“Do they always do that?” he asked.
“Always. They think it’s funny. Almost as soon as they could walk, they worked out that I can’t catch them both—”
She was interrupted by the twin at her side. “Pony!” He pointed toward the paddock where Tiny was hurling himself against the fence. The yowls were becoming increasingly more frustrated.
“I think we should get the introductions out of the way before Tiny wins his battle with the fence,” Leon said.
Any concerns he had that the twins might be fearful of approaching Tiny scattered on the summer breeze as the two little figures darted toward the fenced-in area with cries of delight. As they approached the dog, they drew closer together and stepped up to the fence holding hands.
“Pony?” Stevie viewed Tiny doubtfully.
Frankie shook his head. “Big doggie.”
The “big doggie” thrust his nose through a gap in the wooden slats and the twins squealed in delight as he licked their fingers.
“Shall I let him out?” Leon asked.
When Flora nodded her agreement, he undid the latch on the gate and waited for Tiny to come bounding out. To his surprise, the oversized canine stepped carefully through the opening. Once he was on the other side, Tiny regarded the two little boys with an expression that Leon could only describe as wonder. His gaze went from them to Leon and back again as though inquiring whether the children were real. Then, as the twins rushed forward to pet him, he sat down, his big body quivering with pleasure.
“I think they’ll be okay.” Leon went to stand beside Flora, who was watching her sons as they hugged and stroked the huge dog.
“Okay?” She turned her head and gave him that smile again. The one that loosened something inside him and, just for a moment or two, took him back to a time before the scars, dents, and damage. “I may never get them to leave. Shall I start dinner?”
“Good idea.” They moved toward the house. Tiny, with the twins vying to get closest to him, trotted alongside them. “Then you can meet Bungee and tell me about the rest of your day.”
He was watching her face as he spoke, and he had never seen anyone’s expression change so fast. Flora went from carefree and smiling to chalk-faced and shaken in a heartbeat. He might be out of practice when it came to conversation, but Leon knew nothing he’d said had killed the mood so spectacularly.
Clearly, something else must have happened since he’d seen Flora earlier in the day. If it involved one of her patients, she was bound by confidentiality and would be unable to reveal the details. It was obvious that whatever had happened was bad news. Leon had never considered himself to be an intuitive person, but recent events had given him a sixth sense. All he knew was what his gut feeling was telling him.
If he was right, the stricken look in her eyes was connected to her job. Worse, it was linked to Joy Valeski’s death. And that meant a whole world more trouble was coming their way.
Chapter 6
The evening at Leon’s house was exactly what Flora needed to take her mind off her meeting with Lilith Bronson and her subsequent phone conversation with Laurie Delaney. The police chief had listened carefully to the facts, asked a few incisive questions then arranged to come by Lilith’s house later that afternoon. Although Flora had offered to be there, Laurie hadn’t seen the need for an extra presence in the meeting.
“I know Lilith Bronson. I don’t think she’ll be nervous about speaking to me. Sometimes an interview works best if I’m alone with the witness,” Laurie had said. “I’ll stop by your office tomorrow in case there’s any additional information I need.”
Now, having eaten dinner, she and Leon were sitting on the porch, watching the twins playing on the grass with Tiny. The oversized dog, so boisterous when Flora first encountered him, had turned into a gentle giant where the children were concerned. Darting out of their way as the twins chased him, he let them catch up to him, then lay down as Stevie and Frankie tumbled onto the ground with him.
It was briefly difficult to decipher the tangle of human and canine limbs as they rolled on the ground. Then, the threesome jumped up and started the game all over again.
“It’s cardio for toddlers and canines,” Leon laughed. It was the first time Flora had seen him really laugh. This side-splitting, eye-watering hilarity that couldn’t be controlled. The joy made him look younger. “We could market it as a new sport.”
“You have a point,” Flora agreed. “It’s like wrestling but with shrieking instead of grunting.”
“I’d back your boys against a professional wrestler any day,” Leon said. “They don’t know the meaning of fear.”
As he spoke, the twins, working as a team, hurled themselves on top of Tiny, pinning him down. The dog lay still for a moment, then got to his feet with the two boys still on his back. As he ran toward the house, they clung on like tiny, determined rodeo riders.
Flora sighed. “I know. It’s a worry sometimes.”
As she spoke, Bungee, who had remained aloof during dinner, appeared. The cat was a macho, strutting ball of ginger fluff. Pausing in front of Flora, he favored her with an unblinking green stare before leaping gracefully onto her lap. After kneading her legs for a few seconds with sharp claws, he curled up in a tight circle and purred like a motorbike engine.
“He tried that once with me,” Leon said. “It lasted about thirty seconds. Then Tiny thought it looked fun and tried to join in. It didn’t end well.”
“He seems harmless.” Flora stroked the cat’s velvet head and the purring reached a crescendo. “But I can see how him and Tiny together wouldn’t work out. If it
