Arsenic and Young Lacy by Kassandra Lamb

Author:Kassandra Lamb
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: veterans, PTSD, service dog, dog, cozy mystery series, sexual assault in the military, dog training
Publisher: misterio press LLC
Published: 2016-09-05T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I whipped out my cell phone. “Shots fired,” I yelled at the 911 operator. “Police and ambulance.” I rattled off Rainey’s address, surprised I could remember it under the circumstances. “We’re around the corner from there.”

Then I bolted forward to the blond-haired man on the ground. Rainey hovered over him. A red stain was rapidly spreading across his white tee shirt. His eyes were wide, unfocused, his skin pale.

“Rainey, I’m sorry...” he whispered.

I was shaking, totally freaked out. “We’ve got to stop the bleeding!”

That kicked Rainey into action. She tore open her shirt, buttons flying, and wadded the cloth against Joe’s wound. “Stay with me, baby,” she pleaded as she picked up his wrist to take his pulse.

Joe looked up at her. “Love you...” His eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.

She let his wrist drop and dug in her shorts pocket. “Get me a blanket and some pillows from the house.” She tossed me a set of keys. “He may be going into shock.”

Buddy and I took off back around the corner. Blood pounded in my ears. I felt sick to my stomach. I’d seen a lot in my day, but I’d never been shot at before.

I didn’t like it.

Grateful for something to do, I bolted up the steps to the Bryants’ front door. Fumbling for the right key, I finally got it unlocked.

Just over the threshold, I hesitated for a second, not totally comfortable with entering someone’s house without them. “Sunny! There’s been a shooting,” I called out.

The only sound was the soft ticking of a clock somewhere. A faint odor tickled my nose.

I ran toward the stairs that led to Rainey’s attic bedroom, Buddy hard on my heels. “Sunny, where are you?”

I grabbed a blanket and two pillows off of Rainey’s bed and raced back the way I’d come. On my pass back through the kitchen, I saw the note, propped up against a pitcher of iced tea on the table.

R, RUNNING ERRANDS. BACK SOON. S

My brain belatedly registered the significance of the odor hanging in the air. I flashed back for a second to my college days and the dorms at the University of Maryland.

I bolted out of the house and ran faster than I thought possible all the way back to Rainey and Joe.

Sirens sounded in the distance. I prayed that was our ambulance coming.

Rainey instructed me to bunch the pillows under Joe’s knees and feet. “Put the blanket over him.”

I did as I was told, even though the temperature was in the eighties. As I spread the blanket over his arms, my hand touched his skin. It was clammy.

The sirens grew louder.

Rainey kept the pressure on Joe’s shoulder, oblivious to the fact that she was only wearing a bra and shorts. Her lips were moving.

I suspected she was praying. Feeling a little awkward about it, since I don’t check in with God regularly anymore, I silently joined her.

Two sheriff’s department cruisers rounded the corner, the ambulance right behind. I blew out a sigh of relief.

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