my horse, Quantum Leap.”
“Chief Wolfe,” MacBain said, extending his hand.
“Oh, no, Robbie,” Katy drawled while looking directly at Gunnar. “We don’t use titles at SFF&R, because we want to be a relaxed and cohesive team.”
“My predecessor’s idea,” Gunnar said as he broke the handshake and looked at Katy again. “May I ask where you intend to keep your horse?”
“At the Inglenook resort. Olivia Oceanus was kind enough to—”
“P-papa? Papa, I need help.”
“Angus?” MacBain growled over Katy’s gasp. They rushed to the high open window on the trailer. “What are ye doing in there, son?”
“I-I was bringing a surprise for Aunt Katy,” the young voice said on a sob. “But I . . . he’s dead, Papa. We need to hurry and go back to Gram’s so she can heal him.”
“Who’s dead, Angus?” Gunnar heard Katy ask as he chased MacBain down the length of the trailer and around the back.
“I swear that boy’s going to be the death of me,” the man muttered as he stopped at a door halfway up the other side. “Christ, he rode in there all the way from Pine Creek.”
Gunnar undid one of the latches as MacBain undid the other.
“He must have snuck in during one of my trips to the barn to get another horse,” MacBain continued as he lowered the ramp and vaulted up it before it even touched the ground.
Gunnar followed, only to have to duck a large equine nose reaching for him and then bump into a second nose when he straightened, making him step back in surprise. Good God, they were drafts. Percheron, possibly mixed with Clydesdale or . . . hell, he wasn’t sure what they were other than huge.
He knew Robert MacBain was a logger by trade, but he couldn’t imagine harvesting timber with horses would be lucrative enough to support the man’s household along with his horse-breeding hobby. And he’d swear he’d seen skidders and tree harvesters on the MacBain Logging website he’d found while researching Katy’s family. But then Gunnar remembered clicking a link that had taken him to MacBain Mounts, even as he also remembered wondering at the time if there was much call for draft horses bred exclusively for riding.
The beasts were definitely drinking the same water as the humans.
“It’s m-my fault, Papa,” a quivering voice said as MacBain dropped to one knee in the narrow aisle between the two front horses, letting Gunnar see a young boy clutching a black and white—and definitely dead—cat to his chest. “I . . . I killed Timmy.”
“Angus,” Katy called out as she ran up the ramp and bolted past Gunnar, then slid to a halt behind her brother. “Oh, honey, what happened?”
Deep gray, tear-soaked eyes lifted to hers. “W-we need to take him to Gram. She can make Timmy all better. But we gotta go now.”
“Son,” Robert said gently, reaching out and palming the boy’s head. “Ye know Gram can only help people and animals that are alive. Here, let me take him.”
“No!” Angus cried, stepping back. “That’s not true! She can help Timmy. I don’t want . . . I didn’t mean to kill him,” he ended on a whisper.
“Angus, you know I’m a paramedic,” Katy said, softly. “Not a doctor like Gram, but I can help people and animals, too. It’s a good three-hour drive back to Pine Creek, and I’m right here. Why don’t you let me see if Timmy has a heartbeat? There’s an ambulance right up the driveway, and I have a stethoscope in it that’ll let me hear if he’s breathing.”
“You . . . you can heal him?”
“I can try,” Katy said gently, holding out her hands. “Let me have him, honey. I promise to do everything I can to help Timmy.”
Angus looked down, causing several huge tears to fall on the motionless cat—its wet fur implying the boy had been clutching it for some time—and sucked in a shuddering breath. “He . . . he’s gonna be a year old next month,” Angus said as he looked up, his uncertain eyes stopping on his father before lifting to Katy. “I told him that Papa was taking Quantum to you, and Timmy said . . . he told me he wanted to go, too.” Another shudder wracked the boy’s body, and he finally passed the cat to Katy. “The tack box fell over on him when I climbed on it to look out the window. I smelled salt air, and I wanted to see Bottomless. Ye gotta heal him, Aunt