by Dale Mayer
“And was it? Did they find it? What happened to it?”
He held up a hand at his grandmother’s questions. “They don’t have a clue. They don’t have any idea what happened to the dog.”
Jessica walked back outside again, her eyes constantly searching her huge backyard. When she had first found this house, she knew she had to rent it, as it would be perfect for Danny, with this great big backyard that he could grow into. And her landlord, knowing she was a single mom with a toddler, had installed security cams inside, just not in Danny’s bedroom or the two bathrooms. Yet her bedroom had a cam. Her landlord had a panic button installed in her bedroom, in case she ever had an intruder. Which was the extent of her interaction with the security system here, but it was everything to her. It made her feel safe.
Back then.
Not so much now.
And now she wished he had put up security cams outside.
She thought she’d seen that same dog but didn’t understand why he would stay here. She was a little jumpy as it was, since she and her son had been involved in a fender bender three weeks ago and subsequently had learned that her ex-husband had paid someone to intentionally slam into her. The very nerve of the man drove her crazy.
Separated for two years now, back then she’d gotten pregnant, and, when she had shared the good news with her husband, he had told her quite clearly that he wanted nothing to do with any kid or her. But now that Danny was alive and well, George had contacted her via their divorce lawyers just a couple months or so ago to say he now wanted his son.
All the peace and quiet that she’d fought so long and hard for was gone just like that. Part of her wanted to doubt that the fender bender could have been somebody acting at George’s request, but the guy had said that this was a message from George as he drove away. That had been enough to send her blood pressure through the roof, and her fears put her life into a tailspin.
She hadn’t reported it to the cops though because George was one of those scary kinds of guys. And, if he thought he could get away with murder, he would. The police wouldn’t stop him. She still pondered and chewed on the idea of reporting him, but the farther away from the accident she got, it all felt more foolish than anything. How would she possibly answer the evitable questions, such as why she hadn’t told them at the scene of the accident? Because she was afraid of her ex? But wasn’t that all the more reason to go to the police?
She picked up Danny and held him tight. When the toddler squirmed to be let down, she moved outside and put him on the veranda. She had a small fence all around it to stop him from going out into the big yard and was never more grateful for that than when she first saw the dog.
She didn’t understand that. But there’d been nothing but craziness since that fender bender. Well, actually before that. Three months ago George decided he wanted Danny now. His lawyer had contacted her lawyers. So she was more paranoid than ever, feeling like she was being watched all the time.
Now she didn’t know what to do. She called her mom, but her mother was of the opinion that Jessica was once again overwrought, making a big deal out of nothing. “You feel like you’re being watched? Jessica, really? And chase off the damn dog. It could have rabies or worse. If you had just stayed married, everything would have been fine.”
But then that was her mother—you were nobody if you didn’t have a man. Jessica gave a bitter laugh. “I wasn’t exactly anybody with that man,” she muttered to herself.
Her gaze kept scanning the backyard. That dog had been huge, dark, and shepherd looking, but she didn’t understand what he was doing here. Especially since she thought for sure she’d seen him at the accident site. An animal rescue was nearby, and he’d been in a pen. At least she thought so. The whole thing had been such a nightmare that she wasn’t even sure what she’d seen.
When the driver of the other vehicle in the fender bender had tried to get too close to Danny, who was in her car with her at the time of the accident, they’d had a screaming match, and he threatened to call the cops. The woman from the shelter had stepped out and had asked if there was a problem, and the guy had told Jessica this was a message from George. Then a dog appeared from the right and chased the man back into his truck and he took off.
The dog continued down the road after him. She didn’t know what would cause the dog to do that or who it belonged to. She thought it might have jumped the fence but didn’t get a clear enough vision of it to be sure.
She didn’t live too far away, just a couple miles, and, after the accident, she quickly got in her car and drove home. But she’d been shaky and upset ever since. And now she couldn’t get the idea out of her mind that the dog was hanging around. Never really close but always just on the perimeter.
She hesitated about feeding it because what if it was dangerous? She had her son to worry about. At the same time, it made absolutely no sense that the dog would have gone after the other driver.
Still she was torn, hoping the dog had good intentions toward her and her son. But she wasn’t sure either way, and never being exposed to animals of any kind—because her mother considered them dirty disease-infested critters—she didn’t know how the dog’s behavior could be explained in this instance.
She stepped forward and picked up Danny, hugging him again, feeling that need to connect with her son, until he once again squirmed and cried out. She realized she was holding him too tight. With a shaky smile, she put him back down again. “Mommy loves you.”
He beamed and said, “Bubboo too.”
She chuckled. “Why don’t we go inside and play?”
He shook his head. “Outside.”
“Of course you want to play outside,” she spoke quietly to herself. “I mean, we live in Hawaii.” The weather was gorgeous here, and her son always wanted to be outside. It just didn’t make her feel very good to know that something or someone out there was watching them. If she knew it was the dog for sure, she could at least put it down to the animal. But it didn’t necessarily have that same feel. It was as if she were being watched all the time. It was unnerving enough but downright terrifying to think that her ex-husband was behind it.
