InSight

through the front door, like a ghost.”
    “Give me a minute to check the house. Make sure he’s not still inside.”
    “Hurry. Daisy will be scared if I’m not there. I’ll get my purse and find my cane.” Abby used her cane when she didn’t want to harness Daisy or in new situations to get her bearings. She kept one in her office and one at home. Damn, where is it? She felt around the doorframes where she sometimes leaned it, then remembered she’d left it next to the refrigerator after using it to coax something out from underneath.
    Pete met her in the living room. “No one’s here. I locked the glass door. You ready?”
    She grabbed the cane, slung the purse over her shoulder. “Let’s go.”
    Abby took Pete’s arm. He ushered her into the car and fastened her in.
    “Hold on,” Pete said. “I’m going to hit the accelerator.”
    “Go.”
    Pete drove like a cop in pursuit of a mass murderer. The emergency vet was on the other side of town, normally a twenty-minute ride. With the help of a few wails of the siren, they arrived in ten.

Chapter Seven
    Words Unspoken

    S itting in the waiting room of the emergency vet hospital, Abby still felt the pressure of the intruder’s gloved fingers around her neck, still felt Daisy’s sticky blood on her hands. The vet, Mike Rayland, had taken Daisy into one of the examining rooms by the time she arrived. He’d treated her a few times after normal office hours. Mike stuck his head out to greet her but when Abby tried to force a prognosis, he remained noncommittal. Not until he had a chance to see the damage, he said, and disappeared into the back. Pete had to go but told her to call when she was ready to leave, and he’d return to take her home. Dazed, she sat holding her cane between her legs for an hour, trying to make sense of everything that had happened. More importantly, why?
    “Abby?”
    The familiar voice sent her heartbeat into double rhythm. She’d know it anywhere—in a crowded room, in her dreams. “Luke? What are you doing here?”
    “Pete sent me a text and told me what happened.”
    She still felt emotionally off balance, and Luke’s presence didn’t help. He took the seat beside her. “Abby, I’m sorry.”
    Distracted, she made a conscious effort to face him. “I know. I can’t talk about any of that now. I can’t.”
    “I mean about Daisy. I’m beyond sorry for everything else.” He took her hand. “How is she?”
    “I don’t know.”
    He touched her neck. “Are you okay? You’re bruised.”
    “I’m fine.” She didn’t want to sound needy and dependent, but that’s how she felt. Wrap your arms around me, Luke, and make everything bad go away. But she couldn’t say that, or wouldn’t, still cautious of a man with the potential to hurt her in a different way than the intruder. Instead, she recapped the night’s events.
    “I don’t scare easily. I’ve been through too much to scare. But this guy scared the soul right out of me. What kind of person could hurt an innocent animal? Then he wrapped his hand around my throat and strangled out my breath. He got off on it. I felt it.”
    “I should have been there. I’ve been such a jerk.”
    “You’re not my bodyguard, Luke, and I don’t want you to be.” He didn’t speak, and she was glad he couldn’t hear the churlish snap of her words.
    “Anything you recall that can help identify him? Did he say anything?”
    “Nothing but a whisper, but he chews cloves. Not a great clue, is it?” She thought back. “There was something, though. A feeling at the time, but I’ve lost it. It’ll come to me.”
    “We’ll get him, Abby.”
    She wanted to believe him, but how do you find someone who has no motive. “He’s a man with no conscience.”
    “Sooner or later, he’ll make a mistake and we’ll be there.” Luke got up, touched her shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”
    Abby heard him open a door, heard running water, and his footsteps returning. “There’s blood all over your hands.” He scrubbed a soapy paper towel over both hands and another to dry. “That’s better.”
    “Thanks. I’d almost forgotten. I must be a mess.”
    “Nothing a change of clothes can’t fix.” Luke hesitated. “Do you mind if I wait with you?”
    She wished she had the strength to tell him to go, but the words fell uncontrollably from her lips. “No. I’m glad you’re here.”
    He rubbed her neck and massaged her shoulders. His thigh touched hers and his warmth