Trained to Protect

by Linda O. Johnston

  The house phone rang and he answered, cradling the receiver between his jaw and shoulder. “Maddox.”

  “Nash, it’s dispatch.” He recognized Shelly Langston’s voice. She worked dispatch for Red Ridge County since he’d been on the force, and probably ten years before that. Shelly filled in whenever Frank Lanelli, the senior dispatcher, was off.

  “What do you have, Shelly?”

  “We’ve got a child who fell off a bike on the way to school, over the highway shoulder on Route 10. They want Greta on the scene.”

  “We’re on our way.”

  He hung up and motioned for Greta, but she was one step ahead of him, at the door with her leash in her mouth.

  “Good girl. We’ve got today’s first job.”

  They worked as one, leaving the house, getting into the police K9 vehicle, arriving on scene and helping to determine if the child had fallen by accident or if a vehicle had forced them off the road. Greta used her expert sniffer to relay information and Nash translated to the officers and first responders. Immediately after they’d wrapped it up, they were called to a home burglary downtown, and then later, to the site of an arson. Before their shift finished, Nash and Greta had participated in no fewer than eight cases, from shoplifting to drug dealing to escorting a lost memory-care patient back to his care facility.

  No matter how long the day grew, as tiring as the work was, thoughts of a brilliant evening with the lovely Patience Colton never left him. Maybe he’d scrape up the nerve to call her. In an unofficial capacity, of course.

  * * *

  Patience looked at her staff, all gathered in the break room. Reception was closed after normal clinic hours, and they’d endured an especially long day of surgeries and urgent calls.

  “That’s it for today, folks. Unless we have another emergency call, I want everyone going home and getting a good meal and rest. This weekend could end up being just as taxing.” She referred not just to the fact that the K9 unit was often busiest on weekends due to a surge in criminal activity, but the fact that weekends were when weddings happened. Most couples had quietly postponed their weddings once it was a clear a killer was targeting grooms, but everyone was on edge, worried that the Groom Killer could strike again at any moment. There were always couples who wouldn’t let anything stop them from their big day.

  “Do you think that the animals are trying to tell us something, Doc?” Pauline, the newest vet tech, didn’t ask the question with cynicism. She was new and trying to absorb all she could about how the facility worked. The staff had discussed more than once the apparent connection between animal distress and human anxiety. Animals were empathic, and Red Ridge’s pets had to be feeling the edginess of their owners these last months. It’d be abnormal to not be worried about the serial killer.

  “It doesn’t matter what I believe. It’s fact that they seem to have an edge on us when it comes to predicting bad behavior, and to a T each patient has demonstrated the signs of stress brought on by a perceived threat. Our resident parrot has been squawking twice as much, the cats have been mewling no matter their pain level, and the dogs have whimpered at random times. While any of that could be coincidence, as we’ve had a high number of surgeries this week, I’m inclined to trust experience. Go home and get some rest—you could be called back within hours. Let’s all pitch in and get Surgery cleaned up. I don’t want anyone tackling that alone—we’ve made a mess!” Her staff laughed and she used the energy to buoy her through the next thirty minutes of a thorough scrubbing down of their operating room.

  It was a mess from the day’s routine spaying and neutering surgeries, and the unexpected gunshot wound. She’d spent two hours picking out birdshot pellets from a sweet labradoodle’s right haunch. These were all in addition to the regular duties she had as the K9 veterinarian. The RRPD encouraged her clinic to help the community whenever possible. But her first duty was always K9.

  Not to mention the personal connection. The Red Ridge K9 unit, training center and clinic were dedicated to the memory of Patience’s mother, who’d died in childbirth. Her father, Fenwick Colton, lived up to his reputation as a wealthy, self-serving ass most of the time. But when it came to her mom’s legacy and the K9 facility, Fenwick didn’t waver. Until recently, when he’d threatened to shut down funding because of Colton Energy’s dwindling bankroll.

