No Mark Upon Her

the onslaught of adrenaline that he’d tried so hard to learn to control.
    Finn raised his head, listening. Maybe, thought Kieran, his mouth dry, maybe he wasn’t crazy. Maybe Finn had heard something, too.
    He held his breath, but the only sound that came to him was his heart beating in his ears. It must have been a car door he’d heard, or some other ordinary noise—a neighbor coming home, someone calling their cat in from the rain. Not shelling, not here.
    All he had to do was calm down, he told himself, and remember that his mind could control his body. He would be all right if he just—
    Finn stood, the motion so fast it knocked Kieran’s knees sideways. The fur rose along the dog’s neck and back like a stiff-bristled brush.
    And then he growled.
    A s hard as Tavie had worked to make a new life for herself, and as much as she’d come to enjoy being on her own, she found her house without Kieran’s large—and sometimes awkward—presence, weirdly and uncomfortably empty.
    Why had he gone to Becca Meredith’s cottage? Was it because he was grieving? But this had been sudden, hence the dashed note on the chalkboard. And he’d been in a panic, or he’d never have forgotten his phone.
    Then when she’d talked to Superintendent Kincaid, he’d been short with her. Not rude, but abrupt in the way she recognized, a commanding officer working out strategies in an emergency. But he hadn’t said where he was or how long it would take him to get to Kieran.
    The thought of Kieran, alone at the Remenham cottage, facing some unknown danger, made up her mind in an instant. She pocketed his phone, in case the superintendent called back, then ran through the sitting room, grabbing her jacket off the hook by the door.
    Tosh’s yip stopped her. The German shepherd danced eagerly at her feet, then nipped at the lead hanging on its own hook. “I know you want to go,” said Tavie.
    She was torn. Knowingly, she risked the dog’s safety every time they went out on a search, because that was their job, Tosh’s job, and Tavie knew the rules and the risks. But this—she had no idea what she might be walking into. No, she decided. Fearing for Kieran was bad enough—she couldn’t put Tosh in a situation where she was blind to the danger.
    Kneeling, she cupped her dog’s muzzle in her hand. “Not this time, girl. You stay here.” She gave a last glance at her safe haven, absently tucking the lead in her pocket as she ruffled Tosh’s coat. “Guard the house, girl.”
    T hey’d taken the Astra, against Freddie’s protests that he knew the road better and his Audi was faster. But taking Freddie had been against Kincaid’s better judgment—he was not going to compound it by letting a civilian drive.
    He’d only been convinced to let Freddie come with them because Freddie knew the cottage, and more important, because Freddie knew Ross Abbott. Maybe as a friend, Freddie could convince Abbott to be sensible.
    If they weren’t too late.
    The rain was coming down in sheets now, rendering the Astra’s windscreen wipers virtually useless, and Kincaid was struggling to follow the lane. He’d no idea how close he was to Remenham.
    “Here,” said Freddie. “Cut the lights.”
    “I can’t bloody see as it is,” Kincaid replied, but he slowed and switched off the headlamps. The world changed, as drastically as a photo seen in negative, the landscape now visible as a vista in blacks and silvery grays.
    “Now the engine. Coast into the verge. We’re close.”
    Kincaid wondered if Freddie had entertained secret fantasies of tactical ops, but he trusted his judgment on their position.
    As the Astra came to a stop, wipers down, the rain closed in on them like a curtain and roared against the roof.
    Then, the downpour lessened for a moment, and Kincaid made out the dim shape of a car parked ahead of them on the verge.
    “It’s Ross’s,” said Freddie flatly, and Kincaid knew that their worst fears were confirmed.
    Doug had called for backup, asking them to come in quietly, but Kincaid had no idea how long it would take. Beside him, Doug clicked off his seatbelt. “Guv, you sure you don’t want me to call again?” His voice was a little high.
    “No time. We’ve got to get in there.” Was it the right decision? he asked himself. But he couldn’t sit and wait, knowing Kieran’s life was in danger.
    “Water rats it is, then,” said Doug with forced nonchalance. None of them had weather gear, so any entrance