Page 18 of Love You To Pieces

“I’ll find your friend.” There’s a note of gentleness in his voice, I think, as he trades one more look with the sheriff. “And I don’t need you to show me where I’m going.” With that, he walks away, gravel crunching softly under his boots before he disappears into the old auto shop behind me.

Noise in front of me catches my attention, and when I turn back, the sheriff is leaning into the back seat of his truck, top half swallowed up by it. When he’s in view again, he’s holding a half-unwrapped cheeseburger, and when he meets my quizzical gaze, he grins ruefully.

“Sorry.” He chuckles, kneeling down with it held out towards Pearl. “I just know she’s hungry as hell, and I like to feed her when I can.”

Pearl doesn’t leave my side, even with no prompting from me. She looks at the cheeseburger and whines, shifting so her backside is flush against my knee. “Where’d you find her, anyway?” he adds, patient as he continues to hold out the bribe.

“She was down there too, um…” I close my eyes and suck in a breath, reminding myself that this isn’t the time to break down. Not yet. “I was looking for Tyler. He is—was—the guy from the gas station who was being shitty with you. He’s, uh, not gonna be shitty to anyone anymore.” My dry words tremble slightly, though I’m proud of myself for managing to get even that much of a joke out. “I just found her in one of the rooms when I was looking for my friends and a way out. Do you think they were going to kill her?”

“Yeah.” There’s no hesitation in his voice, though the sheriff offers me a tight smile. “Sorry. That wasn’t exactly tactful. She’s a real problem for a lot of people ‘round here. I’m surprised no one’s gotten her already. But I guess that’s damn lucky for you, isn’t it?” He trails off, meeting my gaze over the cheeseburger.

“I’m Fox, by the way.” He gets to his feet with a sigh and carefully tosses the burger onto the gravel between us, keeping an eye on it until it lands. As if it would be somehow less appetizing to the dog if it became deconstructed, rather than probably more appealing if Pearl can actually see the meat and cheese. “Sheriff Fox Shaw. It was nice meeting you the first time. And I sure wish this one was under better circumstances.” He doesn’t look at me when he says it, though. He’s too focused on Pearl.

Distance does the trick, and she walks forward to sniff at the burger, nosing at it for a few seconds before she downs it in a few open-mouthed chomps. For a few seconds I can see the contents—patty, cheese, ketchup, and something bright white that must be onion, though normally I’d pull it off before giving a burger to a dog.

But hell, she’s earned it, clearly.

“Oh, hey. Sorry, uh.” Fox brushes off the already-clean legs of his jeans and heads back to the truck. As I watch, he fiddles in the back, having to lean in until he’s braced on the balls of his feet, and after a few moments he comes back with a bottle of water. “You probably need this.” With a wry grin on his lips, the sheriff hands it to me, and I take it with one hand, twisting the cap off without much effort, like I’ve become strong enough to break a water seal without even noticing.

I didn’t realize how thirsty I was until the water hits my lips. What starts as a sip turns into me chugging about half the bottle, and when I finally take a breath, I’m surprised and a little unnerved to find that Fox is just staring at me.

“That’s, uh, sort of embarrassing,” I admit. “All of this is embarrassing and awful, but humor is sort of the only way I’m not hysterical.” The smile I give him is probably five kinds of manic, and my hand shakes until he carefully extracts the now blood-stained plastic bottle from my hand.

“Pace yourself,” he suggests. “You don’t need to puke it all up.”

“Wouldn’t want to contaminate the crime scene,” I agree automatically.

“Hmm…” But Fox is already walking away, heading to look at a few of the newer-ish cars parked outside the shop. “You said you were taken by a truck, right? And how many guys were there?”

I follow after him, still dragging ol’ Sally at my side like an overgrown child with her teddy bear. “Uh, yeah. It was a dark truck, I think, but it was dark when it happened. And I think there were three, maybe four guys. Three for certain. The guy in the basement was in the back seat.” Now that I’m explaining, I find I can’t stop. The words about that night pour out of me while I follow Fox around until he’s walking into the auto shop and I hesitate at the door.

The brunet looks at me with a sweet, amicable smile on his lips when he senses my hesitation, and the understanding there is so kind that it hurts. “It’s okay,” he promises, standing in a fucking ray of sunlight, making him look like my personal guardian angel. “You can wait outside. I won’t be long.”

“Yeah, okay, it’s just.” With the adrenaline wearing off more quickly than I realized, I’m feeling tired and a little foggy. “The office,” I continue, working hard not to slur my words. “There’s some kind of ledger.”

“Noted. Go wait with Pearl.” It isn’t a question, but there’s no real order behind the words. I open my mouth to ask when he’s going to call for backup. At least, that’s what I assume needs to happen here.

But really, I’m just too worn out. With a sigh, I trudge out to the yard, heading to where Pearl is sniffing around in the grass, walking in a slow circle. Without really thinking about it, I drop my best friend Sally and sink down in the grass beside her, my eyes on the circling dog.

“Burger’s all gone,” I tell her, my words sounding hoarse. The sun is warm on my face, and I turn my gaze up to the light through the trees, letting it fall uninhibited onto my cheeks. “We’ll get you another one, though.”

A groan and a flop make me open my eyes, and my vision swims slightly when I look down at where Pearl is on her side, panting, eyes heavy. “Pearl?” I call, concern stirring in my chest. “Hey, you okay?” Getting to my knees is a mistake, and I have to catch myself in the grass on my raw, stinging palms so I don’t topple over. “The fuck?” I murmur, unable to move closer to her. I can’t do anything except blink at the grass under me that swims and moves in my vision.

This isn’t right, I realize with a dull kind of horror that doesn’t quite reach my brain. But what⁠—

The cheeseburger.

The already-opened bottle of water.

Fuck.

Footsteps crunching on the gravel, then closer in the grass, have me forcing myself onto my back. I can barely brace myself on my elbows to glare up at Fox, who’s standing a few feet away, between me and Sally.

Not that I’d be able to grab her if I can’t even sit up straight.

“Youdruggedus!” I gasp, my words slurred. Getting right to the point seems like my only option when my eyes are feeling heavier than they ever have. “Why would you do that? Are you with them? Oh, fuck, oh, fuck⁠—”

Without warning, Fox is kneeling in front of me, the concern on his face mixed with a kind of predatory interest. “No, little rabbit,” he promises. “We’re not with them.” His voice is cold, with less of the ‘good ol’ southern boy’ charm from before. “They’re not welcome here.”