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Her heart pounded. Panic erupted.
“Poirot!” Her voice was more full of alarm than she had intended.
Poirot slipped.
She dove toward her dog. “No!”
Chapter Three
Poirotyelped,andJoshjumped forward. The dog had slipped down in between two of the boulders. Why had Chloe freaked out?
Bounding across the rocks, Josh reached Poirot in eight seconds. So did Chloe.
“Poirot! I’m so sorry, buddy.” She reached down and grabbed his harness and pulled him up slowly.
“Wait. His paw is stuck.” Josh lay across the rocks and reached down and guided the dog’s paw past the jagged edge of the boulder.
Chloe pulled him up, sat, and held him. “How’s his paw?”
Josh inspected it. “Scraped, but not too bad.” He caught her eye. “What happened?”
She looked past Josh. “I thought . . .” She sat up taller as if to look farther. “I thought there was a drop-off.”
Josh followed her line of sight. There was no drop-off. The ground dipped a little but nothing to worry about. “Let’s take Poirot over there”—Josh pointed to a patch of flatter ground—“and bandage up his paw.”
He helped Chloe stand with Poirot. For being a chocolate lab, he was rather small at only sixty pounds. Small, but headstrong. Josh had seen this dog push through complete exhaustion until his task was done. Poirot was also smart and fiercely loyal to Chloe.
They sat on a flat patch of earth, and Josh bandaged Poirot’s paw.
Lance asked, “Should we turn back?”
“Probably.” Josh placed the final piece of tape and then looked at Chloe.
Her lips were smashed tightly together, and moisture pooled in her eyes.
He gripped her arm. “It’s not your fault.”
Her scowl startled him. “But it is. I was too distracted. If I had been paying better attention, I would have realized there wasn’t a drop, and I wouldn’t have startled him. Now if they die—”
“Don’t think like that. I can carry him back.”
Poirot leaped up and barked in Josh’s face.
“What is it? Don’t like the idea of being carried?”
The dog barked again.
Chloe laughed. “I think he’s saying the job isn’t done, and he’s ready to go.” She stood.
Josh stared Poirot down. “You really shouldn’t walk on that paw.”
Poirot barked and sniffed the air before barking again.
Josh lifted his hands in surrender. “If you say so.”
Poirot bounded off.
Quickly, Josh packed his first-aid kit away, threw his pack on his back, and rejoined the search.
