Mara drove back toward the shelter with the photograph lying on the passenger seat, its corners lifting whenever the air from the dashboard vent caught them.
She had read Daniel's warning so many times that the words no longer looked like handwriting. They had become a command. If anyone finds them, don't let Rebecca take Samson alone.
The sentence frightened her because Daniel had written it before anyone knew where the dogs would end up. He had anticipated a separation. He had anticipated Rebecca. Most troubling of all, he had anticipated that someone might eventually arrive looking for only one of them.
Mara called Luis again.
“Are the dogs still in their kennels?”
“Yes.”
“Is Rebecca inside?”
“She says she's here to collect Samson.”
“And the man?”
“I don't know who he is.”
“Keep everyone away from the kennels until I arrive.”
There was a pause.
“Mara, Sunny is trying to get through the gate.”
“Don't open it.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
“Good. Stay with them.”
She ended the call and drove faster.
At the shelter, Rebecca stood near the reception desk with a tall man wearing a dark jacket. He looked to be in his fifties, with thinning gray hair and a narrow face. He held a folder beneath one arm.
He glanced at Mara as she entered.
Rebecca did not.
Her eyes were fixed on the kennel corridor.
“Where is Samson?” she asked.
Mara locked the office door behind her.
“You'll need to wait.”
Rebecca's voice sharpened. “I've already waited long enough.”
“You've waited several years, according to what you told me.”
The man beside her shifted.
Rebecca finally looked at Mara.
“What did you find?”
Mara held up the photograph.
Rebecca's face drained of color.
The man's expression changed too.
That was enough.
Mara saw it.
They both recognized the photograph.
“You know this picture,” she said.
Rebecca looked away.
The man stepped forward.
“Where did you get that?”
Mara did not answer.
“That's private property,” he said.
“It was found in a county-owned building on an abandoned property.”
His jaw tightened.
Rebecca touched his arm.
“Don't.”
He looked at her.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Mara understood something then.
Whatever connected these people was older than the dogs' arrival at the shelter.
“Who are you?” she asked the man.
He gave her a name.
“Thomas Reed.”
Mara waited.
“Your relationship to Daniel Mercer?”
Thomas's eyes hardened.
“I knew him.”
“Professionally?”
“Personally.”
Rebecca interrupted.
“We're here for the dog.”
Mara looked directly at her.
“No. You're here for Sunny.”
“Samson.”
“You haven't called him that once since you arrived.”
Rebecca's lips pressed together.
Mara continued.
“And you haven't asked about Walter.”
Rebecca glanced toward the kennel.
Walter was sitting in the back.
Sunny stood directly in front of him.
Neither dog made a sound.
Thomas looked toward the corridor.
“What happened to the basset?”
“He's being evaluated.”
“He belongs with Samson.”
Mara caught the contradiction.
“You just said you were here for one dog.”
Thomas said nothing.
Rebecca turned toward him.
“You shouldn't have said that.”
Mara felt the tension between them.
“Why don't we stop pretending?” she said. “I found the letter.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
Thomas looked at her.
“The one Daniel wrote,” Mara continued. “The one hidden in the box behind the shed.”
Rebecca's shoulders lowered.
“You went there.”
“Yes.”
“You shouldn't have.”
“Neither should whoever left those dogs locked inside.”
Rebecca's face tightened.
“I didn't lock them there.”
“Then who did?”
“I don't know.”
Mara held up the second photograph.
“Your handwriting is on this.”
Rebecca stared at it.
“I tried to help them.”
“By taking Walter to a veterinarian under a different name?”
“I was trying to protect him.”
“From whom?”
Rebecca said nothing.
Mara turned to Thomas.
“And you?”
He looked at the floor.
“I wasn't involved.”
Rebecca gave him a look.
Thomas immediately stopped talking.
Mara noticed.
The shelter's front doors opened behind them.
A woman from the veterinary team entered.
“Mara, the county officer is on his way.”
Rebecca stepped back.
“There's no reason for this to become a police matter.”
“There is now.”
Thomas looked toward the exit.
