by Diane Kelly
“Come on out!” he called to the animal.
But the rhino didn’t budge.
He reached out and used his hands to pull back on the rhino’s armored buttock, but the beast took only one tentative step backward. He’s got to move faster!
He pushed the rhino’s butt to the side and squeezed past his hip into the trailer. The rhino turned his head as far as he could to the left to look back at Fleming. Fleming put both hands on the rhino’s shoulder and pushed. “Come on, now! Back it up, big butt!”
Finally, the rhino began to move. He took four steps back before shifting his weight in another attempt to see behind himself. As the animal shifted, he pinned Fleming to the inside wall of the trailer. Oh, Lord! I can’t breathe! Fleming flailed his arms to no avail. He was hopelessly trapped and pretty sure that cracking sound he’d just heard was a rib giving way.
The animal moved again of its own accord, backing the rest of the way down the ramp. On solid ground now, he stopped and stared into the trailer as Fleming melted to the floor in such agony his mind attempted to shut down. But after a few breaths, he managed to get the pain under control enough that he could pull himself to the end of the trailer and slide down the ramp. A few more breaths, and he levered his crushed body to a stand.
He scuttled as best he could to the bed of his pickup and retrieved the PVC pipe. Using it as a prod, he guided the rhino into the pasture. The cattle greeted the rhino with snorts and moos that seemed to ask, Who and what are you? A short, grunting mo translated as Cool nose horn, buddy.
Having ditched the animal, he headed back to his truck, grimacing against the pain. He was almost to the door when a set of headlights shined down the road. He ambled to the tree and hid behind it, hoping whoever was in the car would pass on by.
No such luck.
The car slowed as it approached and stopped twenty yards away. He peeked out from behind the tree. With the bright beams blinding him, Fleming couldn’t make out what kind of car it was, but when the flashing lights illuminated on top he knew it was a law enforcement vehicle.
A voice came over the public address system. “Daddy? It’s Harper.”
They’d brought his little girl out here? Is that how they’d found me?
He fell to his knees, the pain in his ribs nothing compared to the raw ache in his heart. Betrayed, by his own precious daughter. He supposed he’d betrayed her, too, by stealing the animals she loved to watch at the zoo.
“Be good, Daddy,” Harper said. “Raise your hands like we do in school.”
He slowly raised his hands and came out from behind the tree, walking slowly in the direction of the cruiser. But when he reached the hole he’d cut in the fence, he sidestepped out of the headlights and made a run for it.
SEVENTY-ONE
STAMPEDE
Megan
The rhino and cows simply stared as Fleming darted past them. While they seemed mildly curious about what was going on, they didn’t seem the least bit upset. It appeared safe to deploy Brigit. Out here in the dark on this scrubby land, I’d never be able to track Fleming as quickly and effectively as she could.
I let her out of the car and unclipped her leash, issuing the order for her to take Fleming down. Brigit was off in an instant, running between the rhino and the cows, their heads turning in unison to watch her race off into the pitch-black field.
Whup-whup-whup. The chopper drew in close and descended lower, hovering over the field. WHUP-WHUP-WHUP.
The cattle, who’d been calm and content only a moment before, started to shuffle and moo.
Uh-oh. I turned to face the helicopter and motioned with both arms for it to retreat. “Move back! Move back!”
WHUP-WHUP-WHUP!
The chopper rose, but it was too late. The rhino swung his head around and took off at a gallop in the same direction Fleming and Brigit had gone. I watched in horror as the cattle followed suit, forming a stampede, their thundering hooves releasing the scent of fresh dirt and vibrating the ground beneath my feet. Brigit and Fleming are in their path. My blood turned to shards of ice. They could be trampled to death, like Mufasa in The Lion King. No doubt Brigit had already taken the man down and was holding him in place, waiting for me to come cuff him. She was a well-trained dog and might remain in place as ordered, despite her instincts telling her to ditch the ex-con and run for her life.
I yanked my flashlight from my belt, turned it on, and ran through the hole in the fence, taking off after Mubanga and the cattle. My instinct was to call out to Brigit, but I knew doing so might only confuse her, draw her back through the stampeding animals. The animals ran straight ahead for what seemed an eternity before they vectored off to the left. I swung my flashlight left and right as I rushed after them, scanning the ground desperately for any sign of Brigit.
Please! I begged any deity that might be listening. Please protect Brigit!
SEVENTY-TWO
IN STINKS
Brigit
She was holding the man down, waiting for Megan to arrive and take over, when the ground under them began to shake. She smelled the dirt and dung kicked up by the cows running at them, smelled the cattle’s scent growing stronger. The rhino was coming, too.
Her training told her to stay here, to keep watch over the man until Megan showed up. But her instincts told her you might want to rethink that.
She also smelled water ahead. She didn’t like baths. Maybe these animals don’t, either.
SEVENTY-THREE
POND SCUM
Trevor
The dog dragged him across the pasture and into the pond, out of the path of the stampede, continuing on until the water was so deep she had to swim.
She saved my life.
