The woman flushed. “Yes. It’s… It’s not Shawn this time. I got a call about our dog, Duke.”
Now Caden understood why she looked familiar. She’d been involved in a domestic dispute he’d responded to last August. Of course she would ask for Ryan. Suzanne Flemish had gone to school with Caden’s brother, married young, and regretted it almost immediately. He still wasn’t sure why she remained with Shawn Preech, a rough-around-the-edges motorhead who’d gained local celebrity status for his skill at dirt-track racing. Preech might be good behind the wheel of a winged sprint, but he was clueless when it came to maintaining a healthy marriage. When he’d cheated on Suzanne over the summer, she’d taken a baseball bat to his restored 1970 Dodge Charger, then tried to follow that up with a crack to his head. Caden and Ryan had arrived on the scene to find the couple screaming at each other across the damaged Charger, Suzanne clutching the bat and threatening to shatter the windshield. He was surprised she wasn’t mortified to see him, but had a feeling Suzanne Preech didn’t do mortification. She got even. Word had it Shawn had ditched his fling and bought Suzanne a pricey ring to patch things up.
“Oh.” Ryan grimaced. “You need to see Deputy Rosling about that. He’s been handling most of those calls.” He motioned toward Rosling’s desk where Fran and Clay Bateman were in the process of withdrawing. Fran still sniffled into her handkerchief, but Clay shook Rosling’s hand as the two men exchanged a few parting words.
Suzanne’s eyes grew owlishly wide. “Do you know what happened to Duke? He’s been missing for two days.”
If Caden hadn’t seen the damage she’d done with a baseball bat, he might have believed the beseeching expression she turned on his brother.
Ryan cleared his throat and shifted the book from beneath his arm, briefly exposing the cover. “I’m sorry, Suzanne, but we found Duke along with a few other missing dogs.” Ryan touched her elbow tentatively, steering her toward Rosling’s desk as the Batemans departed. “Wayne will tell you about it and get some information from you.”
Caden snatched the book from Ryan as his brother helped Suzanne to a seat. The cover was unmistakable.
“What are you doing with my high school yearbook?” He shot Ryan a questioning look as his brother returned to his desk. “You got this from Mom, didn’t you?”
“I did.” Ryan retrieved his coffee. “I was curious about Lyle Mason.”
“Well, you’re not going to find any dirt on him in here.” Sinking into his chair, Caden flipped through the pages, reminded of friends and faces he hadn’t seen since 1968. The photographs were terribly dated, taken in a time when the Beatles and the Doors ruled the airwaves and Haight-Ashbury was the city of love. He flipped to his yearbook photo and was shocked by how young he looked, his black hair cut in a cross between Paul McCartney and RFK. A few more pages and he found Lyle Mason, his sister, Lottie, directly beside him. Lyle’s thick brows were drawn tightly over his eyes, his expression challenging. It was exactly how Caden remembered him. An outsider with a chip on his shoulder, Lyle had done his best to set himself apart from the rest of the class.
By contrast, Lottie was pleasant but awkward. Shy and plump, she’d only had a handful of friends, and was often a target of ridicule from the more popular girls in his class.
An ugly memory.
Caden snapped the book shut and tossed it on his desk. “You could have asked me to borrow it. There are a lot of personal messages in there.”
“Don’t worry.” Grinning, Ryan shook his head. “I skipped the love letters from your throng of admirers.”
“My throng of—” Caden stopped, knowing his brother wanted to yank his chain. He’d had more than a few girlfriends back in the day thanks to his skill at vocals and playing guitar, but wasn’t going to let Ryan poke through his teen exploits. “Forget it. I want to know what’s going on around here. This place is buzzing.” He gave a nod for the commotion around them. “What did I miss?”
Ryan leaned forward, talking across his desk. “The Bradley brothers found our missing dogs in the TNT.”
Caden’s stomach soured as Ryan told him about the discovery. Any strange finding in the old munitions site was equivalent to tinder under a powder keg. Dead dogs, ruptured brains, and “star shit.” It wouldn’t be long before people started screaming “Mothman” and a few of them got up in arms enough to parade around the labyrinth of roads with shotguns.
“Shit.” He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “You sure Doc Holden thinks they died the same way as Chester’s cow?”
Ryan nodded. “Heard it from Sheriff Weston this morning.” After sorting through the papers on his desk, he tossed a single sheet across to Caden. “Read for yourself if you don’t believe me. Concussive impact, resulting in severe hemorrhaging of the brain.”
Caden let the paper lie. His brother had clearly memorized the veterinarian’s report. “But Rex was all right?”
“Yeah. Martin picked him up last night. Doc Holden checked him over and said he was spooked, but mostly fine. A little dehydrated and hungry. When I checked in with Martin this morning, he said Rex slept like a log.” Dropping his hands in his lap, he shrugged. “Could be Rex came on the scene after whatever happened…happened.”
Caden cast a glance at Suzanne Preech, who was still talking to Wayne Rosling. She held her purse on her lap with a balled-up tissue clutched in her hand. Even from where he was sitting, he could see she struggled with tears. He’d obviously misjudged her. Whatever her feelings for Shawn and his Dodge, she clearly loved Duke.
“Is that all I’ve missed?”
“No.” Ryan reached for his coffee and took a gulp. “Apparently, there was a light show last night and Point Pleasant got buzzed by a horde of glowing objects. Mostly on Route 62 and near the TNT. The department had several dozen reports, and they’re still coming in.”