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For a dog, successfullya water faucet would be very difficult if not iured that an equivalent test of his own ingenuity and dexterity would be trying to open a child-proof safety cap on an aspirin bottle with one hand behind his back

Astonished, he said, "Water’s too hot for you?"

The retriever dropped the hose, letting water pour across the patio, and stepped almost daintily into the tub It sat and looked at hiet on with it, you dink

He went to the tub and squatted beside it "Showlooked at hi snorted and shifted its position in the ater

"If you could turn it on, you can turn it off How did you do it? With your teeth? Had to be with your teeth Couldn’t do it with a paw, for God’s sake But that twisting motion would be tricky You could’ve broken a tooth on the cast-iron handle"

The dog leaned slightly out of the tub, just far enough to bite at the neck of the bag that held the shampoo

"You won’t turn off the faucet?" Travis asked

The dog just blinked at hiht Okay Be a wiseass" He took the brush and sha and held them toward the retriever "Here You probably don’t even needissued a long, drawn-out woooooof that started deep in its throat, and Travis had the feeling it was calling him a wiseass

Careful now, he told hi off the deep end, Travis This is a daot here, but he can’t really understand what you’re saying, and he can’t talk back

The retriever sub itself After ordering the dog out of the tub and rinsing off the sha its damp coat He pulled out burrs, bits of weeds that hadn’t flushed away, unsnarled the tangles The dog never grew impatient, and by Six o’clock it was transformed

Groomed, it was a handsoold with feathering of a lighter shade on the backs of its legs, on its belly and buttocks, and on the underside of the tail The undercoat was thick and soft to provide warmth and repel water The outer coat was also soft but not as thick, and in soht upward curve, giving the retriever a happy, jaunty look, which was e continuously

The dried blood on the ear was fro The blood on the paws resulted not froround Travis did nothing except pour boric-acid solution, a mild antiseptic, on thesewould experience only slight disco-and that it would be completely well in a few days

The retriever looked splendid now, but Travis was daer to shower and change He had also worked up an appetite

The only task re But when he atterowled softly and backstepped out of his reach

"Whoa now It’s only a collar, boy"

The dog stared at the loop of red leather in Travis’s hand and continued to growl

"You had a bad experience with a collar, huh?"

The dog stopped growling, but it did not take a step toward him

"Mistreated?" Travis asked "That must be it Maybe they choked you with a collar, twisted it and choked you, orlike that?"

The retriever barked once, padded across the patio, and stood in the farthest corner, looking at the collar fro on his knees in an unthreatening posture

The dog shifted its attention fro his eyes

"I will nevernot at all foolish for speaking so directly and sincerely to a ood instincts about things like that, don’t you? Rely on your instincts, boy, and trustreturned from the far end of the patio and stopped just beyond Travis’s reach It glanced once at the collar, then fixed hiree of communion with the animal that was as profound as it was eerie-and as eerie as it was indescribable

He said, "Listen, there’ll be times I’ll want to take you places where you’ll need a leash Which has to be attached to a collar, doesn’t it? That’s the only reason I want you to wear a collar-so I can take you everywhere with me That and to ward off fleas But if you really don’t want to sub time they faced each other as the retriever mulled over the situation Travis continued to hold the collar out as if it represented a gift rather than a de continued to stare into his new master’s eyes At last, the retriever shook itself, sneezed once, and slowly caly

When it reached hi settled on its belly, then rolled onto its back with all four legs in the air, ave him a look that was full of love, trust, and a little fear

Crazily, Travis felt a lu the corners of his eyes He sed hard and blinked back the tears and told hi’s considered subly For the first time in three years, Travis Cornell felt needed, felt a deep connection with another living creature For the first time in three years, he had a reason to live

He slipped the collar in place, buckled it, gently scratched and rubbed the retriever’s exposed belly

"Got to have a na scrambled to its feet, faced hi to hear what it would be called

God in heaven, Travis thought, I’ human intentions to him He’s a mutt, special maybe but still only ato hear what he’ll be called, but he sure as hell doesn’t understand English

"Can’t think of a single na," Travis said at last "We don’t want to rush this It’s got to be just the right naot to think on it a while until I hit the right moniker"

Travis eether, he and the retriever went into the home they now shared

5

Dr Elisabeth Yarbeck and her husband Jonathan, an attorney, lived in Newport Beach in a sprawling, single-story, ranch-style hole roof, cream-colored stucco walls, and a ay of Bouquet Canyon stone The waning sun radiated copper and ruby light that glinted and flashed in the beveled glass of the narrow leaded s flanking the front door, giving those panes the look of enore the bell She was about fifty, triy silver-blond hair and blue eyes Vince told her his name was John Parker, that he ith the FBI, and that he needed to speak with her and her husband in regards to a case currently Under investigation

"Case?" she said "What case?"

"It involves a government-financed research project on which you were Once involved," Vince told her, for that was the opening line that he had been told to use

She examined his photo ID and Bureau credentials carefully

He was not concerned The phony papers had been prepared by the saed docuo to assist him on a hit in San Francisco, and had served hih he knew the ID would meet with her approval, he was not sure that he, hi a dark blue suit, white shirt, blue tie, and highly polished black shoes-correct attire for an agent His size and his expressionless face also served hi But the murder of Dr Davis Weatherby and the prospect of two more murders within the next few lee that was al within hirew reen Ford sedan, which he had stolen forty o expressly for this one job, he had been seized by a fit of the shakes induced not by nervousness but by intense pleasure of an almost sexual nature He’d been forced to pull the car to the side of the road and sit for tendeeply, until he had calmed down a bit