Mara moved slightly to block his path.
“Please stay.”
His eyes met hers.
“I don't have anything to do with this.”
“Then staying shouldn't be a problem.”
From the kennel corridor came a sharp bark.
Sunny.
Everyone turned.
He had his paws against the gate.
Walter was behind him.
Rebecca whispered, “Samson.”
Sunny barked again.
Mara had heard frightened dogs bark before.
This was different.
He was not asking to be released.
He was warning them.
Walter had pressed himself into the corner.
His ears were flat.
Mara walked toward the kennels.
“I'm going to bring Walter into the examination room.”
Rebecca immediately said, “No.”
Mara stopped.
“Why?”
“He doesn't like unfamiliar places.”
Mara looked at her.
“You knew that.”
Rebecca said nothing.
“You knew exactly how he behaves.”
Rebecca's eyes filled with something Mara could not quite name.
Regret, perhaps.
Or fear.
“Please,” Rebecca whispered. “Don't separate them.”
Mara almost laughed at the absurdity of it.
“You came here to separate them.”
“No.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
Rebecca stared at the dogs.
“Daniel wasn't hiding them from the police.”
Mara waited.
“He was hiding them from Thomas.”
The room went silent.
Thomas's face changed.
“Rebecca.”
“You wanted to leave,” she said.
Thomas stepped toward her.
Mara moved between them.
“What does that mean?”
Rebecca swallowed.
“Daniel discovered that Thomas had been taking money from him.”
Thomas shook his head.
“That isn't what happened.”
“Then tell her.”
He remained silent.
Rebecca continued.
“Daniel threatened to expose him.”
Mara looked at Thomas.
“And the dogs?”
Rebecca's voice dropped.
“Walter saw Thomas attack Daniel.”
Thomas suddenly moved.
The dogs exploded into barking.
Sunny slammed against the gate.
Walter cried out.
Mara turned.
“Back away!”
Thomas froze.
Walter was shaking violently.
Mara looked at Rebecca.
“Did Daniel die?”
Rebecca's face crumpled.
“No.”
The answer came so softly that Mara almost missed it.
“He survived.”
Mara stared.
“Then where is he?”
Rebecca looked at Thomas.
Thomas looked toward the floor.
Mara understood that the missing years had just opened into something far larger than abandoned dogs.
Before anyone could speak again, the county officer entered.
Mara handed him the photograph.
“There's a missing-person connection.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
Thomas stepped backward.
The officer immediately noticed.
“Sir, stay where you are.”
Thomas stopped.
Sunny continued barking.
Walter had lowered himself to the floor.
Mara knelt beside him.
“It's all right.”
Walter's eyes lifted toward her.
Then toward Thomas.
And Mara realized the old basset was not merely afraid.
He remembered him.
The officer looked at Thomas.
“Have you been in contact with Daniel Mercer?”
Thomas did not answer.
Rebecca did.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
She looked at Mara.
“At a rehabilitation center.”
Mara's breath caught.
“Daniel is alive?”
Rebecca nodded.
“Then why didn't you say that?”
“Because he doesn't remember everything.”
Thomas whispered, “Rebecca.”
She turned.
“I can't keep doing this.”
Mara looked at the dogs.
The entire story had shifted.
Daniel had not disappeared.
The dogs had not simply been abandoned.
And Rebecca had not come to the shelter because she wanted to reclaim an old pet.
She had come because someone was afraid of what Walter might remember.
Mara stood.
“Where is Daniel?”
Rebecca gave the officer an address.
Then she added something that made Mara's blood run cold.
“He's been asking about the dogs.”
Mara looked at Walter.
“And he knows they're alive?”
Rebecca nodded.
“He thinks they were taken from him.”
“Who told him that?”
Rebecca looked at Thomas.
“He did.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART6: Daniel Was Alive After All, but the Years Had Changed Him, and Walter Carried a Memory Nobody Knew How to Reach
He Had Spent Three Days Facing the Wall, Until the Dog Next Door Did Something No One at the Shelter Expected
Part 5 of 16
