Part 2
The man held his phone as if the photograph on it were evidence.
Sadie struggled upright beneath the blanket. A low warning sounded in her chest, and she positioned herself between Daniel and the stranger even though her legs could barely support her.
Daniel kept one hand against her shoulder. “Don’t come any closer.”
“My name is Nolan Price. I work for her owner.” The man’s gaze dropped to the wire buried beneath Sadie’s collar. “What happened to her?”
“I found her behind an apartment building. Someone wired her to a fire escape.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
Daniel extended his injured hand. Blood had soaked through Maria’s clean gauze. Rust marked the torn leather of his glove.
“I don’t care what you believe. Call the number on her tag and get her to a veterinarian.”
Nolan’s suspicion did not disappear, but it changed. He stepped back before making the call.
“Yes, sir,” he said when someone answered. “I found her.”
He listened, glancing toward Daniel.
“She’s alive, but she’s hurt. There’s a man with her. I don’t know yet.”
The voice on the other end became loud enough that Daniel heard its hard, clipped rhythm without making out the words.
Nolan lowered the phone. “He’s coming himself.”
Sadie’s growl faded into a tremor. Daniel sat on the frozen curb and let her lean against him.
“How did you find us?” he asked.
“We’ve had people checking shelters, veterinary clinics, underpasses, every report online. I was heading to another sighting when I saw the blanket move.”
“She was three blocks from here.”
“She wasn’t yesterday.”
Nolan looked at the dog’s paws. His face tightened.
A black SUV arrived less than ten minutes later. The driver stopped badly, one tire climbing the curb. A tall man with iron-gray hair stepped out before the engine had fully gone quiet.
“Sadie.”
The dog’s ears twitched.
Grant Whitaker approached slowly, removing his gloves. The authority in his face gave way to something raw when he saw her neck.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
He lowered himself several feet away and turned slightly sideways, careful not to trap her with his body. “It’s me. You’re safe.”
Sadie sniffed the air. For a moment, Daniel saw recognition. Her tail moved once against the pavement.
Then Grant lifted a hand.
Sadie recoiled so violently that the blanket fell from her back. She pressed herself behind Daniel and began to pant.
Grant froze.
Daniel gathered the blanket around her without touching the wire. “She’s afraid of hands.”
The older man’s eyes closed briefly. When he opened them, he looked at Daniel’s injuries.
“You freed her?”
“I opened the wire at the railing. The rest needs to be removed by a vet.”
“Why didn’t you call the police?”
Daniel nodded toward his dead phone. “I tried animal control. The holiday recording sent me to 911.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“No,” Daniel said. “It answers as much of it as I intend to.”
Nolan handed Grant the dog’s tag. Under the blanket, Sadie pushed her nose into Daniel’s side.
Grant noticed the state-issued property label on the duffel.
“When were you released?”
“Yesterday afternoon.”
“From where?”
“Grafton.”
Nolan’s posture changed at the name of the prison. Grant’s did not.
“What were you in for?”
Daniel could have said fraud. He could have named the statutes or explained that the amount printed in the newspaper had never entered his account. Every version sounded like an excuse when delivered beside a prison bag.
“Stealing $2.8 million from my employer,” he said. “That’s what the jury was told.”
“And what do you say?”
“That I didn’t do it.”
Grant studied him in silence.
Daniel looked away first—not from shame, but because Sadie’s breathing had become more labored.
“If you want to question me, do it later. She needs help now.”
Grant stood. “Nolan, call Lakeview Emergency Animal Hospital. Tell them we’re five minutes out.”
He opened the rear passenger door. Sadie did not move.
Grant tried her old command. “Sadie, load.”
Her ears flattened.
Daniel rose, but the dog rose with him. When he stepped away from the SUV, she followed, dragging the blanket.
“She won’t go without you,” Grant said.
“For now.”
“Then you’re coming.”
Daniel stared into the vehicle’s immaculate interior. Too many years of his life had begun when a powerful man told him to get into a car, enter an office, or sign his name.
“What happens after the hospital?”
Grant’s expression hardened, but his voice remained controlled.
“After the hospital, Mr. Reeves, I verify every word you’ve told me. If you harmed that dog, I will find out. If you really found her like this, I want to know why she trusted you when she was afraid of everyone else.”
Sadie attempted to climb into the SUV and collapsed against the door frame.
Daniel caught her.
Grant moved to help, then stopped when she flinched.
Together, without touching each other, the two men lifted the blanket beneath her like a sling. Sadie would not settle until Daniel climbed in beside her.
Grant closed the door.
“First we save her,” he said. “Then we find out what happened to both of you…”
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