They shared a laugh and the Deputy Chief brought his apparent old friend forward. "Detective Thane Richmond, this is Nik Sanna. And this is—"
"Dr. Linda Esposito."
Any happiness over their long-awaited reunion packed its bags and fled the room. Nik squinted as Richmond dropped his gaze and nodded at Esposito. "I didn't know you'd transferred up here."
"Only a couple of weeks ago." On a scale of one to ten, the strain in her smile hit somewhere around eleven. "Here for a visit?"
"Thane is actually considering a transfer." Leo crossed his arms. "He's staying with me while he checks out Woodward Hill and I work on his resolve. Whether he likes it or not, he isn't getting any younger, and the LAPD has been wearing him down."
"Speak for yourself." Thane smirked.
"I didn't realize you two knew each other." Leo bumped his chin toward Esposito.
"Yes, we worked on a serial murder case together." Richmond shifted and cleared his throat.
But that was more than enough for Nik to know he'd officially become a fifth wheel. Reaching into the back pocket of his jeans, he offered his business card to the doctor. "Give me a call if you have any questions."
"Thank you. I will." She tucked it in her lab coat and the conversation faded as Nik turned and headed for the door.
And dammit to hell, before he could escape, Sutton Fox pushed off the wall over to his right and stuck hot to his tail.
Fuck.
"Interesting piece of evidence you turned in." She waved her iPhone in his face, following him outside and keeping pace with him down the steps and to the sidewalk. "Care to comment?"
"Nope." He marched toward his Jeep, tapping the FOB on his keychain to unlock the door.
"What about the fight last night? Were you settling an old score?"
Grit rasped under his boots as he spun a one-eighty, and she almost slammed headfirst into his chest. "I was defending a woman who was being harassed by a drug addict. Now why don't you go hang out at the beauty parlor or coffee shop? I'm sure those gossipy nags will be happy to give you the information you're after. Isn't that your usual source?"
He wrenched open the handle, climbed inside, and peeled away from the wannabe reporter as she whipped out her pad to make a note.
Chapter Three
Inara glanced at the time on her Android before shoving it into the holster at her hip.
6:32 a.m. With her first appointment scheduled for eight-thirty, that would leave plenty of time to double-check Buster had slept comfortably through the night post-op.
All things considered, the surgery had gone pretty well.
Unhooking a fresh lab coat from the front hall closet, she shrugged it onto her shoulders. His left hindquarter had gone totally septic. The bullet wound had stunk to high heaven and necrotic tissue had formed around the slug. A good portion of muscle had needed to be removed, but at least the x-rays had shown he hadn't suffered any broken bones.
Same when it came to the contusion on his muzzle. Stepping into her ankle-high boots, she tugged the backs up and over her heels. It had taken two layers of stitches to repair the damage and avoid giving him a mutated scar.
But she'd managed to pull it off with Seth's help.
Entering the kitchen, she snagged her coffee off the counter and popped the last piece of bran muffin in her mouth. And after four hours of standing cranked over the table, they'd left Buster sedated, she'd crawled into bed and spent the next ten hours sleeping like a rock.
The morning was cool but sunny as she slid open the glass doors and it caressed her cheeks with a gentle kiss. The breeze was light and toyed with her hair, tugging a blonde coil across her lips. Deeply inhaling, she smiled at the fresh hint of pine scenting the clear mountain air.
A short stroll across the grass, and she pulled out her keys to unlock the back door of her clinic. "Good morning, everyone."
Buster exploded in a furious session of barking. So over-the-top, she jumped. The ceramic mug slipped from her fingers and shattered. She turned her head, but was a second too late to stop the coffee from splashing her face.
Lemonade…
Her throat tightened. Pressure built in her chest.
Hand shaking, she lifted her arm and repeatedly swept the droplets off her chin.
But it didn't work.
No. Closing her eyes, she struggled to keep breathing so the trigger wouldn't spiral out of control.
Running around the picnic table. Laughing at her older brother Zeus. The evil twinkle in his gaze that said she was about to be tortured with a bad round of tickles.
She held a plastic cup in one hand. A bright rainbow pinwheel in the other.
Out of nowhere, a dog sprinted in from the right and Zeus froze as the animal lunged.
She flew through the air. Dropping her cup. Lemonade splashed, and across the yard, echoed her mother's terrified scream.
Pain tore through her cheek as it sank its sharp teeth into her tender flesh.
Its jaw locked. Blood kept dripping. The stench of its rancid breath was hot and moist against her neck.
Leave me alone! Don't hurt! Stay away!
Yet the voice in her head wasn't hers.
Her father shouted. She grabbed the dog's ears and yanked. It yelped and the tension in its jaw went slack.
Zeus and Daddy wrenched it away. Inara slammed to the ground and stared at the red stains covering her pink party dress.
She curled into a ball, knees to her chest, held onto to her shredded face and wept…
Covering her ears, Inara rocked and tried to shut out the non-stop snarling and barking. Some cats yowled. Others hissed. Lukewarm coffee soaked through her jeans and into her underwear.
Shit, she was on the floor. Sitting in a brown puddle. Her wrist stung, and she lowered it from her head to find a shard of crockery sticking from her skin.
Swearing a blue streak, she staggered to her feet. God, the constant racket was going to drive her insane. "Can it, guys!"
All the animals quieted except Buster. But she'd bonded with the others more than him and he didn't fully trust her yet.
"Thank you. I'm sorry. I just got caught by surprise." Capping the leak on her wrist, she eyeballed the only patient who was refusing to cooperate. "I know, I know. I shouldn't have come barging in here like that. I get it, you're scared, but could you cut me some slack?"
He ignored her. Relentlessly barking to the end.
Navigating the puddle over to the supply cabinet, she fumbled with her keys, ransacked the shelves and performed a little first aid on her arm. The broken mug got tossed into the trash before she ran the mop over the floor. And the whole time Buster read her the riot act for the way he'd been sedated the night before.
She got images of her and Seth snagging the lasso around his bulging neck. Buster's terror over being dragged from the cage and Seth sticking a stinging needle in his back.
Waking up sore and unhappy. Alone and trapped in a space that was way too small.
Finally getting fed up, she stuffed the mop into the bucket and set her hand on her hip. "We had to put you out. You needed stitches and I had to get that bullet slug out of your butt."
Buster snapped and snarled.
"Yeah, well, you're welcome. Thanks so much for fixing my leg."
He calmed a little. His ferocious barking reduced to a deep-throated growl. He circled the bedding and, as he laid down, she caught that his pain had eased up.