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"Please. They'd eat me alive. I'm not crazy enough to wander into that mess. I'll check in with some of my friends and see what they've heard."

"And people wonder why we don't see many tourists in town. They probably roll in, see the people staring, and keep right on going."

"Or there's just nothing here for them to see. We're kind of boring."

"I prefer to say we're peaceful. I like it." It was one of my favorite things about my hometown, honestly. When Alex Copeland found that dead body last year, that was the most exciting thing to happen in town in pretty much forever. It still kept making the rumor circuit when news was particularly slow.

I glanced at my security camera feed again as I spoke. Nothing had changed in the last five minutes, of course, but I was anxious to get home.

"Do you want me to release Winston when his mom gets here so you can head home?" Lain asked, and I glanced up to find him watching me. He'd finished Luna while we talked, and she'd promptly squirmed off his table and into his lap, where she now lay in his arms like a baby. Her big, blocky head rested on his shoulder, and with her big pittie smile, she was the picture of contentment.

"She's just around the corner, so she should be here any time. Thank you, though." I gave him a rueful smile. "Sorry I've been distracted today."

"I get it. You put a lot of work into those chickens when you first got them, and I know you love your animals." He sat up a little, hefting Luna into a more comfortable position. "That reminds me: do you still have that random mule at your house?"

"Yeah. I need to talk to Officer Lake and see if she has any lead on where he came from or if I'm now the owner of a mule." Between the lack of sleep over the weekend and the encounter yesterday, I'd completely forgotten I needed to talk to her today. Unfortunately, the police department wasn't textable, and the idea of calling made me queasy, so I'd have to stop by on my way home.

"I hate to break it to you, boss, but the day you named him, it was pretty much all over for you."

He was right and we both knew it, but I had to at least try to find his home. Although, it'd been three weeks and no one had come looking for him, so whoever had previously owned him really didn't deserve him back at this point.

Winston's mom walked in before I could admit that much to Lain. She was one of my favorite clients, an older woman who worked at the hardware store. It was just the two of them at her house now, and she spoiled him like crazy, which I always loved to see. After his haircut, she always took him to work with her to close out the rest of her shift.

Once I'd set up her next appointment and checked her out, I rushed through the rest of my cleaning, getting everything put away as quickly as I could.

"Do you need anything before I head out?" I asked over my shoulder. Lain had moved on with his appointments, letting Luna wander around behind the gates while he got to work on a big, stubborn Goldendoodle.

"Nope, I'm good. Let me know if you need any help wrangling foxes or anything. I don't have any idea what to do, but I'll bet the guy I'm going out with tomorrow might." He grinned when I rolled my eyes. Lowery's Crossing didn't have a large dating pool, and it shrank even further for the small gay community we had, but Lain seemed determined to go out with every available guy in town. Only once, though. He never went on second dates.

"I can handle it, but thanks. Text me if anything comes up."

"You got it. See you tomorrow."

Leaving Lain to handle the shop, I grabbed my things and headed out.

The late afternoon sun still gave enough warmth that I could finally believe that spring was creeping in on us. It was still cold enough to need my winter coat, but the snow had finally melted and new grass was already poking through the wet soil.

Since I didn't live in town, technically, I was one of the few people who drove to work downtown. Most of the shops here in the heart of Lowery's Crossing were small businesses, and the owners lived either in the same building or close enough to walk. Further out, big-box stores and restaurants had a tenuous foothold, but they stayed closer to the highway that ran along the eastern edge of town. The Castaway Motel was out there, too, to catch anyone looking for a place to stay after a long day of driving.

The police department sat beside the fire department, just down the block from the short side street where Groomer Has It shared space with a tattoo studio and Esoteric Oddities, the occult shop run by Lain's friend, Ori. I'd never been inside, afraid my skepticism would offend a fellow small business owner, but Lain was a regular. I did glance in as I walked past, but the plants that sat on massive stands and shelves in front of the windows obscured whoever might be inside.

The Lowery's Crossing Police Department occupied a single-story building with tall windows to let in the light. I'd only had one real interaction with the police in my life. It wasn't a pleasant memory and I had to fight to bury it in the back of my mind when I stepped up to the front desk, keeping myself firmly focused on the here and now.

The officer who greeted me wasn't the one I'd talked to before, thankfully. He was younger, new enough that I didn't recognize him.

He looked up at me expectantly when I stepped up to the desk, so of course, my brain completely froze.

How do I start this? I should have rehearsed this on the way over. Do I just ask for Officer Lake? I should just ask for her. Right? What if she's busy, or she's not here? Then I have to do this again?

"Hi, how can I help you?" the officer asked after the silence had stretched well into uncomfortable territory.

"Um, I was just wondering if Officer Lake was available?" The words tumbled out of my mouth in an embarrassed whisper. I couldn't bring myself to meet his eyes and I'm sure he was probably thinking I was on drugs or something and here to turn myself in.

"She's out on patrol right now, sorry. Can I take a message?"

Of course she was out. Which meant I was either going to have to do this all over again or wait for her to call me, which was a unique form of torture.

"Yeah, sure. Could you just tell her that Quinn Camden stopped by?" I didn't stumble over my words, but it was a close call. It helped that I still hadn't tried to meet his eyes.