“That wasn’t no story, girl. They’re good little guard dogs.”

“Well, you can get you one now.” I unzipped my backpack and took a stack of cash out of the envelope. I laid a few bills on the table. “This is for Dirk, so I’m not stealing his dog. Plus, he needs new boots because we tossed his.”

“So you didn’t lose the money?” he said.

“Do you want it back?”

“Lord, no. Ain’t no good to me. Only thing I ever wanted it for was your aunt, and she’s long gone. Besides, you’ll need it. Lawyers ain’t cheap.”

I nodded, but I slid the rest of that bundle of bills across the table to him. That left me with eighty-four thousand dollars.

“You should keep this, just in case,” I said.

“I’ll hang on to it for you. Or for LaReigne’s little boy.” He didn’t pick it up, though. I wondered if I’d ever get to a place where I could be that indifferent to ten thousand dollars.

“Okay. Thank you. And I’m sorry.” It was what I’d said when I left five minutes before. Thank you. I’m sorry about how things turned out.

“Take care, girl,” he said, just like he had before, but as I was walking out the door the second time, he added something else: “Don’t be a stranger.”

The dog was still in the truck cab, standing in the seat. On the drive through town, he hung his head out the window. When I pulled onto the highway, though, I rolled up the window, and the dog settled down in the passenger seat.

I drove all the way through to Parsons without stopping, but I figured the rest area on the other side of town was as good a place as any to let the dog out to pee. He stuck with me, even came inside when I went to the bathroom. It surprised me, because I hadn’t exactly made friends with him, but maybe he figured if I was driving Gentry’s truck that made us friends by association. We walked up and down a little so I could stretch out my hip, and I stopped to look at the historical plaque about the Bloody Benders. Nice to know there was at least one family in Kansas that was more fucked-up than mine.

While we’d been walking around, another car had pulled in, and as we headed back to the truck, I saw they had a dog, too. Some kind of bulldog, I thought, right as Dirk’s damn dog went running toward it snarling and snapping. The woman screamed, “Oh my god! Oh my god!” Sounded just like LaReigne.

If the woman had been alone, I think it would have ended pretty badly, but her husband picked up their dog, and then Dirk’s dog stood in front of them growling. The whole time I was trying to get there, but I couldn’t go very fast, let alone run.

“That dog needs to be on a leash!” the woman screamed at me.

“You can’t just have a dog like that running loose!” the man said.

“You need to get your dog under control!”

I got ahold of the dog’s collar and, when I pulled on it, he yelped and tucked his tail end.

“I’m sorry. I just bought him from this guy who had him out on a chain. I didn’t even think about not having a leash for him. I’m sorry. I didn’t know he would do that.” When I pulled on the dog’s collar, he came with me, all hunkered down and trembling. Big scary dog shaking like a leaf. As soon as I opened the truck door, he jumped in the cab, looking happy again.

I got in the truck, but before I could start it, the guy with the bulldog came jogging over. He’d left his dog with his wife, but I figured he was coming to lecture me some more. Unless I was going to ignore him, I had to roll down the window.

“Hey, I wasn’t sure how much further you had to go, but since you just rescued him, it’d be a shame if anything happened. We’ve got an extra leash, if you want.” He held it up to show me. “You’re welcome to it. That way you can get him home safe.”

“Thank you.” I reached out the window and he put the leash in my hand. “I never had a dog before, so this is kind of new for me.”

“What are you calling him?”

“Oh, uh. Leon.” It was lying there on the dashboard, where it had been for the trip to Arkansas and back. Yvain, the Knight with the Lion.

“Leon. That’s a great name. Good luck with him.”

The guy walked back to his car, and waved at me as they drove away.

I sat there, wondering why a random stranger had given me a dog leash.

“Who even does that?” I said to Leon. He really was the saddest, ugliest dog. It was a stupid thing to cry about, but I was tired, and LaReigne was in jail, and Gentry was in jail, and Edrard was dead, and I missed Marcus, so I cried. After twenty minutes of watching me cry, Leon must have gotten bored, because he laid down in the seat. Not on the passenger side like before, but right next to me, with his giant head on my leg.

Even though my foot fell asleep about twenty miles down the road, I didn’t make him move his head, and we drove the rest of the way to Wichita like that.

* * *

—

I DIDN’T KNOW who else to call, so I called Julia from the restaurant, since they were closed on Mondays. Once I offered to pay her, she agreed to meet me at the Franks’ house, so I could drop off Gentry’s truck.

I parked it in the street, hoping not to be noticed. I’d wanted to do it under cover of darkness, but I knew that would look suspicious. I moved my stuff first: my purse and backpack. Then I put the leash on Leon. He looked at me, but didn’t move.

“Come on.” I pulled on the leash, and he walked across the seat and jumped down. When I opened the back door of Julia’s car for him, though, he just looked at me.

“Oh, you weren’t kidding about the dog,” she said. “He doesn’t have fleas, does he?”

“No.” I had no idea.

“Get in,” I said to Leon. I was starting to feel like I’d made a terrible mistake. I’d brought him all the way from Missouri, and maybe he’d only come with me because I was driving Gentry’s truck. I tried to nudge him into the car, but he wouldn’t go.

“Hold on,” I said to Julia. I closed the door and walked across the street to the Franks’ house, with Leon following me on the leash. I rang the doorbell, feeling sick with something right in between fear and shame.

Charlene’s sister, Bernice, answered the door, so I could guess what had happened after I called Carlees. He would have called the sheriff in Little River, and then he would have called his parents. They would have asked Bernice to babysit, while they drove to Arkansas to take care of Gentry. To clean up the mess I made.

“Zee?” she said, and kind of squinted at me.

“I brought Gentry’s truck back.” I held out the keys, but she was looking at Leon.