Noah darted a glance her way. “Hey, you look like you’re feeling better.”
“It’s amazing what a bath, food, and rest can do,” she quipped. Neve sent her an amused wink.
Noah bent down to Rover, and the dog backed up.
“Try not to lean over him,” Neve instructed. “You’re big and scary to a dog when you do that.”
Without missing a beat, Noah knelt and held out his hand for the pup to sniff. “Hey, boy. Remember me? We spent a cold night together in my truck.” Rover took a sniff, gave him a lick, and rocked against his shoulder happily. “Wow, dog. You smell a hundred times better,” he chuckled.
“So about this dog,” Neve continued. “First of all, his name isnotRover. He’s chipped, and according to his vet in Cortez, his name is Lex Luthor.”
Noah looked up at Neve and blinked. “Are you serious? That’s a terrible name.”
“Rover’s not much better,” Charlie tossed out.
Noah glared at him. “That’s Hailey’s name for him.”
Noah’s defense of her moniker caught Hailey off guard. She wasn’t used to people sticking up for her, unless it was Kaylee. But watching Noah do it? Her heart might have melted a little.
“Sorry, Hailey. I was just looking for something to needle my brother about.” Charlie’s pained expression made her want to bust out a laugh and pull him in for a bear hug.
She waved her hand. “It’s okay. Really. It was just a placeholder name.” She turned to Neve. “What else did you learn?”
“He’s an Airedale-retriever mix who’s four years old. He weighs forty-five pounds right now, but sixty is probably a more normal weight when he’s healthy.”
An image of Noah carrying Lex Luthor to the truck popped and bobbed in Hailey’s brain. “Is his family looking for him?” Her hopes climbed but quickly plummeted when Neve shook her head.
“Unfortunately, his family gave him up to a shelter. One of the children developed asthma, and the pediatrician concluded it was because of an allergy to the dog.”
“Oh. That’s so sad.”
“Well, he was adopted out about a few weeks ago.”
Hailey brightened. “Then hedoeshave a family.”
Neve’s mouth moved side to side, and she rolled her eyes to the ceiling, as if crafting a careful answer.
Charlie’s eyebrows knotted together in a frown. “What aren’t you telling us?”
Neve leveled her eyes on him. “I found evidence of abuse,recentabuse, like cigarette burns, bruising around his neck—which is why I had to put him in a body harness instead of a collar—and some hairline fractures that indicate he was slammed against something hard. Repeatedly.”
Hailey gasped.
Charlie muttered, “Son of a bitch, that’s why he’s afraid of dudes.”
Noah stared at Neve in disbelief. He scratched Lex Luthor’s thick-furred back. “Could he have gotten those fractures when he jumped from a car?”
“I don’t think so. The injuries don’t line up. I’m guessing he either ran away or was abandoned in the woods. Another thing to note is that he hasn’t eaten in days, maybe weeks. Maybe not since he was adopted.”
Tears built behind Hailey’s eyes, and she felt a corresponding burn in her chest. Noah sent her a sympathetic look, as if heknewthis news about killed her.
Charlie scratched the back of his neck. “I’m sensing you don’t want to turn him back over to his new owner. Am I right, Neve?”
Neve shook her head. “I’d prefer not to, but I have an obligation. Now if you were to dognap him, there’s not much I could do.”
“I already have two dogs,” Charlie pointed out.“Girldogs. They don’t share.” He exchanged another covert look with Neve.
More moments of silence ticked by.
