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She pinched his nose, opened his mouth and blew measured breaths into it. Then, she switched gears, placed her fisted hands together on his chest and pumped as she counted.
And then she repeated time and time again, until paramedics arrived on the scene. The pair of young men, who looked to be in their early twenties, took over, and placed an oxygen mask over Buster’s nose and mouth.
“You might have just saved a life,” the EMT named Jerry said to Tandra. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“Tandra,” she said.
Recognition dawned as Sheriff Courtright came jogging over.
“Tandra St. Claire?” the sheriff asked.
“Yes, sir,” she responded as Buster was lifted onto a gurney. The teen was shaking by this point.
Jerry turned to Reese and said, “His vitals are good. It’s looking good for him.”
“Thank you,” she said a moment before he was taken away. She scanned the area for Darren, and found him giving a statement to a deputy near where the Archer brothers had been cuffed and placed into the back of a service vehicle.
“The parents were inside the house,” Reese said to the sheriff. “They’re involved.”
“I have a deputy heading that way now,” Sheriff Courtright stated.
“There better be someone from animal control with him,” she quipped.
The crack of a bullet split the air.
Tandra shrank.
“It’s okay,” Reese soothed. “You’re going to be okay now.”
“I want my momma,” Tandra said, reverting back to what she probably called her mother as a child.
Reese looked to the sheriff.
“She needs to be checked over by a doctor,” Reese pointed out, still in full-on protective mode.
“Yes, ma’am,” the sheriff said. “We’re heading to the ER where her parents will meet us after they’ve been informed.”
Tandra seemed satisfied with the answer as she clung to Reese.
“What the hell was that?” Reese asked the sheriff as he listened to his radio. She clamped her eyes shut, afraid the dog had just been shot. Her chest squeezed.
The sheriff spoke quietly into the radio strapped to his shoulder. He turned to Reese and said, “A warning shot was fired by the Archers, but once they were informed their sons were going to jail, they surrendered.”
“And their dog?” she asked.
“It’s fine, but it’ll need a new home once this family goes to jail,” he said. “We plan to lock them up.”
“Andrew Archer is out there somewhere but the others were clear about him being in on it,” Reese informed the sheriff.
“We’re tracking him down right now,” the sheriff said. “So far, we believe he is unaware of the circumstances here.”
“Someone needs to throw the book at him, too,” she said, disgusted these murderers had gotten away with their crimes for so long.
“They said I was going to die,” Tandra finally said. “Just like the others before me.”
The teen released a sob as Reese did her best to soothe the young girl. Teenagers were caught in the space between being a child and an adult—it was a difficult time where they needed independence, but also needed to be watched more than ever.
“You’re going to be just fine,” Reese said, walking her over to the sheriff’s SUV. She looked at the sheriff. “She’s shivering.” The teen had on jeans and a sweater that was filthy and had been ripped.
