Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“Mo will be fine,” Amy whispered in my ear, offering reassurance, though the quiver in her voice told me that she was looking for reassurance from me that she was right.
“He will be. He knows to come home,” I said and hurried to the edge of the woods and let loose with a whistle, then shouted. “MO, RETURN!”
I heard my dad telling my mom that EMS was on the way to check her out. She argued that she was fine. I heard Josh’s voice as well, but none of it mattered. My only thoughts were on Mo and that he might be hurt, though it nagged at me why he went after the guy without a command from my mom.
I whistled and shouted for him one more time and when I got no response, I decided that was it. I was going into the woods to search for him.
A hand on my arm stopped me. I went to yank it free when I saw that it was Ian.
“Did you take that new dog tracker off Mo’s vest that was sent to you to try out and recommend?” Ian asked.
My eyes went wide. “No, I didn’t. I forgot all about that.”
“We tried it out a couple times and Mo stayed put where you told him to so you could see how the tracker worked,” Ian reminded me. “Maybe he’s sitting somewhere waiting for you.”
“You are brilliant. I could kiss you,” I said, reaching for my cell in my pocket, grateful I didn’t forget it.
“I would not object to that,” Ian said with his usual appealing smile that calmed my heart in one way and fluttered it in another.
I barely opened the app when we heard a bark.
“MO!” My shout was returned with a bark, and I shouted his name again. Another bark was heard, and I didn’t hesitate, I hurried into the woods, Ian keeping pace with me. My heart soared with relief when I spotted Mo heading my way, my mom’s purse hanging from his mouth.
Mo picked up speed when he caught sight of me, his tail wagging, and I wished I had a treat with me to give him. I smiled when Ian handed me one.
“I am getting used to keeping them handy,” he said with a wink.
I was all smiles until Mo reached me, and I saw the blood on the fur around his mouth as he happily dropped my mom’s bag at my feet.
“Don’t touch around his mouth, Pepper, until I get a sample of that blood and leave the purse where it is,” Josh warned, coming up behind us. “I’ll go get a blood sample kit.”
I was about to crouch down to hug Mo and give him the treat when my mom shouted his name. He snatched up the bag with his teeth before I could stop him and rushed to her.
“Mo! You are my hero,” my mom sang out and hurried out of my dad’s arms to drop down, against my dad’s warning not to, and hugged Mo after he dropped her purse at her feet.
She rained kisses all over his head as she hugged him, then she slipped her hand into her large purse and retrieved a sizeable bone, that she no doubt had planned on giving him at the end of the day. Now I knew why he was so intent on finding her purse. He had smelled the bone inside and there was no way he was going to let anyone take that away from him.
“We should have known that Mo had an ulterior motive for pursuing that guy,” Amy said as she and Beau joined Ian and me.
“Mo not only retrieved his bone, but he also got a blood sample of the assailant,” Beau said. “He really is a hero.”
“We are not taking Mo to lunch. You are going to go home.” I heard my dad say and knew his stern order was not going to go over big with my mom.
“Nonsense. I have work to do, and you promised me and Mo lunch at the diner,” my mom argued, stretching her hand out for my dad to help her up.
I smiled, watching Mo’s head snap back and forth between my mom and dad as they continued to debate the issue, the large bone clamped firmly in his mouth.
I finally stepped in. “I’m sure Mom could use a cup of tea, Dad. Amy and I can go with her and Mo to the diner, and you can join us when you’re done here.”
“She needs to give a statement about the incident,” my dad said as if that settled it.
“I will give you a statement, Warren, when you join us for at least coffee,” my mom said, her words sounding more like the final one.
My dad capitulated on condition that my mom let the EMS workers give her a quick once-over.