Page 31 of Mommy

I open my mouth to say something, but no words come out. My mind works a mile a minute to figure out any flaws in her demand, but I come up short. She actually has a point here. And it’s astonishing that she thought of it herself.

If she has gotten a really good glimpse at what’s going on, she would be in one hell of an awful place when she snitches. Her home wouldn’t be a safe space for her anymore.

Who would’ve thought … I guess it’s true: Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

My lips pull into a kind of approving upside down smile and I nod.

“All right. I’ll arrange it.”

I’m halfway expecting her to jump at that and tell me what I need to know, but Abigail just puts on another fake smile and gets up from her chair.

“Perfect. I guess, I’ll be around, Sir,” she says with a wink. As she walks past me towards the door, she leans down, stopping in her tracks to murmur something in my ear. “When you have a moment… maybe you should check if there are any new dogs at the shelter. You know? Keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.”

I wait for the evil creature to leave the station and even watch as she passes the side window before I gather my things.

“Hey, boss? I’m gonna go on a routine check up on the animal shelter, ‘ight?”

My superior is usually not super interested in what we do, as long as he can stay put in his office. And he doesn’t concern himself with animal well being, so I’m sure he won’t give a flying fuck about what’s going on there.

Sure enough, Hopsin just mumbles something in agreement, and I’m already trying to figure out a way to get to Ivory as fast as possible when two dooming words echo over from his office.

“Take McDinnahol.”

Chapter seventeen

Derek

Half an hour later, I sit in the car, waiting for the oldest cop in the precinct to waddle his way over to the vehicle.

I honestly expected this would be a disaster, but to be honest the worst part is that McDinnahol doesn’t want to listen to music while driving. Other than that I quickly realized that he is probably easier to handle than any newbie would’ve been.

He doesn’t care which shelter we visit, and he doesn’t ask stupid questions when I tell him to stay in the front with Shelly while I take a look around.

Aka search for Ivory.

Sure enough, I find her sitting on the floor of a kennel, her slim fingers tenderly stroking down the bridge of the dog’s nose.

She doesn’t even notice me, and instead of drawing her attention away from the dog, I wait. Leaning against the kennel, I watch her.

Today there are no puppies, just the white dog I saw Ivory with before.

There is so much trust between these two. Ivory has her back half turned to me, but I would bet good money, that her eyes are closed. She’s whispering something, but the shelter is too noisy for me to be able to decipher any words.

I shift the slightest bit, but this time my movement gets noticed. Not by Ivory, but the dog in her arms stiffens, brown eyes staring at me.

Another moment passes, and⁠—

She turns around.

Blue eyes, framed by long, blond lashes in a wonderfully make up free face.

“Derek?” she sounds surprised.

I’m not sure why that annoys me, but it does.

“Having a nice day at work, Sweetheart?”

I watch her reaction carefully, and by god, that kind of annoys me too. She looks around as if I called out her complicity in a murder. Eyes darting past me and scanning the hallway.