  Her father had put his family through its paces, fathering five children by three different wives. Her older half sister, Layla, was the only one from Fenwick’s first marriage, while Patience and her older sister, Beatrix, were from his second trip down the aisle. After their mother died birthing Patience, Fenwick remarried again and had her younger half brother, Blake, and then half sister Gemma. While Patience enjoyed a pretty good relationship with all of her siblings, she’d always felt closest to Layla. She’d taken her cue from hardworking Layla, too, dedicating herself to veterinary work as diligently as Layla did to Colton Energy.

  Which made Patience furious with her father for mismanaging his funds and putting the K9 program at risk. She was convinced that it was by no fault of Layla’s that Colton Energy was struggling. If anything, Layla’s contributions kept the company from going belly-up much sooner. Patience wanted to ask Layla more detailed questions about it but her caseload prevented her from digging too deep into the financial records. She trusted her corporate tycoon half sister to fill her in on the details. Not that Layla was thrilled to share anything with her. Not since Patience had blown up at her for agreeing to an engagement to that old geezer Hamlin Harrington. His son, Devlin, was Layla’s age, for heaven’s sake. But all Fenwick saw was that Hamlin’s money would save Colton Energy and the Red Ridge K9 facility, and so that was what Layla focused on. As much as Patience loved her job, nothing was worth her sister’s happiness. She’d begged Layla to call of the wedding.

  Layla disagreed. Their epic fight had occurred hours before Patience had found blessed escape in Nash Maddox’s arms.

  Once the cleanup was done, she dismissed her remaining staff. Patience relished the alone time, a chance to pick through her thoughts over her family’s conflicts.

  She stopped at the sink and ran the hot water, hoping she’d still be able to convince Layla to come up with another way to make bank. While she was grateful that Layla’s fiancé had postponed their wedding until the Groom Killer was caught, Patience still couldn’t contain the revulsion she had toward her sister’s fiancé. Naturally, their father wanted the killer behind bars so that the wedding could happen as soon as possible. Fenwick Colton was always about himself and his company and he’d stop at nothing to get the money out of Hamlin. Worse, Fenwick threatened to cut off his K9 endowment if the Groom Killer wasn’t apprehended ASAP. Patience shuddered at what she’d heard her father tell the police chief. Do your job or you won’t have one. Even as the mayor of Red Ridge, Fenwick was clueless as to the man-hours and emotional dedication required to nail down a hardened criminal, and it took that much more effort to corner someone as wily as the Groom Killer. But even her father’s intimidation hadn’t produced the killer, not yet.

  “What are you going to do for dinner, Doc?” Ted Jones, the college student who volunteered as he waited to apply for vet school, spoke up as she washed her hands. Normally she didn’t mind having a meal with him and answering his myriad questions on the application process, but she was spent.

  “I’ve got a lot of food in the staff refrigerator, and it’s my turn to pull night duty. You go ahead and get out of here. Don’t you have midterms to study for?”

  “Yeah, I do. Thanks, Doc.” He grinned and sauntered off. Patience enjoyed the camaraderie her staff shared, paid and volunteer alike. It was what had made her want to be the K9 vet for the RRPD. The sense of belonging and being part of a bigger picture had wrapped its arms around her the minute she’d walked in here three years ago.

  Patience waited until everyone had left the building before she went back
into her office and sat at her desk. She needed some time to ground herself before eating dinner and then starting the care rounds for the dogs and cats, and the one parrot they were boarding for an elderly woman who’d broken her hip and was in ortho rehabilitation for the next month. Patience opened her top desk drawer and gazed at the pregnancy test result from this morning.

  “Well, look at that. Still pregnant.” She giggled at her own joke, but her laughter turned to sobs as the enormity of her circumstances hit her. She was going to have a child and had no clue how to handle a baby. A puppy or kitten, sure, she could do that blindfolded. But a human child, her child?

  Her father had been absent at best, throwing himself into his work and accumulation of wealth her entire life. Patience had never known anything but the selfish man Fenwick Colton was. Yet she’d never given up on him, or broken contact with her full and half siblings. Family was important to her.

