by Donna Doyle
Courtney wanted to argue with her, but she knew she was right.
Ms. O’Donnell chimed in. “We were very lucky that it was just a bit of food and not that man’s arm.”
“I know,” Courtney replied glumly. “I just hate to leave him in a kennel all day when he clearly needs something more than that. This makes me wonder if we’ll ever be able to find him a home.” She didn’t like to think about what the alternatives for a dog like Gunnar might be. If there was any chance that he might hurt someone, they couldn’t even reach out to the community for help. “What are we going to do with you, boy?”
Gunnar rested his chin on her knee, but he didn’t have any answers.
Chapter Six
“All right, boy. This is your big chance. You’ve got a lot to prove today, to me and to anybody who might have any doubts about you.” Courtney adjusted her grip on the steering wheel, feeling nervous. “There are only so many options for a dog who can’t be adopted out to the general public, and I don’t like them.”
Gunnar sat up straight in the passenger seat, looking out the windows and panting happily.
“Yeah, you’re lucky. You have no idea what any of that means. But I think you’re really going to enjoy this. It’ll be just like your old job with Officer Cheatham. I want you to be on your absolute best behavior, and just do what you do.” Courtney pulled in a deep breath and hoped this really did go well. She’d heard the reports for the last couple of days about a missing teen by the name of Sophia Parr, and more recently the police and several local organizations had gotten together to form a community search party. Courtney heard about it on the radio, and it sounded like great therapy for Gunnar.
She arrived at the Curly Bay Park and searched for a place among the numerous vehicles. Plenty of people had shown up to help find Sophia. The park was a popular place anyway, considering that it had everything one could possibly want for outdoor recreation. It bordered the seaside, spread out into a groomed area of soccer fields and playgrounds, and then extended into a large wood. On this beautiful, sunny afternoon, it seemed a strange thing to be searching for a missing person. They should be gathering for a festival or a celebration, instead.
As Courtney walked up to the main pavilion, where the crowd was gathering, she noted the numerous squad cars. She kept a close eye on Gunnar, lest someone here have a box of breadsticks he might want to attack.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming out today.” The officer who held up his hands for attention was none other than Don Holland. He held his shoulders wide and his chest puffed out, looking rather self-important. “As you know, we’re here in an effort to find Sophia Parr. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your efforts, but I do ask that you follow a few simple guidelines.” He held up one finger. “First, try to stay in small groups. Everyone is much safer if they’re not alone. We don’t expect anyone to be in any danger by simply being here, but if you were to fall or get otherwise injured, we don’t want to have to organize yet another search party to come find you.”
A few notes of laughter spread through the crowd.
“Second, if you find anything of note,a piece of clothing, evidence of a temporary camp, etcetera, come immediately to one of us in uniform. We do appreciate and need your help, but this isn’t about anyone becoming a hero. We have to do things safely and with appropriate procedure. I’ve got several officers who will be out here to help, and we have some of our firefighters and paramedics, as well. We’ve all got radios to communicate, and we’ll make sure things happen the way they’re supposed to. Last, we will not be continuing the search party once it gets dark. It’s simply too dangerous. If we don’t find Miss Parr this afternoon, then we’ll reconvene tomorrow. Thank you.”
Courtney surveyed the crowd. She hadn’t lived in Curly Bay very long, so there were very few people she knew here. Her coworkers at the shelter and her landlady were about it, and she highly doubted Mrs. Peabody was going to come tramp through the park. She certainly hoped not, anyway, since she still had to get the rent taken care of.
“What a gorgeous dog!” exclaimed a woman nearby as the crowd began to disperse. “Can I pet him?”
Courtney smiled at her. “He’s a bit sensitive. If you slowly give him the back of your hand to sniff, he’ll let us know if he’s up for petting or not.”
The woman did as she was told, moving slowly and gently, and obviously trying very hard to be friends with Gunnar. He must have sensed it, because Courtney felt the gentle thump of his tail against her leg. She nodded at the woman, who gave him a scratch on the chin.
