She’s either surprisingly strong herself, or she’s running on straight adrenaline.
“Peggy?” The name barely makes it out of her mouth before she gasps.
And since I’m right on her heels, I can see exactly what has her startled.
An oak foyer table is lying on its side. There’s crushed glass and water and flower bits scattered across the wide-plank wood floor.
“Oh my god,” she whispers.
“Stay here.”
“I need to make sure my goddamn cat is okay, okay?”
I turn on my phone’s flashlight and aim it beyond the foyer.
“Peggy?” she whispers. There’s a tremor in her voice that turns into an audible inhalation as I light up the entryway to her little house.
I want to pull her into my arms, drag her out of here, take her somewhere safe, and then hunt down whoever did this and make sure they will never, ever,evercause harm again.
However necessary.
After finding her cat for her.
But I breathe through the anger and focus on the immediate problem. “Where would it be?”
“She. She’d be in my bedroom.”
She takes two steps, then freezes, and I hear the distinct sound of teeth chattering.
Fuck.
Fuck.
“What does she look like?” I ask Sloane. “Short hair? Long? What color? How big is she?”
She doesn’t answer.
I push past her, carefully avoiding the water and broken glass while I head in the direction I assume is her bedroom, but I don’t make it three steps before a soft meow stops me.
“Peggy!” Sloane drops to her knees, giving me half a heart attack at the thought that she might be kneeling in broken glass, and a three-legged gray tabby dashes to her. “Oh my god, you’re okay. My precious baby. You’re okay.”
A sob wrenches out of her chest.
A lump forms in my own throat.
Later, I tell myself. Feel it later. “Can she go outside?”
Sloane buries her face in the cat’s fur. “No.”
“Just for now? With you holding her? I’ll make a call. Make sure the parrot’s gone.”
She growls softly while another sob racks her body. Seems like she’s trying to hold it in.
I get that.
Held in a few too many things of my own over the years.
I squat down beside her, my entire body alert. “Sloane. I need to check the house, and you should wait outside.”
