longer gave the effort much thought at all. Besides, he had other things to think about this afternoon. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what Lawrence wanted, and why. People would be hurt. The men he had just left wouldn’t mind that at all. They might even enjoy it.
He needed to take this information to . . . someone. Mike Kilgore, maybe, even though they hadn’t gotten off to the best start. It would be a little humiliating, but Mike would know what to do. But not now, not today. He suspected Lawrence or one of his cronies was watching right now, waiting to see how he would respond to their request. The best thing he could do was go home and not do anything unusual.
They didn’t want a leader, they wanted a patsy. They wanted a traitor. If he turned back now, if he showed any indication that he intended to share what he knew of their plans, he’d be in serious and immediate danger.
He hated Sela Gordon—truly hated her, especially now. But he didn’t want her dead, he wouldn’t have been a party to robbing and shooting at her, and if Lawrence had his way there would be more of the same coming.
Ben let the dog out of the truck at the Livingstons’ house, and the animal began running around sniffing at everything as he reacquainted himself with the area. Jim and Mary Alice came out of the house next door. They both looked more worn and defeated than he’d expected. The dog dashed over to Mary Alice and she crouched down to give it some loving and croon to it in the way women naturally did with babies and animals.
“Came by to see how you’re doing,” Ben said unnecessarily, because obviously he was here, but it was an opening for them to talk about what was bothering them.
“Can’t complain,” Jim said, though his gaze slid to his own house, a sorrowful expression crossing his face. Behind them, the neighbors came out of the house, too; the woman coming to stand beside Mary Alice and lightly rub her shoulder. “We’re alive.”
“I can’t bring myself to go back in there.” Mary Alice kept her head down, looking at the dog as she continued to stroke him. “I keep seeing . . .”
“Honey, it’s cleaned up,” the neighbor woman said. “If you’d just take a look—”
“No, I can’t. I’m sorry. Not yet. I don’t want to impose on you, we’ll go somewhere else—”
“Mary Alice Livingston, you know that isn’t it at all! I just want you to feel okay.”
Ben decided to head that off, because he didn’t want to get embroiled in conversations about feelings. “How about I take the dog in, look around? You know about Sela Gordon distributing her stores of gas from the underground tanks, right? I brought extra storage cans full, and a portable generator. If you two men will help me get the generator hooked up and fueled, we’ll turn on the heat and get your house warm.”
Immediately they both looked distracted by the different subjects he’d thrown at them. He knew from his own experiences that having something else to think about was a relief. Logically taking the dog in to look around wouldn’t change a damn thing, but the Livingstons were too emotional right now to think logically.
Mary Alice brightened. “Yes, let the dog look around. What’s his name?”
“I haven’t named him. I thought I’d let you do it.” That was a giant distraction.
Her eyes widened and she looked at the dog with something approaching joy. “I get to name him? Oh my! That’s a big responsibility, isn’t it, boy? That’s a good boy, yes you are.” She punctuated her words with scratches behind the dog’s ears, who was properly ecstatic.
Ben whistled the dog over. “Is the house unlocked?” he asked.
Both of the Livingstons looked taken aback, because obviously that hadn’t occurred to them. “It is,” their neighbor affirmed, and went inside with Ben and the dog.
Ben didn’t do anything specific, just let the dog run around inside and sniff at everything, let it get accustomed, and also to get his own scent in the house so the dog wouldn’t feel abandoned. He looked in the kitchen where the shooting had happened, and while they were waiting for the dog to explore, he and the neighbor talked about what had happened at Sela’s store, about the gas—the neighbor had filled his car and also a couple of storage cans—about how