“Do you have anyone you’re grouping up with?” the woman asked. “I’m afraid I just moved here, and I don’t know anybody yet.”
“Then we’re the perfect pair,” Courtney said with a smile, holding out her hand. “I’ve only lived here about a month. I’m Courtney Cain, and I work at the Curly Bay Pet Hotel and Rescue.”
“Lisa Patterson. I work down at the library. It’s nice to meet you.” She shook Courtney’s hand, and they began chatting as they headed toward the woods.
“Gunnar here is actually a former police dog. He’s had some problems adjusting to retired life, so I thought this might be a good chance for him to feel like he has a job again.”
“I take it he’s staying at the shelter where you work?” Lisa, outfitted in hiking boots and a lightweight camping shirt, strode along easily at her side. Her dark, curly hair was held back in a short braid.
“For now.” Courtney wasn’t sure how long that would last, but she clearly couldn’t take him back to her place again.
They met a man on the trail as they worked their way through the woods. He gave them a wave of hello, but the pleasant look on his face turned to stone when he spotted the dog. Instead of moving off the way he’d been heading, he curved his path and walked straight toward them. He was a tall man with broad shoulders, and Courtney couldn’t help but note the large number of tattoos that snaked up his bare arms, revealed by the cut-off shirtsleeves. “Hey,” he growled. “I know that dog.”
Courtney forced a smile on her face, even as she tightened her grip on Gunnar’s leash. “Do you?” she asked pleasantly.
Gunnar watched the man approach, his body stiff and ready, though he made no move to attack the man.
“Yeah. I’d recognize him anywhere. Most police dogs don’t have that coloring, nor do they have that one floppy ear.” He pointed at Gunnar.
“Are you on the force?” Courtney asked, hoping the answer was a yes but knowing it probably wouldn’t be. Whoever this man was, he looked angry and dangerous. Courtney took comfort in knowing she wasn’t alone. Lisa was still at her side, and other groups moved through the park a short distance away.
“Ha! Yeah, right!” His laugh revealed a sparkling gold tooth at the front of his mouth. “That dog and his handler arrested me right in the middle of Main Street. Said I fit the description of someone who’d just broken into a store. I told him it wasn’t me, but he insisted I had to go down to the station to talk about it. Of course, they ended up letting me go because I really didn’t do it.”
Courtney could see how the mistake could be made. It wasn’t right to judge people by their appearances, but he really did look the part. “I’m sorry to hear that.” She wasn’t sure what else to say.
“Well, I’m not sorry to hear that Officer Cheatham is dead,” the man snapped. “I wasn’t convicted of anything, and it might not be on my official record, but that arrest did a lot of damage to me and my business.”
“What’s your business?” Courtney really wanted to move on with the search, but it was clear this man was going to insist they talk. And all because he recognized the dog!
“I run Big Mike’s Tattoo. That’s me. Big Mike.” He put his chin in the air, clearly quite proud of himself.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Big Mike.” She didn’t know what else to say, and she didn’t want to stand here any longer. “Well, we’d better get on with the search
.”
“Yeah.”
Fortunately, Big Mike moved off through the woods instead of coming along with her and Lisa, and Courtney let out a breath of relief.
“That was odd,” Lisa commented.
“Agreed. Gunnar has a bit more of a history than I’m aware of, and I keep finding out more about it every day.” She didn’t know much about Big Mike and his mistaken arrest, but she mentally added him to a list of suspects. It was only in that moment that she realized she was building one. There was definitely something fishy going on with this dog, though. It might involve Big Mike, or Cheatham’s estranged wife, or even his neighbors who complained about him all the time.
They moved over a ridge top and across a small creek. Courtney was enjoying her time out in the woods, trying to think of the last time she’d really gotten out into nature. It was hard to do when she’d lived in the city, and even in Curly Bay she’d been very busy. “I know we’re here to find a missing girl, and that in itself is tragic, but I kind of enjoy doing this.”
“I totally get that! I work all day in the library, and as much as I love books and knowledge, there’s just something incredible about getting outdoors. I go hiking and camping as much as I possibly can, although it’s never enough these days.”
