“No … between you and Danica.”
I cleared my throat and stood up.“I need to go check on Raven.Thank you both for your help.”Then without looking back at either of them, I headed for the barn, Portia right alongside me again.My emotional support pig grunted at me with each step.Which I took as her lecturing me for being such an idiot, but also understanding that it wasn’t her place to judge, even though she actually was.
Yeah, well, nobody was judging me more than myself right now, and at the moment, I was a shit person in every sense of the word, and there wasn’t much anybody could do to convince me otherwise.
I found Sam in the stall with Raven and Kenny.Since Raven’s arrival, Kenny had become a different horse.He still didn’t particularlylikethe other horses, but he didn’t avoid them like he used to.And he tolerated people besides me coming into his stall.He actually seemed to enjoy the attention from Danica and Sam.
As they often did, Sam had her forehead pressed to Raven’s forehead, and the two just stood there.Sam’s eyes were closed, and Raven seemed almost in a trance.
“We’ll find him, sweetie,” Sam said softly, petting the sides of Raven’s neck.“We’ll find your baby.”
“Has anybody walked around the property to look for clues?”came Gabrielle’s voice behind me.
I spun around to find her and Maverick there with concerned, but also reserved, looks on their faces.They knew something was up between Danica and me, but also knew that now was not the time to discuss it.
I shook my head.“Not that I know of.”
“Jagger messaged that they found the point of entry,” Maverick said, leaving our group of three on the outside of Kenny and Raven’s stall and heading toward Ginger’s.“A good place to start, I’d say.”
Gabrielle followed him, her amber eyes flitting across the faces of each horse, and softening as they all watched her in turn.“They’re all so beautiful,” she mused.She turned around to face me.“You’re doing good work here, Tom.”
I focused back on Sam, with Raven and Kenny for a moment before snapping out of my useless trance and making an attempt at being productive.I opened up the back sides of all the stalls so the horses could come and go into the fields of their own volition, then went to the other barn to release the donkeys, goats, and ponies.I also needed to collect eggs.
I had absolutely no patience for Piñata today.So when that asshole tried to bite my shirt, I grabbed him by the ear—not aggressively, but forcefully—and looked him right in the eye.“Not today.”
He blinked his long lashes at me, and for the first time ever, that beast seemed to actually show signs of a soul.Then he shook himself free of my grasp and sprinted off to the other end of the field like he was being chased by his withered sense of decency.
I checked on the ducks, collected eggs, and then Portia and I returned to the main barn.Maverick and Gabrielle were wandering the field near the tree line that separated my property from Otto Pickford’s.
Maverick stopped for a moment and called Gabrielle over, then they both bent over to study something on the ground.
Did they find something?
All the horses were in the field now except for Raven and Kenny.They remained in Kenny’s small stall with Sam.
I went to Sam.“You hungry?”
She shook her head.
“You have breakfast?”
She shook her head again, her eyes rimmed red from crying.“I’m fine.”
My fingers bunched at my sides again, and Portia rested one of her muddy little trotters on the top of my dew-soaked loafer.
Well, if I couldn’t leave my animals and join the search party, the least I could do was feed those that were helping me.This feeling of being useless ate away at me like a colony of termites on a house.
Nodding, I headed back to the house, Portia right beside me.
I was halfway through making a big pot of Tuscan portobello stew when my phone rang.
I thought it might be Myla Bruce, one of the police officers on the island, checking in, or one of the lawyers since I had emailed them to let them know what happened.
But it was a blocked number.
Ordinarily, I let those spam calls go to voicemail, or I just declined them, but with Midnight missing, I had to answer every call.Even those I didn’t know.
Swallowing, I picked the phone up off the counter and answered it.“H-hello?”
