Free Stuck Together (Trouble in Texas Book #3) by Mary Connealy Page B

a problem.
    Unless that someone wasn’t thinking right.
    Vince whirled and nearly fell over the bench seat. He caught himself and raced for the door. He barely noticed Melissa only steps behind him.
    He rushed out of the diner, looking all around. “Where did she go?”
    “We have to find her before she gets out into the countryside. Where did my basket go?” Melissa demanded it like it was life or death.
    “Paul probably took it to the boardinghouse. What difference does a stupid basket make?” Vince hurried toward the boardinghouse. On all sides of this tiny town lay trackless miles of rugged wilderness. If Mother got lost out there, she might die before they could find her.
    He looked back to see the rest of his friends pour out of the building and took command like he had so many times in the war. “Fan out. She can’t have gotten far. She’s not . . . not thinking right.”
    “We’ll split up.” Dare let Vince know he’d caught the meaning behind those few words.
    Vince saw a flash of white on the ground right in the middle of the street. He raced for it and picked up a delicate lace handkerchief. It had to be Mother’s. Common sense dictated that he check the buildings, and he did take a quick look inside the coach, thinking Mother might be drawn to the familiar. But this was Mother, so once the coach proved to be empty, he ignored common sense and ran toward the wilderness to the west of Broken Wheel. If she’d stayed in town, they’d find her fast, as there weren’t that many buildings to search. It was only if she’d wandered out of town that she’d be in trouble.
    A motion to his right caught his attention, and he saw Melissa running for Asa’s. A good place to search, but Vince thought they should get to the edge of town and fast. Just then a crash sounded from inside the boardinghouse, followed by a shout of fear. A boyish shout, not Mother’s voice. The noise brought Vince to a stop. The boardinghouse door slammed open. Paul came tearing out, yelling for all he was worth.
    Behind him, a blur of brown-and-white fur howled, snapping its teeth. Vince reached for his gun.
    “Livvy, heel!” Melissa shouted. When Melissa shouted, Vince recognized it was a dog chasing Paul.
    There were no dogs in Broken Wheel.
    It stopped nipping at Paul and whirled to charge Melissa, baying with every long pace.
    Vince pivoted to save Melissa, knowing the dog was going for her throat. Vince was too far away to protect her.She was standing between him and the dog, so his drawn gun was useless.
    He’d taken two running steps when the dog skidded to a halt, turned to stand at her heel, and plunked its backside down, panting. It looked at Melissa with devotion, its long pink tongue lolling out of its mouth.
    It was a foxhound. Vince had seen one often enough. They used them to hunt runaway prisoners in the South. Runaway slaves too, it was said.
    Maybe the midsize, short-haired dogs even hunted the occasional fox.
    Melissa dropped to her knees in front of the white dog with its big brown spots just as Vince came up beside them. He wanted to yell at her for playing with a dog when Mother was missing, but he didn’t have time.
    “Livvy, find Virginia Belle,” Melissa commanded. She ran a hand gently over the dog’s head. The dog yipped once, then stood, wheeled in a full circle as if planning to start chasing its tail, and froze, facing the west. With a deep-throated howl the dog raced away. Melissa ran after it.
    That dog was hunting his mother. It took Vince a moment to overcome the horrible image. Then he took off in pursuit of Melissa, who was in pursuit of the dog, which was in pursuit of Virginia Belle Yates.

Chapter 8
    Tina had no idea what was going on. Vince’s mother had gone outside? Why in the world did that cause such a fuss? Why were they all running around hunting for her?
    But they were, and Tina didn’t get a chance to ask questions.
    Vince had yelled at Dare, “She’s not thinking