She wouldn’t have been able to do something like this in Boulder or Denver because someone would steal the cooler, not to mention the cat food. In Scarlet, all she had to worry about were the bears that sometimes wandered into town looking for a meal.
She locked the door, turned the sign on the door to CLOSED. “Have a good night, Dree. Thanks for your hard work today.”
She left Dree to turn out the lights and went out to the play yard to get Gizmo, who whined and ran over to her, tail wagging. “How’s my big boy?”
She hugged him, tousled his ears, and petted his chest.
Quinn held the door open. “I was about to take them inside to feed them.”
“I’ll help.” Kenzie’s Team pager went off. “Or maybe not.”
She drew the pager out of her pocket, scrolled through the message.
K9 NEEDED AT FOURTH OF JULY TRAILHEAD.
“It’s time to go to work, Gizmo.”
* * *
Everythingat The Cave was just the way Conrad remembered it. Litters and enormous bags that held ropes hung from one wall, together with skis and snowshoes, while a fortune in climbing gear hung from the other. Medical kits sat on shelves, their sides marked plainly with red crosses. In the far corner lay a naked crash-test dummy.
Fred had lost his britches again—the poor bastard.
No one was there besides Megs and Ahearn, which was both a relief and a little disappointing. It might have been nice to see the others.
Megs’ gaze fixed on the puppy. “Are you babysitting or something?”
“Kenzie asked me to foster Gabby for a few weeks. She said Gizmo hasn’t taken to the puppy very well.”
Ahearn looked confused. “I thought Gizmo loved Gabby.”
Megs looked over her shoulder at Ahearn, whose expression changed abruptly.
Ahearn cleared his throat. “But I don’t know a thing about dogs—not a thing.”
Megs turned back to Conrad. “How’s it going?”
“So far, so good, I guess. She had an accident, but we’re putting that behind us.”
Why this made Megs smile, Conrad couldn’t say. She reached over to pet Gabby, speaking in the silly voice people used when talking to cute animals. “Did you go potty on Conrad’s messy floor? You just don’t know better, do you?”
While Megs watched Gabby, Conrad carried dusty boxes down from the attic and loaded them into his vehicle. With the puppy’s carrier, he didn’t have as much room as he might otherwise. But there was no harm in an extra trip or two. When his vehicle was full, he grabbed the puppy, drove back to the house, and unloaded.
On his third trip, he arrived at The Cave to find Rescue 1 gone.
Something had happened.
He got Gabby from her carrier, clipped on her leash, and led her into Ops, where he found Megs and Ahearn at the radio.
“Eight sixty-five.” That was Sheriff’s Deputy Julia Marcs.
“Eight sixty-five, go ahead.”
“The mother arrived with a scent article. K9 is just down the road.”
Kenzie was on her way to the scene.
“Eighteen forty-five.”
