CHAPTER SIXTEEN
David’s phone buzzed. A message from Jackie. It was a GIF of a puppy carrying a balloon in its mouth that read GET WELL SOON! In brightly colored letters.
He replied with a GIF of a cartoon mouse with a thermometer in its mouth and a soft smile under half-lidded eyes.
He captioned the GIF, thank you, and typed a heart.
After a second, the deleted the heart, then sent the message.
He was probably overthinking it, but he was in a rather unusual situation.
In his entire career as a veterinary doctor, he had called in sick only once before. That was the first Valentine’s Day he celebrated with Faith, and he called in sick for a far more enjoyable reason than the one that caused him to call in today.
Probably not. In fact, David was pretty sure he was wasting his time here. What did he think he was going to find? A troop of dogs marching in unison while black-clad trainers drove them onward with whips?
Something. Anything. Anything at all that might tell me what’s going on here.
His phone buzzed again. Mary. You’re taking tomorrow off too. If I see your ass at the office, I’ll take a rolling pin to you like you were my own husband.
He chuckled at that but felt a flash of guilt that stifled his smile.
His staff was wonderful. Now that Mary had texted him, every member of the veterinary staff at the Academy, including the two other veterinary doctors, had wished him a speedy recovery from the cold he didn’t have.
He hated lying to them, even if it was a little white lie.
He laughed at that, a little more derisively. This was not a white lie. He was spying on a US Marine Corps installation looking for evidence of criminal animal abuse. Once he had that evidence, he would do what exactly? Send it to the Pentagon? Bring it to Faith and get the FBI involved?
No! You will not involve Faith in this!
“Relax,” he told his overactive conscience. “I’m not going to.”
He really wasn't. If Faith caught wind of what was going on, she would immediately pursue this investigation without fear of the potential consequences.
If she knew about Chastain's thinly veiled warning, she would probably drive to Quantico herself and start shouting at generals until she had Chastain's ass in a chair so she could wax eloquent about the gruesome fate that awaited him if he threatened her husband again.
The last thing Faith needed was the US Marine Corps coming after her. The last thing David needed was to know that it was his fault. She had enough on her plate. This was his fight.
Another truck left, this one a Ram 3500 dually pickup painted drab green but otherwise indistinguishable from any other consumer pickup.
The open bed contained an artillery piece with bright red reflective tape around the last foot of the barrel and an equally bright red plastic cap over the muzzle.
The truck accelerated rapidly down the dirt road, bouncing over a couple of ruts to the consternation of the NCO watching the gate and the delight of the Marines inside the cab.
David took pictures of that too. He was going to take pictures of everything that happened at the Gunnery Sergeant Samantha R. Nielsen Testing and Research Center at the base. If anything, untoward was happening with dogs on this base, this was probably where it was happening.
Or so he assumed. He really had no idea what he was doing here.
He just knew he had to do something. At the moment, that something was driving his Subaru Outback up a dirt hill, parking it in a stand of mockernut hickories, and taking pictures with his cell phone at maximum magnification, yielding grainy images of so far about a dozen trucks ranging from a semi-sized ten-ton to the Ram dually with a few five tons and seven deuce-and-a-halfs rounding out the complement.
The research building had no windows, and other than the loading dock, where such suspicious items as boxes of paper and rolls of carpet were loaded and unloaded, respectively, David saw nothing that happened within.
And it wasn’t like he could just sneak in and take a peek. He was already far exceeding the logical limit of his ability to investigate. If he tried to enter the base, he would be caught within seconds.
His phone buzzed, and he jumped. He sighed when he saw Faith’s number, then took a deep breath and forced a smile. “Hey, babe. How’s the case?”
“Why do you sound weird? Is everything okay?”
David allowed himself a half-second to marvel at how easily Faith saw through his lie. One sentence, and Faith already knew he was out of sorts.
Of course she did. She’s the greatest detective alive.
“I’m a bit under the weather,” he said.
“Yeah, I know. I just called your office, and they said you called in sick.”
Oh, thank God, I told her the same lie. “Yeah, it’s nothing. I think it’s just a little cold.”
