Was God finding any of this funny yet?

When Shad neared the house he recognized Karl’s gray pickup parked in the driveway. His stomach knotted and fluttered, and for a split second Shad considered driving past the home. His reaction was inappropriate, Shad tried to tell himself. Karl had never done a thing to him to elicit such trepidation. Then again, this was just the sort of incident that might get Karl sufficiently provoked.

As Shad steered his truck into the driveway to park it behind the Wekenheiser pickup, he saw Karl standing on the porch. The man seemed to be watching him, and he also looked as though he might be talking on his cell phone. When Shad stepped out of the truck he saw Karl lower the phone and clip it back to his belt. The two men approached each other.

“Glad to see you here, Shad.” Karl smiled as he descended the porch steps.

Shad still wasn’t sure if he should take Karl’s greeting at face value, even though his uncle/father-in-law had never done a single unkind thing to Shad before.

“I’m ... surprised to see you here.” Shad glanced around, half expecting to discover that Karl kept a spare bratwurst in his pocket in conjunction with a secret army of starving dachshunds.

The two men came to a stop to face each other just a few yards away from the steps of the porch.

“You can’t go in the house.” Karl looked more solemn. “The sheriff still has it taped off.”

“I came to feed the turkeys and Sadie.”

“Beatcha to the turkeys, Bub.” Karl frowned slightly. “You don’t know about Sadie, do you?”

Shad regarded him with a sense of both inquiry and frustration. “All the police did was ask me questions. They didn’t tell me a single thing about what happened here.”

“Of course they didn’t.” Karl nodded. “Wanted to see if you’d let a detail slip that only somebody who’d been here last night would know.”

“So ... you don’t think ... I had something to do with last night?”

Karl smirked. “Of course I don’t. That’s the whole reason you aren’t swinging upside and naked from a honey locust tree about now.”

Shad drew a deep breath inspired by both relief and the need to calm his nerves. “What happened to Sadie?”

“She was shot, too. And it killed her.”

Shad felt a welling of yet more sadness inside him. He lowered his head and stared at the ground.

“Sheriff hauled her off for evidence,” Karl continued. “Luckily I got here just as they were finishing up their investigation of the crime scene. I told the sheriff I wanted her body back after they got what they needed. I’m gonna bury her on the farm.” Karl’s voice momentarily became just a little hoarse. “She might’ve saved Dulsie’s life.”

Shad looked back up at Karl, his gaze meeting the man’s eyes for a few seconds. He didn’t think he had ever heard Dulsie’s father get choked up before.

“Saved her life?”

Karl nodded, and took a deep breath himself before continuing in a normal voice. “Dulsie said she heard the dog barking, so she went out on the stoop back there with the rifle. Then Sadie suddenly became ferocious and started charging whoever was down there near the road.” Karl nodded toward the front corner of their yard. “That’s when he shot Sadie. Now, that right there tells me you weren’t the one skulking around with a gun.”

Shad was appreciative for the information, especially from someone as astute as Karl. “How so?”

“That dog was damn smart. She not only recognized people, she recognized vehicles. She never barked at anybody who wasn’t a stranger. So that means she wouldn’t bark at you.” Karl looked more pensive. “In a way, Sadie wound up being too smart for her own good. She was barking at a stranger, and Dulsie came out ... that must be when he aimed for her. The dog recognized an aggressive move on his part, so that’s when she got aggressive.”

A chill settled over Shad. “So he shot Sadie instead.”

Karl nodded again. “Dulsie acted instinctively. She told me she could remember swinging her rifle toward the flashpoint, but couldn’t remember if she got off a shot because ... that’s when she got shot.” A rueful smile curved his lips. “Well, I know for a fact she did.”

“How?”

“The advantage of being a distraught father is the sheriff was willing to share some information with me. They found a blood trail in your yard.”

Shad’s eyes widened.

“It’s just a few drops, but they led back to the end of your driveway. Apparently the bottom-feeder parked there, and the barking dog was causing him to approach the house with care.” A hint of pleasure crept into Karl’s smile. “Dulsie winged him. So he oozed back to his car and got out of here.”

That would explain the strip search. But Shad knew the fact he didn’t have a gunshot wound didn’t release him from suspicion. He wasn’t the trigger man, but the police knew he could have arranged for somebody else to do the job. But if Dulsie had wounded her attacker....

“Then the sheriff should catch him.” Shad felt an almost forgotten flicker of hope. “Medical institutions have to report all gunshot wounds to the police.”

“Assuming he goes to a doctor.” Karl shook his head. “It could be minor enough a wound he might reckon on patching it up himself. With any luck he’ll get an infection and die anyway. I just wouldn’t have the satisfaction of knowing he’d become maggot food.”

Shad regarded his father-in-law with a little renewed wariness. “You know ... one theory is I might’ve sent somebody out here to ... do the shooting.”

Karl tilted his head and pressed his lips together. “Shad ... I know for a fact you’d never hurt Dulsie. I got no idea what it is that’s going on between the two of you right now, especially outta the blue like this, and I’m not even gonna ask. A man deserves his privacy.” He drew a breath before continuing. “Jill wanted me to run you off when she found out you were dating Dulsie. But you know why I refused?”

Shad shook his head.

“I knew you’d be good to her. That was the most important thing to me, and you filled the bill. I know how Pax is with Maddie, and I saw he taught you to do the same. And I saw you in that room this morning.” Karl smirked slightly. “And I know you’re a terrible actor.”

Both appreciation and guilt swirled inside him. Shad lowered his head again.

Karl continued. “I also do realize that you have all the makings of a serial killer, except as far as I know you weren’t into torturing animals and wetting the bed during your childhood.” He tilted his head. “Although Pax did tell me that you took to fire building like a skunk takes to stink.”

Shad looked up to regard Karl a bit warily again. Not only was the man known to be insightful, Karl had his own penchant for feeling out certain aspects of a person. Just as Shad could empathize with other abuse victims, Karl was quick to determine how much of a threat someone else posed and the best way to deal with it. That probably influenced why his sons became a park ranger and a conservation agent. Shad had heard the stories. Another nervous flutter beat through his stomach as Shad realized that if anybody could figure out his secret, it could be Karl.

“But who am I to hold that against you?” Karl smirked. “Fact is, if you weren’t a little dangerous you’d just be a doormat, and Dulsie doesn’t need that either. You just know how to point that aggressive streak elsewhere, and it would never be at her.”

At least Karl seemed to be veering in another direction now, but Shad wanted to back him even farther away from the truth. So he decided to counter with another truth.

“I still managed to hurt Dulsie.”

“Whatever you did, I know it wasn’t intentional. It’s only if you set out to hurt her on purpose that I’d have to haul you out on a back road one night when the mother ship’s due to come in.”

Shad resumed staring at the ground. He didn’t feel worthy of the kindness Karl was extending to him. And that reminded Shad of something else he’d witnessed this morning.