Point of Attraction (29 page)

“Please, I have to go to her,” Georgie
told Mason.

“
Okay, but let Cassie do
what needs to be done.”

She and Mason inched closer making
sure they kept out of Cassie’s way. Georgie could hear a tiny
wheeze in Daisy’s shallow breathing. April came running carrying
Cassie’s dark satchel. With plastic gloves on and stethoscope in
place, Cassie listened. Georgie watched as she opened Daisy’s mouth
again, pulling back the soft skin to expose the teeth and gums.
When Cassie withdrew her fingers, Georgie saw they held small
chunks of something half chewed.

“Georgie, I need to put this in a
plastic bag. Where’s your vet? We need to get Daisy
there.”

Running into the house, guilt tormented
Georgie; that she had been so into herself and this growing feeling
for Mason, she hadn’t noticed Daisy’s absence. She grabbed the box
containing the poop-baggies, yanked the vet’s magnetic business
card from the side of the dryer, and ran back out. Her hands
trembled as she tried to pull out a single bag.

“Here,” Mason said, taking hold of her
hands, and managed to get out one bag.

With great care, Cassie placed the
specimen into the bag. Mason closed it, put it in his pocket.
Georgie hadn’t realized April had taken the Vet’s card from her
until she heard the beep, beep of her punching the number into her
cell phone.

“Mason, we need Daisy in the car,”
Cassie said.

Seeing Daisy hang limply in Mason’s
arms, Georgie tasted bile and swallowed hard to settle her stomach;
anger rising to the surface.

“What do you want from me!” she shouted
into the slope of trees. “What the hell do you want from me,
goddamn it?”

When arms wrapped around her, Georgie
fought until she heard a quiet, “Come on, Kiddo. Daisy will need
you. Come on. Get Max. He needs to be inside. He won’t go with
anyone but you.”

Reason returned and Georgie nodded
sharply. “Max,” she called, but he was already following the group
into the house. “Max!” She barely reached him in time to keep him
from going out the kitchen door behind Cassie and Mason.

“I’m going with Mason,” Cassie called
back from the garage. “You guys make sure you lock up.”

“Leave the lights on,” Mason said,
panting through the words while carrying Daisy. “No motion
detectors. Leave them all on.”

While Georgie punched in her code on
the security panel and put it on manual, April went about the house
turning on every light there was. Georgie locked the back door,
turned the dead bolt, and latched the doggie door. She opened the
cabinet above the washer and dryer and pulled out Max’s
carrier.

“Come on, Max. I’m not leaving
you.”

“Good idea,” April said, reaching back
to the holster at her waist.

Their eyes met.

Chapter twenty-four

Georgie’s mouth dropped open. It was
still a jolt to see and associate quiet April with a
gun.

After a second, April smiled and
adjusted the holster. “Just checking,” she said, then quickly
sobered with a hand out to stay Georgie’s objection. “Just cause I
have it doesn’t mean I’m going to use it. I could have fired some
wild shots at that Durango, but didn’t. So don’t freak out on me.
Okay?” Her mouth tugged at the corner. “Though I should have fired
at least once to mark it.”

“Right now, I’d be glad to shoot the
bastard that’s doing this!” Georgie bit down hard. The words and
anger behind them were a caustic acid eating at her insides. Before
April could say anything, Georgie motioned her out the door while
Max complained about the sharp jostling. “Let’s take my car. I know
where we’re going.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” Georgie forced a smile and
nodded. “I’m okay. Not completely down... and okay.”

~0~

The instant Georgie and April entered
the Healthy Pet Stop, Mason stood and said, “Cassie’s in with the
vet.”

Georgie let herself be led to the
wooden bench in the reception area. She set Max’s carrier at her
feet, his meowing very low, and April sat next to her with a
shoulder nudge of support.

“It’ll be okay,” April said.

Georgie forced a weak smile in answer,
then leaned into Mason’s shoulder. He pressed his cheek to the top
of her head. The three sat, letting the quiet settle in.

“What were you going to tell me back at
the house?” Mason asked after long endless minutes of
waiting.

Georgie looked to the door marked:
EMPLOYEES ONLY, and retold the incident at Shady Oaks Cemetery.
Mason slipped his arm free of her hold and wrapped it around
her.

“It was a fool thing to do,” he told
April. “But I’m very glad you were there.”

“Just wish I had gotten some
information for the police.”

Georgie felt Mason loosen his hold to
grasp April’s shoulder in gratitude. Georgie too reached for
April’s hand and squeezed it just as the EMPLOYEE door swung open.
Georgie shot to her feet and rushed to Cassie. “How’s Daisy? Is she
okay?”

“It’s good and not good.”

Georgie stifled a cry, her stomach
tightening with such a jolt she was afraid it would spew its
contents.

“Was it poison?” Mason
asked.

“No, but just as bad. Tranquilizer.
Massive dose. Doctor Kane pumped out her stomach. He’s sure they
got most of the tainted meat she ate. It was a good thing we found
her when we did.”

“I should have known something was
wrong when she didn’t come out like she normally does,” Mason
said.

Georgie went to Mason and wrapped her
arms around him.

“We could still lose her,” Cassie said,
her voice low and heavy with caution. “We have to wait and see if
the vet’s magic potion works and if Daisy will fight. But for now,
we should all go home.”

“No,” Georgie murmured. “I can’t go
home.”

“George.”

“I need to be here,” she said, giving
Mason a squeeze for him to understand.

“Okay,” he murmured.

“Georgie?” Cassie said, reaching for
Max.

Georgie pulled free of Mason’s arms and
grabbed Max’s carrier. There was no complaint from Max.

“Oh, God,” Cassie said, and Georgie
looked inside the cage.

