Last Chance County veterinarian Brett Filks strode out the front door of his office building eating a PB&J. After three bites, he realized he was hungrier than he’d thought, but since he’d been in surgery with a poodle for the last six hours, it was probably not surprising to anyone else.
He figured he looked like a hot mess too. He hadn’t shaved in almost a week, and the air-conditioning in the office was intermittent at best. He needed a shower and a Netflix nap. But considering he’d just sent his day nurse assistant, Pepper, home for the afternoon, that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
He was just deciding whether or not to eat the crust when a green-blue compact shuddered right out of his memories and into the parking lot. What was it—ten years? She was still driving the same car.
The driver’s door flung open, and the occupant jumped out, moving to the back door and swinging that open. “I need help,” she called out to him.
It was probably the scrubs he wore.
She muttered to herself as he approached.
“What is it?” he asked.
“You’re not going to believe this, but I think he was mauled by a”—she looked at him—“bear.” Her face fell, registering disappointment for a second. “It really is you.”
He put her out of her misery, moving around her and shifting her out of the way. “Let me see.” He crouched in the open door and looked at the dog on her back seat. “Is this your animal?” He glanced at her, but it didn’t seem as though she had suffered a bear attack. And why would she have brought her pet here?
“It’s a long story.”
“It would have to be, considering you’re back when you told me you wanted nothing to do with this town. Or me.” He tried not to let the old wound seep into his tone. He really tried.
He didn’t look at her. The dog was in a bad way and needed to get inside. Brett always found it better to do his job and not worry about his own feelings. There were enough emotions tied up between people and their pets that he didn’t need to get caught up in it. Or project.
He tugged the dog out and lifted it into his arms. The fact it didn’t whine wasn’t a good thing.
“I should go.” She shook her head. “I don’t need to stay here.”
She was going to leave again? Brett said the first thing that came to mind. “Open the door for me, will you? And I’ll need some help. I sent my nurse home for the afternoon.”
He heard the awful creak of her door shutting and winced. Why was she still driving the same car? She had to have come home because of her father’s and brother’s deaths a few weeks ago. Taking care of the paperwork and the estate, stuff like that. He could only imagine how she felt about all of it. His own family might not be perfect, but at least his brother wasn’t a crazed psychopath.
Not that he was willing to talk to Jeff.
He waited by the door. “Katherine?”
She reached for the handle. “I go by Kamryn now.” She shrugged. “Kam is fine.”
“Suits you.” She was still beautiful enough it distracted him from the fact he had a dying dog in his arms. All that golden hair, and the spark of mischief in her eyes that nothing could extinguish. “Come on, we have to take a look at this guy.”
He heard her follow down the hallway. “We? There’s no ‘we.’ I don’t know what to do with a hurt dog. Your brother put him on my back seat and told me to come here so he and Conroy could take the man who owns the dog to the hospital. Then they have to search for the people the bear attacked.”
Jeff to the rescue.
“It’s good they’re doing that if people are hurt.”
His job was different than that of a cop and…whatever Jeff was. And that was the way he liked it. Brett wasn’t simply some muscled guy with a gun. He had a brain, too, and he intended to use it for more than just figuring out the “mission.” Whatever that even meant anyway. He was a small-town guy and always would be.
“I suppose that’s true.” She sighed. “I don’t know what it has to do with me. And don’t go thinking that because my family were all psychos that I’m some heartless person. If people are hurt, I would do something to help them.”
He set the dog down on the examination table that Pepper had cleaned off before she left. “I know you’re nothing like they were.” Although, he had personal experience with her being heartless. At least to him.
“Is he going to be okay?”
Brett looked down at the dog as he pulled on a pair of gloves. “I don’t know yet.”
“I have things to do here. I don’t like being dragged into stuff I didn’t plan on being part of.”
He figured that described almost her entire life. He didn’t know about the last ten years, though. Maybe she had a family now. A job she loved. Friends who adored her.
“Well?”
Before he could answer, her phone rang.
She said, “Sorry, sorry,” and pulled it out, swiped her thumb across the screen, and tapped another button. “You’re on speaker because I probably have to explain to the vet here what just happened, and I should just tell you at the same time.”
An older man’s voice came through the phone. “A vet? Like a veteran?”
Brett said, “Like an animal doctor.” He felt around the edges of a particularly nasty gash on the dog’s hip that was going to require stitches. So far, she didn’t seem to be squeamish, but he was about to test her ability to handle gruesome.
“Oh. Well then, tell me what happened,” the voice said.
Brett listened to the dog’s heart. When he was done, he realized Kam hadn’t said anything.
Before he could, the voice said, “Kamryn?”
Not, ‘Kam’ as she’d told him he could call her. And she didn’t have a ring on her left hand. Not that he had any business even asking about that.
“I’m here, Fitz.”
What kind of a name was that? Brett eyed her, then went back to the dog. Pain medicine. IV. Stitches. Antibiotics. He noted the procedure, in order, in his head. As though he was writing it on a chart, or even a napkin. If he pictured himself writing it, he always remembered everything perfectly. Not exactly a photographic memory, but it’d helped him get through school and college with good grades. Now he was Doctor Brett Filks. Though, the qualifications he had didn’t mean he could forego writing stuff down.
