When Beth entered the kitchen, bright sunshine flooded the room. It lifted her up. The scent of bread baking and bacon frying saturated the air. She heard footsteps behind her and swung around. The sight of Colby made her spirits soar. She smiled. Today, she wanted to put the horrific week she and the people of Cimarron City had gone through behind her, and she would try her best to focus on getting a guard dog and enjoying time with Colby.
“Are we still on to go look at your friend’s dog?”
“Yes. But I’m on call.”
“I understand.”
“You two need to eat breakfast and go look at the dog.” Ann took the biscuits out of the oven, placed them on the top of the stove, then gestured toward the food. “It’s ready.”
Colby came to Beth’s side. “This smell is what drew me.”
She laughed. “Ann, this is my favorite meal of the day, especially when you cook it.”
Ann beamed. “I love doing it. Having you both here has been great.”
Colby swept his arm toward the oven. “Ladies first.”
As they settled at the table with their plates full of food, Ann bowed her head. “Lord, bring the bomber to justice. Please protect the people of Cimarron City. Bless this food. Amen.”
As Beth sipped her tea, she looked out the nook’s bay window. “How far away is your friend’s ranch?”
“Joe lives ten miles out of town.” Colby slathered butter all over his warm biscuit then took a bite.
“Good. It won’t take us long. Are you coming with us, Ann?”
She shook her head. “I have pies to make for the luncheon after the church service tomorrow.”
“Do you need help?” Beth took a bite of her scrambled eggs.
“No, I want you to bring your dog home today.”
“That will be up to Joe.” Colby finished his last piece of bacon.
For the next few minutes, Beth ate her breakfast, eager to leave for the ranch. When she finished, she took her dishes to the sink and rinsed them off before putting them into the dishwasher.
Ann approached her with the rest of the plates and utensils. “Go. I hope this dog works out for you.”
Beth chuckled. “I like helping you.”
“I know. And I like helping you. Let me right now. You two don’t need to rush back here. I’m going to be busy with baking the pies. And you know how I feel about cooking.”
Beth hugged Ann. “You’re such a special friend. Thank you for taking me in.” As she left the kitchen, her emotions clogged her throat. Being around Ann made her want to have her parents nearby. She needed to talk to her mother. She didn’t want her parents, who worried all the time, to know what was happening, but she needed to hear from them. They usually moved every couple of years. Maybe she could talk to them about living in Cimarron City.
Deep in thought, she nearly ran into Colby coming around the corner. His hand shot out and steadied her. “Is everything all right, Beth?”
She grinned. “I was just thinking about my parents. I want to talk to them, but they would know something’s wrong with me. I can never fool my mother if I’m upset.”
“Once we find Carson, I think the city and you will be much better off and a lot calmer. Are you ready to see the dog?”
“Yeah. I need to get my purse and cell phone.” She headed to the bedroom she was using, grabbed her handbag, then hurried out to Colby’s truck.
“I had a Bichon Frise when I was a child. I loved her. It was so hard on me when she died that I decided not to have another pet because I didn’t want to go through that again.” Beth settled inside and strapped her seatbelt across her.
Colby started the engine and backed out of the driveway. “I had several pets while growing up. A couple at the same time. When I lost one, I had another to fill that void. It helped me get over the death of a pet faster.”
“I moved around a lot as a child and learned not to get too settled in. It was hard saying good-bye to friends. Looking back, I think that was probably part of the reason I didn’t get another dog. When I moved here, I intended to stay for a long time. Cimarron City has a small-town feel to it with some of the benefits of a city too.”
“I like that about Cimarron City too.” Colby turned down a gravel road to a one-story, red brick house and stopped in front of it. “Nick called me early this morning. He discovered that Carson’s real identity is Liam Quinn from Dallas. He’s delving into Quinn’s life.”
She’d known Thomas Carson wasn’t his real name but upon hearing what his real one was left her pulse rate accelerating. Had she dated a guy who might have killed people? The question chilled her. “Why would he change his name? What’s he hiding? Setting off bombs before he came here?”
“All good questions I hope we can get answers to.” Colby glanced toward the ranch house. “Focus on getting acquainted with your dog.”
She drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. “Good advice.”
When a huge man, probably ten or fifteen years older than Colby, came outside with a mostly brown, large German shepherd, Beth thought of her petite size of five feet two inches. “My Bichon was so much smaller than that one. Can I handle a dog that big?”
“Yes. He’s been well trained by Joe. You’ll be fine. I’ll help you.”
“When I was child, a neighbor had a big dog that used to always bark and snarl when I went past his fence. He was a mixed breed and in my six-year-old mind, enormous in size. Part of him was German shepherd. I didn’t think about that incident until I saw Joe’s dog.”
“You’re used to Duke.”
“Yes, because you’ve trained him well.”
“Then you’ll be fine. As a teenager, Joe was a role model. He taught me a lot about dogs and working with them. He’s part of the reason I wanted to be a canine police officer.”
