ANDY’S HEART BROKE FOR MIKE. She loved the goat too. Gretchen was a sweetheart and slut for attention. It would be impossible not to love her. But no one had been as close to her as Mike. The young man held the animal in his arms, cradling her head and whispering soft nonsense words to her as the veterinarian gave her the shot to put her down. The lye had done too much damage and none of them could bear to let the animal suffer. Knowing it was the right decision didn’t make it any easier. She stayed with Mike while he carried Gretchen to Dr. West’s truck. The woman wouldn’t have needed to offer to take Gretchen’s body with her, but she must have sensed the situation was more than a normal vet visit.
When they got back into the barn, Mike started working like a madman, cloistering the goats to the side while he cleaned the contaminated feed from the trough. She wanted to hug him, to offer him some kind of comfort but he didn’t slow down enough to let her get close to him. She considered pushing the issue, but his demeanor practically screamed stay away. So she would—for the time being—and when he was ready to talk again, they’d all be there to help him through it. Until then, she’d throw her energy in alongside his and take care of the goats while Liam took care of whoever did this. She still couldn’t wrap her head around why anyone would want to hurt the goats. It took a special kind of evil to hurt an innocent animal.
“We need to find something we can use as a temporary feed trough until we can be sure this one is clean,” she said.
Mike looked up from the water bucket he was wrestling with and for a moment there was gratitude mixed with the pain in his expression.
“Finish up with the water and I’ll go see if I can find something we can use.”
She didn’t have to ask to know she wouldn’t get him to leave the rest of the herd. Not with the feed still in the trough, not while they were still in danger. And she ought to check on Millie. Liam told Andy to stay in the barn, but it was her farm. She knew her way around better than anyone and despite him going all serious on her, she didn’t believe any of the humans were in danger. She wasn’t reckless, not anymore, and she had no intention of taking any unnecessary chances. She’d find something to use as a trough, check on Millie and then find Liam and help him figure out who’d killed Gretchen. Or call the local police and let them handle it. For all she knew, it was a thing other farms had experienced.
Not bothering to slide the door closed behind her, she slipped out of the barn and started across the field toward the shed. There was a big low basin leaning against the back wall that might do as a trough, at least until they could rig up something else. And she wanted to see if whoever killed Gretchen had messed up the soap shed. She couldn’t stand the idea of someone being in her private space but it didn’t make sense for the lye to come from anywhere else.
Liam must have had the same idea. She was almost in shouting distance of the shed when she saw him hurry inside. She picked up her pace, the idea of having someone to share the burden with the only bright spot in her otherwise heartbreaking morning. For the first time in—well, maybe ever—the thought of leaning on someone else didn’t scare the crap out of her. Millie had been right the day they met Liam; he was strong enough to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders and not get a hump.
She froze in her tracks when she saw the other man slip into the soap shed behind Liam. He’d been so focused on following Liam, he must not have noticed her. She didn’t need to know who he was to recognize him as dangerous. It was a little like seeing a lion or tiger from a distance. Something primal deep inside her instinctively warned her away. Except she couldn’t stay away; Liam was inside alone. She couldn’t leave him even though she didn’t have any doubt he was every bit as dangerous as the other man.
Reaching for her back pocket, she cursed herself when she realized she left her phone in the barn. She was too far away from Mike and too far away from the house. By the time she got help from somewhere else, it could be too late. Praying the pounding of her heart wasn’t loud enough for anyone else to hear, she bolted across the field, trying to make herself as small as possible. She stopped when she was in hearing distance of the shed, forcing herself to go as quietly as possible. She could hear murmurs as she got closer, which gave her a little reassurance. Whatever horrible thing was going to happen hadn’t happened yet.
Now that she was at the building, she realized she had no idea what to do. If she barged inside, she could just as easily make things worse as make them better. She hated the heroines in the movies who managed to get themselves caught just as the hero finally got things under control. There was an entrance on the back side of the building, but it was just a ladder to the loft where she stored the packing supplies. Aside from a couple of rolls of tape and some empty cardboard boxes, there wasn’t much she could use as a weapon, but the loft would let her at least see where everyone was so she didn’t end up making things worse. She’d figure out the rest once she made it inside.
Careful not to let the ladder scrape against the outside of the building, she started to climb.
She had to go slowly so she didn’t make a noise that would give away her presence. The element of surprise was the only thing she had to work with. She couldn’t risk losing it too soon. It took what felt like forever, but she finally managed to ease open the old hay door to the loft and shimmy inside. As soon as she was crouched on the floor of the loft, she froze, listening for any sign they’d heard her. With as hard as her heart was hammering, it was amazing they couldn’t hear it.
“Drop the phone. You won’t be needing it,” said a strange voice in an accent she didn’t recognize.Slavic maybe.
“Gustaf,” came Liam’s clear answer. “I’d say it was a pleasure, but we both know it’s not. You’re branching out into animals now? I suppose it takes one to know one.”
Liam seemed awfully chatty with the bad guy but at least if they were talking, they weren’t shooting each other or something worse.
“I could tell she was a favorite of yours. Although perhaps not as much as her pretty owner.”
Andy put her hands over her mouth to stifle her gasp. The idea of the man below paying enough attention to know who she was made it feel like she had a vise wrapped around her chest.
“One pussy is as good as any other. She’s convenient. A passable diversion.”
Andy didn’t need to see Liam to know he was lying, and she knew he was doing it to protect her. Apparently the other guy knew it too.
“You always were a shitty liar.”
“I must be special for you to come take care of me yourself rather than send one of your goons.”
“I’ll admit I do have a bit of a special spot for you. I owe you for the last time.”
Andy inched forward, barely moving so she wouldn’t make a sound, until she could see the men below her. The guy Liam called Gustaf had a very deadly looking gun trained on him. Liam didn’t have anything in his hands, which didn’t mean they were out of luck but it did kind of stack the deck the wrong way. And she didn’t expect the other guy to keep up the Doctor Evil-style banter forever. At some point the shooting would start. She needed to make sure the odds shifted before then.
Glancing around for anything she could use, she rejected a stack of cardboard boxes. They were unwieldy and could sail the wrong way when the air caught them. The rolls of tape were too small to be anything but a nuisance. Her gaze landed on a giant roll of bubble wrap. Jeez, it was like a bad romantic comedy.Death by bubble wrap. But she had to work with what she had and the roll was heavy enough to go where she threw it and light enough that she could pick it up. It would only give Liam a couple of seconds, but if they were lucky that’s all he’d need.
“I’m touched.”
“Don’t be. It took me forever to find you. I’m out of time to play.”
Andy crept forward onto her knees and wrapped her arms around the roll.
“I might not even have time for your pretty pussy.” He chuckled like it was the most normal thing in the world and deep inside Andy’s brain, in the most primitive part, she shuddered. “Who am I kidding? I’ll make the time,” he said, raising the gun so it pointed at Liam’s head. His arm didn’t waver and she knew without a doubt if he had a chance to take the shot, he’d make it and Liam would die.
Any fear she had for herself vanished when she was faced with losing Liam. Before she could second-guess herself, she clambered to her feet and hurled the roll of bubble wrap over the edge just as the gun went off.
