The Telltale Turtle (The Pet Psychic Mysteries) by Jim Lavene;Joyce Lavene

as the door slammed shut behind her.
     
    "She gets worked up over this, doesn't she?" Charlie said to the cat as he tried to stroke the large orange head. Baylor growled low in his throat and showed his teeth, ears flattened back and eyes narrowed. "Do you know what I'm saying? Do you understand English or just hear thoughts?"
    Realizing the cat wasn't going to answer, Charlie watched the animal focus on the window, looking in the direction Mary Catherine had disappeared. He got out of the truck, the rain immediately soaking him. It was warm, but the stiff breeze chilled him. He buttoned his sport coat, pulled up the collar, and hunched down inside it for protection against the weather.
    He called out her name, but the wind threw it back at him, laughing as it rushed on. Holding one hand above his eyes so he could see through the downpour, he finally spotted her.
    She was standing hip deep in a salt marsh by the side of the road. Charlie slogged toward her as she tried to untangle a pelican from some fencing that probably had been put up and forgotten years before. The creature was wild with agitation and fear as thunder hammered and lightning glittered through the dark afternoon sky.
    One of the bird's large wings was caught in the wire. Mary Catherine held its head with one hand and tried to untangle its wing with the other. Remarkably, the bird didn't try to peck at her or hurt her in any way, but it wouldn't keep still either and she couldn't get it free.
    "Let me help," Charlie offered, his husky voice loud above the roar of the storm washing over the coast.
     
    She turned her head, marmaladecolored hair plastered against her face by the rain. "If you could get her feet out of the way... watch out for her beak!"
    But the warning came too late and he yelped when the bird nipped him. "Why isn't he biting you? Tell him I want to help too." "
    "She knows it. She's frantic about her baby, that's all." Mary Catherine finally managed to get the mother pelican detached from the wire. "There now!" The bird kicked Charlie, then flew away quickly.
    I hope she said thank you," he said as they sloshed back out of the brine.
    "I don't think so. Very few wild animals do. They work on a whole different level than pets we've bred to live with us. Some of them are impossible to understand."
    "But they understand you want to help them." He stopped to help her out of the last part of the marsh and his warm hand held hers for a minute as she pushed her wet hair out of her eyes. "You're the genuine article, aren't you? No one is going to pay you for that. You just love animals."
    She felt a blush come up in her face. Or it might've been a hot flash. She wasn't sure. Sometimes exertion brought those on. She was soaked and her clothes were probably ruined by the salt water. But it was worth it to see the admiration in Charlie's eyes. She didn't need Baylor's guidance to know what it was either. "Listening to them, knowing how they think, makes me more aware of every living creature, I suppose. You wouldn't pass a child in the pelican's situation. It would be the same way for me with that incredible bird."
     
    "You're shaking." He put her cold hand to his warm face. "No wonder! You're colder than I am. I think we'll have to put off the poodle for today and go change clothes."
    "Don't be silly." She tried hard to break free from the spell he was weaving around her. "You can turn the heat on and we'll dry in the car. We've come this far. We might as well get the job done."
    She meant to sound competent, but realized she sounded a little gruff when he let go of her hand and started back toward the truck. It was probably just as well. She knew she was vulnerable to this man. She'd been alone too long with only Baylor for intimate company. She wasn't even sure Charlie was a decent man. And she didn't want to get involved with someone because she was needy and he looked at her like she was special. Although that had never stopped her before.
    Mary