“I do have a sense of humor,” he grumbled.
“First I’ve seen it. Anyway,” she continued, “Ruthie’s there with her stylist, Dallie-Ann, but not to cut my hair, thank God. They’re there for Dallie-Ann’s dog.”
“Her dog needs a haircut?”
“No, keep up. Her dog needs a sweater. Apparently, her little yappy thing?—”
“Poodle?”
“No, some kind of designer hybrid that probably cost more than my truck. The thing is bald except for the top of its head, and it gets cold. Ruthie helpfully told her I could make it a sweater.”
Bear couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him. “You make dog sweaters?”
“I do not make dog sweaters.” She jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. “I make gear for actual working dogs. Search and rescue, police, military. Not some four-pound rat-dog that thinks a squirrel is a monster.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her I’d think about it.”
“So you’re gonna do it.”
She waved that away without denying it. “But then, here’s the weird part. As they’re leaving, Dallie-Ann stops short and just goes white, like she’s seen a ghost. She pulled down Alice’s flyer in my window and said she knows her—” Her voice broke, and she cleared her throat before continuing. “Knows,Bear. Present tense.”
His attention snapped fully to Greta. “Okay. Let me make sure I’m getting this straight. This random hairstylist walkedinto your shop asking about dog sweaters you don’t make, and then claims to know Alice?”
It sounded suspicious to him, and he wanted to make sure she heard it, too.
Greta nodded, her eyes fixed on some distant point across the street. “I guess Dallie-Ann escaped from Glenhaven a few years ago.”
Bear inwardly winced at the mention of the town, but managed to keep it off his face. The fundamentalist Mormon settlement did not like the people of Solace, and liked the men of Valor Ridge even less. “What does that have to do with your sister?”
“She said Alice lives in Glenhaven. She goes by Alyson there and has a kid, but Dallie-Ann is positive it’s her. She’s living in one of the sister-wife houses.”
A band of dread clamped around Bear’s chest. He didn’t like this one bit. It was all too neat. Too coincidental. “Greta, you know how many false leads you’ve gotten over the years.”
“This is different. Dallie-Ann described her perfectly.”
“She also saw her picture on the flyer.”
“But why would she lie?” She turned to face him, eyes blazing, and he saw she already believed it. The dread clamped tighter.
“You’re still offering a reward, right?” he pointed out.
Some of that light went out of her eyes. “Yes.”
“That’swhy she’d lie.”
Her shoulders slumped, but then straightened again. She shook her head. “I still have to check it out. It’s the best lead I’ve ever had.”
Bear’s gut twisted. Glenhaven wasn’t just some town—it was a compound, isolated and hostile. “You’re not going alone.”
“Atlas and I can handle it.”
“No.”
Greta’s eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me?”
“I said you’re not going alone.”
