Page 33 of Midnight Creed

She stopped. Went silent, and Creed thought about his sister Brodie. Maybe Maggie was, too. For years while Brodie was missing, Creed tried to convince himself that hadn’t happened to her. But she was destined to be trafficked if they hadn’t found her when they did.

Desperate to put that out of his mind, he said, “Sheriff Norwich and I met a couple of homeless guys today.”

“I thought you said you were in the woods?”

“We were. They’ve set up camps. This one old guy named Sully seems really ordinary. Nice guy. Even has a dog.”

“I met a homeless woman today who is interesting. She told me more over a couple of donuts and coffee than the detectives who’ve been on the case. Be careful though, Ryder.”

“Careful? What do you mean?”

“I know you. People with problems gravitate toward you. And you tend to think you need to rescue them, sort of like you rescue dogs.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Let’s see. Since I’ve known you, your rescuing efforts of lost and needy people have gotten you on a drug cartel’s hit list, buried under a mudslide, exposed to the bird flu, and literally thrown by a tornado. Do you want me to go on?”

The smile in her voice made him smile.

“So this new case...you’re not calling to cancel your Christmas trip?”

“No. Not at all. In fact, I can’t wait to get out of the snow. We rarely have much, and it’s piling up.”

“Come down early.” He couldn’t believe he said it out loud this time. He worried if he sounded too eager, it might spook her. And, of course, she went quiet again. Other than working on a case, they’d never spent a week together. “I’m just saying, it sounds like you could use a walk on the beach.”

“That does sound good. But what about you? How are you doing?”

“I feel okay. Mended. Or maybe still mending. You forgot to add to that list, me being knifed by a girl.”

“I didn’t want to totally embarrass you. So, what is it that has you staring at the ceiling?”

“Dogs.”

“Is it Grace?”

“No. She really is doing good. Dr. Avelyn’s going to be quarantining some K9s they’re rescuing out of Afghanistan.”

“The ones they left behind.”

She didn’t sound surprised, and it wasn’t a question.

“You know about that?”

“Let’s just say you can’t be in D.C. and not hear stuff. I guess deep down, I hoped it wasn’t true. But I’ve had politicians lie to me enough times to know it could be.”

“Yeah, well, a military handler recognized her dog. Still over there. In a dirty cage. A mining company found him on the streets.” He could feel the anger rising again. Grace lifted her head to check on him.

“I’m glad they’re finding them. Bringing them home.”

“Me, too.”

23

Santa Rosa County, Florida

Creed slowed the Jeep down as he searched for the entrance of the Monroe family’s neighborhood. The pine trees along the highway were too thick to see what was on the other side, but he knew it wasn’t far from where they’d searched yesterday.

Housing developments seemed to spring up in pockets of what he used to consider forest. Though the neighborhood they were looking for was two or three decades old.