Finally unable to contain herself, she snatched Danny up and walked inside. Locking the double French doors, she headed to the kitchen against the wiggly protests from her son. Quickly she sat him in his high chair and said, “Let’s make cookies.”
Chapter 2
Several days later Jessica had that same horrible feeling again. She was doing dishes in the kitchen, while her son was still eating his breakfast. She looked outside and thought she saw an animal darting between the trees that bordered her property. But after staring at the area for a long while, she saw nothing. Upset and frustrated, she knew if she could at least get a proper look at it, she’d know if it was the same animal.
As she took yet another look outside, she swore to God she saw a face in the trees. Her heart slammed against her chest, and she froze, then sucked her breath back down her throat. For a moment there, she thought it was George. She closed her eyes and collapsed against the counter, wishing to God she’d never had that fender bender or been threatened by George’s thug.
George hadn’t done anything directly to her or her son. He hadn’t called, hadn’t emailed. He had his lawyer do his dirty work, with the initial filing for separation and divorce, and the most recent notice that George wanted Danny. So what was she supposed to do with this now?
Behind her, Danny called out, “Mommy?”
She bolstered up a bright smile, then turned and squatted beside him. “I’m fine, sweetie. Mommy is just tired.”
He beamed. “Mommy needs nap.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice,” she said, chuckling. “We’re going shopping instead.”
“Yay!”
She knew he didn’t understand the word, but that was okay. He would soon enough. It was all good.
She quickly cleaned off his little tray, washed his hands and face, let him down out of the hi
gh chair, and finished cleaning up the kitchen. She hated the fact that every time she came close to a window, she glanced outside to look—only to see nothing there. Her heart calmed down a little bit, but it was just not enough. She couldn’t resist the opportunity to get away for a while. So she quickly dressed him in his sneakers, grabbed his stroller, and, with her purse and keys in hand, she locked up the house and went out the front door. She could drive, but right now she wanted the exercise that would be gained if they just went for a walk. She only needed to pick up a couple things, so it didn’t really matter.
As she headed down the road and around the corner, a vehicle came ripping up behind her. Instinctively she jumped off to the side, pulling Danny’s stroller with her. Only the truck took a left turn away from her. She stood here, her hand against her chest, taking long and slow breaths. She didn’t know what the hell was going on, but she was a wreck. She had to get a grip before somebody decided she was an unfit mother.
And, of course, that went right back to George. Maybe he was doing this on purpose, just to make her seem neurotic and paranoid. She wouldn’t put it past him. He was one of those people who liked to gaslight others into thinking what they thought they saw—and what he said and did—wasn’t actually what happened. Many a time he’d done that to her, until she finally figured out that he was doing it as a joke.
But it was a mean joke, and one she didn’t appreciate. He got pissy whenever she accused him of it thereafter. She hadn’t seen any of his callous behavior before they were married, and she wondered why he had even married her. She had sincerely thought that she had loved him at the time but had never really been sure if he loved her. Maybe it was just a stage of life, and he’d figured he was supposed to be married. She didn’t know. For all she knew it was a ten-dollar bet with a buddy.
At that, her bitterness took an even deeper dive. She desperately needed to shrug off the attitude, and, as she walked down the sidewalk, she deliberately looked around to find things that made her happy, something to smile about. She pointed out a butterfly on a large hedge on the left, making Danny laugh with joy. And then a songbird trilled in the tree as they went underneath. She smiled at that.
Plenty of good things were in this life, so many wonderful things, like her son, but now her life was overshadowed by that fear that comes with having something so precious. Fear that you could lose it. She hadn’t experienced that until the fender bender.
She’d been completely oblivious to George, who existed out in the middle of nowhere. She didn’t know why he would even want a child now. Not when he’d made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t ready to be a father. But he had changed his mind recently apparently, and that just scared the crap out of her.
As she headed toward the shopping mall, her phone rang. She pulled it from her purse, only to realize that it was yet another Unknown Caller. No one was ever there, just noise in the background. Finally she decided to test it. “George, stop that,” she said. “It’s getting tiresome.” She heard a harsh gasp on the other end that, unfortunately, did sound like George.
She quickly hung up the phone and shoved it in her pocket, then stared down at her shaking hands. If it was George, what the hell would she do? And why hadn’t she already done something about it?
“What will you do now?” his grandmother asked Greyson the next morning. “How are you supposed to find a dog that may or may not have run away—or may or may not have been kidnapped?”
He chuckled. “Well, I’ll go back to the place where the dog went missing from and see if I can track her,” he said.
Both his grandparents just stared at him. “That was weeks ago,” they said.
He nodded. “It was, and I know the weather has been varied since then, but I’ll do my best.”
The two looked at each other and then back at him. His grandfather shrugged and said, “I’d offer to come with you, but I’d probably be more in the way than anything.”