She opened her door. “When you said he was a friend when you lived here before, I thought you all were the same age.”
“He was one of my coaches. He showed me how to train dogs. He was first a mentor then a friend.” Colby climbed from his car at the same time as Beth.
Joe stepped off the porch, leaving the German shepherd behind, and greeted Beth first.
“I appreciate you seeing me today.” She shook Joe’s hand while Colby rounded the car and joined them. “Is this the guard dog?”
“Yes. His name’s Gabe.” Joe clapped Colby on his back. “Good to see you’re back in Cimarron City. It’s about time you came home.”
Colby laughed. “I didn’t have a reason until now.”
“Are you ready to move on?”
“I wish I had time to talk, but I’m on call. I’ll make sure you and I spend time together when this bomber is stopped.”
“If anyone can find the bomber, it’s you.” Joe turned toward Beth and waved his hand toward the dog. “This is Gabe. He’ll be one year old at the end of the month.”
The German shepherd sat in front of Beth.
“Can I pet him?”
Joe grinned. “Of course.”
Beth bent over and ran her hand from the top of Gabe’s head to partway down his back. “He’s beautiful. Where does he like to be rubbed the most?”
“Behind his ears.”
Beth’s earlier tension siphoned from her body. “I know with training you give out rewards when a dog does what you’re teaching him. What kind of reward does he like?”
“Two things. A doggie treat called Yummy and a squeaky rubber duck toy. I’ll give you a bag of Yummy treats and the toy.” Joe pointed to the side of the house. “Let’s go out back and I’ll show you what Gabe can do. I’d like you to work with him today and several times next week. The more you bond with Gabe the better it will be.”
“Like Duke and Colby? They work as a team.”
“Not quite the same. They’re a team searching for something. In Duke’s case, bomb ingredients. But the team bonding with Gabe is the same. When you’re a team, he’ll sense when you’re stressed or in trouble. He’s there to assure you that you’re safe.”
As they walked around to the back, Colby sat in a lounge chair on the patio, watching her.
She glanced back at him and smiled. The minute she began petting Gabe she realized she should have gotten a dog a long time ago.
Joe stood yards away with Gabe next to him. “Call him to come to you.”
“What do I say?”
“Come, Gabe. You can signal him by doing this.” Palm upward, Joe curled his fingers into a loose fist.
Beth spent the next half hour getting to know Gabe and practicing the voice and hand signals the German shepherd responded to. By the time she left with Colby, she felt optimistic. A dog like Gabe would be a deterrent to Thomas, who hated dogs. The more she worked with Gabe, the more comfortable she was, pushing away her reservation about how large Gabe was.
“You two fit together,” Colby said as he started his truck. “After my shift on Tuesday, I’ll bring you back here to work with Gabe and Joe again before you take him home that day. If you want to stay at Nana’s house longer, that’s fine. She told me to tell you that. Duke and Gabe would get along.”
Tuesday evening would be the first night she’d be back in her home after the break-in. The security system would be in, and she would have Gabe. She’d be able to do it. She couldn’t keep staying with Ann. “I appreciate everything you and Ann have done for me. But I have to go back, and I might as well on Tuesday. In fact, on Wednesday night, I’d like to invite you and Ann to come to dinner at my house. It’s my turn to pay you two back for your help.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know, but I want to. When I came here, this town was to be my home for years. I don’t want Thomas to change that. When he harassed me, I thought about finding another job and leaving Cimarron City, but I didn’t want to leave if possible. So, I moved to my house. It was across town. I’d hoped Thomas would stop when he didn’t see me at the apartment complex. I thought he had when nothing happened to me for six months.”
Colby pulled into his grandmother’s driveway and turned off the engine. He twisted toward her. “When he’s found, he’ll be arrested. We have enough evidence to bring him in for at least breaking into your home and installing cameras. And that doesn’t even address his possible link to the bombings.”
“I’ve been saving up for a vacation. Instead, I’m using that money to get a security system and a guard dog, but strangely, after today, it doesn’t bother me. When I petted Gabe, I realized how much I missed having a dog.”
“I can’t imagine being without one.” Colby exited his vehicle at the same time as Beth and waited while she rounded the hood.
She stopped inches away. Her gaze connected with his. Although meeting him only five days ago, she felt as if she knew him better than she’d known Thomas, and she’d spent months with him. At night when she tried to fall asleep, she would think about Colby. He made her smile even when she didn’t feel like doing it. She trusted him.
“This will be over soon. With all the law enforcement officers in the state looking for Carson, we’ll find him.” Closing the space between them, he cupped her face and leaned forward, his mouth a whisper away from hers. “I’m not going to let him hurt you.” His lips brushed over hers.
The ring of Colby’s phone disrupted the moment. He pulled back and dug into his pant pocket to retrieve his cell. “Parker here.” The relaxed expression on his face instantly vanished as frown lines appeared. “I’ll be right there.”
When he disconnected his phone, Beth asked, “What happened?”
“There’s been another bombing.”