“Max!” she shouted and shook the
carrier. There was no reaction. His eyes were closed, but not
normally so, and his tongue was hanging out.

“He must have gotten some of that
meat,” Cassie said, opening the wire door, and pulled out a very
limp bundle of fur. She disappeared behind the door, leaving
Georgie once more outside, wondering and afraid.

What would have happened had she not
brought him, she thought, letting herself drop onto the hard
bench?

“Mason, we need to talk,” April said,
getting up.

But when Mason tried to rise, Georgie
latched on to his arm. “What could you possibly say that could make
me feel any worse than I feel right now? You want to talk, talk
here.”

“You’re right,” April said, sat back
down, smoothed a hand over her short hair as she took in a long,
hard and determined breath. “Things are escalating here and we have
zilch to go on.”

“Yeah, I’d say so,” Mason agreed,
leaning forward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped under his
chin.

Georgie listened to the tone in their
voices, heard their deep sighs, and saw the concern in the tight
facial muscles as they focused a blank stare at nothing. She re-ran
the events in her head, then found she needed to verbalize them,
have the words work their way in her ears. “First it was Raggs...
then the rose. I know those two things are connected. But doesn’t a
rose usually mean love?”

“Remind me never to send you a rose,”
Mason said softly, making a small steeple with his index
fingers.

“
What happened?” Georgie
asked, offering the question to no one in particular. “What could
have caused that... that leap from so called
love
to lethal?”

She looked into Mason’s gray eyes, and
wanted very much to believe the tenderness she saw there was for
her and not a memory. She noticed beard stubble and smoothed her
fingertips the length of his jaw line, enjoying the bristly
sensation beneath her nails.

“
I guess I forgot to
shave,” he said, taking those fingertips and pressed them to his
lips.

When he kissed them, a smile came
easily to her, without battle, but said nothing, afraid of what
she’d say. Instead, Georgie looked to the EMPLOYEES ONLY door. That
was a mistake. She had to think of something else or she’d break
down.

She turned to April. “Okay, back to
things speeding up here. You’re right. They are... but I think it’s
because this wacko must have made a mistake. We just haven’t found
it.”

“What do you mean?” April
asked.

What do I
mean
?
Come on.
The thought was there
.
Don’t lose it
, Georgie told
herself.
Talk it out
. “He must have left a clue somewhere that could lead the
police to him. So whatever he wants or is going to do, he needs to
do it soon, or be caught. Daisy wasn’t about to let him in the
yard. That’s why she was poisoned.” With a solid slap to her
thighs, she got to her feet and began pacing, then stopped. “But
what does he want? That’s what I don’t understand. Had it been
Jeffrey, I could have understood, but I just don’t think it would
have come to this. Why murder him? What did he do? Did he somehow
find out who it was and was going to tell? What?”

“He dated you,” Mason said.

“What?” Georgie searched his face to
see if he was kidding. Every shadow and line was
sincere.

April too nodded. “You’re the
connecting factor.”

When Georgie gave no response, Mason
cleared his throat and started in. “You loved Raggs, and she was
very important to you.” He shook his head and made a wiping motion.
“Gone. Taken. Then there’s Jeffrey...”

“No. I never loved Jeffrey. Never
encouraged him in any way. No.”

“But he did have a thing for you,”
April said. At Georgie’s obvious surprise, April smiled. “Cassie
met and saw him. Remember? You didn’t think she wouldn’t see it, or
keep it to herself, now did you?”

“Ah, dear Cassie,” Georgie
murmured, sighed deeply, and began to pace, letting their words
take root and seeing if the pieces had a place in this puzzle.
“Okay,” she finally said. “
If
you’re right...”

“George.”

She half bowed with a nodding
resignation to their theory. “So you think it’s me. Let’s work with
that. But taking Raggs is certainly no show of love.”

“First off, Holmes,” Mason said.
“Forget logic when it comes to the wacko mind.”

“Point,” April agreed. “But what he did
to Jeffrey and Raggs is undeniably going over the edge.”

“Okay. So what sent him over the edge?”
Georgie asked them. “What did I do to the little
fucker?”

“That sounded like Nick talking,” April
smiled.

“Well, there are times when Nick has
the perfect word,” Georgie told April.

“Have you heard from him?” Mason
asked.

“No. Has he called you?”

When Mason shook his head, Georgie sat
back down and leaned into him, to which he responded with a
hug.

“I’m getting worried,” she murmured. “I
know I shouldn’t be. He disappears for long periods all the time
and I’ve never worried before, but after all this, and what
happened at Shady Oaks, I don’t know. I’m worried.”

“He’s okay,” April said.
“You know what Paula always says.
Bad
pennies always seem to turn up
, and you
can’t get a hardier copperhead than that man.”

The door opened and Georgie rushed to
Cassie. “How are they?”

“Right now, they’re both
sleeping.”

Georgie could smell antiseptic soap off
Cassie’s hands and her fingers were cold around hers. The sterile
cool air sneaking through the closing door took her breath
away.

“I want to tell you they’ll
be fine, but you know me. I don’t believe in
little white lies
.” The firm squeeze
was assurance that what she was about to say would be truth
unsweetened. “Doctor Kane says it’s all up to them now. Thankfully,
it doesn’t look like Daisy shared a lot of that meat with Max. His
size couldn’t have taken it. He’s responding and almost awake, but
he needs to stay the night. Just in case, Georgie.”

Georgie glanced out the two small round
windows above the bench then at the clock on the wall. It was 4:30
and it was already getting dark outside. The day had left them. She
thought about asking if she could stay with Daisy and Max, then
decided against it. She needed to get home and think. If the kids
called and didn’t find her home...