Operation Alpha. Justine Davis

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СКАЧАТЬ the comfortable familiarity of a dog, or that talent Cutter had for soothing restless souls, Liam had finally gone to sleep for a couple of hours.

      Why he was so restless in the first place was something he’d deal with later.

      Or not at all, he thought wryly as he looked around again.

      Ria had suggested they have today’s meeting at the school so he could get familiar with the grounds. The place had once been a small farm of sorts, and the big farmhouse and various buildings had been converted into classrooms, labs, a library, several study rooms, a theater, a small coop that apparently still served as one for a few chickens and the barn that was now the gym where he’d be working.

      “This is quite a place,” he’d said when they’d first arrived, looking around at the campus carved out of a thick grove of evergreens.

      “I think it’s lovely. Peaceful. Conducive to learning.”

      And again Liam caught himself thinking that if he’d ever had a teacher who looked like her, he might have paid a lot more attention. Since he’d sworn off thoughts like that—apparently unsuccessfully—his tone had been a bit snarky. “Spoken like a born teacher.”

      “I am, I hope” was all she’d said. And thus had begun day two of this longest weekend.

      If it wasn’t for Cutter, bless that hound, Liam wouldn’t have made it. But, as he had last night, the dog seemed to sense when he was too near the edge and then did something. Anything. Demand a break, more often to play than for a call of nature. Chase a bird, a ball if Liam would throw it, or simply start a rather manic game of tag. He included Ria in the tag, which made it both easier—it was difficult to think of anything but fun when you were playing with a dog who seemed to be working overtime to make you laugh—and harder, because she did laugh, delightedly, and it was the best thing he’d heard in years.

      “He is quite a personality,” she said now, after the current mad chase ended with Cutter finally stopping for a drink of water from a spigot Liam turned on for him. They sat on a different bench in a shady spot while Cutter plopped down before them, panting but clearly happy.

      “He is. He’s downright scary sometimes. But he’s also a valuable member of Foxworth,” he said.

      “I imagine he gets people to talk to you. Like, hopefully, Dylan.”

      “He does. But it’s more than that. He brings us at least half our cases.”

      She looked from him to the dog and then back. “He what?”

      Liam explained as best he could with examples, ending by asking, “Remember when he sat in front of you and Emily and looked at Quinn?”

      “Yes.”

      “He was giving him The Look.”

      She smiled but in a puzzled way. “You say that like it’s capitalized.”

      “To us, it is. It’s his ‘fix it’ look. Means there’s a problem that needs fixing and Foxworth can do it.”

      Again she glanced from him to the dog and back. “That’s...”

      “Yeah. It is. But it’s true.”

      She looked at Cutter with even more interest now. “He’s Hayley’s dog?”

      “Started out that way. But he’s Quinn’s now, too. We knew that when he got his own bark.”

      “His own bark?”

      She was laughing again, but it was clearly in delight, not disbelief. She only stopped when Cutter got to his feet. The dog stretched and then started walking toward the woods next to the building that housed the library.

      “Do you need to go with him?” she asked.

      Liam shook his head as he opened the envelope of flyers Hayley had printed up for him last night, announcing his workshop. “He’ll let me know.”

      “He is...amazing.”

      “He’s a different sort of critter, that’s for sure.”

      She tilted her head as she looked at him then. “Is your accent still off-limits?”

      His mind shot back to that moment when he’d both misinterpreted and overreacted to her comment on his drawl. Maybe he’d known even then how she was going to tangle him up. But he wasn’t going to make that too-obvious mistake again.

      “Texas,” he confirmed neutrally.

      “Your family is still there?”

      “Most of them, yes.”

      “I have a cousin in San Antonio. He has a restaurant on the River Walk. He—”

      She broke off as Cutter, from the corner of the library, let out a sharp, two-note bark.

      “And there’s my call,” Liam said, lifting his head.

      “That’s your bark?”

      “Yep.”

      “Amazing,” she repeated and got up with him.

      “Maybe you should stay here until I find out what he’s onto.”

      “I hardly think anything’s going to happen here.”

      “The roads are paved with dead critters who didn’t think anything was going to happen.”

      “Well, thanks for that visual,” she said, her tone dry. “If some murderer is lurking in the woods, wouldn’t I be safer with you and Cutter than standing here alone?”

      “I was thinking more about bears and mountain lions.” But, he thought, it was interesting that her first thought was a human threat.

      “Oh. We haven’t seen any for a long time. Coyotes, yes.”

      “With that barn full of coyote bait, I’m not surprised.”

      “Another charming visual.” She sounded a little peeved now. “Are you always so graphic?”

      “Realistic,” he retorted.

      “Then maybe I won’t tell you how I feel about orcas.”

      “I can probably guess.”

      “I love them,” she admitted. “They’re so beautiful, and I love that they play. They have a cohesive family unit, aunts will take care of calves if the mother dies. It’s remarkable.”

      Again spoken like a teacher. “And they’re killing machines, don’t forget that. They call them killer whales for a reason.”

      “That, too. Very efficient.”

      She seemed unbothered this time, and he guessed she’d come to terms with that aspect of the striking black-and-white creatures. And he wondered if she’d set him up for that, just to show him she wasn’t naïve about the realities СКАЧАТЬ