“Sit,” I command in my most commanding voice.
The dog ignores the command and moves closer, unimpressed with my presence.
“Say it in German,” Nacho suggests.
“Sitz,” I command, my voice shaking. “Platz.”
Sitanddown. Ask me how I know those.
For one terrifying second, the shepherd pauses, then puts his butt on the ground and slides onto his belly, sticking his tongue out and panting.
Fucking hell.
Just as one tragedy is averted, the sound of Charlie softly cursing filters across the line.
“You okay?” I ask, avoiding his name.
Before he can answer, Levy’s voice comes across the line, urgent. “Just got an update on her truck’s location. She’s two minutes out.”
That should have taken her much longer.
“Fuck,” Charlie mutters. “There’s a kid back here.”
“Can he see you?” I ask.
“No. He’s got on headphones and is playing a game.”
“How old is he?”
“Ten, maybe.”
“Does he look like he belongs here?”
“No. He’s Latino, and he’s underweight.”
“What do we do about him?” Justin asks.
“Can’t take him with us. Don’t have time, don’t know the situation. No proof he’s in imminent danger other than the fact he’s skinny. We need to fall back, look at the info we grabbed, and figure out what all this means.”
Charlie walks back into the room and stops short, seeing the dog on the floor.
“Not bad.”
The bar finally disappears from the screen, and I close the window and disconnect Charlie’s phone, sleeping the computer before we race through the back of the house. Jumping into the truck, we get to the end of the driveway when she turns in.
“Fuck,” Charlie says.
She comes up around us, suspicion in her eyes until she takes one look at Charlie.
“Well, hey there. You lost, sugar?”
Charlie slaps on a serene smile. “I own the fencing company and heard we had an incident today. I just stopped by to ensure my guys are doing a good job for you. Looks like they’re almost done.”
“Oh,” she says, drifting her fingers across her mottled, sunburnt décolletage. “Well, what excellent customer service. Thank you.”
“You are most welcome,” he says, piling on the charm. “And, of course, we’ll be giving a heavy discount since you had to deal with a delay.”
“Isoappreciate that,” she says, smiling wide. She leans out the window, which serves to push up her breasts, and cups her hand around her mouth like she’s telling a salacious secret. “And maybe next time, make sure you hire the right people to get the job done.”
