“That’s my concern,” Luka replies.
Mine as well.
Luka’s eyes dart toward my phone. It’s a small but noticeable mistake.
“What?” I ask.
One corner of his mouth lifts.
“You’re distracted today.”
“I’m busy.”
“Yes,” he says.
That single word holds too much meaning. I narrow my eyes. Luka has worked beside me for twelve years. He knows when to stop talking. Most days.
“Say whatever ridiculous thought is in your head,” I tell him.
“You invited Maggie back tonight.”
It isn’t phrased like a question.
I keep my attention on the shipping map glowing across the tablet screen. “And?”
Luka folds his arms across his chest, one dark eyebrow lifting slightly. “The staff noticed.”
“The staff should focus on their jobs.”
“They are.” A faint smirk pulls at the corner of his mouth. “Very enthusiastically.”
I look up slowly. Luka remains unmoved beneath the stare. Annoying bastard.
“Sasha also noticed,” he adds.
Of course she did. Sasha notices everything.
“She informed me this morning that Ivy spent breakfast explaining why Winston is now head of household security.”
Despite myself, I laugh.
A second knock interrupts us. Sasha walks into the office, carrying a slim black folder against her chest, and her dark hair pulled into a low braid, while sunlight reflects the thin frames of her glasses. Unlike Luka, she wastes no time.
“We found another overlap.”
I look up. “Explain.”
Without another word, she crosses toward the desk and opens the folder, spreading several photographs across the desk between us. Street corners. Parked vehicles. Downtown Savannah. Then I recognize the blue sign outside the shelter. Second Chance Savannah. Every muscle in my body tightens as I reach for the nearest photograph.
Maggie stands outside the shelter laughing with a leash looped loosely through one hand while the wind moves the loose strands of hair across her face. Another photograph shows her carrying bags of dog food through the parking lot, and another captures her outside her apartment building before I reach the last image of her standing beside her mother outside the diner.
My expression hardens into stone.
“When?”
“Over the last four days,” Sasha answers.
Ice moves slowly through my veins. Luka watches me carefully from across the desk.
