“Later, guys.” Luke headed out to his vehicle and let Boomer out of the backseat, taking him for a walk around the property. There was a park right next to the precinct, so Boomer got to stretch his legs. After about fifteen minutes, he and Boomer got back in the cruiser.

He checked his watch. It was Thursday, the night Emma kept the clinic open late so people could bring their animals in after work. He could stop by, see how she was doing. He hadn’t seen her in a while.

Or he could just go do his damn job and stop thinking about Emma. She was busy, and so was he.

He drove by the clinic and her parking lot was full, so he went past. He’d call her later.

He got called to the scene of an accident, and he forgot all about Emma as he worked the two-car rear-end vehicle collision. The girl who’d hit the minivan had been texting, and when he’d come on the scene she was sobbing, complaining that her dad was going to kill her since he’d already lectured her once about messing with her phone while driving.

Luke didn’t have much sympathy because he saw plenty of people texting and sending e-mails instead of paying attention to the road like they should. The girl was lucky the woman driving the minivan was on her way to pick up her kids and only had a sore neck, and that her children hadn’t been in the car, which was exactly what he’d told Missy Davis, teenage texter.

“You don’t understand,” she said, tears still streaming down her face. “My dad will take my keys away. I won’t have wheels ever again. He’ll probably even take my phone.”

The last two words were spoken at a high decibel level, followed by another round of racking sobs. One would think Missy’s entire life was over. Of course being seventeen, she probably thought it was.

When Missy’s father arrived at the scene, the girl’s eyes widened. Dad didn’t look happy at all.

“Officer, I’m Howard Davis, Missy’s father. Can you tell me what happened?”

Luke explained the accident, and Mr. Davis’s face grew more grim the further Luke got into his recounting of the scene.

“I see. Thank you.” Mr. Davis turned and headed toward his daughter, who appeared to have shrunk several inches as she leaned against the car. Luke kept an eye on the two of them to make sure no violence broke out. But all Mr. Davis did was hold out his hand. Missy dropped her car keys into it. He said a few more words, Missy opened her mouth as if to object, but then gave Mr. Davis her phone and dejectedly headed over to her dad’s car.

Maybe she’d learn a lesson from this. Luke hoped, anyway.

By the time the wrecker came and removed both vehicles from the scene, it was past eight and Luke was dragging. He stopped at the local convenience store for a cup of coffee, then headed down the main town highway to do a patrol.

That’s when his radio started squawking. The dispatcher came on with a burglary-in-progress code, the location not too far from where he was. He got on his radio and indicated he’d be heading there, one minute out. He hit his sirens and stepped on the gas.

It was the urgent care center, just across the parking lot from Emma’s vet clinic. A quick glance at the time showed that Emma should be just closing up. He hoped she and her staff were still inside. And safe.

He was the first car to arrive and reported his arrival, then slid on his bulletproof jacket and grabbed his rifle.

No alarms were going off, at least not audibly, which didn’t mean a silent alarm hadn’t been triggered. Backup was due to arrive in less than a minute. He hauled ass out of his car, opening the back door for Boomer. He gave Boomer the appropriate commands, indicating they were in search-and-stealth mode. Boomer stayed right by his side. The dog knew his job.

The front door of the clinic was locked since they closed at seven, so he hurried down the sidewalk of the shopping center so he could head around the back.

He could see Emma’s clinic from where he stood at the side of the shopping center. And just as he shifted around the corner, she came outside, by herself, no doubt locking up.

Something must have caught her eye, at the same time Luke heard a sound from the back. Emma’s gaze tracked the sound and Boomer emitted a low growl.

Luke gave him the command to silence. Now Luke hesitated, warring between wanting to shout out to Emma to go back inside and lock her door or staying quiet so he could continue to stalk the perp. Emma’s safety was paramount. She stood frozen to the spot, and that’s when Luke spotted the dark figure darting into the woods behind the shopping center.

He gave the Go signal to Boomer, who tore past him and into the woods at high speed. Luke called in that he was in pursuit, gave his location, and headed out after Boomer. He held up his hand, waving at Emma to go back inside. When he was sure she was going to follow direction, he took off after Boomer and the suspect.

