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He had it on good sources that some of the women that had been killed were also pregnant with Valdez’s offspring. All they had to do was look at the bloodwork, and it would lead back to Valdez.
Thanks to Lucia’s information and knowing everything he did about Valdez, finding his dumping ground wasn’t hard. He was surprised that in less than twenty-four hours, they had uncovered four women, two of which were pregnant. Only Valdez would know why he had killed them.
From the grocery store, to the vet’s, Betty was in perfect shape. She was pregnant, and from the scans, it looked like she was going to have a litter of five pups. All looked good, but if any showed signs of weakness when Betty gave birth, the vet gave him his card, and that was the end of it. He carried Betty back to the car, and Lucia looked pale.
“What’s up?” Boone asked.
“He just told us to call him if anything is wrong with the pups,” Lucia said.
“Yeah, she could give birth any day now.”
“Exactly, when a woman is pregnant, she goes to the hospital. They give her drugs and help bring the baby out, and if there is a complication, they operate.”
“And?”
“They have just sent us away with Betty. What are we supposed to do?”
Boone laughed. “We do what they did in the olden days for women—we nurse Betty through, and keep an eye on the pups. That is all we have to do. Betty will do the rest, and nature finds a way.”
“But what if Betty rejects her pups? What if there is something bad? What if something bad happens to Betty?”
“Okay, I think first you need to calm down, as you’re panicking and you’re going to scare Betty. Secondly, everything is going to be okay. Trust me, Betty will let us know if she needs anything. We’ll have five little pups running around, getting under our feet in no time.”
“I don’t know how you can be so calm,” Lucia said. “I’ve never taken care of a dog before in my life, and I’ve never even considered pups.”
“And you’re doing a great job of it now.”
She still looked panicked and they climbed into the car, and Boone looked out the window, toward the vehicle he had seen at the supermarket. There was a man inside, he wore glasses, along with a suit, but something wasn’t sitting right with Boone.
He was now near the vet’s as well.
Lucia reached into the back and stroked Betty’s head. “You’re a good girl.”
Boone didn’t want to scare or alarm Lucia to his suspicions. He pulled the car out of the parking lot and headed in the opposite direction of his home. The car that had joined them at the supermarket and the vet’s was now taking a nice little stroll along with them.
He had been driving a good twenty minutes, before Lucia glanced around.
“Boone, where are we going?” Lucia asked.
He slowed the car, and that was when he saw the glint of the gun.
“Get down!” he yelled and reacted, pushing Lucia’s head down. She let out a scream as the gun went off, shattering the back window.
Betty was on the back seat and Lucia cried out. Boone knew this was a danger, but the car wasn’t going fast enough. One glance in the mirror, the man was distracted, and Boone hit the brakes.
“Hold it,” Boone said.
The car crashed into the back of his, but it wasn’t going too fast to make much of an impact. The airbags went off for his car, as it did for the man behind him.
“Boone?”
“Stay here,” Boone said. He climbed out of the car and got to the driver’s side, opening the door. He stepped out of the way as a shot was fired. Taking the arm, he slammed his elbow down, and the man released the gun.
Within seconds, he was out of the car, and Boone had his arm around the man’s neck, cutting off his air as he struggled to breathe. He saw the mark on the man’s neck—this was Valdez’s man.
“How did you find me?” Boone asked.
The man choked a little more. He relented and allowed him to breathe.