Читать книгу Trained To Protect - Linda O. Johnston - Страница 16

Doug followed Elissa in her black SUV down the 101 Freeway in his large police vehicle and wished he’d driven her, or even ridden with her, so they’d be in the same car, able to talk. Though he wanted to check out her place to try to figure out if her dog’s actions were in some way related to the sign found on the K-9 Ranch, he had no intention of staying in San Luis Obispo for long. Therefore he’d needed a set of wheels so he could leave when he wanted to.

As it was, he was stretching his claim of still being on duty, though he had reported to his commanding officer to let her know where he was going and why, as well as an estimate of the time he’d return. She’d given him permission to continue working on this matter, even if it meant he could not take on the other case he and Maisie had been previously assigned to look into. He’d also called on his cell phone as he’d taken off after Elissa to let Maisie know where he was going, and his sister had sounded anything but pleased.

“She’s caught up in a case now,” she had told him. “You know better than to get involved with her in any way other than professionally.”

“That’s all I’m doing,” he had attempted to assure Maisie. “She had a problem at her home that could be connected with our investigation at the K-9 Ranch.”

“Which itself isn’t much of a case,” Maisie had retorted. “A possible threat with no substance to it.”

“But you know the department’s position about Amber Belott and the Chance K-9 Ranch,” he’d reminded her. “She helped us solve her own father’s murder, and the current view is that we owe her. So we need to find out if that threat is legit, and who placed it there and why. That’s what I’m working on.”

“Sure,” Maisie had said, and they’d quickly ended the call.

Fortunately the traffic wasn’t bad so they reached Elissa’s home fairly quickly. “Okay, boy,” Doug said to Hooper after parking along the street and getting his dog out of the back. “You’re on.” No need to put Hooper’s official vest on him for this, though he’d be on duty—kind of.

And Doug was curious whether even a trained police K-9 would find a reason for Peace’s alleged odd behavior. It was probably nothing. Under other circumstances, Doug wouldn’t have given it a second thought, let alone take a substantial chunk out of his day to check it out.

But behind it all was that potentially threatening sign: Be Careful Who You Hire.

The driveway Elissa had pulled into was narrow and led to the garage of a house that appeared to have been there for a while. Its stucco seemed worn, and it looked a lot more rundown than its nearby neighbors. That surely had nothing to do with Peace’s actions yesterday—or did it? Maybe someone was trying to do something to scare this tenant away so the house could be torn down and replaced with something newer and fancier.

Doug left his jacket in the car, wearing just his white cop shirt with his uniform pants. He hurried down the driveway of the house with Hooper’s leash in his hand. Elissa had exited her SUV but seemed to be taking her time getting Peace out of the back.

Because she was concerned about the dog’s reaction?

Because she wanted Doug to be there when she let the dog in?

In any event, she didn’t open the door to the house but motioned for Doug to follow her to the lawn. “It’s been a long drive. I want to let Peace decide if she needs some outdoor time.”

Which she did, and so did Hooper. When both dogs were finished, Doug said, “Okay, let’s go in.”

“Of course.” But Elissa appeared anything but thrilled about the idea.

Still, Peace’s leash in her hand, she returned to the garage and used a key to open the door into the house. Doug, with Hooper, followed—and immediately saw Peace’s strange reaction as they walked into the kitchen. The golden had seemed nice and gentle and reserved...before. Now she pulled ahead, yanking on her leash so hard that she nearly pulled Elissa behind her.

Nose to the floor, she walked in circles, growling occasionally, looking as if she was tracking something down.

Beside Doug, Hooper looked up at him as if waiting for his command—which he quickly gave.

“Find,” he told his K-9. He released Hooper from his leash, determined to follow the dog no matter where he went in the house.

At first, Hooper appeared to follow in Peace’s paw prints, but not for long. Soon he leaped out of the kitchen before the dog who lived there, nose still to the ground.

Was he following a scent—the smell of some animal that had gotten inside?

A human animal? One other than Elissa?

One who didn’t belong and emitted a scent of fear?

Doug glanced toward Elissa, who stood in the hall. Peace now appeared to be following Hooper. “What is he doing?” Elissa’s whisper was loud and sounded afraid.

Doug had an urge to put an arm around her in comfort, but that wouldn’t solve anything—like figuring out what was happening.

“He’s following a scent,” Doug answered. “That might be what disturbed Peace yesterday, although I can’t tell you what kind of scent it is—at least not yet.”

“But...could it be—”

“I don’t want to speculate.” But she looked so forlorn and frightened that he did approach Elissa and put an arm around her. “Let’s follow and see what he finds.”

He was impressed by the nice furnishings in this old, beat-up home. Obviously, Elissa’s tastes were good, even if she hadn’t rented something a bit more modern.

Maybe she couldn’t afford to.