“The last time I went—oh.” Courtney stopped, realizing that Gunnar was suddenly acting differently. He’d frozen on the trail. His tail was practically straight out behind him as he pressed his nose to the ground. He let out a low whine before he shot off to the right.
“Gunnar!” He was a big dog, and while he hadn’t been difficult to control most of the time, he wasn’t currently interested in listening to her pleas for him to slow down as he charged off the trail and straight through the woods. His big paws plowed through the leaf litter, and he didn’t even flinch as he charged through the underbrush. He refused to stop, but when he did it was at the side of a young woman who lay unconscious on the ground.
Her hair was a bright red, but it was covered in dirt and full of leaves. Her pale skin and her trendy clothes were in a similar state, and she made no response as Gunnar plopped down next to her and put his paw on her chest.
“Oh, no.” Courtney knelt at her side, daring to touch her wrist. “She’s alive. We’ve got to find one of the police officers.”
“I’m on it.” Lisa already had her cell phone out. “I don’t see anyone around, so I’ll call the station. They can get in touch with them through their radios.”
“I don’t even know how to tell them where we are.” A sense of dread bloomed in Courtney’s chest, hoping that they hadn’t gotten lost themselves.
“I’ve got it on my GPS.” Lisa gestured to a gadget at her belt. “I’ll give them the coordinates.”
With nothing more to do until the police arrived, Courtney turned her attention to Gunnar. “You’re a good boy. You did a really good job.”
He panted happily up at her, and she could swear she saw a light in his eyes that hadn’t been there before.
Several officers and paramedics swarmed onto the scene. Courtney, Gunnar, and Lisa stood back to let them do their jobs as Sophia was loaded onto a gurney and carried out of the woods. Most of the officials paid no attention to them, but soon enough Don Holland detached himself from the crowd and came over to them.
“You did a great job, ladies. I can’t thank you enough. I imagine the department will want to commend you for your efforts.” Even after an afternoon of searching through the park, Don still looked as perfectly groomed as ever. He hadn’t even broken a sweat.
“It was all thanks to Gunnar, really,” Lisa volunteered. “You should’ve seen him! I don’t know what he picked up on, but something certainly got his attention. Then he went charging through the woods and found her. It was incredible.”
Holland looked down at the dog with a critical eye. “I’m surprised to see the old guy out here. Has his behavior improved at all? You know I’ve got concerns about him.”
Courtney shifted her weight from one foot to the other, not certain how to answer. Holland didn’t like Gunnar, and nothing she could say was going to change that. She couldn’t possibly tell him about the dog’s incident with the pizza man. Something inside her told her that even though Holland was an officer of the law, she didn’t have to reveal all her secrets. “As you can see from his work here today, he’s doing quite well.”
Officer Holland looked skeptical. “We believe Miss Parr’s disappearance had something to do with drugs. She’d been running with the wrong crowd. We’ll know a little more after she’s been to the hospital and we’ve had some time to talk with her and her parents. It all makes sense, and especially if Gunnar found her. He probably smelled the narcotics on her.”
“That could be.” Courtney hadn’t thought about it like that.
“Not necessarily,” Lisa argued. “Dogs have an innate sense in them. They can pick up on things we can’t. It’s quite possible that Gunnar just knew someone was in trouble and wanted to help. There are all sorts of stories about dogs rescuing people, even when they aren’t trained to do any such thing.”
Courtney gave her new acquaintance a curious look, knowing she would need to ask her about her experience with dogs later.
Holland brushed off the woman’s commentary. “I saw you talking to Big Mike earlier. What was that all about?”
She wished she’d known earlier that he’d been nearby. It might’ve made her feel a little better about talking to the intimidating tattoo artist. “He recognized Gunnar, is all.”
“Yeah? He have anything else to say?” Holland rubbed his chin, pretending to look casual, but his brilliant green eyes were intense.
Once again, she felt an instinct not to say too much. Big Mike had scared her with his demeanor, and Don looked like the sort of man she should be able to trust. But she shook her head. “No, not really.”