  A baby.

  She was going to have a baby. Her profuse tears had to be from the hormones, since she usually prided herself on her self-control.

  Loud guffaws sounded from the boarding area and she sniffed, unable to keep the grin from breaking through her tears. Mrs. Bellamy’s scarlet macaw was hungry. Patience’s stomach grumbled in response, and she wiped her cheeks with a tissue.

  “Coming, Gabby!”

  The brilliantly hued bird tilted her head in welcome and made kissing noises with her smooth white beak as Patience walked into the huge room and opened the birdcage door.

  “How are you doing, sweetie?”

  Gabby climbed out of her cage and onto the playpen atop her dwelling as Patience gathered some mixed veggies from the freezer and heated them in the microwave. The parrot let out a loud shriek that was half laugh, half scream.

  “Stop it, silly. You still have plenty of pellets and nuts in your bowl, beautiful bird.”

  After Gabby was busy with her warm supper, Patience checked on her other charges. Most of the post-op animals were resting, the effects of anesthesia and their bodies’ ordeals exhausting them. But Fred, the labradoodle gunshot victim, had his big brown eyes open and managed to wag his tail the tiniest bit when she approached.

  “It’s okay, Fred. You’re doing great.” The poor dog had done nothing to deserve the hit from a bird hunter’s gun. It had been a legitimate mistake, as Fred had escaped his owner’s yard via a broken fence post, and the hunter wasn’t in a residential area. With his caramel coat, Fred had blended in perfectly with the South Dakota hills and underbrush. Fred and the hunter had been after the same duck. Fred had inadvertently saved the duck’s life.

  “What am I going to tell Nash, Fred? How will I tell him? He needs to know, so there’s no sense trying to be all trauma drama and play ‘I’ve got a secret’ about this.”

  The dog’s eyebrows moved as if he understood her dilemma. A part of her brain knew that Fred was a dog, and he was in the midst of serious recuperation, but as she looked around the room full of animals, he was her best bet.

  She leaned in closer and opened the kennel door to stroke his sweet, fluffy head. “Let’s pretend you’re Nash and I go up to you. Should I go over to the RRPD? Or call him? No, can’t do this over the phone. This is a serious matter. I’m having his puppy! I mean, his baby. My baby. Our child.”

  Gabby’s shriek of laughter rent the room and Patience jumped. “Jeez Louise, Gabby, you scared me! But you’re right.” She gently closed Fred’s crate door and went back to the macaw, who’d polished off her veggies and was scraping her beak clean on the cage bars. “Come here, sweet birdie.”

  Gabby promptly got on Patience’s forearm and leaned close to her face. “Give me a kissy.” Gabby’s voice perfectly mimicked his elderly owner’s and Patience laughed. As shocking and emotional as her day had started, this was the best therapy anywhere. Being with her animals. Of course, they belonged to their various owners, the K9s to their handlers at the RRPD, but while they were under her care, they were her responsibility. It was a sacred commitment.

  Right now, Gabby needed some human touch and affection. And Patience needed to calm down before she faced Nash again, most likely in the morning, to tell him the news. They were having a baby. Well, she was. She in no way expected anything from him.

  “Okay, Gabby girl, come here and I’ll have you and Fred help me practice telling Nash.”

  The parrot stepped daintily onto the T-stick Patience used to handle the exotic bird to prevent a bite. She’d learned the method during her avian course in vet school. As much as Gabby wanted to be on her shoulder, Patience never allowed it. Just as she exuded an alpha energy around the K9s and other dogs, she kept birds from thinking she was a tree and her shoulder a branch by using the perching tool.

  She walked with Gabby the few steps to Fred’s kennel, which was at eye level.

  “Now, you two tell me what sounds better. First choice—Nash, I’m pregnant and keeping your baby. I don’t need you to do anything. You’ve done quite enough already.” She looked from Fred to Gabby, surprised to find that they were both staring intently at her. Gabby was used to touring the dog kennel with other members of the staff for a break in the monotony of her cage. Fred wasn’t reacting to the parrot as he had to the duck earlier. Of course, he was heavily sedated.