“I was at the airport.”
He glanced at her.
“The police chief met you there?”
“Yes.” She sighed. “They didn’t even recognize me.” Her gaze drifted to his and that connection they’d always shared flared to life. Then she blinked, and it was gone. “They told me not to go snooping around. Something about booby traps, as if I wouldn’t know exactly what Lenny probably did with all those buildings.”
Brett moved to the white board on the wall, got a marker, and started his chart with the dog’s vitals. He added a couple more things, then grabbed the suture kit.
There was an hour until the night nurse assistant came in. He should be done by then, and she could take over the dog’s care while he got some sleep. Or took Kamryn to dinner.
He liked the name. It suited her, and he could see how she wouldn’t want anything to do with her past. Her family. This town.
Him.
On second thoughts, dinner was probably a bad idea.
“So you agreed with them on it being dangerous,” Fitz said, “and you’re not going to look around.”
“You know why I have to do this.” She pressed her lips together, reacting to this Fitz guy whoever he was without him knowing. “Before I could get into that with them, this guy comes around a building covered in blood carrying this dog. He said there was a bear attack in a camp. They gave me the dog and took the man to the hospital.”
“‘Gave you the dog’?”
“I’m at the vet’s now.”
And Brett was watching her stress levels rise. “I need your help.”
She told Fitz, “I’ll call tomorrow, or something. Okay? I have to go.”
“For goodness sake, be careful. Please. We already know that place is a deathtrap.”
She hung up without a goodbye. “What do you need?”
It took him a second. “Hold this.”
Brett dragged over a light and flipped it on so he could see better. He used a magnifying glass to get the stitches right where they needed to be and did probably the best work he’d ever done. Because she was standing close, watching him do the thing he was most proud of in his life.
“You’re very good at that.”
“Thank you.”
His phone rang on the counter across the room.
“Do you need me to get that?”
“Thanks.” He put in a couple more stitches, almost to the end.
“It’s Conroy.” She held it out, and the call connected.
“Filks.”
“Are you coming? We’re almost to you. We’ll pick you up.”
“I’ll be done in a minute.” Still, exhaustion rolled over him. “Did the guy say anything?”
They needed a location. Otherwise, they’d be searching blind through all the campsites people used in the hills around town.
“Jeff got him to describe the location.”
Brett pressed his lips together. Kamryn’s eyes crinkled, a question in her gaze. He shook his head. “Great.”
“Look, there are seven people up there. This guy has been gone from camp for we don’t know how long. They might not have the luxury of us dealing with family stuff. They could be bleeding and who knows what.”
“My job is the bear, not people. If it killed, it needs to be put down before it hurts anyone else.”
“So you are coming?”
“Of course, I’m coming.” He just didn’t want to talk to his brother.
“It’s far. We’ll need ATVs because none of the pilots are available, so the helicopter is out.”
“I can fly it.”
Brett lifted his attention from the dog and looked at Kamryn.
“I can fly anything.”
He mouthed, Do you really want to do this?
She mouthed back, No.
“Is that Ms. Marshall?”
She said, “Yes, Chief. I’m right here, and if you have a chopper, I can get you in the air.”
“Really?”
“I wouldn’t lie about that. My license is in my wallet. I’ll bring it with me if you’re sure whoever’s chopper it is doesn’t mind me borrowing it.”
“Belongs to the county. You’ve just been hired.” Conroy paused. “I’m getting another call. Gotta go.” The phone call ended.
“Give me a minute, I’m almost done.”
She nodded.
“Having second thoughts?”
“People are hurt.” She took a breath, as though psyching herself up for it. “They could be in serious trouble.”
“It’s the right thing to do.”
She nodded. “What was that about, with your brother?”
“Stick around. I’ll tell you.”
She bit her lip. “They’ll realize who I am. Someone will recognize me, and it’ll all come out before I can figure out…”
“Maybe so,” he said, “but it’s still the right thing to do…together.” If he had to face Jeff, she could face the risk of being outed for who she was.
She nodded, a small smile pulling on her lips. “Okay. Together.”
The door flew open and Conroy rushed in. “Let’s go. Mia said her dad was on that trip with a buddy of his.”
Kamryn frowned. “Mia Tathers?”
“She’s my wife,” Conroy said. “And her father is missing.”
Brett noted the confusion on her face. “It’s a long story.” Mia had been her friend in high school. He didn’t know if they’d stayed in town after Katherine—Kamryn—left town.
Her eyebrow rose. “Stick around, and you’ll tell me?”
Conroy said, “Am I missing something?”
Brett pulled off his gloves. “Give me a minute to get my stuff, and I’ll be ready.” Then he realized who stood behind Conroy. “Jeff.” He barely managed a nod.
His brother motioned to Kamryn. “Who is she really?”
“None of your business.” He tossed the gloves in the trash. “Let’s go.”
* * *
Continue reading Expired End now - find out where at lastchancecounty.com or HERE