“Hm. Well, I’ve got to get this young lady to the hospital and then back in the custody of her parents. If you need any more help with that dog, you let me know. You know how to get hold of me.” He gave her a wink and followed the rest of the emergency personnel out of the woods.
When they were gone, Courtney and Lisa slowly began walking back toward the parking lot. Lisa cleared her throat. “Look, I know we don’t know each other well, and it’s really none of my business, but is there something going on with you and Officer Muscleman back there?”
Courtney sighed. “No. I just talked to him a little bit about Gunnar’s former owner. The officer who used to handle him passed away, and I’ve been spending the past week trying to get him retrained into being a pet instead of a police officer. And speaking of dogs, how do you know so much about them rescuing people?”
She smiled as she stepped over a fallen log. “I told you I like to hike a lot. When I was younger, I used to volunteer with a wilderness rescue team. Sometimes people would bring their dogs with them. It was actually becoming a little bit of a controversy, because there was some concern that they would create more risk. Then this old Australian shepherd found a man we’d been searching for. It’s not the first time I’ve seen it happen, either. A dog actually rescued me when I was a little girl. He was the neighbor’s, and he pulled me right out of a frozen pond. Neither one of those dogs had any training to do things like that.”
“That’s incredible. And so exciting!” Once again, Courtney couldn’t believe the contrast between the life she’d left behind in the city and the one she had here in Curly Bay. It was so much more fulfilling, knowing she was helping both people and animals. “I was hoping this experience would be good for Gunnar, and it certainly seems to be.”
Lisa reached down to give him a pat, and he wagged his tail. He walked along between the two ladies, casual as could be, as though they did this all the time. It gave her a renewed sense of hope for his future.
Chapter Seven
“Did you hear that, Gunnar?” Courtney put her cell in her pocket as she approached the German Shepherd’s cage
and flicked the latch. “The Curly Bay Police want to give you a reward for all your hard work!” She put her hands on either side of his face and ruffled his fur. Chief Hanson had called her personally to let her know they wanted to commend their former officer for finding Sophia Parr.
The dog, who obviously didn’t quite understand what she was talking about, could sense the excitement in her voice. He’d calmed down a bit about being in his kennel, and he waited patiently for her to clip the leash to his collar so she could bring him into the office.
Dora was already there, sitting at her desk. She turned to see who was coming in, and she frowned when she saw Gunnar. “I thought you were going to keep him locked up.”
“None of our tenants or hotel guests stay locked up all the time,” Courtney reminded her, “and I’ll be sure not to let go of his leash. I might’ve gotten a little complacent with him the other day and just let him sit under my desk, but that was my fault. Besides, he deserves at least a little freedom if the city is giving him a reward.”
“What’s this?” Ms. O’Donnell asked as she walked in from her lunch break, Jessi right behind her. She blew on her freshly done nails, which shone in a bright pink. “A reward?”
“The police want to honor Gunnar this afternoon for working with the search party and finding that girl. The chief himself called and asked me to bring him to the station in an hour. It’s short notice, but I don’t care. I think it’s amazing. He said the newspaper will be there and everything.” She kept the leash looped around her wrist to appease Dora, and she petted him steadily with the other hand.
“That’s so exciting!” Jessi enthused. “What a good boy!”
“But isn’t that what he’s trained to do?” Dora pointed out. “He was a police dog, after all.”
Courtney drew in a deep breath, wondering just how long she was going to keep her patience with Dora. She was an excellent dog groomer, and she was perfect for the pet hotel side of the business. Somehow, she managed to not only deal with the customers’ rather outlandish requests but to revel in them. If a dog wanted a mud mask or painted nails like Ms. O’Donnell’s, Dora was happy to comply, but her bad attitude in the office was something Courtney would have to address eventually. Just maybe not today, since it was Gunnar’s moment in the sun, after all. “Sure, he was. But he’s not technically one anymore, and he wasn’t trained to find people. He did what an entire crowd of people hadn’t managed to do, and if the police themselves find it impressive, then there’s no reason to belittle his accomplishment.”