He reached the door.
He yanked the latch.
It opened two inches.
Then it slammed shut again.
Somebody was holding it from the inside.
“Jason!” I screamed.
“Hold it!”
“I’ve got it!” he shouted back.
Dale threw his shoulder into the boards.
The whole shed shook.
Inside, Ruby was screaming.
I grabbed the back of his jacket with both hands.
I pulled.
He swung his elbow back.
It caught me in the jaw.
The orchard went white.
I didn’t let go.
I didn’t let go.
Then the door flew open from the inside.
Hard.
Straight into Dale’s face.
He staggered back.
Jason came through the doorway.
Limping.
Running on a cracked leg.
He hit Dale full weight.
They went down together in the mud.
Scout was on them a second later.
Teeth locked on Dale’s sleeve.
Growling so low I felt it in my own chest.
Dale stopped fighting.
“Call it off,” he gasped.
“Hannah, call your dog off.”
I stood over him.
Mud to my elbows.
Jaw throbbing.
“No,” I said.
Jason rolled off him.
He stayed on his knees in the mud.
Breathing hard.
He’d run on that leg.
He didn’t touch Dale again.
He didn’t have to.
Far off, down the county road, a siren started.
Getting louder.
Dale heard it.
His eyes moved from me to Jason to the dog.
“You’re all insane,” he said.
“You buried an empty box.”
“Who does that?”
“People who love her,” I said.
The siren got louder.
Blue lights flickered through the black trees.
A cruiser came bouncing down the tractor path.
Then another.
Deputies jumped out.
Scout didn’t budge until Jason said his name.
Then he backed off.
One step.
Still growling.
They cuffed Dale face-down in the apples.
As they hauled him up, he twisted around.
He looked straight at me.
“Tell them, Hannah!” he shouted.
“Tell them how you invited me!”
“Tell them about the picture!”
“Tell them you wanted this!”
Every deputy turned to look at me.
Jason looked at me.
I didn’t look away.
“I sent him a picture,” I said.
“I told him where she’d be.”
