Trained to Protect

by Linda O. Johnston

  Well, that answered one question—although this wasn’t exactly the way Elissa would have wanted her evening plans to be determined. But she nodded at Doug, then said to Amber and Sonya, “That’s right. But thanks, anyway. And let’s plan to have dinner together soon—my treat.” On only a part-time salary?

  Well, she’d work it out.

  “We’ll see about that,” Amber said and then she and her mother left with Lola—leaving Elissa and Peace alone with Doug and his K-9.

  Chapter 8

  “So you’re staying here for a while?” Doug had to ask as both he and Elissa stood near the now closed front door. “I heard you say you’d taken a leave of absence from your other job.”

  Which surprised him. He’d gotten the impression she enjoyed being a nurse, and though she also liked handling therapy dogs and training others, that wasn’t her main focus. He figured she had come here early to get ready for her part-time job that started tomorrow, but was there more to it than that?

  He was glad she was here now, though. Not because he’d wanted to see her any sooner, but her presence should assist in his attempts to figure out that sign left at the K-9 Ranch. Or at least he hoped so.

  He hadn’t seen her dressed quite this casually before, in a green T-shirt and jeans. She looked good that way. Of course he figured she would look good in whatever she wore.

  And he wouldn’t even think about how she would look wearing nothing...

  He reminded himself yet again that he was a cop. On duty. Dressed in his uniform shirt and slacks. Be professional, he ordered himself.

  “Yes,” she was saying. “I decided to come early and stay for a while as I got into my new job here.”

  He saw through that, though. Or thought he did. The bright smile on her face looked forced and her voice held a tinge of sorrow. What really was going on?

  He would find out soon.

  They were in a hall leading to the house’s other rooms and he wanted to check them for their current condition. He knew what they were like because he’d been in the similar home occupied by Evan, the ranch’s head trainer.

  “Well, that’s good,” he said. “Come on. I want to see the rest of this place.”

  “Sure.” Elissa almost sounded relieved, as if she’d hoped he would check this place out, too—to ensure nothing unusual was present here.

  Like jimmied windows...

  As she, with Peace, preceded Hooper and him down the hall, Doug hung back. He had a totally inappropriate urge to grab Elissa and hold her tight to keep her safe.

  But there was unlikely to be anything here to harm her...and he would confirm that.

  For now, he wanted Hooper to accompany him and check this house out as his K-9 had done with Elissa’s other place. Not that he anticipated his dog would alert on anything unusual. They were within the boundaries of the vast fence that surrounded the Chance K-9 Ranch. Evan’s dog Bear was a former military K-9 who would also let his handler know if someone was around who shouldn’t be.

  Although, Bear apparently hadn’t alerted about whoever had left that sign. Of course the front gate was far from where Evan and Bear lived. And it most likely had been hung in the middle of the night.

  Lola and the young dogs that were being trained to become police K-9s were slightly closer but mustn’t have heard or smelled anything unusual while they were sleeping in the main house, or they’d undoubtedly have barked.

  Which indicated to Doug that the intruder had enough knowledge of this ranch and its occupants to have a good idea how to be careful and stay off the canine radar.

  “I really don’t know enough about this place to give you a grand tour,” Elissa said. “I walked through it briefly with Amber before but just peeked into all the rooms—and there aren’t many.”

  “We’ll take our time now,” Doug told her, and he and Hooper did exactly that.

  Even so, it didn’t take long because the place was so small. In turn, they walked through the living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom—and that was the entire house.

  Each room had the barest minimum of ordinary furnishings in it. Nothing in the whole place got Hooper excited. When they saw the bedroom, though, Doug could imagine Elissa sleeping there. And the image made him feel warm.

  Too bad he couldn’t join her. Which was another of his entirely inappropriate thoughts around this woman.

  They all walked through the bedroom at the end of the hall. “Doesn’t look like Hooper’s too excited,” Elissa said, and Doug heard the note of relief in her voice.

  “No, all seems well. So... I meant it about our having dinner together. But you indicated you wanted to talk to me when we saw each other next. Do you want to talk here?”

  “That would be a good idea, for privacy,” she said. “But I just got here and don’t have any drinks or snacks, not even bottled water.”

  “You don’t need to feed me,” he said, though the idea that she wanted to entertain him somehow amused him.

  “No, but... Look, let me drive into town and pick up a few things. I’ll make us a light dinner and we can talk then.” She smiled down at Peace, lying on the floor near the foot of the bed covered with a pale yellow spread. “I did bring dog food, though.”

  “Makes perfect sense to me.” Doug reached down to pat Hooper’s head. As usual, when nothing was happening, his wonderful dog sat on the floor beside him, waiting. “But regarding dinner, I’ve got a place in mind downtown where it’s usually not very crowded on Sundays and we should be able to talk. We can stop at the grocery store on the way back and get you some essentials.” He liked the idea of her making him dinner—but that sounded too intimate, even more than a date.

  Eating at the restaurant he had in mind would also feel a bit like a date, but at least they wouldn’t be alone.