He’d been awful to take the zoo animals from their homes, yet a dog had shown him mercy. He didn’t deserve it. But maybe the dog was trying to tell him something, that it was never too late to be good, that he might still be redeemable. It was just too much.
He burst into sobs.
SEVENTY-FOUR
THE RETURN OF THE RHINO
Megan
Woof! Woof-woof!
A cry of joy burst from me. She’s alive! Brigit’s alive!
“Brigit!” I called. “Where are you?”
Woof-woof!
I ran toward her bark and found her at the edge of a pond. Fleming knelt on the ground next to her, his hands raised in the air. Both of them were wet—Brigit with water from the stock tank and Fleming with both pond water and tears.
After I cuffed Fleming, he looked up at me. “Your dog saved my life.”
I bent down and wrapped my arms around my soggy, smelly partner, giving her a tight squeeze and a kiss on the snout. “She’s a good girl. Just like your daughter.”
He gulped back a sob. “She is, isn’t she?”
* * *
Fleming’s clothes bore remnants of the cow patties in which Brigit had taken him down, so we were more than happy to allow Derek to transport the man back to the station in his cruiser.
The detective and I drove Harper back home. She was quiet on the ride, staring out the window. We didn’t want to push her to talk. The night must’ve been confusing and difficult for her, and she was probably trying to make sense of it all.
Back at her house, I bent down to look her in the eye. “Thank you for your help, Harper. We couldn’t have found Mubanga without you.”
She merely nodded, but when we turned to leave, she called out after me. “Is it fun to work with a dog?”
I looked down at my partner, ruffled her ear, and turned back to Harper. “Best job in the world.”
She gave me a timid smile. “Maybe I’ll be a police like you when I grow up.”
I gave her a big smile in return. “I hope you will. You’d be good at it.”
* * *
Fleming told us everything, cooperating completely, evidently deciding it was never too late to be good. Bruno Molina was in custody in San Antonio within the hour, as was the man who�
�d helped Fleming steal the animals. The creep who’d been waiting on the rhino to be delivered to his ranch was also rounded up. He wouldn’t talk, but we surmised he planned to remove Mubanga’s horn and sell it. He was well connected in safari circuits, and had a trophy room in his house full of animal heads and pelts from all over the world.
It took some investigative work to determine who Molina had sold the macaws and the monkey to, but the animals were eventually tracked down to a petting zoo in Florida. Fabiana, Fernando, and Sarki were all returned to the zoo. Mubanga was, too, though the keeper who’d been dispatched to round him up from the pasture said he seemed reluctant to leave a heifer who’d seemed impressed by his double horn. Maybe the darn thing was an aphrodisiac, after all.
The chief called a final press conference on the matter. He awarded me and Brigit a special commendation for our work in the zoo theft investigation. I beamed as he pinned the award on my dress uniform. Brigit wagged her tail as he pinned hers on her collar.
He shook my hand and Brigit’s paw afterward. “Good work, Officers.”
Our photo made the front page of the paper again, and Trish LeGrande interviewed us for a special news segment called “Ladies in the Law.” Yep, Brigit and I had made quite a name for ourselves.
* * *
On Valentine’s Day, Seth took me out to dinner at Joe T. Garcia’s, a Mexican restaurant where we’d had our first date. Brigit and Blast tagged along, having a date of their own. While I sipped a frozen margarita, Seth gazed at me intently. “I realized something recently.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“That I’m completely and irrevocably whipped.”
“Oh, yeah?” I unsuccessfully fought a smile. “What brought you to that conclusion?”
“Let’s just say it was an utter lack of temptation.”
In other words, Alex. He was telling me that despite her being sweet and gorgeous and great in the kitchen, he had no interest in her. And if he couldn’t be tempted by someone like her, he’d found the woman for him. Me.
His profession of undying devotion complete, he slid a smile and a small black velvet box topped with a red bow across the table. “I hope you like it.”
My pulse racing, I gently took the box in both hands and eased the top open. Inside was an exquisite and unique ring in rose gold with brown gemstones. Not an engagement ring, but a treasure nonetheless. “It’s beautiful, Seth!”
“The stones are andalusites. They’re the same color as your eyes. That’s why I couldn’t resist them.”
Awwww. I reflexively put my hand to my heart. “I love it!” I removed it from the box and slid it onto the ring finger of my right hand. “It fits perfectly.”
I bent down and picked up the bag containing the gift I’d bought for him. “I got you something shiny, too.” It was a new chrome exhaust pipe for his Nova. The old one had given way to rust and was unbefitting a classic muscle car.
“It’ll look great,” he said. “The other cars will be jealous.”
After a delicious dinner and sopaipillas for dessert, the four of us climbed back into Seth’s Nova.
On the way to my house, he made an unexpected turn.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
He cast me a roguish grin. “You’ll see.”
He pulled into the Fort Worth Police Department headquarters, parked, and led me inside. We rode up the elevator, but he refused to answer any questions I asked him on the way. We stepped out on the floor where the chief’s office was located. The floor was dark, lit only by dim after-hours lights.