“You have Leo to look after today,” Greyson said.
At that, his grandfather beamed. “Yep. I’ll go show him the walkways today,” he said. “Maybe I’ll take a mug full of coffee along too.” He looked over at his wife, and she immediately poured him a big silver mug full.
Putting the lid on, she handed it to him. “You go do that,” she said. “I’ll go into town and get some shopping done. Oh, and I’m meeting the girls for lunch today too.”
Rising to leave, his grandfather nodded and said, “Have fun, dear.” As he headed for the door, Leo, who had been under the kitchen table, hopped up and raced to the door with him. Grandpa quickly snapped on a leash, and the two of them went out the door, happy to be together, heading outside.
Greyson sat here with his coffee and watched his grandfather meander down the pathway. “Is it okay that Leo is here?” he asked his grandmother.
“Yes! It’s a really good idea,” she said warmly. “I’ve been trying to get your grandfather to get a dog all these months, but, for some reason, he’s been holding off. Something about Leo caught his attention, and that’s good because it took the decision-making away from him.”
“How is his health?”
“It’ll be much better now that he has Leo to fuss over,” she said with a laugh. She looked over at him. “Do you want some breakfast before you leave?”
He shook his head. “My stomach is still working on that wonderful dinner you made last night,” he declared.
She flushed with pleasure. “You’re still such a flirt.”
“I am not,” he said, laughing.
She smiled at him. “Well, in that case, I’ll go get ready.” And, with that, she disappeared from the kitchen and headed upstairs.
It was strange to be here, yet, at the same time, it felt completely normal, as if time hadn’t passed at all, and he was right back to where he’d been years ago. His father—their son—had died, along with his mother, just as Greyson was entering the navy. It had been tough on them all, but he at least had had his new career to bury himself into. They’d had each other, and that was all, but it was something.
Now the family was just the three of them. Greyson knew that they were hoping he’d get married someday and would have a family, but that wasn’t exactly on the top of his list at the moment.
He got out a notepad and jotted down ideas of where to check for Kona and what to do. The rescue center had surely opened a police file on the missing dog. If not, surely someone reported the car accident, or at least somebody should have, so he would contact the local police department, see just what they had for a file, if a file existed at all. A War Dog like that shouldn’t just disappear. He had a photograph of her in the file that he’d brought with him, and he’d photographed that so he had it on his phone too.
He brought up the photo, so the dog’s face filled the screen, and he set it as his backdrop. When his grandmother came in, she saw the picture on his phone.
“Oh my,” she said, “that’s a handsome-looking animal.”
“That’s Kona, the one I’m looking for,” he said.
“And that’s a very Hawaiian name,” she said. “Did you consider that?”
He looked at her and paused. “You know what? I didn’t,” he said. “I wonder if it was a deliberate misdirection, or maybe her handler was Hawaiian too.”
He quickly brought up his phone and sent Badger a text, asking him about the origin of the K9’s name and if maybe Kona’s previous trainers and handlers had been Hawaiian. It just seemed like an unlikely coincidence that a dog accidently shipped to Hawaii happened to have a Hawaiian name.
Badger replied almost immediately that they would check on it. Greyson liked that about that team. They understood communication and how important it was to have it happen as fast as possible. Nobody on a mission should be delayed too long by waiting on somebody getting information back to them.
As soon as his coffee was gone, his grandmother grabbed her purse. He looked over at her. “Do you want me to drive you somewhere?”<
br />
She shook her head and smiled at him. “Nope,” she said. “You go ahead and take the truck. I’m taking my car.”
He frowned. “I’m really struggling with that,” he said. “I’d be more than happy to rent a vehicle.”
“We’d be quite insulted if you did,” she said, putting an end to the discussion.
As she walked out and got into her car, he thought about that, wondering how his grandparents had such a great method of handling everything. He laughed. They used guilt and wielded it like a sword. Still, he got into the truck and pulled out, using his cell phone’s GPS to help him track backward to the rescue center.
As soon as he parked outside and walked in, the woman looked up at him in surprise. He just shrugged and said, “I’ll start tracking the dog from here. I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be around for a little bit.”
She nodded slowly.
“And you didn’t see anything else?” he asked. “You didn’t think of anything?”
She shrugged and said, “No. I don’t know anything about it. Like I said, there was a fender bender going on outside, but, other than that, I don’t really have anything to offer.”
“Do you happen to know who was involved in the fender bender?”
She shrugged. “Nope, I sure don’t.”
“Did you call the police about the dog?”
“I did, particularly because this wasn’t an ordinary stray or a surrender. This was a dog we had been asked to board for safekeeping.” Her tone was wry. “And I do have the name of the detective I spoke with.” Walking over to her desk, she riffled through a bunch of paperwork and handed him a card. “This is who I spoke to.”
Taking a photo of the card, Greyson smiled, returned the card to her, and said, “Thanks. I’ll contact him and see if he’s got a file open.”