“Mommy?”
She kissed Danny again and said, “Just somebody running by,” she said cheerfully.
He rubbed his eyes again and nodded, obviously not caring one way or the other. Now if only she didn’t care either.
She headed back inside, shutting her front door securely and locking it, and made him a small snack. “What would you like to do today?”
“Want to go park,” he said, while he was busy taking peanut butter and toast, mangling it up and shoving it into his mouth.
When he was done, she cleaned him up, got him dressed, and said, “Let’s go out to the park then.”
She put him into the stroller, and they headed down the block to a nice little park with lots of other adults. They were in luck, as two other women were here with kids Danny knew well. Immediately the kids cried out their greetings, and she helped Danny out of his stroller and over to the sandbox, where he climbed in and started playing. She walked over to join the other two women.
“You okay? You’re looking a little frazzled,” Mary said.
“I am,” she said. “I found my front door open earlier today. When I went to pick up Danny from his nap,” she said, “a stranger was in the backyard again.”
The other woman gasped, leaned closer, and said, “Do you know who it was?”
Jessica shook her head. “No. No clue,” she said. “But it’s been enough to unnerve me.”
“And, of course, with your ex not being around,” she said, “it’s even worse, isn’t it?”
“Well, it’s definitely more of a vulnerable feeling,” she said, not wanting to get into the irony of that statement. “But I certainly don’t want a man around just for protection.”
“Men have a lot of uses,” Heather said, waggling her eyebrows.
“Maybe so,” Jessica said with half a smile. “But I wouldn’t want to jump back into another relationship just because of that.”
“No,” both women nodded. Mary continued, “That’s not smart.”
“You should probably make a police report,” Heather said. “What if somebody is stalking you?”
“The problem is, I don’t know what the police can do about it,” Jessica said slowly. “At least not until something worse happens.”
“And that’s what we don’t want to have happen,” Mary said. “It’s just too terrible to contemplate. But the police really don’t have much of a way to stop a stalker.”
“I know,” Jessica said. “Not until he crosses the line.”
The name was there on the mailbox, just as Greyson had been told. Joe Hinds. He walked up to the front door and knocked. After a few minutes, he could hear footsteps from the inside.
Finally the door opened, and a man in his midsixties stood there, glaring at him. “I’m not buying anything,” he said.
“Good,” Greyson said with a smile. “I’m not selling anything. I wanted to ask you about the fender bender you saw a few weeks ago.”
Joe snorted. “I don’t want anything to do with insurance either,” he said.
“That’s not what I’m asking about,” he said. “I’m looking for a War Dog that was at the rescue center near the accident site. The dog went missing around the same time, and I wondered if you’d seen it.”
“What’s this about a War Dog?” His eyebrows shot up and then pulled together, giving him a thick unibrow. “I don’t know anything about a War Dog.”
“I understand,” Greyson said. “During the aftermath of the accident, while everybody was stuck in traffic, did you see a dark shepherd-looking dog loose around the scene?”
He looked at him in astonishment. “How did you know a dog was there?”
Greyson took a slow, deep breath. This was the first hint that he was on track and that the dog had been near the accident. “Where was she when you saw her?”
“Barking at the man who hit the young woman.”
“So that was the accident. A man drove into the car of a young woman?”
Joe nodded slowly.
“Okay, did you recognize either of them?”
“I think I’ve seen the woman around,” he said. “It was worse because her little boy was in the back seat.”
At that, Greyson’s heart slammed. “Was the baby crying?”
He nodded. “Yes, and the woman looked pretty shocked by it all because the other guy was damn rude about it.”
“But he hit her, you said? Or were you talking about his vehicle hit her vehicle?”
“Yeah, he kind of—I think he was pretty threatening to her, but I’m not too sure how that all went down,” he said. “The dog started barking at him and chased the man back into his truck.”
“Then what did the dog do?”
“I don’t really know.” He paused. “The guy got back in his truck, and the woman got in her car, and everybody disappeared again. I could finally get home. It was only a few houses away, for heaven’s sake,” he said, with a wave of his hand toward the road.
“So, you didn’t catch sight of where the dog went after that?”
“Took off into the bushes, as far as I know.”
“But the dog appeared to be more protective of the woman and the child?”
“Either that or he didn’t like the yelling,” Joe said. “I had a dog like that once. Anytime anybody raised their voice, he got upset.”
“Did it sound like the dog was upset?”
Joe looked at him and frowned. “It sounded more like the dog was upset at the man doing the yelling. But I can’t say much more than that.”
“Well, that’s good to know. Thank you.” Taking a look around, Greyson asked, “Have you seen the dog around since the accident?”
“No, I don’t think so,” he said, “though I didn’t really get a good look. He was some kind of a shepherd-looking thing. Other than that, it was just a dog.”
“Okay. Thank you for your time. You’ve been very helpful.” Then he stopped and said, “You mentioned the woman was from around here. Any idea where?”
“I’ve seen her drive up and down the road, so she must live around here somewhere. There probably aren’t more than thirty houses along here, so you might spot her car in the driveway.”
“Good enough,” he said. “Any details on the car?”
“Small silver car, Pontiac, I think.” He stepped back to close the door.
“Thanks again,” Greyson said, and the door closed with a sharp click.
Not exactly friendly but at least he’d shared some information that was useful. He had confirmed that the dog had been there at the fender bender.
As Greyson walked up the street, he was looking for the small silver Pontiac, wondering where the woman lived. And what the dog had to do with any of this. He checked on one side of the road, then came down the other side. When he was at the very top of the block, he came across a small silver Pontiac parked in a driveway. A big driveway. The same one he had traced Kona to.
He walked up, checked the vehicle, and found a ding to the fender and some paint transfer. He walked up to the front door and knocked. When a woman answered the door, he smiled, loving the sight of the happy toddler in her arms.