  Since both animals didn’t react, she tried again.

  “Too serious? Well, having any man’s baby is serious business, but I get your point. How about this... Hey, Nash, how have you been since we hooked up after the K9 training session? In case you were wondering, your sperm is viable. I’m pregnant! Congratulations!”

  Fred’s tail gave a firmer thump than earlier and Gabby nuzzled her huge white beak into her brightly feathered chest, inviting touch. Patience gently scratched the back of the bird’s nape, marveling at the silky soft skin under her feathers. Gabby made lovey-dovey noises, indicating her enjoyment of the contact.

  “Okay, you both seem to like option two. I think it’s going to need more work, though. I’ll think about it and we’ll practice again after dinner.” She walked Gabby back to her cage and put her inside. The bird went obligingly but Patience had to coax one claw off the T-stick. “Sorry, hon. I know you’d rather be out, but your cage is the safest bet until I come back.”

  Back in the staff area, she heated up the leftovers from last night’s dinner—or was it two nights ago?—and streamed two episodes of her favorite sitcom on her laptop as she ate. She had to make a concerted effort to eat as nutritiously as possible, especially now.

  She was going to be a mother. Have her own family. Thinking of it, the prospect was at once terrifying and thrilling. She had shared a bumpy relationship with her father since she’d gone to college and vet school on her own, scraping and saving to pay back every cent of her loans. Fenwick had watched in exasperation, trying to convince her that she didn’t have to make things so hard on herself. She had her own trust fund.

  But Patience had to know that her degree and career were hers. It wasn’t another freebie from being born into a rich family.

  Her phone lit up with a call from Layla. Patience considered ignoring it; she wasn’t about to tell anyone she was pregnant until she told Nash. And even then she wanted to keep this to herself for a bit. As the phone vibrated, she put it on speaker.

  “Hi, Layla. What’s up?”

  “Where are you? I need a drink. I want you to meet me downtown.” Layla sounded just like their father. Her harsh countenance grated at times, same as Fenwick’s. But unlike him, she was soft and kind underneath her hard corporate exterior.

  “I’m on duty.” Thank goodness. Patience wasn’t ready to face her half sister yet. Layla always seemed to sense what was going on with her, as different as they were. “I’m tied to the clinic all night.” Not completely true, as she could call on a volunteer to watch the patients at any time. She was still miffed at Layla for getting engaged to Hamlin Harrington
. No business, even Colton Energy, was worth a marriage of convenience. Screw the millions Hamlin promised Fenwick he’d pour into the utilities company.

  “We had a labradoodle come in with birdshot and I need to make sure he stays comfortable through the night.”

  “Oh, that’s awful! Who would do such a cruel thing?” More proof that Layla had a kind heart. She loved animals as much as Patience did.

  “It was an accident, truly. Trust me, if I thought it was foul play I’d have called the RRPD.” Animal welfare was a safe topic with Layla, who was otherwise too preoccupied with her corporate role as Colton Energy VP for Patience’s liking.

  “Make sure you report it if you change your mind.” Layla never seemed to realize that Patience had her DVM and was fully capable of deciding when and why on the calls into the RRPD. Not to mention her K9 certification.

  “What are you up to now, Layla?” She heard the hard edge in her voice but it couldn’t be helped. It rarely could with Layla.

  “Since my sister can’t meet me for a drink at the only decent bar in town, I think I’ll spend more time here in the office. There’s always more to do, and I’ll need to have things in order for when we have our cash flow back in the black.”

  Patience gritted her teeth. Layla was goading her. When it came to the subject of Layla’s secret engagement with the smarmy Hamlin, silence was the best approach.

  “Patience?”

  “I’m here.” She rolled her eyes and popped a grape into her mouth. Good thing they were on speakerphone and not doing their usual video call.

  “You know your judgment is stinking over the line, don’t you?” Layla’s tone was pure corporate executive with a dollop of big sister.