He was well and truly screwed.
Chapter Two
Liz
They stoppedat Mission Hospital on Biltmore Avenue and Eli let her out to circle the block while she talked to the client. Liz texted Golda that she was out front and a woman sitting in a wheelchair inside waved her in. Liz went through the standard protocol for entering a hospital, put on her mask, and walked toward Golda, who was sitting in a wheelchair in the waiting room. She passed two other patients, both wearing white hospital bands, and both being wheeled outside to waiting cars. Golda must be waiting on her ride.
The witch was wearing a mask and had a leg up, the lower leg wrapped thickly in wide Ace bandages and purple sticky wrap. Her arm was in a sling and there was dried blood matted in her hair. It was an odd color for dried blood, but the yellow-brown stains around it said a wound had been cleaned with that nasty Betadine stuff. It had clearly colored her hair and the blood. Oddly, she smelled sweet, not the sickly scent of bruised and damaged flesh.
“I’m Liz Everhart.”
“I know.” Golda handed her a little silver box. Golda wasn’t much for chit-chat. She launched into instructions. “Inside there’s a quartz crystal about three inches long on a spilt-ring. It has a limited range of within three miles and only has enough power to last twenty-four hours once you open the box. Don’t open the box until you get to the accident site. He’s a seventy-pound rescue and looks like a German Shepard-chocolate lab mix. He’ll come to anyone who calls him. Please find Rover.” She put her head down and sniffled. “I miss him. And I’m so worried he’s hurt.”
Liz shoved the rectangular box into her front pocket. “And when I find him? If he’s hurt, what vet do I take him to? And do you want him boarded?”
“The closest vet or veterinary hospital. And they can board him. I’ll be out in three days and can claim him then.” She extended a padded envelope. “There’s a picture of Rover inside, his favorite doggie chew, a package of dried roast beef, his leash, and—” She stopped. “And two thousand dollars.”
Liz’s eyebrows went up. “That’s more than we agreed on.”
“It’s also a down payment on vet bills and boarding. Your reputation says you’re honest and reputable. Just… please find him and get him to help.”
“I’ll do my best. How do I get in touch when I find Rover?”
“My cell was destroyed in the accident. You’ll have to email me, the same way I reached you. My laptop is my constant companion.” She patted a small device at her side, nested in a wheelchair pocket.
“I can do that and tell you which vet he’s at. Hope you feel better.”
“I’ll feel better as soon as Rover is safe.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Liz dinged Eli’s cell and walked out the door, dropping the mask in the special biohazard can at the entrance.
When Eli pulled up, she got in the SUV and he eased back into traffic. Liz opened the envelope. It had all the things in it Golda had said. She counted out the twenty hundred dollar bills.
“Is half that mine?”
“No.” she ruffled the bills and shoved them back in the envelope. “You get half a grand. The rest is for the vet bills and boarding.”
“So why are you frowning.”
“I don’t know. Something’s odd.”
“Odd as in we abort and go get a steak? Or odd as in we continue on, eat dinner in the mosquitoes and humidity, and hope snakes don’t crawl into your sleeping bag.”
“I’m not scared of snakes,” she said thoughtfully. “And I don’t have a feeling we should take the money back and quit. I don’t know what I’m feeling. Something.”
“Burger before we leave civilization?” he asked.
“I thought you only ate healthy.”
“I occasionally do stupid things. And enjoy them.”
Liz wanted to say,Am I a stupid thing you might still want to do?But she kept her mouth shut and smiled very,veryslightly. Two could play the guessing game. Liz had heard Eli’s last girlfriend had been a red-head, but otherwise, very different from her—a law enforcement officer who loved coffee and firearms. Liz didn’t drink much coffee, didn’t need firearms, and could take care of herself just fine without them. Liz just wanted things back like they had been. That meant admitting she hadn’t thought about parking and give kudos where they were due.
“I hadn’t thought about where I could safely leave the Subaru overnight. I guess I planned to leave my car on the side of the road when I hiked in. That was stupid. Thanks.” She had planned on Eli carrying the seventy-pound pound dog out overland and hadn’t thought about much else.
“You were hoping to find the dog close by,” he said mildly.
“Yeah. Still am. But scared dogs can run for hours. The crystal has a range of three miles. Rover could be anywhere.”
