39
Warm, wet swipes across her face. Terrible breath. More insistent licking, across her eyes, cheeks, mouth. A cold snout now poking into her ear.
Raquel raised a feeble hand in self-defense, which only earned her further slathering.
“Don’t move. You’ve been shot. Help is on the way.”
Raquel opened her eyes to discover the police chief standing over her. Mandy had unslung her heavy jacket and was draping it over Raquel’s form. Which in hindsight made some sense, as Raquel was shivering uncontrollably. She felt cold from the inside out, while simultaneously nearly burning up.
Snow. She was lying in a bank of it. More cascaded down, icy pricks against her exposed skin. She could feel a weight around her waist. Theo’s arms, draped on top of her.
Her gaze flew to Mandy, who was muttering, “Sit. Okay, fine, don’t sit. At least stay out of the way.”
That didn’t seem to be working, either, however, as Mr. Man’s face once more filled Raquel’s line of sight. The dog whined, then plopped down heavily, his liquid brown eyes fixed on her face.
“Theo?” Raquel managed to croak out.
“Everything will be fine.”
Which wasn’t the same as all right. “Mason…”
“He’s not fine, but in a deserving sort of way. Mr. Man here officially wields a bite worse than his bark.”
“Mr. Man.” Raquel stared groggily at the dog in question. “We locked him in the house.”
“Apparently, he’s also very good at jailbreak. You can thank him later.”
“Theo,” Raquel murmured again.
The dog rose to standing, moving off to the side. The sound of slobbering, then a man’s low groan. Theo, thank God.
Raquel wanted to find his hand, hold it. But her arm refused to move. Cold, just so cold, cold, cold.
Mr. Man reappearing, eyeing her with an intensity she found vaguely troubling.
“Good canine opportunist,” she tried to tell him. But her mouth refused to move as well.
The dog whined again, huffing at her hair, nuzzling her cheek. He hunkered down, pressing his warm head against her own. Their therapy dog. Oh, she thought. Then, more slowly, oh…
Charlie Boy. Lilly. Four anonymous little graves.
Pennsylvania.
Theo would know what to do. Her husband always knew what to do.
Her eyes, drifting shut.
As the police chief barked at her from a million miles away. “Raquel. Raquel! I need you to stay with me. Hang in there, okay. Help is on its way. Help is—”
“Theo,” Raquel murmured.
Mr. Man raised his head to the sky and began a mournful howl.