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“Based on your information, there should be a fight tonight.”
“I know.” She pulled out her phone and tapped on the icon for her brother.
“Don’t do that just yet.”
She looked up at him then, not bothering to hide her frustration. “I’m not leaving Terry’s body out here a moment longer than necessary.”
“Let’s review a few things first.”
“Review what?” She got to her feet. “Shall we review the body? The tracks?” Off the chain, her anger and heartache ran away with her. Daisy whimpered, but Heather couldn’t stop the rant. “Let’s review—again—all of the information I gave to you so you would protect him.” She flung out a hand toward Terry. “Is that what you need to review?”
“No.”
Her next outburst stalled, unspoken. “No?”
“I don’t have a good answer for you. The attack on the shelter and killing Terry was an unexpected response. It’s something a loose cannon would do. Something completely out of character for Lester. I’m not sure what it means.”
“Fabulous.” She turned her back on Dale and the gruesome scene behind him. Giving the trail a wide berth, she took a few steps away from the clearing. Anger wasn’t helping anyone. Anger would do nothing to bring back her friend or ease the trauma suffered by the animals.
“Heather.”
“Give me ten seconds,” she said through clenched teeth. She could find her self-control. Somewhere. After counting to ten, twice, and giving another comforting rub to Daisy, she turned back to Dale. “Okay. I’m calmer now.”
“You don’t have to be. I just wanted to go over what we’ll say to your brother.”
She nodded. “Good idea.”
He raised an eyebrow, clearly wary that she might go ballistic again. It was a reasonable concern. “Let’s keep it to finding the body. I’d rather you didn’t tell him about a possible connection between Terry and Lester.”
“He wasn’t—” She stopped and took a long, slow breath. “Terry had only the narrowest connection to those who acquired dogs for Lester.”
“Got it. Either way, let’s—”
“Not drag J.C. into it,” she finished. “I agree one hundred percent.”
“Make the call,” he said with a terse nod.
She dialed her brother and let him know where and how they’d found Terry’s body. Saying it out loud made it worse and somehow more real than looking at the torn up remains. When J.C. promised to send out the coroner and a crime scene unit, she sat down hard against the trunk of a tree, gasping for air.
Daisy flopped down next to her, resting her chin on Heather’s thigh.
Hands planted on his hips, Dale stared down at them. “What do we do with her?”
“You could adopt her,” she said, trying to smile.
“Not until she has a bath.” He rushed on before she could take that as a verbal commitment, “I’m not home enough to keep up with a dog.”
“I get it.” Her shoulders slumped. “She’ll be at the shelter a long time. Pitties always are.”
“She likes you. Why don’t you take her?”
“Daisy likes everyone, but she loved Terry.” She ran her hands over the blocky head. “I bet she kept watch over him until we showed up.”
Dale didn’t offer any opinion on that.
“Think about it. The body wasn’t mauled beyond the lethal attack. These past hours must have been horrible for her.”
“I’m not adopting the dog.”