Maybe she’d hoped that working at the K-9 Ranch part-time might increase her income enough that she could eventually find something nicer.

There was a lot about this woman that he didn’t know. Shouldn’t want to know. But he did.

Together, they followed the dogs, who both seemed to go from room to room now—the living room, what appeared to be a guest bedroom, a single bathroom and then the master bedroom.

Which was where Hooper bounded toward one of the windows that was covered by a closed shade.

“Was this open yesterday?” Doug asked before touching it.

“No, although I did look at it and the other windows in here after Peace acted so strangely, to make sure they weren’t open.”

“Well, let’s check it out.” Doug removed gloves from his pocket and put them on to avoid messing up any prints if there actually was something wrong here, and pulled on the rope at the side to open the shade.

Nothing. The window was closed, as Elissa had said.

But that didn’t stop Hooper from jumping up and reacting, indicating to Doug that whatever the scent the two dogs had been chasing, this was most likely the place of origin, at least at first.

“Hooper, sit.” When his dog obeyed, he added, “Good boy.”

Since Peace was still beside him, he looked at Elissa, who took her dog’s leash and led her away.

Which gave Doug the opportunity to look more closely at the window.

And to find what he had somewhat anticipated on the lock at the top of the bottom piece of glass along the window frame.

It appeared that some kind of tool had been inserted to unlock it, judging by the barely visible wearing away of the metal and glass.

Carefully, Doug worked at the window and found it opened with almost no effort at all. Opened enough so that someone outside could have gotten in—and someone who’d managed to get inside could get out.

“Bingo,” he said.

Standing behind him, watching what he did, Elissa felt herself shudder in shock, though she realized it shouldn’t be a total surprise.

Forcing herself into steadiness, she bent slightly to stroke and attempt to calm Peace, who also quivered, though possibly because she wanted to run and not just sit there. Elissa loved Peace, trusted her, and the dog’s actions yesterday had been a loud statement of something going on around here, though Elissa hadn’t known what. She still didn’t.

Now another dog, trained for more appropriate ways to look into the situation, had confirmed that something was not right.

“Can you tell from Hooper’s actions if someone actually came inside and what they did?” Elissa hated that her voice came out as a soft croak but she wasn’t surprised.

She was stressed.

She was scared.

Doug turned and aimed an ironic half grin toward her. “Possibly. But rely on your own dog, too. I’d say whoever it was managed to walk around your entire house. Your Peace already told you that.”

She nodded. “Yes,” she said, “she did. But why?”

“I’d suggest you look around and see if any valuables are missing.”

“What valuables?” This time she did manage an ironic smile of her own.

“Okay, then, non-valuables. Whatever you own or keep here.”

She had a sudden urge to explain herself to this man, this cop who had traveled a long distance to try to help her. For a variety of reasons, mostly involving how she had been brought up by her frugal family, she tried to save more of her nursing salary than she spent—though that didn’t always work. The extra income from her new part-time gig at the K-9 Ranch was bound to help a little.

But mostly, she liked helping people and using therapy dogs was one of her favorite ways to do so.

All she said now was, “I’m not really into bling, and I don’t keep cash around, so whoever was here probably didn’t find anything to take.”

But she’d keep checking, just in case. Still, she couldn’t help wondering why her house had been a target. Had others around here been broken into, too? She didn’t know many of her neighbors well, but she’d have to ask them.

“Well, the person who broke in might not have known that.” But Doug’s expression, when he turned to look at her, suggested that he somehow wanted to dig inside her head for some answers.

Answers she didn’t have.

“Possibly,” she said.

“Okay, then. I’ll let Hooper take another swing around the place and see if he reacts to anything else. And by the way, I will speculate now that the scent he reacted to was fear—fear of getting caught as an intruder. After Hooper’s done this time...well, do you have any friends you can stay with tonight?”

She had made friends in the years she had lived in San Luis Obispo, though not that many, and none particularly close.

With the vocation and avocations she had, even she found that a bit surprising. But as much as she liked to help people, she’d learned the hard way that getting close to anyone, even friends, wasn’t always a good idea.

“No,” she said lightly, “but I’ll be fine here. Whoever broke in is unlikely to do it again. They already know there’s nothing here worth stealing. And they’ve already been inside, so why try it again?”

“But—” Whatever he’d started to say, Doug seemed to catch himself. “Okay, let Hooper and me do our thing. Then we’ll talk.”

Why did even the mention of a talk with this man make her feel uneasy? He’d come here to help her, and so far he really had. Whatever they’d talk about, it would have nothing to do with the fact that she found him attractive. More than attractive. A truly brave and genuinely kind man who clearly took his job of policing, helping people, to heart.

“Sure,” she said, trying to act completely nonchalant. “Let me know when you’re ready. Peace and I will wait in the kitchen.”

