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Pepper gripped the wheel harder.
And my blood pumped a little faster through my veins.
The arch over the entry was rusted. What few parking lot lights remained weren’t straight up any longer. The paint was faded on them and most of them didn’t have working bulbs.
If this place was in this kind of disrepair, what did it say about the care of the dogs?
Anger for the animals bubbled to the surface.
Miss Adeline turned and pointed at me. “Don’t say anything. We go in. We get the dogs. We get out.”
I nodded once, but she was already directing Pepper toward where she believed the kennels to be.
There were few cars in the parking lot. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Would we need witnesses?
Pepper wheeled the van to a building that looked like it could use a coat of paint.
“This is it,” Miss Adeline said. She had her door open before we stopped.
“Get the crates open and keep guard.” Pepper gave me a pointed look. “Stay put.”
She grabbed several leads and hooked them over her neck.
I didn’t like this. I didn’t like being left outside. Not when I was meant to be doingsomething.
The dome light in the van provided the only source of light and it wasn’t much. There was a fixture by the door to the kennels that kept flickering like it could go out any second.
I tensed my shoulders. The trees rustled in the cold wind, but there was no other noise.
It was too quiet. With every snap of a branch I jerked to hear where the sound came from like I was in some sort of bad horror movie. It was the unexpected I didn’t care for. I preferred to know what was coming, or at least the possibilities.
Woof. Woof. Woof.
Crazed barking ensued and seconds later, Pepper burst out the door with four dogs. How had she gotten a leash on all of them that quickly?
I rushed toward her, but she shook her head. “Help me get them in. I have to go back.”
“I thought we were getting four?”
She shoved the leads in my hand and jogged back toward the building. I bent to heft one of the dogs into the van but realized I had three others to contend with. They were sniffing and jerking—and strong.
Pepper would’ve probably already had them in the van.
I wrapped the leads around my hand and just went for it. The dog I picked up was the most active. He wiggled in my arms so violently I thought he might escape.
“Hey now. It’s okay. We’re here to help.”
He didn’t seem to understand. In fact, he fought harder. I hoped I wasn’t hurting him and hated to stress the poor guy out.
The more he resisted the more anxious the others became. But I got him inside a crate and secured the door.
Pepper appeared again with another three dogs. I worked faster to get the next one in the van. She took the remaining leashes out of my hand, making it easier to get them inside.
“Load them through the side door,” she said when we’d run out of crates.
She was calm. In command.
Where is Miss Adeline?
