Last Breath

“How long will they keep her?” Daria knelt and put an arm around the dog’s neck. Sweet Thing’s pink tongue unfurled like a small flag and licked the side of Daria’s face. “When will we be able to get her back?”

“I guess it will depend on when the vet has time to do the impression. They might have to sedate her to do that.”

“But she’ll be okay, right?”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Seeing that Daria still appeared uneasy, Co

“All right. Give me five minutes to change, and I’ll be ready to go.”

“Listen, if you don’t need me for the rest of the day, I think I’d like to head back to St. De

“Vanessa?” Co

“Beck’s sister. She owns a boutique there on the main street, and does a lot of business this time of the year. The weekends are especially busy.”

“I think I can handle things from here.” Co

“Couldn’t be better, actually. I’m trying to take things slow, but you know how these things are.” Mia smiled.

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

Mia’s smile widened. “I guess you’re learning, anyway.”

His cell phone rang just as he opened his mouth to reply.

“Answer your phone, Con.” Mia laughed. “I’m going to go upstairs and pack.”

“Shields. Yes, Detective, thanks for calling me back…”

“Maybe we should go with her to the vet,” Daria said to Vince Coliani in the parking lot at the New Castle County police station. “She might get upset. Maybe she’ll think we’ve abandoned her.”

“She’s going to be just fine,” the detective assured her. “Dr. Price is great with dogs. We take our K9s to her.”

“We can come back and pick her up later today if she’s finished?” Daria asked.

“The vet didn’t think she’d get around to the impression until pretty late in the day. She has two surgeries this afternoon,” he told her. “But don’t worry. We’ll take good care of her, and you’ll have her back by tomorrow, no later.”

“Okay. Sweet Thing, you behave yourself.” Daria gave the dog a parting hug and got into Co

Co

“Great. Hey, I owe you one,” Coliani said.

“Get me a match and we’ll both be happy,” Co

Daria looked out the window as Co

“She’ll be fine, Daria. I promise.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“You’ve really become attached to her.”

Daria nodded. “I really have. I hope I can keep her.”

“Coliani said no one’s even stepped forward to ask about the dog. Cross had one nephew; he made arrangements for the body to be transferred to a funeral parlor in Virginia when the medical examiner releases it, which will probably happen today. But there wasn’t a word said about the dog.”

“Maybe the detective can tell me who I have to talk to to adopt her.”

“I’m thinking possession is good enough at this point. I doubt anyone’s going to challenge you.”

“Good. That would be good.” Daria rested her head against the back of the seat. “Tell me again where Mr. Cavanaugh lives.”

“Outside of West Chester. It’s not far from here. He said to come up Route 202. Which according to that sign, is right here.”

Co

“Did you ever get that package of material from your mother? The one with the PI reports about your brother?”

“What made you think of that?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” Co

“It came yesterday or the day before. Vita dropped it off right after Mia and I got home yesterday. The mailman evidently left it at the administration building.”

“When were you going to give it to me?”

“When things slowed down a bit. I figured you have your hands full. I didn’t want to bother you.”

“It’s no bother. Did you look through it?”

“I started to yesterday, but to tell you the truth, reading gave me a headache.”

“How’s your head now?”

“Much better. I took some of the pain meds after breakfast and the throbbing is pretty much gone.”

“Good.” He maneuvered the Porsche around a tractor trailer and settled back into the right lane. Traffic was heavy and the road wasn’t particularly smooth, so he did what he could to keep Daria’s head from bouncing around too much.

“Co

“Sure.”

“What happened to your brother?”

“Dylan?” Co

“I know that. How did he die?”

“What brought this up?”

“Just something Mia said.”

“What did she say?”

“That I’d have to ask you about him. As if she didn’t want to talk about it.”

“I imagine she didn’t.” Co

Daria’s jaw dropped. She tried in vain for several seconds to close it.

“But they were-”

“Yeah, cousins. Yes, they were.” Co

He pulled in front of a green pickup and gu

“God, Co

“Long story short, I saw something he didn’t want me to see. I was in Central America on a job, and ran into him while something very bad was going down. He told me he was on the case for the Bureau, that he was shutting down the local operation. I believed him. Later, he and his partner realized it was only a matter of time before I found out that there was no FBI operation. He set me up when I was supposed to be working a drug bust, but there was a change of plans, and Dylan worked that job in my place.”

“What was the bad thing he was into?”

“Selling children on the black market.”

“My God…”

Co

Finally, Daria said, “Why do you feel responsible for your brother’s death?”

It was a question he had heard before. He’d heard it more times than he’d like to think about, and had never bothered to reply. Not to his brother, Aidan, or his cousin Andrew, or to Mia. Nor to A

He was trying to decide if he wanted to bully Daria into shutting up when she reached over and grasped the hand that was resting on the gear shift.

Neither of them spoke until they arrived at Cavanaugh’s.

“This is it here, I think,” Co

He turned into the drive and followed it up a slight incline until he reached the house, set well back from the road. It was gray stucco and stone, three stories high, and surrounded by tall trees.

Co

“It’s beautiful here, isn’t it? Did you notice that pretty stream when we pulled in?” She gazed around admiringly. “Like a painting.”