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Chapter One
Teague
“Pepper is missing.”
The old woman’s panicked voice barreled down the phone line.
“Missing?” I sounded groggy, like she’d spoken a foreign language. I’d been fired hours earlier, and apparently my brain was already sluggish at responding to emergencies.
“Did I stutter?” Miss Adeline snapped. “She was gone . . . awhile. So I went downstairs to check on her.”
I waited impatiently for her to finish the thought. Instead, all I got was silence and a whole lot of tension even though we weren’t in the same location.
“How do you know she’s not walking other dogs?” I had no idea what time it was. I’d been sitting in this same spot for hours.
“Because Sadie, Muffy, and Ash came back. Without her.”
The glass of water I held slipped from my hands. It shattered on Lincoln’s kitchen’s stone floor.
Her words were a swift kick in the stomach . . . and in my mind, which shifted into high gear. I pushed out of the chair, grabbed my keys, and jogged to the elevator.
“I’m on my way.”
My hand shook as I pressed the call button.
Where are you, Pepper? Please be okay.
I checked the time as I stepped into the elevator. Almost midnight.
I despised that she had to be out so late. It wasn’t safe. And even though I’d asked her—more likedemanded—to not walk the dogs at an ungodly hour, she’d put me in my place.
I should’ve been there.
Instead, after I’d been fired, I’d wandered around the city. Furious.
I’d ignored my phone all day, needing to be alone while I sorted out what my next move would be.
The one person I’d wanted to go to, I hadn’t. Because I didn’t want to dump more problems on her. She already had enough.
But if I had, maybe she wouldn’t be missing right now.
Please be okay. Please be okay.
The thought replayed over and over in my head as I jumped in my truck. Rushed through red lights. Swerved around the few cars in my way.
When I was a few blocks out from Grey Paws, my body tightened on high alert. I swung my eyes from side to side, searching every dark corner and alleyway.
Hoonnnkk.
Headlights blinded me and I jerked the wheel to get the truck back into my lane.
Shit.
Come on, Pepper.Desperation to find her pricked every part of me.
Anger bubbled up as I passed the black hole that used to be her park. I crept forward, shining my lights on the destruction.
It was impossible to see anything but charred heaps of what used to be. The barrels were gone, most likely in evidence at the police station.
