Page 75 of The Lovely and the Lost

Free folded her arms over her chest. “Maybe.” She paused. “I care about you, Kira,” she told me, in a tone that would have been more appropriate for cursing. “And Jude cares, and you don’tgetto hold that against us. You don’t get to lick your wounds in a corner and snarl when one of us gets too close, and you don’t ever get to stand there bleeding and tell me that it’s none of my business if you bleed out.”

I meant to say okay, but what came out was “You packed my blanket.”

“Of course I did!” Free exploded. “I thought you might need it.”

“Not to interrupt what appears to be an extremely emotionally laden conversation about blankets…” Gabriel announced his presence and waited for the two of us to turn toward him before continuing, “but your dog is giving every appearance of having lost her freaking mind.”

I started scanning the area for Saskia, but Gabriel stopped me. “Not your dog,” he told me. “Hers.” He nodded his head toward Free. “The female bloodhound is attacking the barn door like her family honor depends on it.”

“Her Ladyship does have very strong feelings about doors,” Free allowed. “You could say she doesn’t like being shut out.”

I had a feeling that pointed comment was aimed at me, but something about what Gabriel had said crept under my skin and lingered. “Was NATO with her?” I asked.

Gabriel turned to look at me.

“The male bloodhound,” I clarified. “Jude’s dog. Was he with Duchess?”

“No.” Gabriel stared at me. “Why?”

“Speaking of Jude,” Free put in, “given recent revelations, we could all use some unrelenting, reality-defying optimism right about now. Where is he?”

It took me a moment to realize that she was asking me. “I haven’t seen Jude since the two of us fought,” I said, suddenly able to feel my heartbeat in my stomach.

“He didn’t go with you?” Free asked.

I scanned the property, half expecting Jude to pop out of nowhere. Cady and Mac were moving from Ness’s cabin toward the main house. A pair of FBI agents had cornered Bales, who looked like he’d aged a decade in a day.

No Jude.

That was when I heard the howling. I broke into a run without any conscious awareness of where I was going or why, but the moment the barn came into view, I realized that Duchess wasn’t the only one pawing madly at the door. Saskia was right beside her, howling the way she had at Silver’s graveside.

Wrong. Something is wrong.I made it to the barn door first. Gabriel and Free were right behind me. Free ducked down to the dogs’ level, but all I could think about was the way that Silver’s body had looked, wrapped in a blanket.

I pried the door open. Somehow, Gabriel made it inside first. IfeltDuchess flying by us, but visually, the only thing I could see was the outline of NATO’s form on the ground.

“No,” I said. “Not after Silver.I can’t—”

“Kira.” I heard Free, but it took me a moment to realize that she’d somehow made her way past me and was kneeling next to NATO. “He’s got a pulse.”

Alive.I made my way toward them.He’s alive.I went to the ground and laid a hand on NATO’s neck. Beside me, Duchess whined. Saskia was still howling. My hands searched NATO for an injury but found nothing. He stirred beneath my touch. He tried to climb to his feet but stumbled.

“Ketamine.” Gabriel’s voice was tight. “The vet uses it to knock animals out. He’ll be groggy.…”

Whatever else Gabriel was saying, I didn’t hear it. The world slowed down around me, because Saskia was still howling, and NATO was trying to drag himself toward the back of the barn, and all I could think was that no one had seen Jude.

Ness had disappeared, and no one had seen Jude.

I took off in the direction that NATO was trying to go. There, at the back of the barn, a dozen rocks lay in a neat circle. In the middle of the circle, there was a large envelope. Behind it, a single white candle burned, the flame flickering before my eyes.

Unable to hear anything but the sound of my own ragged breathing, I bent to pick up the envelope. Before I could think better of it, I slid my finger beneath the flap, tearing it open. The sting of a paper cut barely registered as I removed the contents.

Three items.

The first was a map. A quick glance told me that someone had marked a spot, deep in the depths of the park, with a thick red X. The next two items were photographs. The first was one I’d never seen: Cady and Mac and Ash, older than they’d been in the last picture I’d seen—early twenties. Mac’s expression was still serious. Ash’s devil-may-care grin had taken on an edge. And Cady looked…

Happy.

I turned the picture over, half expecting a caption, but the back was blank. Ignoring the tightness in my chest, I turned my attention to the second photograph. It was facedown, and for several long seconds, I couldn’t bring myself to turn it over.