to ask about him. Like I said, I didn’t know her that well.”
The detective said, “Thank you for your help, Ms. Stockton.” He handed me a business card. “We’ll be in touch if we need anything more.”
I said, “If I were you, I’d check the emergency rooms for dog bite cases.”
He looked puzzled and I explained, “If she was walking her dog when she was abducted, the man probably had to fight off Flame. Her dog. Border collies can be nervous. They have a reputation for biting first and apologizing later when they’re threatened.” I shrugged. “Just an idea.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “Not a bad one. I’ll put someone on it.”
He moved away and Cisco stood and stretched, ready now to get on with his day. Miles kept his hand on my back as we left the cordoned-off area, lifting the tape for Cisco and me to duck under. “Why don’t you give Cisco some breakfast and get your things packed?” he said. “I’ll settle the bill.”
It’s funny how the mind works. I wasn’t really planning to go to the fairgrounds and run jumpers-with-weaves today as though finding a fellow competitor murdered in the woods was just a minor interruption to my schedule, but for some reason I hadn’t considered not going, either. I certainly hadn’t planned to just pack up and go home.
“Do you mean—check out?”
“You certainly don’t intend to stay here.” It wasn’t a question. “In fact, I’d be very surprised if any of the guests do once they know what happened.” He slipped his arm around my waist in a brief hug. “Tell you what. We’ll drive down to the beach, get an ocean-front suite, take Cisco for a run—they allow dogs on the beach until May—and I know this great place for dinner right on the waterfront. Mel’s flight doesn’t get in until eight tomorrow night, so we still have most of the weekend.”
I said, “I don’t want to go to the beach.”
His hand slid away from my waist. “Well, you’re not staying here.”
It didn’t matter how right he was; there’s something about being told what I will and will not do that has always set my teeth on edge. “I’m a grown woman. I can stay wherever I want to.”
Those gorgeous gray eyes of his can be as hard as flint when the circumstances dictate. I felt chilled just looking at them. “Do you remember when you were talking earlier about having important things to fight about? This is one of them.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Miles.” I turned on my heel, and he grabbed my arm. Cisco barked once, sharply. Had Flame barked like that last night when a stranger grabbed Marcie in the dark?
I pulled my arm away from Miles and dropped my hand quickly to Cisco’s head. My sweet dog looked embarrassed to have let his nerves, which had to be as edgy as mine, get away with him. “It’s okay, boy.”
Cisco shook himself, grinned, and by way of apology, raised himself on his back paws and placed his front paws on Miles’s torso. Miles obligingly rubbed his shoulders, but his eyes were unsmiling on mine. “Talk some sense into her, will you, fellow?”
Cisco bounced all four paws on the ground and looked up at me with anxious eyes, possibly hoping I would remember his breakfast, possibly sensing, in the way dogs have, the discord between the two humans who were responsible for his care and hoping for nothing more than peace. I could have used a little peace myself at that moment.
Miles said, making an obvious effort to moderate his tone, “Okay, how about this? Let’s get Cisco situated and then talk about it over breakfast.”
“I can’t eat anything. I’m going to throw up.”
A faint smile traced the corners of his lips. “You’re not going to throw up. You’re my hero.”
I tried to smile back and couldn’t manage it.
Miles said, very quietly, “She was wearing your sweatshirt, Raine. When I looked at her… it could have been you. If you had listened to that jerk on the phone last night, if you had left your room…”
I felt my throat clutch. “I would never leave my room in the middle of the night.”
“Are you kidding me?” The anger was back. “You do it all the time. You’ve done it twice since I’ve been here!”
“But I always have Cisco—”
I broke off at the flare of infuriated exasperation in his eyes, because I knew what he was thinking: Marcie had Flame, too. Just like the rest