“But it’s warm outside.”
“So, colds are actually caused by germs, Faith. It doesn’t matter if it’s cold or warm outside.”
“Fuck you.”
“Sure, I’m down. I’m not that sick.”
“Ha ha. Well, I’m not going to be home until late tonight, and if I’m home, I’ll be spending my time working, so you’re going to have to keep it in your pants and rest.” She paused a second, then said, “I’m probably not going to be home tonight.”
“That’s fine,” David said. “I get it. Sergeant Meyers is way hotter than I am.” When Faith didn’t reply for a long moment, David said, “Hey, I was kidding. I didn’t mean to make you upset.”
“I’m already upset,” Faith said. “We put a warning out about this guy, and we got a call that looked promising, but it turned out to be a Karen pissed that some guy was at a dog park without a dog.”
“Did he match a description or something?”
“You know, I don’t appreciate you replying logically to my complaining,” Faith replied.
David laughed. “You’re right, how rude of me. Sorry, I’m just not happy with being sick.”
“Yeah, I know. You get man colds worse than Michael used to.”
David thought of a joke to tease Faith about Michael.
Her old partner was also his best friend, but years ago, they had a brief romantic relationship before Faith met David.
He liked getting her goat about it, mostly because it was one of the few ways that he knew he could get her. Now probably wasn’t the time, though.
“David? Are you there, or are you pouting?”
“Pouting. Horribly. I thought you loved me, and you come at me with this shit?”
Faith giggled, and David felt a pinch of longing for her so powerful he nearly told her to forget about the case and come home now so he could hold her and forget about everything for a while. He imagined her gathering him into her arms, pressing his face against her chest, soft and warm and—
“David? Are you still there?”
He pulled himself reluctantly from the image of her skin against his. “Yeah, I’m still here.” Still learning jack-all about the 93rd Testing Brigade.
“Feel better, okay? When I get home, I’m going to need a lot of comfort. You’re going to need to have good stamina.”
David felt another pinch of longing, but it was easier to handle this one since it was more physical and less emotional. “Trust me, babe, I can go as long as you need me to.”
She giggled again. “I meant emotional stamina so I could complain to you, but thanks for that.”
“I mean, I can be there for you emotionally, but you know it’s not going to be free.”
“Ugh, I’ll just call Michael instead.”
“Okay, I let the joke pass before, but now you’re just asking for it.”
He frowned when he saw a flicker of movement inside the loading dock. Another five-ton was pulling up to unload something, but it wasn't the truck that caught his eye. Inside the dock, just barely visible, was a dark-skinned young woman with short, curly hair and a stern expression.
And behind her, wearing a vacant expression and staring listlessly at the truck as it backed up to the loading dock, was Sierra.
“David? Are you getting mopey again? You know I’m kidding, right?”
David blinked. He had no idea what Faith had said.
As soon as he saw Sierra, he forgot entirely about their conversation.
He faked a laugh and said, “Yeah, I know. If you really wanted Michael, you’d have stayed with him.
I mean, the guy’s easily the most attractive man I’ve ever seen, so I know you love me for letting that go. ”
“Right,” Faith said. She sounded distracted. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Go ahead and get back to work. I have a vague recollection of making chicken noodle soup once before, but I’m sure YouTube has some helpful instructional videos I can use. I’ll be fine. Go catch bad guys.”
“Yeah. Okay. I love you. A whole, whole bunch.”
A lump formed in David’s throat. “I love you too.”
She hung up, and David dropped his phone onto the passenger seat and buried his face in his hands.
He hated this. All of it. So much. Why couldn’t people just be decent?
Why did they have to abuse dogs and lie about it?
Why did they have to kill innocent people in parks and take his wife away from him?
Why couldn’t people just live their lives and try to do the right thing from time to time?
He put his car in gear and headed back down the hill. His driver’s side front tire dipped into a hole and mud splashed over his windshield. He hit the wipers and decided to stop by a car wash before heading home or Faith would realize he had been somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be.
He was halfway through the car wash before he realized he hadn’t taken pictures of Whitaker and Sierra.