Trained to Protect

by Linda O. Johnston

  And she needed...okay, she needed protection. She recognized that once again even before he said, “Yeah, I do. You may be in danger. If all that had happened was that weird sign at the ranch, maybe not. But your house was broken into and that’s definitely not a good sign. Whatever was done to get you fired could be unrelated, but I doubt that. We have to assume it’s all connected until we get it figured out. And even though you have a very nice dog at your side most of the time, we can’t depend on Peace to take care of you the way Hooper would.”

  Both dogs stood again and came over to Doug as if anticipating further treats—which he gave them.

  “You’re right.” She knew she sounded dejected. “And...well, if only that sign hadn’t been left at the ranch, I’d feel thrilled to be away from the things that happened in SLO. But whatever—whoever—it is has already figured out my possible connection here, and despite having warned Amber not to hire me will probably know she has. So does it really make a difference where I am?”

  “Of course it does. I’m here, and so is the rest of the Chance PD. I’ll inform the appropriate people there—including Maisie—what’s going on. You won’t have a cop near you at all times, but at least you’ll be able to count on one coming as soon as possible if you ever call.”

  Okay, he wasn’t promising to be her bodyguard. Why should he? But he was offering ongoing help, and that made her feel better, at least somewhat.

  “In fact,” he continued, “Maisie isn’t the only one who wants to eventually train her K-9 as a therapy dog. At least one of us will be at your class tomorrow—me, since it’s my day off. Plus, we’ll learn then when the next ones will be.”

  Elissa couldn’t help smiling at the guy, who was smiling right back at her. Cheering her—and allowing her to consider all the good things about being there, including soon providing lessons to potential therapy dog handlers.

  So it was a good thing that she was there...and she enjoyed the rest of her meal in this kind cop’s company.

  When it was over, they stopped at a local store for some groceries. Then Doug drove her home and accepted her invitation to come into her new residence again, which sent shivers through her. Would he truly act as if tonight was a date between them?

  And was there any possibility of more happening that night, like a visit to her bedroom?

  Well, Hooper and he did visit her bedroom, but they were clearly only checking it out along with the rest of the house once more to make sure there weren’t any surprise visitors or evidence of any break-ins. Then they accompanied Peace and her outside for her dog’s final walk of the evening.

  Doug wouldn’t allow her to say good-night at his SUV, which he had driven down the narrow road to the front of her place. Instead, he walked her back inside.

  “Be sure to lock the door behind us,” he said.

  “I will.” She prepared to shut it—but was delighted when he reached out and took her into his arms.

  Their kiss was more than friendly, yet it didn’t suggest that they do anything more, now or ever. Which both relieved Elissa—and confused her.

  “Good night,” she called as she did Doug’s bidding and locked the door behind him.

  * * *

  Doug’s house was in a nice but not elite neighborhood on the other side of Chance from the ranch. He drove there quickly now. It wasn’t very late, but he was definitely off duty and wanted to chill out at home.

  As long as Maisie let him. The house belonged to both of them, and she was likely to be there with Griffin at this hour on a Sunday night.

  Which she was. Doug took Hooper for a quick walk, then hurried up the couple of steps onto the front porch. With his key, he opened the large wooden door that was black and plain except for the round window at the top. He strode inside, his dog right behind him.

  Hearing the TV on in the den, he went in. It was a compact, comfortable room, and Maisie sat on one of the two, matching brown-leather recliner chairs, watching the screen mounted on the beige-textured wall. Griffin stood on the wood floor to greet first him then Hooper.

  “Well, hi, bro.” Maisie turned to face him. “Did you have a good evening? I didn’t expect you home this early.” The last was said with a smug smile on her face. She’d warned him several times of Uncle Cy’s edict not to get chummy with civilians involved with cases but she knew him well enough to recognize when he was attracted to a woman.

  Still, she also knew him well enough to know he would do the right thing.

  Just for fun, thanks to her gibing, he said, “Oh, it was a very fun evening. We started early.”

  Maisie snorted as she pressed the mute button on the remote and stood, obviously recognizing that he was attempting to pull her leg. “Yeah, right. But tell me, is your new best friend Elissa going to conduct her first therapy dog class tomorrow?”

  He sat on the other chair, leaning back but not moving the leg support up. “Yes,” he said, “she is. You going to join me there?”

  “What—you’re going? You must really be smitten, brother.”

  Maisie knew his love of training dogs was limited to police K-9s. Or at least that it had been.

  Maisie knew a lot about him, but not everything.

  “Just doing my job. And a little more. But not what you’re thinking, sis.” He gave her a rundown on the latest information, about Elissa getting fired. “She’s going to be staying here in Chance for a while, at least—full-time. If all those various barbs at her mean anything, something could happen to her on our watch. I intend to prevent that...yes, because I find her attractive. But also this seems to be a unique opportunity to stop something illegal and likely to be harmful before it actually happens.”

  “I get it. And I have to admit I like the idea of preventing a potentially nasty crime besides finding drugs with our dogs, rather than attempting to deal with it afterward. But—” She walked closer and squatted on the floor beside him.

