Chapter 1 - Then We All Go
The soaked rope snapped with a sharp crack.
Walter Briggs immediately closed his utility knife and lowered it away from the thin gray dog.
The mother stumbled one step forward as the severed rope whipped into the mud.
“Easy—I’ve got you.”
Rain ran from Walter’s brown knit cap into his gray beard. His knees sank into the flooded roadside as he waited for the frightened dog to bolt.
She did not run.
She spun toward the utility pole and lowered her exhausted body over three dark shapes trembling in the mud.
A woman standing near the road covered her mouth.
“Why isn’t she running?”
The mother dog licked rainwater from two puppies, then pawed weakly beneath her own belly.
Walter leaned closer.
“There’s one more.”
The smallest puppy lay partly hidden between her legs.
It did not lift its head.
Walter tore off his green jacket, spread it over the driest patch of earth, and carefully slid both hands beneath the tiny body.
The mother followed his movements, pressing her nose against the puppy but never growling.
Walter wrapped the puppy inside his jacket and placed two fingers against its chest.
The bystanding man whispered, “Is it alive?”
For one terrible second, Walter felt nothing.
Then a tiny paw twitched.
He pulled the wool blanket from his pickup and wrapped the puppy tightly.
The mother dog struggled upright and pressed against his knee.
The two other puppies stumbled after her.
Walter looked toward the open truck.
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“Then we all go.”
He had no idea that saving the four dogs would uncover a secret stretching from the roadside to one of the most respected families in town.
