got all that next door in the clinic. Figured I wouldn’t haul it over until I knew you wanted help.”
Beth closed her eyes and thought of all the traps she’d set without catching a single mouse. “We do. Oh, my—do we ever.”
Walt glanced fondly at the cage. “He’s sort of the clinic mascot. He’s had all of his vaccinations, of course, and he’s declawed and fixed. So don’t let him outside. If you want to give him back, just say the word. I’ll take him back in a minute.”
“This is so nice of you.”
“The other thing is that my housekeeper has wanted to welcome your family to town. Maria thought about bringing over a basket, but she—and I—wondered if you might like to get out of here for a little while, and join us for supper on Saturday night.”
“Well, I—”
“The house is just on the other side of town—105 San Angelo. There might even be a batch of puppies to play with, if any young ladies are interested.” With that gentle grin and shock of pale silver hair, he reminded her of a kindly Santa Claus who’d managed to lose his belly. “And just so you know I’m not some crazy old coot—you can talk to the sheriff, or you can ask about me down at the bank.”
“I’m sure I don’t need to worry. But I have so much to do….”
“Please, can we go?” Sophie tugged on her sleeve. “Puppies! Please?”
Feeling as if she’d just been expertly outmaneuvered, Beth laughed. “I guess we’d better.”
A simple dinner. A nice old man who’d been a friend of her aunt’s. Puppies. It all sounded like a pleasant break from the endless cleaning and growing list of expensive repairs that would need to be hired out—if she could come up with enough money. So why did she have this odd premonition that Walt Sherbourne had something up his sleeve?
Before setting foot in his house, she would definitely be checking him out with some people around town, just to make sure it was safe.
Safe.
A chill slid through her. It was a word that meant a lot more to her now, after the fear and worry of the past six months. But here, she and Sophie would have a fresh start, far away from the troubles that had dogged them in Chicago. Luckily, that was all over, and who would ever bother to follow them to tiny Lone Wolf, Texas, anyway?
No one. Absolutely no one at all.
“I HAVE NO IDEA how you can find anything in this mess.” Joel shook his head, looking at the piles of papers on the receptionist’s desk. “You’re sure it’s here?”
“To the right, by the phone,” Walt called out from the back room, where he was castrating an Australian shepherd. “Blue paper.”
Slips of paper fluttered to the floor while Joel searched that stack, then the amorphous pile in the center of the desk. “Nothing. How come you didn’t hire a replacement when Elena told you she was leaving?”
Long silence.
“Walt?”
Concerned, Joel hurried down the hall. He found Walt standing beside the surgery table, his palms braced on the stainless steel surface and his head bowed. The dog in front of him was still out like a light. “Are you okay?”
Walt lifted his head and gave Joel a tired smile. “Fine. Just…thinking.”
“You know this is too much for you.”
Walt shrugged as he reached over to turn off the gas on the anesthesia machine, then finished up a few more stitches. “I’ve got another vet starting in December, and your cousin Liza will be done with vet school next spring. I’ll be able to slow down, then.”
“If you make it that long. What about office help? A vet tech?”
“You find one who’ll come out to this town, and she’s got a job. Want to help me move this guy to the floor? You take the hips—easy, now.”
They gently positioned the dog on a soft bed of blankets.
“What about hiring some high school girl? Someone who loves animals.” Joel studied the sleeping dog. “Someone who can lift fifty pounds of dead weight and not suffer the next day.”
Walt’s eyes gleamed. “Sorry, maybe I should have moved him myself.”
“I’m talking about you. Next thing you know, you’ll be in traction.”
Walt stared up at the ceiling. “I’ve advertised. I’ve asked around. Town this size, the labor pool is more like a puddle, and half the people I could think of were ones I wouldn’t trust with my animals or my books. But there is someone…she’s new around here, and she looks like she could use a job. Got a little girl to feed.”
“Not the new neighbor.”
“Why not? Looks like she’s a hard worker.” The dog twitched. Coughed. Walt bent down to remove the trach tube, then he straightened and watched as the dog started to wake up. “Lord knows, fixing up that place of hers will cost a fortune, and I’m guessing she doesn’t have a lot to work with.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Pretty little thing like her can’t do it all, but she sure hasn’t hired anyone to help her out. And that SUV of hers looks like it’s about to breathe its last. Sounds like it, too.”
Walt was right—she was definitely pretty, and Joel had found himself thinking about her way too often since he’d helped her move in. But he’d picked up on some bad vibes—and after fifteen years in law enforcement, he’d learned to listen to them. When he said he’d like to ask her a few questions, she’d gotten skittish. Wary.
It was nothing he could put his finger on, exactly, but until he knew more about her, she wasn’t someone who ought to get her hands on Walt’s books. It was sheer common sense.
“I think you should hold off a while. What do we know about her? Nothing.”
“Her aunt was Crystal Mae, and that’s enough for me.”
“Right. But even serial killers have normal people in their family tree.”
Walt snorted. “That’s what you think of that sweet little gal? That she’s a serial killer?”
“Of course not. But you need to be cautious. Remember telling me about how your dentist lost nearly everything to that accounting firm?”
“I hardly think—”
“And Beth plans to leave town in a few months, at any rate.” Joel thought fast. “Think of all you’d have to teach her. And,” he added after a deep breath, “I’d guess she needs time to work on that place of hers and get it done.”
Walt laughed. “Whale of a lot of protest, over a gal you don’t know.”
“Consider it professional