He heard the sirens pull up at the front of the urgent care center, communicated his location as he entered the thick wooded area. Boomer barked, as he was trained, giving Luke the ability to track his whereabouts. Left, about fifty yards ahead. Breathing heavily, sweating under his Kevlar jacket as he ran like hell, Luke pushed through the dense brush, not wanting to use his flashlight in case the suspect had doubled back.

“Location, McCormack.”

It was one of his fellow officers; Luke gave his best guess as to where he was. “I’m not using my flashlight. Keep an eye out in case the perp doubles back out of this brush. I have Boomer in here with me. I sent him in when we saw the guy make a break for the woods.”

An hour later, there was no sign of the suspect. Luke, Boomer, and several of the Hope police force had combed the area, to no avail. The perp either had a foolproof escape plan or a car hidden nearby. Hell, maybe he’d hopped into the river and taken a boat. With all of them tramping through the woods, forensics likely wouldn’t be able to get decent shoe impressions.

His captain had shown up to review the scene, inside and out. This time the perp had set off the silent alarm. With the rash of burglaries lately, the urgent care center had beefed up its security, and cutting the outside alarm system had set off a backup. So when he broke in, the silent alarm had gone off.

They’d also wired in additional video surveillance, so they’d finally have something to look at, once the tech guys were able to download it.

In the meantime, Luke told his captain about Emma standing there watching the whole thing go down.

“A potential witness?” Pete asked.

“And a former victim of this dickhead.”

“Go talk to her.”

Luke nodded and headed across the parking lot. He pulled on the door, which Emma had wisely locked, so he knocked. Daisy came running to the door first, followed by Emma, who unlocked the door and let him in.

She was wide-eyed and pale, just like that night when she’d been burglarized. He wanted to put his arms around her and tell her everything was going to be all right, but he was on duty and there were other cops milling about outside who could see them.

“Are you all right?” he asked as she led him into her office.

She nodded, took a seat in one of the chairs across from her desk. “Yes. How about you? I saw you and Boomer run like crazy into the woods after that guy. Did you catch him?”

He shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. But we’re closing in. This is the first time we’ve gotten close enough to him to catch him in the act.”

“Except that one time he actually burglarized my place while I was here,” she reminded him.

“Yes. There was that. Too bad you’re not a cop.”

She laughed, clasping her hands together.

“You’re shaking.” He took a seat and put his hands over hers. “It’s going to be all right, Emma.”

She looked down at their hands, then back up at him. “I saw the guy, you know.”

Luke’s gut tightened. “How well did you see him?”

“Not all that well. He was wearing black pants or sweats, and a black hoodie pulled up over his head. I know he had blond hair, or maybe white hair. He paused for a fraction of a second, like maybe he heard something, and he looked my way. He saw me looking at him. Then he took off like he was running for his life and disappeared into the woods.”

Luke let go of her hands and pulled his notepad out of his pocket. “Okay, let’s go over this from the beginning so I can make this a part of my official report.”

Emma took a deep breath and tried to quell the shaking that had seemed to settle in every bone, every nerve ending of her body, from the moment she’d stepped outside to lock up. It was when she’d turned around that she’d caught a glance, a flash of someone coming out from the back of the shopping center in the other parking lot.

And then she’d seen Luke and Boomer hugging the side of the building, illuminated in the lights. She’d known immediately what was happening. Someone was burglarizing the urgent care center, the only facility in that center that carried drugs. Her gaze immediately tracked back to the burglar.

In that split second, she’d seen him, and he’d seen her watching him. It had only taken a few seconds at most, but the image, what had happened, was burned into her memory like it had all happened in slow motion.

“He was wearing jeans, now that I think about it. Very dark jeans. Tennis shoes, I think, though I can’t be positive about that. A black hoodie that he wore over his head, and he had gloves on. He carried a backpack, a black one. It was slung over his back. His hair was blond, kind of a yellow-blond, not a normal color, but maybe from some kit that bleaches hair.”