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“Buddy, wait for me!”
“Your purse!” the cook shouts after me, and I curse inwardly. I turn back to get my stuff, and of course the doggy doesn’t wait for me.
Where did he go?
So stupid, thinking he understood and will lead me to Ross. Right? I start down the main street, past shuttered stores and a few houses, past the bank and the ice cream parlor.
So much for Buddy’s old soul. He didn’t wait for me, didn’t miraculously understand my goal and rushed to my aid. Strange animal. Didn’t even want to eat. I wonder what he was doing behind the diner.
I pass by Jasper’s Garage, and it’s dark and closed, same as it was when I went looking for Ross earlier today. Of all the places he could be, this is the most likely.
I’ve stopped before I realize what I’m doing. He should be here—unless he’s gone back to his house, and... the padlock is open.
I push the gate and it swings open. Huh. Walking inside, I have to swallow past a knot of apprehension. The place feels unfamiliar in the dark and even when I use my cell phone to throw some light around, it still makes me nervous. It’s so quiet. Something slithers out of sight, something skitters, and I swallow a gasp.
Keep your cool, I instruct myself sternly. It’s just an empty garage. You’ve been here before. Heck, last time Ross made you come with his hand. Nothing sinister here.
And... I was right. It is empty. I walk about, my phone illuminating a car with the engine exposed, Ross’s bike, a dusty little office, empty bays and abandoned tools.
Ross isn’t here.
Disappointment swamps me, and I almost groan, my stomach knotting up more. Maybe I’m sick. Maybe the sandwich I ate at the diner earlier was off. It makes more sense than this sense of foreboding, of time running out.
A bark all but gives me a heart attack. A very familiar, laugh-like bark.
“Buddy? Where are you? Come here.”
The doggy is suddenly there, trotting about, investigating, sniffing at corners, stains on the floor, an abandoned toolkit.
“Buddy, Ross isn’t here. Please, take me to Ross. Come on.”
But he just keeps going in circles.
I want to grab him and shake him. “Stop it, you’re making me dizzy. What are you doing?”
I don’t know why I’m expecting an answer, and I almost turn around and head out, when I realize something.
He’s not just going in circles. No, it’s a specific circle, in front of a ladder. He whines when I approach, looks up at me and wags his tail.
A ladder leading to an open trapdoor in the ceiling.
Oh my God.
I remember seeing Ross on the roof once before. On the edge. Watching from the outside, where Buddy led me. I remember my fear.
“Good dog,” I whisper, my lips numb, and start to climb.
***
“Ross?” I call out softly as I emerge from the trapdoor straight to the tin roof. “Are you here?”
The darkening sky stretches overhead, studded with stars, the full moon like a lantern, shedding silvery light. I don’t see him until I’m standing on the roof and turn around.
He’s a tall shadow, his back to me, a cut-out against the gathering night. He’s not smoking this time, at least no embers seem to glimmer and no smoke wreathes him as he stands there, looking out at the town.
He turns toward me, and I feel his gaze, surprised and hot, sliding over me. He has a bottle in his hand, his hair a ghostly halo on top of his head. A silver crown.
In the pooling shine of the moon, I think I see his mouth curving into a faint smile, eyes lighting up.
