something great slip away.
“I don’t know, man, that’s not what Matt said. And what are the chances she shows up, days after you tell me about her? Honor thinks it’s a sign.”
Of course, Ethan told his wife about Rainy.
We hit the tree line and found a trail that wasn’t kept up by the county but instead worn down from the visitors who wandered into the woods.
“A bad sign,” I corrected, scanning the dense forest beyond the path. “She—”
Something caught my eye.
My hand went to my sidearm. “Three o’clock.”
A man stepped out of the shadows—hood pulled up.
The guy’s gaze snapped to mine, and everything slowed down like a movie playing frame by frame.
I saw the silver barrel of a handgun pull free from his pocket, felt the stippling on the grip of my Glock 45, heard the scrape of my sidearm releasing from my holster. Muscle memory had taken over. There was no spike in my heart rate, no extra breaths, no panic.
By the time I stepped in front of Ethan I already had a clear sight picture of my target. It took less than a second for me to pull the slack out of the actuator, less than that for the trigger to break, and send my bullet.
Snap.
Snap. Snap.
I could almost taste the sulfur as I tried to suck in oxygen.
“Officer down!” Ethan shouted. “Officer down!”
Spots formed in my vision.
“Breathe, Jase.”
I tried to focus on Ethan’s face, but the world went gray.