Chapter 7

She was still shaking.

Amy sat in an overstuffed chair in the small living room of her cabin and hugged herself. The morning had started so well, and here she was, shaken. Utterly shaken.

She couldn’t stop going over the scenario. Finding the neglected puppy. Okay, there was a chance it had just been out of food and water temporarily, but still. Any type of neglect was unbearable to her.

She looked out onto the pale turquoise wooden porch in the front, saw the birds flitting around the carved bird feeder she’d put up. There were nuts out there, too, for the squirrels on other feeders. And there was the big ball of suet that fed the woodpeckers and other birds year-round, but especially in winter.

All her menagerie. Well taken care of.

Well, if that man thought there weren’t eyes on him, he was wrong. Being deep in the woods around Jack’s Bay wouldn’t protect him. She’d be the one making sure today’s horror show was a one-off. She had a jam-packed day tomorrow and wouldn’t be able to get by until late in the evening, but she’d be by. She’d make damn sure that puppy had food and water and wasn’t being mistreated. Or she’d take matters into her own hands.

That would have been her first action, in the past. She wouldn’t have thought of the human at all, just called Parker Bowles from Animal Control or his supervisor. Got them out here, let them deal with it. As a solid member of the army reserve, there wasn’t much Parker couldn’t deal with.

Yeah. There was only one thing saving the dude, no matter who he was, from a call to the authorities, right here, right now. Something she still couldn’t wipe from her brain, no matter how hard she tried.

The utterly bereft look of grief on that man’s face.