We stare at the computer screen like it’ll magically tell us more.

It doesn’t.

Just then, Karina’s mom pops her head into the room. “Oh, there you are,” she says. “I’ve been looking all over for you. The brownies have arrived. I need your help unloading the boxes.”

Firefly Gourmet Brownies!

We shut down the computer and follow Mrs. Bailey out to her old, beat-up Ford Fiesta, otherwise known as Henry.

We carry box after box of Buttercrunch Blondies, Raspberry Swirls, Choco-Lots, Mocha Mint, Peanut Butter Supremes, Caramel Dreams, and my favorite, Pistachio Surprise.

Just as I’m about to pick up the last few boxes, I hear someone breathing hard behind me.

I whirl around. It’s Ree and Ajax. Ree pants like she’s just run a marathon.

She bends over with her hands on her knees. Ajax licks her face.

“Lordy,” she mutters. “I got to give up the cigs.”

Finally, she straightens up and looks at me. I shiver at the look in her eyes: fear.

“It’s about Baby.”

My heart drops like a rock into a deep, dark well.

Ree tells us a story, an improbable (my new vocab word) story. Somehow, someway, Baby went all the way across the city and found the hospital where Jewel is. He almost found her too, but animal control found him first and took him away.

“Idiots!” Ree waves her arms like windmills and paces in tight circles. Ajax whimpers. People step into the street to avoid her. I don’t blame them.

“All he wanted was to find Jewel, and what do they do?” Ree demands.

Karina and Daria watch Ree, wide-eyed.

I can’t answer because my heart is one big knot in my throat.

“They lock him up like a common criminal and haul him away,” Ree spits. She jabs a finger in the air and says, “This is exactly why I hate people!”

“Where did they take him?” I manage to squeak.

“The so-called Humane Society,” Ree says.

“The pound,” Karina whispers.

My heart drops. I remember the pound in Cyprus Point. It was not exactly “humane.”

I grab Ree’s sleeve. She jerks her arm away. Ree does not like to be touched. “You’re going to get Baby out, aren’t you?” I ask.

Ree runs her hand across her face, then her shoulders slump. “I can’t.”

Now it’s my turn to wave my arms. “What do you mean, you can’t?”

“I can’t take Ajax on the bus, Piper.”

“But can’t Linda look after him?”

Ree snorts. “I haven’t seen Linda for a couple of days. I don’t know where she is. By the time I find her and catch a bus that goes to the east part of the city, the shelter will be closed. It closes at five.”

I didn’t think about that. I look at my watch: 4:15.

“But maybe—” I start.