Lift You Up (Rivers Brothers 1)

"That will be good for Padfoot since I can't take him out to get his energy out. He and Hannibal can run and wrestle. Oh, but I would have to ask Kingston."

"Ask Kingston what?" King's voice asked, suddenly pushing the door open, giving Peyton and Jamie a smile. "Girls," he greeted, leaning over to press a chaste kiss to Peyton's temple.

"If Hannibal can come and hang out with Padfoot and me tomorrow. I mean... if I am still here," I added, my belly sinking at the idea that the case could be solved already.

"Of course he can. You'll be in your glory," he added, shooting me a warm smile. "Two dogs to play with."

"Great. I'll text King before I drop him off," Peyton said, clearly in a rush to leave. And we all knew why. Well, I hoped Kingston didn't, at least. Her arm linked through Jamie's pulling her with her. "You two kids have fun now," she added, sending me a wicked smile before disappearing outside.

"Did you cook me dinner?" King asked, something odd in his voice, an inflection I didn't know him well enough to place. But it almost seemed full of wonder and pleasure.

"I needed to find some way to thank you. But it totally slipped my mind to ask Peyton to bring chicken," I added as he moved past me to the kitchen, leaning down, puffs of white steam around his head as he took a deep breath.

"Why would you need chicken? Did you start eating meat?" he asked, brows furrowed.

"I, ah, no. But for you..."

"I'll eat whatever you cook for me, sweetheart," he told me with so much sincerity that there was no room to think otherwise. Even if all I cooked was a giant block of tofu with no seasoning whatsoever. He would eat it. And be thankful. Which was just, well, bizarre. And lovely. "This smells great. Nope," he objected, taking the plates out of my hand as I reached for them. "You cooked. I set the table and clean. Go sit. We can talk about what I found out today."

Five minutes later, we were both situated at his counter on stools. If we hadn't both instantly tilted half away to make it possible to carry on a conversation, our shoulders would have been brushing.

"I'm guessing you didn't have any luck finding Harry."

King paused, fork half lifted off the plate, taking a breath, like he was already regretting what he was going to need to tell me. "I hate to say this, Savvs, but I think he skipped town. There was blood in his sink - from washing out his knocked-out tooth site, I'd say. His drawers and closet and been rifled through in haste, one of the drawers half fallen out of the dresser. There's a luggage-sized empty spot on his shelf."

"How can he just leave town? He has a house and a business..."

My heart sank at the idea that he would be so willing to just up and leave. With a store full of living creatures that depended on someone being there to keep them alive. He knew I had been scared away, that I wouldn't return unless I knew it was safe. He would have left them there to starve to death.

"Honey," King's voice cut in, his hand pressing down on my thigh, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "It's okay. It's a hiccup. We will still figure this whole thing out. I promise. You will get back to your life eventually."

"He was going to leave the animals to die," I told him, words heavy.

Kingston's head cocked to the side, a slow smile tugging up the corners of his mouth. I could have sworn he said something under his breath, something that sounded suspiciously like Big heart. "I think we both know that Howie's belongs to Harry in paperwork only. You are the lifeblood of that place. I won't say he doesn't give a shit about the animals, but I think he knew that you would somehow find a way to get in there and take care of them even in such a dire situation. I'm shocked Howie didn't leave the place to you."

I won't lie, I had been upset that he hadn't, had needed to fight through the bitterness to allow me to grieve. Howie had died suddenly, an aneurysm that took his life in seconds. Without a will, all his earthly belongings had gone to his next of kin. Harry. Had he maybe foreseen his death, I liked to think that he would have gotten a will written up, would have left his pride and joy to me who he knew cared about it as much as he did, who would continue on his legacy, would make the necessary changes to keep the place updated, relevant, an essential part of the pet community in our town.