Love Inspired Suspense April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Laura Scott (free e reader .TXT) 📕

crime of the week, so when you need to head over to the sheriff’s office let me know and I’ll go with you. Check the weekend crimes.” She peeked outside and noticed a few boxes. She pointed to the delivery. “You want me to open the door or...?”

“Not even a little.” Colt opened it, scanned the yard then brought the boxes inside. “Where do you want them?”

“It’s the dogs’ new beds and food from the local feed store. Kitchen table is fine.” He set the boxes on the table.

Georgia inspected them. Noticed the tin and opened it. Sometimes Kate at the feed store sent home freshly baked dog treats. “Y’all got some goodies.” She gave Wyatt and Doc two each and rubbed their heads.

“You hungry?” she asked.

“Don’t cook unless you plan to for yourself.” Colt sat at the table with his coffee. His hair was disheveled, and his scruff was turning more toward a beard. Didn’t seem like he slept well.

“I always cook a little something. It’s soothing to me.”

Georgia whipped up pancakes and fried a few sausage patties, then brought everything to the table.

Indulging in extra syrup on her pancakes, Georgia closed her eyes and relished the deliciousness. When she opened them, Colt was examining the dogs, frowning.

“Hey, Georgia?”

“Yeah?”

“I think something’s wrong with Doc...and Wyatt.”

She whipped her attention to her puppers. They both were lethargic, and then Doc threw up. “What in the world?” She hurried to them. “Hey, babies, what’s wrong?” She hadn’t been letting them out to wander since the attacks. “You don’t think they swallowed glass, do you?” she asked as her stomach knotted and a sweat broke out on her forehead. She couldn’t lose her dogs. What if they had lacerations inside?

“I don’t know. Let’s get them to the vet, though.” Colt kept a cool head and scooped up the larger sheltie while Georgia eased Wyatt into her arms.

“We see Dr. Reed over at Magnolia Animal Clinic.” She could hardly breathe with every horrible scenario racing through her mind. She loved these dogs. She couldn’t lose them. Why did she have to get so attached? They comforted her and the thought of their passing terrified her.

Colt hurried to the door, paused and swept the area. “Stay close to me,” he said, and they rushed to his truck, where he loaded Doc and Wyatt in the back seat. Both dogs shook and whimpered. Dread broke out on her skin in chill bumps. “Climb in beside them, Georgia. They’ll feel better having you near.”

Crack!

Gunfire.

“Down!” Colt boomed, and Georgia ducked low with the dogs.

Colt dived to the ground, using the door as a shield.

Another bullet slammed into the vehicle and another. Georgia shrieked. They had to get out of here. Time wasn’t on their side! Her pups whimpered, and Doc vomited. What was wrong with her poor doggies? They couldn’t die and leave her! She prayed God would protect them all and spare her fur babies.

Colt returned fire into the woods. “Shots are coming from the southeast.” He quickly called backup while keeping low. Using the driver’s-side door as a shield, he slid into the driver’s seat. Remaining hunched as he started the car, he stepped on the gas and they fishtailed in the gravel as they backed down the drive at top speed, but Colt never veered into the grass. A shot hit the windshield, spiderwebbing the passenger side.

“It was like he was lying in wait!” Georgia hollered over the shots, the gravel crunching and flying. A cold finger of fear scraped down her spine.

“He was. He used the dogs to lure you out.”

Reality set in like rigor mortis in her lungs. “He poisoned my dogs! My babies!”

Colt slammed the truck into Drive and punched the gas, barreling down the highway.

“Are your deliveries routine?” he asked.

“Yes,” Georgia whispered. Someone knew she had dogs and that she ordered supplies from the local feed store. Then the monster had the gall to intercept the boxes. But when? How? The tin. But how? “He’s definitely local,” she said.

“I agree,” Colt added and flew through downtown, weaving and bobbing between cars to get them to the vet without delay. “I want to talk to the people at the feed store. Someone laced the tin of treats. Did they belong to the feed store?”

“I thought so. Kate often adds a little tin of homemade treats. But there wasn’t a logo on them.” Her neglect to pay attention might cost her dogs’ lives. She wanted to kick herself.

“Someone who knows they often added treats waited for the delivery, then slipped a tin on top with hopes you’d do exactly what you did. Then he waited and ambushed us.”

They passed the Magnolia Motel, the bowling alley, the small grocery beside it, and then around the corner the animal hospital came into view. Georgia bounded from the truck with Wyatt, and Colt grabbed Doc. Her head felt like someone had filled it with fuzz, and her lungs squeezed until she could barely catch her breath. She clung to the truth that God’s grace was sufficient for her, but she still felt the raging fear. She hung on to the fact He was good and faithful and she could trust Him, but her insides continued to jackhammer. But truth was truth regardless of her emotion, which happened to be fear and worry at the moment.

The vet tech jumped to attention when they stormed into the clinic wearing fearful expressions. “My dogs have been poisoned.”

“Right this way!” She ushered them into a room, and within seconds Dr. Reed entered, serious and moving with steady purpose. No time for chit chat.

Georgia explained the circumstances and symptoms. Dr. Reed wanted that tin of treats for testing. Colt called his team and had them on it. The techs ushered them outside into the empty waiting area.

Colt’s strong arm pulled her close to his side. His warmth gave her some solace. She turned into his solid chest and cried. “I can’t lose them.” But that’s what happened to people—and now pets—whom