  “Well...if you’re sure we’ll be able to talk, that sounds good to me.” The smile on her attractive face appeared almost relieved, as if she, too, had reservations about hanging out alone with him here for long.

  Or maybe he was just reading too much into it.

  “Great.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and looked at the time. “It’s nearly six o’clock—maybe a little on the early side, but if we go to eat now, not many people are likely to be at the restaurant. Does that work for you?”

  “Can we bring the dogs?”

  “Of course,” he said.

  “Then let’s go.”

  * * *

  Was this a big mistake?

  Oh, having dinner with Doug wouldn’t be a mistake, Elissa thought as she followed him out of what was now her residence and down the path toward the parking area outside the ranch’s main house.

  But telling him she’d been fired? And why? It was definitely a misunderstanding. Or someone had lied about her.

  Yet once again she would be crying on this cop’s shoulders—figuratively only, she hoped, although her emotions were definitely overwrought about all that had been happening to her.

  Doug soon helped both dogs into the back of his official cop SUV, and she wondered about the appropriateness of that. But it was up to him. He didn’t seem to be on duty at this hour, even though he was still dressed somewhat in his uniform. And this small town of Chance might have completely different protocols for its cops than a larger city.

  He was a complete gentleman, helping her into his SUV, too. After settling himself in the driver’s seat, he turned the vehicle around and drove down the driveway, then made the turn onto the narrow street toward town.

  “All right,” he said. “We’ll talk more later, but why don’t you tell me what’s happened since we last spoke?”

  “What makes you think anything has happened?” She didn’t mean to play games with him, but now that she was second-guessing herself she wasn’t sure she wanted to tell him anything.

  “Because you’re here. Because
you said you wanted to talk again. And because I can tell from your attitude and body language that there’s something on your mind. Was there another break-in at your house? Did you come up with some idea of who might have broken in before, or left the sign? What is it?”

  He sounded annoyed that she had even dared to consider backing down and keeping him uninformed.

  Well, she was annoyed that he was pressing her. That he...

  Heck. No she wasn’t. He was a cop. He was the right kind of person to talk to, and he had already demonstrated he was willing to help her, to work with her, especially when it helped him fulfill one of his own official assignments.

  Telling him what was wrong wouldn’t help with that. But it just might help her. Or at least help her damaged psyche to have someone to tell about it.

  “Okay,” she said softly.

  He’d pulled up to a stop sign and glanced at her without going forward. “What is it?”

  She bit her lower lip to keep herself from doing as she’d feared and beginning to cry. “I think I need a glass of wine before I can tell you,” she said, hoping to turn it somewhat into a joke.

  “Coming right up.” He started driving again and in a couple of minutes he parked at a space on the street in front of what appeared to be a fancy establishment, with a long, low roof and lots of lit windows. A sign on top said it was the Last Chance Bar.

  “Last Chance Bar?” Elissa repeated. “Do they serve food, too?”

  “Yes, some really good stuff. And they have entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights. That’s why they’re generally not very crowded on Sundays.”

  This time Doug helped Elissa and the dogs out of the SUV. She still wondered if dogs would be welcome, but the hostess who met them at the door of the dark and—unsurprisingly—not very crowded place gave Doug an effusive greeting, and Hooper, too. She seemed to give Elissa a once-over and also Peace. Elissa wondered how well Doug knew this thin, attractive woman, then decided it didn’t matter. Her relationship with Doug was strictly professional.

  And maybe she would get his additional help to solve the mystery about why she’d been fired.

  Soon, they had made their way around myriad round tables, some occupied but many not. They were seated at a table in a corner, with the dogs lying on the floor near them. A scantily clad female server came over and Elissa wondered once more what Doug’s relationship to this place was.

  But she remembered her not-quite-amusing comment from earlier and immediately ordered a glass of Pinot Noir. Doug ordered a dark beer, which didn’t surprise her.

  When the server left, Doug started telling her about some of the performers who showed up here on Friday or Saturday nights—local singers and some imported from Los Angeles, which wasn’t far away. Magicians. And more.

  Soon, their drinks arrived and were placed on the table before them. Partly to set a light mood, and partly just because she wanted to, Elissa raised her glass and said, “Here’s to all last chances.”

  Doug clinked his glass against hers, raised it to his mouth and looked much too sexy taking a swig of his brew. Elissa sipped her wine. It was slightly bitter, and fit her mood. And then she took another sip as she met Doug’s hazel eyes with her glance.

  He raised his own glass then and said, “And here’s to answers. All of them.” After they both took another drink, he said, “So tell me, Elissa, what’s your latest question?”

  * * *

  Doug figured that, whatever it was, that question was causing Elissa some kind of trauma since she said she wanted to talk about it—but apparently didn’t really want to talk about it. It had caused her to flee her San Luis Obispo home, but she didn’t seem comfortable being here, despite her initial plan to come to Chance tomorrow.

  He was intrigued. And concerned.

  Somehow he had taken on a need to protect this attractive woman—and not entirely because it was his job.