  Both dogs joined her, nuzzling her for attention. “Griffin, sit,” she said. “Hooper, sit.”

  Because they were both well-trained K-9s, both immediately obeyed, causing Doug to smile at them. But the smile evaporated as he turned to look into his sister’s face. Her expression was grim.

  “I’ll work with you, Doug. You can be sure of that. Even if you’ve got the hots for that woman, I recognize it’s more than that urging you to get involved. She could wind up being hurt, and we need to prevent that.”

  “You got it, sis.” He recognized that his expression must look grim—as hers did.

  “Even more important, to me at least, we have to prevent you from being hurt emotionally, too.”

  “I know,” he said—although he figured his emotions were already way too far involved.

  He’d somehow have to back them off, even as he made certain that whoever was threatening Elissa in so many strange ways was caught and prevented from doing anything else.

  * * *

  So much to think about. So much to do.

  And a therapy dog class to run that day—her first at the Chance K-9 Ranch.

  Would Doug be there with Hooper as he’d suggested?

  Those were Elissa’s first thoughts when she woke the next morning—after getting more sleep than she’d anticipated.

  She showered in the bathroom of her new home and got dressed, then took Peace outside. She’d brought the right kind of biodegradable plastic bags along with food for her dog, so she was prepared for their walk, as she’d been last night.

  She had also brought hand—no, paw—wipes and spray-on doggy shampoo and other basics to use for teaching the future handlers in her upcoming classes how to keep their dogs somewhat clean when they were working with patients. Of course, some venues where they would eventually provide therapy might require recent baths and more sanitizing than that, and she would make sure her student handlers were aware of that, too.


  What she wasn’t entirely prepared for was to see she wasn’t alone at that time. Amber and Evan were walking their dogs close to the main house, and they obviously saw her, too, since they waved—and she waved back.

  Nearer to her was an area enclosed by a chain-link fence where three other young-looking dogs were confined. Those were the ones being trained as police K-9s, to eventually be sold to departments whose officers were given lessons by Evan. Elissa had heard about that and admired this wonderful facility—and its owners—even more for it.

  She soon turned back toward her house, where she and Peace ate their breakfasts in the compact but nevertheless well-equipped kitchen. Elissa also made some flavored instant coffee for herself—not as good as the brewed stuff but it was what she’d bought at the store last night since it required only a microwave and not a coffeepot.

  She sat at the small kitchen table but before she finished the cup, her phone rang. She pulled it from her pocket and glanced at it, half hoping it was Doug.

  Instead it was Amber, which also pleased her. “Good morning, Amber,” she said immediately. “Peace and I enjoyed seeing all of you taking a walk this morning.”

  “I was glad to see you were awake. Why don’t Peace and you come to my house now and we’ll talk over your class. I have it scheduled for eleven this morning and you’ll have at least a few students with their dogs there for orientation. I’ve brewed some coffee and have a few sweet rolls, if that encourages you more.”

  “I was going to say yes anyway, but now I’m really psyched. See you in a few minutes.”

  On the walk there, Elissa again weighed in her mind what to tell Amber now and how to tell it. If she didn’t let her new boss know she’d been officially put on leave—or more—from her other job, Amber might hear anyway from someone else. She’d already told Amber she’d taken a leave of absence, and that wasn’t exactly a lie since her boss Mae had agreed to it, at least for now. But it wasn’t the full truth.

  Of course, she didn’t want to come across as a whiner, either—telling her new boss about so many things out of her control that had been happening to her lately. Amber at least knew of the sign telling her to watch who she hired. She might also know of the break-in at Elissa’s house, depending on how discreet Doug had been.

  And now this.

  Peace and she had reached the front door. She turned to take another look at the fenced-in dogs they had passed. Then she knocked.

  The door opened nearly as soon as she touched it. “Hi, Elissa.” Sonya pushed the door farther open. Amber’s mom, smiling broadly, wore a blue work shirt over matching jeans—not too different from what Elissa had on, although her shirt had a dog’s face on the pocket. “Glad you could join us early.”

  “Me, too.” And Elissa was glad—at least for now. She hoped they’d continue this nicely developing relationship after the discussion she was about to start.

  Elissa followed Sonya to the kitchen. Lola was there, sitting on the tile floor near her mistress.

  “Good morning,” Amber said. “Have a seat.” She, too, wore a casual outfit.

  Elissa obeyed, joining Sonya at the round table in the middle of the room. Amber immediately poured three cups of coffee from the pot at the counter and brought them over, along with a plate of cinnamon buns.

  Elissa wasn’t surprised to see a large bowl of water on the floor near the fridge. Like people, dogs who lived here or visited were also well taken care of.

  Amber joined them at the table and gave a brief description of the four locals interested in therapy training who’d be there at eleven. Those who were employed had been able to take time off work and planned to do it again for future classes.

  Then she asked Elissa how she intended to handle the class that day.