For the next ten minutes Elissa sat at the square kitchen table sipping on a bottle of water she’d taken out of the small but adequate fridge that had come with the house. She’d get a bottle out for Doug when he joined her. She had already set out a container of shortbread cookies that she occasionally brought along to her therapy sessions with kids. The sweets sometimes made them smile and become even more receptive to interacting with a caring dog.

After checking Peace’s water bowl on the scratched yellow linoleum floor near the door to the hall, she’d also retrieved some healthy dog treats. She gave her smart, caring dog a few, partly in gratitude for her having let Elissa know about the intruder in the first place, and partly because she just wanted to keep her companion happy.

But why had there even been an intruder...?

In a few minutes Hooper came into the kitchen followed by Doug, who still held the end of the leash. After the two dogs traded nose sniffs, Hooper went to the bowl and started lapping up some water. Elissa rose and got Doug a bottle of water, which she placed on the table near the seat across from her.

“Here,” she said. “I’ve got some treats for both Hooper and you.” She tried to sound like a good hostess, as if his being there was because she’d invited him—not because she’d needed him and his cop senses.

“Thanks,” he said, taking a seat. He picked up the water, removed the cap and took a swig, as if it were something stronger, which sort of amused her. Or maybe she’d be attracted to anything this kind man did while in her company, particularly here at her no-longer-private house. Then he looked at the table in front of her, at the dog treats and the packaged cookies, and asked, “Which ones are for me?”

She laughed. “Whichever you want, though I’d suggest these.” She pushed the shortbread container across the table to him. “Is it okay if I reward Hooper with some of these?” She gestured at the dog treats.

“Sure it is, right now. Not when he’s searching, though.”

Both Hooper and Peace seemed happy when Elissa gave them treats. “Good dogs,” she said, and they both were.

When she had given them each their share, she looked back up at Doug, who seemed awfully quiet. He was watching her. She couldn’t read the expression on his handsome, craggy, all-too-intense face, but it made her shudder inside. What was he thinking?

As if she’d said something aloud to prompt him, he asked, “Do you know of anyone who might want to harm you—or even just intimidate you?”

She blinked. “No. Not at all.” But the idea seemed to increase her internal shivers. “Is that what you think it is—someone who wants to scare or even hurt me, not just try to steal from me?”

He didn’t answer directly, at least not at first. “Before I leave here, I’ll contact the local PD, communicate to someone there about what happened and request they send a crime scene team over right now—which they might do more as an accommodation to another cop than because of their concern about the alleged crime. They’ll then probably start patrolling your street every hour or so, although if you don’t have any ideas who it might be, maybe they won’t. In any event, I’ll make sure that the vulnerable area where whoever it was got in before is sealed up.”

“Thank you.” Elissa did feel a lot of gratitude to this determined police officer—that and some highly unwanted attraction. He’s just doing his job, protecting a civilian, she reminded herself. Even so... “Is there anything else I should do?” Besides scream and run away.

She would do neither.

But she would, as usual, keep Peace by her side. Her dog might not have the same kind of training as an official police K-9, but she would protect Elissa to the best of her ability. Elissa was sure of it.

There seemed to be something else on Doug’s mind, though. He was studying her, watching her face as if he could see inside her brain.

For a long moment he said nothing, which made her even more uneasy. Then he said, “I’d like for you to keep thinking about whether anyone has suggested or even hinted that they have issues with you or what you do—or don’t do.” He reached into his pocket, brought out a business card and handed it to her. “I want you to stay in touch, let me know if you see or hear anything that seems suspicious. In any case, I’ll talk to you on Monday after you come back to Chance and we’ll see how things are going then.”

“Okay.” She wanted to disagree, to tell him she’d be fine and that there was no need for him to worry about her—but she somehow felt a little less stressed that he seemed to give a damn, just because he was a good cop, of course, and not because he seemed at all attracted to her.

And she’d have to make sure her own silly attraction disappeared.

But there appeared to be something else on his mind. He was looking so intensely into her eyes...

“What?” she asked.

“Like I said, think hard about whether there’s someone who might have something against you. A neighbor or coworker who’s mad at you. A driver you cut off. Whatever.”

“Why?” she demanded. “What’s really going on?”

He pursed his lips. “Yeah, I think you should know, though I was asked to keep it quiet. Amber, for one, was choosing to ignore it. But this break-in here...”

“What?” Elissa repeated.

Doug looked straight into her eyes. “The night of your interview at the K-9 Ranch, and before you came back up to give your demonstration, this was found on the fence there.” He pulled his phone from his pocket, fiddled with it some and then thrust it toward her.

A photo was there depicting the front gate up the driveway to the main house at the K-9 Ranch.

And on it was a sign: Be Careful Who You Hire.