  “Well... I don’t know if everything is related,” she finally began, looking at her wineglass and not at him. “But—”

  She was interrupted by the arrival of their server to take their order. They had barely glanced at their menus, so Doug said to Elissa, “I’d suggest their pesto pasta with chicken. It’s also got a lot of veggies in it.” He didn’t know what her eating habits were—healthy or not so much, usual foods or vegetarian—but that was a dish he’d always liked. She could take his suggestion or not.

  She did. “Sounds good,” she said, then told the server that was what she wanted. Was she just being accommodating? Or not wanting to take time to study the menu more?

  No matter. He ordered the same thing and was glad when their server walked off.

  “So...?” he said right away.

  Elissa looked around as if to check to see if anyone was close enough to eavesdrop, which wasn’t the case. This corner wasn’t particularly popular on show days, and even on this Sunday most people sat in the center of the room at tables where they’d be able to see and hear the shows best had there been any.

  That wasn’t an excuse for her not to talk.

  “Okay,” she said. “The thing is—and please don’t tell Amber. I’ll let her know soon when it seems right.”

  “Tell her what?”

  “That I was fired from my job and my work as a therapy dog handler at the hospital where I was a nurse. Or, rather, involuntarily given a leave of absence, which I’m sure will turn out to be permanent unless I can find answers fast.”

  “Answers to what? Why were you fired?” With effort, Doug kept his tone soft and sympathetic. He wanted to find a way to extract everything from her quickly but suspected she was taking her time about revealing the circumstances because she found it hard to talk about them.

  Elissa placed her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands. Doug resisted an urge to go over there and throw a sympathetic arm around her as she began to speak. “My boss, the head nurse, said that someone—more than one person—claimed that Peace had acted aggressively during some therapy sessions and scared the children we were working with rather than soothed them. Maybe even bit a child. And that I criticized the patients rather than accepted any scolding about the situation. But that’s all lies.”

  Her tone had become raspy by the time she finished, and he knew she was holding back tears. They were visible to him, though, in her dark brown eyes when she moved her head to look at him.

  “All lies! Isn’t it, Peace?”

  She bent and stroked her dog’s back. Peace turned her head to look at her handler, and the caring, concerned expression on the golden’s face would have convinced him of her...well, peaceful nature even if Elissa hadn’t asserted that the allegations were lies.

  “Do you know who made the claims?” he asked.

  “No. My boss said she was afraid I’d go after whoever it was if she let me know. But all I wanted to do was talk to them, figure out where that story had come from...and why.”

  “And that’s the end of it, as far as she’s concerned?”

  “Well, when I begged her she said rather than firing me I could take a leave of absence while she looked into it further, but I doubt that she will. And when I went to observe a therapy session before I left, one of the other handlers had obviously heard the claims against me and seemed uneasy that I was there. I just... I just don’t get it. And I realize I should probably not hide it from Amber at all, but...well, I hate to even talk about it let alone think about it.”

  “We’ll tell Amber,” Doug said. “Both of us together. And I’ll let her know I’m looking into that along with the origin of the sign left on her property, since they’re probably related. Plus, you can encourage her to watch all your therapy dog classes if she’s concerned any of it can be true. That okay with you?”

  He was almost surprised to see her smile at him—even though it was a sad smile. “That’s more than okay with me.
Thank you so much, Doug. And in case you have any doubts about the truth of those claims—”

  “I don’t.” And somewhat to his own surprise he realized he meant it. But this woman before him clearly was a caring person, both about kids and dogs.

  So who was out to get her—and why?

  Chapter 9

  Now that she had opened up a little to Doug, Elissa wanted to tell him everything...and hoped he could help figure out the answers she really needed.

  Still, she was glad when their dinner arrived so their talk was delayed once more as she sampled the pasta dish he had recommended.

  “This is delicious,” she exclaimed, though she wasn’t surprised. She had already learned to trust this cop a bit, so why wouldn’t he be able to choose a good meal?

  “Glad you like it.” He took a bite then pulled a couple of treats from his back pocket for the dogs, who nibbled them appreciatively. Once they’d settled back down, Doug leveled his incisive eyes on Elissa again. “Okay, do you have any more information on those claims against Peace and you?”

  “No,” she said sadly, shaking her head. “And maybe I shouldn’t have run away, although I was coming to Chance tomorrow anyway. But only for the day. I could go back to SLO again on Tuesday. There’s no way I’ll be able to figure out what happened from here.”

  “No, you need to stay here.” Doug’s tone was firm, allowing for no contradiction. “For one thing, maybe you can convince Amber to hire you full-time now that you’d be available. And for another...”

  His words tapered off as he took another drink from his beer glass. Did he want her to prompt him to continue?

  “What?” she asked.

  “If you’re not here, I can’t keep an eye on you, at least not as easily. With—”

  “You don’t need to watch me,” she broke in. With all that was happening around her, she had to remind herself now and often that she might be depending on this cop too much and she barely knew him. She needed independence. She needed space.