Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 126823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
As for the way she felt about Rainier now, those feelings for him had developed over time. She hadn’t known it was happening at first until it was too late to protect herself. She was the kind of woman who had intense, powerful emotions. Her loyalty, once given, was unswerving. It was the same with her love. And she knew she loved the man. He didn’t have to return her love; she wanted the best for him. That was one of the reasons she tried so hard to fight calling for him when she was in a downward spiral.
She’d wrecked his life once. She could only hope he was rebuilding it. She wanted that for him. It was the same with her parents. They’d been so close. The house filled with laughter and love when they were together. Once she was back home, there were constant tears, whispered arguments and a dark pall that had never been there before. She wanted her parents to find their happiness together again.
Shabina did her best to keep her mind centered on her friends and the way they were doing everything they could to help her. She was very grateful for them, especially when she pulled up to her gate and found Vienna had taken the time to drive Raine to her house. Raine was still having difficulty driving. She told everyone she could if the situation was dire, but no one wanted to test that theory.
Once in the house, Harlow immediately told the other two about Bale, Edward and Sean joining the bird-watching tour. She also AirDropped Raine pictures of Ellis Boucher and Rhys Cormier, the two businessmen from Paris, as well as Jules Beaumont from Belgium. For good measure, she threw in Charlie Gainer. She included more photographs of the university students as well, worried that if they were wrong about Bale, one or more might have been sent by Scorpion to break Shabina down before either killing her or attempting to kidnap her again.
While Harlow explained things, Shabina let the dogs run free in the gardens, feeling guilty that she hadn’t taken them for their usual run by the canal. She was tired, and it was late. She was grateful her friends were there to support her, but she also wanted to curl up in the fetal position and pull the blankets over her head and disappear. She knew she shouldn’t be alone, but that’s exactly what she wanted.
After she retrieved the plastic bag containing the feathers she’d found on the steps of the café and gave it to Raine, she busied herself making food for the others while they went over much the same thing Harlow and she had earlier in the day—whether Bale was involved.
She understood. Even though she considered him one of the worst human beings a man could be, he was still someone in their community who contributed when things went wrong. He really was a senior member of Search and Rescue, and he had never once shirked his duties.
Sean hunted, and, like many others, he provided meat for the elderly in Knightly. Edward cultivated a garden, indoor and out, and his winter greenhouse helped more than one older couple survive the winter. Grudgingly, she had to admit, the three men had a few good traits.
Chapter Eight
Shabina had very few days off that she kept strictly for herself. Usually, when she did have them, she was in Yosemite searching for birds. She wanted to find a way to relax, and she doubted being in the environment where the murder had taken place would allow her to do that.
She hadn’t gotten much sleep again, and her increasing anxiety had been conveyed to her dogs. They were restless, patrolling the entire house continually, going to the windows, insisting on being let outside to patrol. She was reluctant to let them, afraid if someone was watching, they might take the opportunity to hurt or kill her dogs.
Her Dobermans had been trained never to touch food anyone had tossed into the yard. If someone attempted to bribe them with food, that stranger would be met with a full-on attack. She wasn’t worried about poison, more like a bullet. Bailey, Stella’s Airedale cross, had been attacked and stabbed repeatedly with a knife. She would never forget that night of waiting at the vet’s, anxious to hear Bailey would live. She couldn’t imagine if that had been one of her dogs.
Her favorite early morning run was along the Knightly Creek Canal. She started the nearly four-mile run where the scenery was the most beautiful. Very large deciduous trees lined one side of the canal with beautiful panoramic views of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance. The scenery was breathtaking, and she never got tired of it.
Great blue herons with sticklike legs walked in the water, hunting for fish or frogs. They were majestic birds, standing around four or four and a half feet tall, but she knew they had hollow bones and weighed no more than five or six pounds. These beautiful birds could fly up to thirty miles an hour.