Trained to Protect

by Linda O. Johnston

  “Count on it,” he said, and Elissa felt herself smile in a modicum of relief.

  Chapter 7

  So what was going on with that woman?

  That brave, sexy, perplexing woman who loved dogs and apparently people, too, since she used dogs to help other humans in need.

  Never mind that it was early Saturday morning. Doug was in the office he shared with his sister, going over some emails and newsletters from K-9 organizations and nearby departments that also had dogs on their teams. He was still waiting for the meeting that Assistant Chief Kara had scheduled earlier but had delayed, wondering if she’d just wanted to touch base with the department’s K-9 staff or if there was something else going on.

  But he kept thinking even more about the call he had just received midmorning.

  What was on Elissa’s mind now? She sounded as if she was attempting to hide how upset she was. Not that he knew her well, of course, yet some of her emotions had already become somewhat readable to him, or so he believed.

  Was something new wrong? And was that something new the reason she was coming back to Chance a day early?

  She apparently still had no idea who had broken into her home and why, since she’d found nothing missing. She’d undoubtedly have mentioned it if her local cops had found any answers.

  Same thing regarding who had warned Amber not to hire her—although that was in his jurisdiction, and so far he had no answers, either. He knew Elissa would mention it to him if she’d figured it out.

  Did she know the source of whatever new issue was troubling her—assuming there was one?

  Hooper, lying on the floor beside Doug, suddenly stood, his pointed ears moving and his eyes fixed on the closed office door. He’d clearly heard something in the hallway and, judging by the way his tail wagged, Doug assumed Hooper’s closest friend Griffin was approaching. Therefore he wasn’t surprised when the door opened and his sister strode in, led by her K-9.

  “Hey, bro.” As always, Maisie looked fully professional that day, even though, like him, she wore her uniform shirt and pants but not the jacket. Griffin immediately approached Hooper, and the two dogs traded sniffs as if to make sure the other hadn’t gotten into something fun since they’d last been together.

  “Hey back. Any word on when the assistant chief wants to meet with us?”

  “How about now?” Maisie asked, though it wasn’t a question. “I saw her in the hallway a minute ago and she told me to round you up and join her in her office.”

  Doug immediately rose. He stuffed Hooper’s leash in his pocket. Here at the station, the dogs didn’t need to be vested, tethered or confined, but they almost always remained with their handlers unless there was a good reason not to.

  Maisie and Griffin preceding them, Doug walked with Hooper along the clean white halls to the administration area of the building, passing other cops who greeted them, including the dogs, but knew better than to reach out to pat them unless given the okay by their handlers.

  A few civilians were hurrying through the building and several stopped, their smiles suggesting they wanted to engage in a lovefest with the K-9s, but Maisie immediately corrected them, explaining that the dogs were professionals like their handlers and were somewhat on duty just by being there.

  Soon, they were outside the offices of the chief and assistant chief. Maisie knocked, waited for a “Come in,” then opened Kara Province’s wooden door and walked in with Griffin. Doug and Hooper were right behind her.

  As usual, Doug watched his sister take the lead, not because she was a better cop but because she was older—and generally insistent on being in control. Rather than fight it, he allowed his amusement to take over and let her do it.

  “Here we are, Assistant Chief,” Maisie said.

  Kara, behind her desk, looked up at them. “Yes, here you are. Have a seat.” She met Doug’s gaze and smiled briefly, as if she, too, recognized he was acting, as always, like a good sibling and letting his big sis have her way.

  Like the two K-9 handlers, Kara was dressed somewhat informally, at least without her black jacket. Kara’s large desk had a few piles of paper on it, as usual, and her laptop was on a wheeled table to the side. The assistant chief was fairly young for the position, not much older than Maisie or Doug, both in their midthirties. She had dark hair cut professionally short, which framed her face attractively. The gaze she moved from Doug back to Maisie with her deep brown eyes looked friendly—but not too friendly.

  Doug sat on the chair closest to him, facing the desk, not waiting for Maisie to make her decision. The dogs both took positions sitting on the floor next to each of their handlers.

  “So,” Kara said, “you want to know why we’re meeting.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Maisie said formally, and Doug half expected her to salute—but she didn’t.

  “Well, I just wanted an update on any cases you’re working on—and especially if there’s anything regarding the K-9 Ranch that the department needs to be concerned about after that sign posted outside it.”

  “That’s Doug’s matter,” Maisie said immediately, gesturing toward him. “Although I am concerned. I planned to take Griffin there to observe some therapy dog lessons and hope they’re still in the works. He’s already a good boy, not too old, and does his job well, but I thought that would be another good skill for him to learn for the future. Right, boy?” She reached over and stroked her golden’s head. The dog wagged his tail. “And while I’m there, I’ll also look around.”

  “Okay, then. Doug—” Kara looked at him “—what’s your update?”

  This was his boss. He had to remain professional and tell her what she wanted, and needed, to know. He kept it brief but told her about his trip down the mountain to visit Elissa’s home to see if the break-in might be related to that sign.

  He mentioned that Hooper was the one to alert on where the break-in had occurred, explaining Elissa’s dog’s strange reaction at their home. Also, he let her know he’d been in touch with local cops.