  Elissa described some of the exercises used to evaluate the dogs and their interactions with their people so she would know how to focus for future lessons with these owners and animals. The exercises would also help her determine if any of those dogs definitely didn’t have the personality to become therapy dogs.

  She mentioned she’d been in touch with both Officers Doug and Maisie Murran, and they might attend, too.

  The practicalities of the day’s schedule taken care of, she decided it was time to clarify her situation. Taking a long sip of coffee and half wishing it was alcohol, even at this hour, she looked across the table toward both Amber and her mother.

  “Now there’s something I need to tell you.” The expressions on both women’s faces quickly converted from smiling to quizzical. “I have taken a leave of absence from my nursing job, as I told you. But there was an additional reason besides my wanting to have adequate time to get my classes here started.”

  “What’s that?” Sonya asked, and Elissa recognized that she wanted to protect her daughter. Her own parents acted that way about her, too, which was one reason she hadn’t been in touch with them since all of her recent difficulties had begun. They still lived in Seattle, where she’d grown up, as did her sister. But as much as she loved them, she had needed to start a new life elsewhere and on her own after a rotten relationship had gone bad, which was why she’d moved to San Luis Obispo when she’d heard of a great nursing job opening there.

  She forced herself to stop thinking of them now, though. She needed to concentrate on what she had to say.

  “What I need to tell you could make me sound like I’m paranoid or...well, a difficult person. And I don’t understand the reason for any of it. But—”

  “Does this have anything to do with the sign that was left on our fence?” Amber interrupted. She appeared as concerned as her mother, but there was something in her look that suggested warmth to Elissa.

  “I don’t know,” Elissa responded, “but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.” She then related the claims her boss, senior nurse Mae Shuller, had leveled at her regarding allegations of letting the therapy dogs under her control bully and even harm children. Elissa felt her eyes tear up as she related the story. “I realize you don’t actually know me,” she finished. “And I could be lying through my teeth when I tell you that I would never, ever, do that to a person, let alone a child—and no way would I allow a therapy dog I was training or working with to act that way.”

  “But you’re not lying through your teeth or otherwise,” Amber said calmly. “Right?”

  “Absolutely. But I’ll understand if you don’t believe me and want me to leave.”

  “Well, you’re welcome to stay but you could take a leave of absence from us, too,” Amber added.

  Feeling devastated by the idea, Elissa looked once more at Amber’s face and found her smiling ironically.

  “I could,” she acknowledged, trying to smile back. “But I’d rather not.”

  “I figured. Oh, and by the way, I received a call from Officer Doug Murran this morning after we set up this meeting. He didn’t go into any detail but said he needed to talk to you first, before the class, and then you and he might have something to tell me. Of course he knows about the note on the fence, but I assume he knows about your leave of absence, too, right? Is that what he wanted to discuss?”

  Somewhat shocked, Elissa didn’t know whether she should kick Doug or hug him when he arrived...before her class. Had it been a good thing for him to prime her new boss about something she needed to know? But he had said before that they would relate it to Amber together.

  “Yes,” she told Amber. “He does know, and it might be the subject he alluded to. He’s continuing to investigate your fence issue, and he was also helping me look into a break-in at my house in SLO that might be related, so I figured he needed to know this, too, just in case they’re all related.”

  “Do you think they are?” Sonya asked. “And are you safe? Will we be safe with you around?”

  “I do suspect they’re all related,” Elissa admitted. “I’ve no idea why, or who’s doing
it. And I absolutely hope you’re safe—and me, too. Good thing there are so many dogs around here who can at least bark at any strangers.”

  “Right,” Amber said. “And Evan’s Bear, plus our young dogs he’s training to be police K-9s, can do even more than that if something triggers their protective actions. But assuming this was what he wanted to talk about, it’ll be interesting to hear Doug’s take on all this when he arrives shortly.”

  “Yes,” Elissa agreed. “It will.”

  “In any case,” Amber said, “we’ll take you at your word. At least for now. Just to feel more comfortable about the whole thing, though, any one of us here may drop in and watch you both at your classes and when you give demonstrations at our local hospital or other venues.”

  “I won’t say anything about those accusations against you to my friend at the Chance Hospital who I’ll be introducing you to,” Sonya added. Her expression still remained stiffer than Amber’s, so Elissa figured she wasn’t nearly as trusting as her daughter. “But like Amber said, you can expect people to observe you anytime.”

  “I look forward to it,” Elissa said. In a way she did. She craved their trust, and they’d surely come to trust her if they watched her therapy dog work and classes the way she always performed them.

  “Great,” Amber said. “Now let’s talk a little more about your class today and what you intend to accomplish.”

  As Elissa described her plans for an introduction to therapy dog work, she felt herself relax, at least a little. Gratitude at the kindness of the people she had met here so far in Chance warmed her insides. Sonya might be somewhat skeptical, but she hadn’t tried to talk her daughter out of giving Elissa this opportunity.

  And Amber? She didn’t seem mistrustful in the least—and Elissa would do her utmost to ensure Amber never regretted it.

  At least here she felt that the other things that had been troubling her were far away...somewhat. Except for that sign.