Angel's Rest Read Free

character.”
    Gabe tugged a worn leather dog collar from his back pocket. “Here. I have his collar. It came loose while I was trying to free him from the trap.”
    He handed the collar to the teenager, who checked its heart-shaped metal tag. “Rabies vaccine is current from a clinic in Oklahoma. Bet he belonged to summer tourists and got lost from his family.”
    “I don’t recall any lost dog notices for a boxer,” the vet said. “We’ll make some calls. He could have traveled a long way.” She glanced up at Gabe. “Where did you find him?”
    “Murphy Mountain.”
    Surprise lit the vet’s pretty blue eyes. “That’s private property.”
    “Not private enough, apparently. The owner didn’t set that trap.”
    The teenager’s head jerked around. “How do you know? Are you a Davenport?”
    “No.”
    The girl waited expectantly, and when Gabe remained stubbornly silent, she tried again. “If you know the owner didn’t set the trap, then you must be a friend of the Davenports. That, or you’re just another trespasser.”
    Gabe gave in. “Jack Davenport is a friend.”
    The girl’s chin came up. “Then would you give him a message for me? Tell him that I’m looking for his cousin, Cameron Murphy.”
    “Lori,” said the vet, a thread of steel beneath the warmth. “Don’t.”
    “But—”
    “Lori Elizabeth, no.”
    A mutinous expression settled on the girl’s face, but she went silent. Gabe tried not to be interested in what that bit of drama had been about. Davenport business, obviously. Definitely none of his.
    He needed to leave. Should have just dropped off the dog and hightailed it. Why had he hung around, anyway? That wasn’t like him.
    The
beep beep
of a car horn sounded outside. “There’s your ride, Lori,” said the vet, lifting a gauze bandage roll from the supply tray. “Tell your mom I’ll see her at the school tonight, okay?”
    The teenager hesitated and darted a glance at Gabe. “I could stay, Dr. Nic.”
    “Thanks, sweetie, but you go on. I’m going to wrap this bandage and I’ll be done here.”
    The girl didn’t like leaving the vet alone with a stranger, and Gabe couldn’t blame her. He should speak up. Say he was leaving, too. Instead, for some inexplicable reason, he kept his lips zipped.
    Beep beep
. “Oh, all right.” The girl tugged off her gloves, then looked him straight in the eyes. “What was your name, mister?”
    His lips twitched and he acknowledged her challenge with a nod. “Gabe Callahan.”
    “I’ll tell Mom you won’t be long,” she said, shifting her gaze to the vet. On her way out the door, she paused and added, “By the way, I think Mom is having supper with Sheriff Turner.”
    In the wake of the girl’s departure, Gabe shoved his hands in his jeans pockets and observed, “That was subtle.”
    “We watch out for one another around here.” She quickly and efficiently wrapped the bandage, released the locks on the table where the dog lay, and rolled it toward a wall lined with crates. When she opened the door to a medium-sized wire box, Gabe stepped forward. “Let me help.”
    “Thanks.”
    Careful of the boxer’s injured leg, he slipped his hands beneath the dog’s torso and shifted him into the crate. When he stepped back, Dr. Nic was frowning at him. “What? Did I do it wrong? Did I hurt him?”
    “Before, I was concentrating on the dog. I didn’t notice.” She gestured toward his chest. “That’s your blood, not his.”
    Gabe glanced down at his shirt. “More his than mine, and my fault for being careless. He got me a time or two before I thought enough to use my shirt to wrap his head while I released him from the trap.”
    “Why didn’t you use your coat?”
    “Wasn’t mine.”
    He watched her silently mouth a word that just might have been
idiot
. Gabe almost grinned.
    “Scratches or bites?”
    “Both.”
    She sighed heavily. “Go sit on the table and take off your shirt.”
    “There’s no need for that,” he