Brigit and Blast followed along as Seth led me over to a bank of chairs that faced the door of the chief’s office. He sat me down in one of them, backed up and eyed me, then stepped back over and moved me to the next one over. He backed up again. “That’s where you were sitting the first time I laid eyes on you.”
“I remember.” It was the first time I’d laid eyes on him, too. I’d been sitting here waiting to meet with the chief, to find out if he was going to fire me for zapping Derek with my Taser. Seth and some other guys from the bomb squad had been meeting with the chief and walked out of his office. Seth had caught my eye, been a wonderful, if quick, distraction from my then-pending woes.
Seth gave me a soft smile. “I took one look at you and thought, ‘I didn’t know they made women like that.’”
His words made me feel warm and tingly all over. As he slowly made his way forward and dropped down to one knee, my heart pounded in my chest. Oh, my gosh! Is he proposing? Brigit and Blast came over to see what Seth was doing on the floor, taking seats next to him. He pulled another velvet box from his pocket. “The other ring was a gift for you, but if you accept this one, it’ll be a gift for me.”
Happy tears welled up in my eyes. He opened the box and removed the ring, holding it out. It was brushed gold with a round diamond, absolutely gorgeous. “What do you say, Megan? Shall we form a pack?”
ST. MARTIN’S PAPERBACKS TITLES BY DIANE KELLY
THE PAW ENFORCEMENT NOVELS
Paw Enforcement
Paw and Order
Upholding the Paw
(an e-original novella)
Laying Down the Paw
Against the Paw
Above the Paw
Enforcing the Paw
The Long Paw of the Law
Paw of the Jungle
THE HOUSE-FLIPPER NOVELS
Dead as a Door Knocker
THE TARA HOLLOWAY NOVELS
Death, Taxes, and a French Manicure
Death, Taxes, and a Skinny No-Whip Latte
Death, Taxes, and Extra-Hold Hairspray
Death, Taxes, and a Sequined Clutch
(an e-original novella)
Death, Taxes, and Peach Sangria
Death, Taxes, and Hot-Pink Leg Warmers
Death, Taxes, and Green Tea Ice Cream
Death, Taxes, and Mistletoe Mayhem
(an e-original novella)
Death, Taxes, and Silver Spurs
Death, Taxes, and Cheap Sunglasses
Death, Taxes, and a Chocolate Cannoli
Death, Taxes, and a Satin Garter
Death, Taxes, and Sweet Potato Fries
Death, Taxes, and Pecan Pie
(an e-original novella)
Death, Taxes, and a Shotgun Wedding
PRAISE FOR DIANE KELLY’S PAW ENFORCEMENT SERIES
“Kelly’s writing is smart and laugh-out-loud funny.”
—Kristan Higgins, New York Times bestselling author
“Humor, romance, and surprising LOL moments. What more can you ask for?”
—Romance and Beyond
“Brimming with intelligence, a devious plot and plenty of imagination.”
—Romance Junkies on Laying Down the Paw
“Outstanding!”
—Night Owl Reviews on Laying Down the Paw
“Fabulously fun and funny!”
—Book Babe
“An engaging read that I could not put down. I look forward to the next adventure of Megan and Brigit!”
—SOS Aloha on Paw Enforcement
“Sparkling with surprises. Just like a tequila sunrise. You never know which way is up or out!”
—Romance Junkies on Paw and Order
“A completely satisfying and delightful read. By being neither too ‘cute’ with its police dog lead, nor too dark with its serious topic, the author delivers a mystery that is a masterful blend of police detective and cozy fiction.”
—Kings River Life on Enforcing the Paw
“Oh, how I love this series! Officer Megan Luz has an LOL dry humor and wit rivaling that of Kinsey Milhone. Her K-9 partner, Officer Brigit, is smarter and more protective than any three men on the force put together. Add some of the more bizarre cases in the whole Fort Worth Police Department, and handsome firefighter Seth and his bomb-sniffing dog, Blast, and the reader is treated with a deliciously intense novel.”
—Open Book Society on Enforcing the Paw<
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“Four Paws Up! This is a fabulous series that is sure to win the hearts of mystery fans and dog lovers alike!”
—Books and Trouble
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DIANE KELLY is a former state assistant attorney general and tax advisor who spent much of her career fighting, or inadvertently working for, white-collar criminals. She is also a proud graduate of the Mansfield, Texas Citizens Police Academy. The first book in Diane’s IRS Special Agent Tara Holloway series, Death, Taxes, and a French Manicure, received a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award. Book #2, Death, Taxes, and a Skinny No-Whip Latte, won a Reviewers Choice Award. Diane has combined her fascination with law enforcement and her love of animals in her K-9 cop Paw Enforcement series. Find Diane online at www.dianekelly.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
One. Second Chances
Two. Blues and Grays
Three. Fur Shame
Four. Too Good to be True
Five. Bye-Bye Birdies
Six. Scrooge
Seven. Money Bag
Eight. Shopping Mall Free-for-All
Nine. Feathery Fakers
Ten. Bad Day
Eleven. Christmas Balls