  Sure, he’d acted fast in hurrying to a civilian’s home out of their jurisdiction, while he was on duty. But he had gotten the chief’s general permission to look into the apparent threat at the Chance K-9 Ranch, and the matters were possibly related.

  He still hoped that investing his time and Hooper’s might help lead to the information they sought.

  “So you still have no answers” was Kara’s correct conclusion as he finished.

  “That’s right,” he said, “but we’re still looking into it. Ms. Yorian was hired part-time at the K-9 Ranch starting on Monday, but I’ve received information that she is heading back to Chance tomorrow, and I hope to get any further updates from her then.”

  He felt his sister’s wry stare but didn’t look at her. She’d already told him he was getting much too interested in the woman he’d followed down the hill. In some ways, she was right. And oh, yes, Maisie was usually right.

  But he saw a wry stare from their boss, too, who might also be getting the wrong—or unfortunately right—idea. “I’ll keep you informed about any additional info I get from her or otherwise. The Chance K-9 Ranch is an important part of this town and I recognize our duty to protect it along with all our other critical businesses.” Was he laying it on too thick?

  “Of course,” Kara said. “And I assume you’ll be helping the other Officer Murran.” This time her gaze was on Maisie.

  “You can be sure of it,” Maisie said. “I’ll be right on top of it all.”

  Doug heard his sister’s unspoken message. Keep it professional, bro.

  Which was absolutely his intention. And now he needed to follow through.

  * * *

  She needed to leave, to start her new life—temporary or not. And so, first thing Sunday morning, Elissa packed a bag with essential clothing and more, including her laptop, then gathered items important to Pe
ace’s lifestyle, such as her food, and loaded most of it into the rear of her vehicle. She walked Peace briefly along with her friend and neighbors, Glynnis and Socia, to say goodbye for now, and got her dog into the back seat of the SUV.

  She’d hoped she wasn’t too tired to drive. So many things had affected her sleep last night. She’d kept listening for the sound of someone breaking into her rented home again—fortunately hearing nothing. She’d stewed about losing her job thanks to those totally untrue accusations. And of course she’d thought about what would be facing her up the mountain, in Chance—a new direction for her life, yes, at least temporarily.

  But someone there had threatened her, too. Warned her new boss not to hire her... Why?

  And in between all of that, she had gotten some small doses of sleep.

  As she’d pulled out of her driveway nearly an hour ago, she had pushed the button to close the garage door on the house where she’d been living...and on that part of her life, at least for now. She was currently renting month-to-month and hadn’t yet given notice of termination of the lease. Not till she saw how things went in Chance. If she did return, she would ask her landlord to add a security system—but right now it felt unlikely she’d even be there to ask, let alone push him about it.

  Was she doing the right thing? Well, she no longer had a job to return to in SLO, even though she wanted in the worst way to hang around to see if she could figure out who had falsely accused her of inappropriate behavior during her dog therapy work. Of all that had happened so far, that in some ways affected her the most. She loved doing therapy work, helping people with the kindest of dogs, Peace. Teaching others to do the same.

  To hear that someone claimed she had instead frightened needy children...that sent a knife of sorts into her heart.

  As a result, to maintain her sanity, she wanted to start her new job as fast as possible, even if it was only part-time. While she did that, she could try to figure out how to find these answers along with those for the other questions hanging over her.

  Now, rehashing it all yet again as they neared Chance in traffic a lot better than her journey there on a weekday, she said to Peace, “I think we’ll like living on the K-9 Ranch. You’ve already met some of the dogs there, and we’ll meet more.”

  And her? Well, she really liked Amber Belott, her new boss. Not that she knew her well, nor her mother or their head trainer or other employees at the ranch, but she would get to know them better, she was certain of it.

  On top of that, she was thinking of Doug. “I don’t know if he’ll help us find all the answers, but at least we have another new friend in Chance, Peace.” The cop had already done a lot for her. And she was going to see him soon to let him in on the latest fiasco in her life. Not that he’d necessarily care—but maybe he could add this latest thing to the list of issues he seemed to be investigating on her behalf.

  Rather, the Chance K-9 Ranch’s behalf, but that was fine. She was involved, and he had agreed to talk to her sometime today. And she believed she could count on K-9 Officer Doug Murran to keep his word.

  At least she hoped so.

  She took her time on the drive, sightseeing a bit, since she wasn’t going to be commuting between SLO and Chance again, at least not now. She even stopped to walk Peace often, to give herself a little exercise, too—both to boost her body and her mood.

  In a while, she was driving through Chance’s downtown. She decided to go past the civic center and police station.

  To see Doug? It was Sunday afternoon. Might he be on duty? She doubted it unless there was a local problem requiring a K-9’s help. She’d call him soon to see where they could meet.

  “Let’s go by the hospital instead,” she said to Peace. But to get there from where they were they would have to drive by the police station.

  She was startled to see Doug, his sister Maisie and their K-9s right outside the building, as if she’d told him to meet her there. But she hadn’t. She hadn’t known when or where they would get together, but it seemed too strange to consider stopping and saying hi now, so she just waved and kept driving.

