Page 43 of The Lovely and the Lost

A theory?I was about as much use at putting together theories as Saskia was at putting people at ease.

“I believe in you,” Jude told me. “I really do.”

“And I believe you’re keeping something from us,” Free added. “I really do.”

One for all, and all for trouble.

“I don’t think Gabriel believes his brother just walked away from their family.” I should have told them more than that. I should have told them exactly what I’d seen at Gabriel’s place—and exactly what the sheriff had told me. But Gabriel had helped me find Saskia the day before.

Gabriel and I were both the kind of people who slept on the floor.

“Do you think good old Gabe believes that his brother’s case might be connected to Bella’s?” Jude asked.

Yes.The force of my instinctual response was savage in my mind, but I was saved from responding by the sound of the world’s most mournful baying. NATO had found us, Duchess on his heels. As Free tore a stick off the tree and tossed it for Her Ladyship, NATO hunkered down between Jude and me and continued the hound dog version of a tragic ballad.

Jude tousled his K9’s head back and forth, scratching at just the right spot behind his ears. “The world isn’t as bad as all that, old man.”

I felt, rather than saw, Saskia edging toward us. She’d spent the past twenty-four hours giving everyone—myself included—a wide berth. Meeting her liquid gaze, I had the oddest sense that she was on the verge of adding her howls to NATO’s.

I didn’tknowthe reason for their canine melancholy, but I had my suspicions. “We train them to find what they’re looking for.” I turned from Saskia to study NATO’s deep brown eyes. “And in training, that’s something they can do.”

But out in the real world, that wasn’t how search and rescue worked.

“First the river,” I said, reaching up to stroke a hand along NATO’s velvety-soft ears. “Then the mountain…”

In both cases, the hounds had caught Bella’s trail. And both times, that trail had gone cold. Whoever had taken Bella knew how to cover their own tracks—and hers.A local. Someone who knows that mountain.

Duchess dumped the stick she’d fetched for Free ceremoniously at my feet. I picked it up and threw it again for her. This time, Her Ladyship did not deign to fetch. She sat down next to NATO and bit his tail—gently enough to tell me that she wasn’t really looking for a fight. In response, NATO licked her face and cuddled up. Saskia took up position three or four feet from the pair of them.

“It can’t be easy,” Free said overhead. “Looking and looking for something you know you’ll never find.”

Something about her tone made me wonder if there was more to that statement than I could hear. I glanced toward Jude and he elaborated.

“Things you know you’ll never find,” he translated, “like the identity of one’s father, a way to be normal, or a family who cares when you hang-glide off the neighbor’s roof.”

Free held a hand to her heart. “Ouch. In case you didn’t pick up on it, K, the bit about being normal was for you.”

Jude was right. We were all looking for something. I’d been too focused on myself—and on the files and on Gabriel—to have thought about sharing what I’d learned about Ash. Now that Iwasthinking about it, I wasn’t sure if it was my place to tell him that Cady had been pregnant when Ash had disappeared.

Jude leapt abruptly to a standing position and bounded back and forth on the balls of his feet until he’d captured NATO’s full and undivided attention.

Play.

“We should give you something that you actuallycanfind, boy.” Jude turned back to Free and me, like he’d never uttered the wordfatherat all. “What say you, ladies? Up for a little Extreme Hide-and-Seek?”

Free hid first. We ordered Duchess and Saskia to stay by the tree and let NATO loose. Sass and Her Ladyship were not always the best of friends, but I was fairly certain they wouldn’t get into it with each other today.

“Find her,” Jude told NATO.

Our boy practically shook with glee. This time, when he followed the trail, he’d find something. We’d make sure of it. As the K9 worked, nose to the ground, Jude and I fell into silence.

“So,” Jude said finally, drumming his fingertips absentmindedly against the side of his leg. “Gabriel Cortez. Intriguing fellow.” When I didn’t reply, he elaborated. “Might I be sensing some sexual tension?”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Just tension, then,” Jude said quickly. “Right-o.”

NATO took a sharp right and began picking up speed. Jude and I hung back but picked up our pace as well.