She stood on tiptoe, trying to see if the van she’d noticed before was still there. But the carport was off to one side and, with the gathering dusk and the vines that had all but overtaken the structure, she couldn’t tell.

She did, however, see the dim glow of a light in the building, which told her Emmett was probably home.

She’d have to climb the fence in order to get onto the property, but she’d be foolhardy to do it here in front.

She circled around to the back, out of view of the windows, and although she managed to get up and over, she landed awkwardly on the other side, twisting an ankle and dropping her flashlight in the process.

She bit back a curse as she tested her foot to see if she could still put pressure on it. Her ankle hurt, but she could walk. Although that was good news, she was beginning to regret coming here. It seemed darker in back, due to all the trees blocking the last rays of the sun.

The pain of her awkward landing started to radiate all the way up her leg.

Ada winced as she squatted, feeling around for the flashlight in the dirt and weeds, and breathed a sigh of relief when she was able to come up with it. By some miracle, she hadn’t shot herself climbing over the fence, but at one point the gun had bitten deep in her abdomen, which was why she’d landed wrong.

She adjusted the GLOCK and moved on.

The dogs began to bark as soon as she came close to the coop they were in. Although she’d anticipated their presence and their reaction, the noise seemed amplified, like she’d set off a blaring alarm in the otherwise silent night. But there were a lot of things that could cause dogs to bark—a skunk, a possum, a wolf, to name a few. They could even get into fights among themselves sometimes. She didn’t feel as though having them react would necessarily give her presence away.

Still, she hoped Emmett was asleep or watching television and wouldn’t notice the racket. Just in case, she had to move away from the dogs and keep to the shadows so that even if he did come out he wouldn’t realize he had company.

She was hurrying along the back fence, moving from one long metal warehouse-like coop to the next and turning her flashlight on for only a few seconds here and there as she peered into each one, when she heard something more definite.

Was it footsteps? Movement? A voice?

With the dogs making a fuss, it was difficult to tell, but she was suddenly convinced she was no longer alone.

Shit! Heart pounding, she pressed her back up against the closest wall and peered around the corner every so often to see if she could spot Edmonson. She couldn’t, and she couldn’t hear anything, either. The dogs wouldn’t settle down.

Closing her eyes, she waited, trying to breathe deeply enough to stave off the panic rising inside her. She prayed Edmonson would check on his rescued animals, figure it was nothing to be concerned about and go back inside. For all of the anger and determination she’d felt only moments before, she really didn’t want to confront him.