  Okay, maybe it wasn’t so strange. Chance wasn’t a large town. All its police officers probably spent time patrolling the streets, possibly even on weekends, including the K-9 officers—right?

  Elissa’s cell phone rang nearly immediately. She answered it on the wireless system in her car.

  “This is Doug Murran, Elissa. Why did you just drive by rather than stop? I know you saw me. I thought you wanted to talk today.” He sounded brusque and not especially friendly. Because she hadn’t stopped—or because he was with another cop, even though she happened to be his sister, and wanted to sound more professional than nice?

  It didn’t particularly matter. With Elissa’s current mood, she felt somewhat hurt. “I do,” she said. “But I thought I would go to the K-9 Ranch first. I need to talk to Amber.” Never mind that she’d also hoped to talk to someone at the hospital today about therapy dog work. That could wait a little longer.

  “Fine. I’ll meet you there in half an hour. Okay?”

  “Sure.” Before she could say anything else he said goodbye and hung up.

  Which made Elissa wonder if she was making a mistake by coming here after all—or at least hoping Doug was as nice a cop as she’d started to believe he was and that he would continue to try to help her.

  “That’s probably just wishful thinking,” she said sadly to Peace. “I shouldn’t get my hopes up that anyone will help me.” Especially a guy like that. Sexy, yes. But a professional cop all the way.

  Hey, she told herself, buck up. Her life was about to improve. She was in Chance.

  She continued driving to the ranch. Amber Belott had hired her. Amber had said she had a spare employee’s house where Elissa and Peace could live, at least for a few days. She had an ulterior motive of wanting a skilled therapy dog worker and trainer to be part of the K-9 Ranch staff, but she still had acted awfully nice to Elissa, at least so far.

  And Elissa would take advantage of it and hopefully stay there for a while—and in turn, she would be the best damn therapy dog handler and instructor possible.

  She soon turned onto the ranch’s driveway and drove up the hill. As she parked, the house door on the front porch opened and Amber came out, along with her mother and their black Lab, Lola.

  “Hi, and welcome,” Amber said immediately as Elissa opened the driver’s door.

  “Thanks so much.” Elissa smiled greetings at the two women standing near her.

  “It’s great that you decided to come early,” Sonya said.

  “And to stay here,” Amber agreed. “We’ve been working on getting a class together for you to start with tomorrow. Some potential students responded to my social media posts, and I’ve chosen a few to participate. It’ll be a small class, but it will be a start.”

  And sometime tomorrow, Elissa would find a way to do as she’d hoped today and visit the hospital. See if she could conduct some therapy dog work there, as well as demonstrations and lessons once she got her classes going.

  As they talked, Elissa got Peace out of the back and the two dogs exchanged greetings with their eyes and noses.

  For an instant, Elissa allowed herself to believe that all the hardships she had been undergoing might just have been preparing her for the changes to her life that she was about to begin. Good changes. Wonderful changes.

  She hoped.

  That attitude persisted a short while later after Amber and Lola walked her to the first of the four houses off to one side of the main house.

  “This one will be yours as long as you’re working here and want to stay,” Amber said, walking up the front stoop and using a key to open the plain wooden front door with a window at the top. She then handed the key to Elissa.

  It was a single-story building, not elaborate at all, but better kept than the place
she’d been renting. It felt like home immediately to Elissa—probably because she yearned for it to be, at least for now. Plus, Peace seemed right at home, too, as she began exploring the place, nose down, with Lola accompanying her.

  “Not the most sophisticated building, but it’s convenient for the people who work here. Evan, our head trainer, lives in the end house with his dog Bear.”

  Amber’s smile was huge and she seemed to blush a little. Elissa figured Evan might also hang out a bit at the main ranch house—assuming Sonya could deal with that.

  “Our ranch hand, Orrin, lives in the house next to Evan’s, and the house closest to this one is currently vacant. Oh, and in case you’re interested, the houses on the other side are sort of like hotels for visiting students, though they can be used for employees, too. At the moment, no one is living in any of them.”

  “Got it.” Elissa had noticed a few homes in that direction, as well.

  “So...everything look okay here?” That was Sonya. The older woman appeared concerned, as if she really cared whether Elissa was comfortable in the house.

  “Absolutely,” Elissa assured her. “This is great. I’ve already started figuring the best way to start my classes, and it will definitely be easier for me to run them while I’m actually living here. I really appreciate it.” She leveled a smile first at Sonya and then at Amber. “And just so you know, I’ve taken a leave of absence from the hospital where I work as a nurse to make sure I get started well here.” Okay, that wasn’t the full story, but they didn’t need to know the rest, at least not now.

  “We really appreciate you,” her new boss assured her, causing Elissa’s smile to widen even more. “Now go ahead and start getting settled here. I imagine you haven’t bought groceries, so you’re welcome to join us for dinner.”

  “She’s having dinner with me tonight,” said a familiar voice that wasn’t entirely expected—at least not then. But Doug and Hooper had entered the house and now stood in the living room with them. Peace headed toward them, tail wagging fast, and traded face sniffs with Hooper.