For most of the next hour, they barely spoke.
Clients checked in.
Phones rang.
A German Shepherd barked at a poster of another German Shepherd.
A kitten escaped a carrier for approximately eleven terrifying seconds before climbing onto a bookshelf.
Normal veterinary chaos resumed.
At 10:17, Talia returned.
“Lorraine.”
“Yes?”
“We found a chip.”
Lorraine smiled immediately.
“Registered?”
“Yes.”
“Current?”
“Looks like it.”
Talia held up a printed page.
“Dog's name is Jasper.”
“Owner is Emily Ward.”
“Address about four miles from where Daniel found him.”
Daniel stood beside her.
“Did you call?”
“Three times.”
“No answer.”
Lorraine reached for the phone.
“Let me try.”
Priya almost said:
You have clients waiting.
She stopped herself.
Lorraine called.
Voicemail.
She left a message.
“Hello, this is Lorraine at Willow Creek Veterinary Clinic.”
“We have a black-and-white dog named Jasper whose microchip is registered to Emily Ward.”
“He is safe.”
“Please call us as soon as you can.”
Then she searched the secondary number attached to the microchip.
Emergency contact.
A man named Robert Ward.
She called.
Answered on the second ring.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Ward?”
“Yes?”
“This is Willow Creek Veterinary Clinic.”
“Do you know a dog named Jasper?”
Silence.
Then:
“You have Jasper?”
The man’s voice cracked.
“Yes.”
“He’s here.”
“He appears stable.”
“A man found him near the Route 16 entrance ramp.”
“Oh my God.”
Lorraine’s expression softened.
“Is Emily available?”
Robert inhaled shakily.
“My daughter is at school.”
“Jasper got out last night.”
“We have been looking since six this morning.”
Lorraine glanced toward Daniel.
“He's safe.”
Robert began crying.
Not dramatically.
Just relief suddenly escaping.
“I can be there in twenty minutes.”
“No rush.”
“Drive carefully.”
“We'll keep him here.”
When Lorraine hung up, Daniel smiled.
“Nice work.”
She looked at him.
“You brought him.”
“I stopped the car.”
“You stopped because you noticed him.”
Daniel shrugged.
“Anybody would.”
Lorraine shook her head.
“No.”
“Not everybody does.”
That sentence stayed with him.
Jasper spent the next twenty-five minutes in treatment.
No major injuries.
Mild dehydration.
A small cut on one paw.
Probably from running over rough ground.
He accepted biscuits from everyone except Priya.
Priya held one out.
Jasper stared suspiciously.
Talia laughed.
“He heard what happened.”
Priya actually smiled.
“Apparently.”
At 10:44, the clinic doors opened.