Then, one day another boy who looked very similar to Mateo met him outside of school. This kid wasn’t very old either, or much taller, but he loomed over Mateo like he meant to beat him. Flynn was two seconds away from jumping out of the truck to help Mateo when the little man himself went into his own angry tirade, poking a finger into the older boy’s chest. The bigger kid didn’t like that and shoved Mateo into the dirt, then stomped off.
Mateo got up and brushed himself off, and Flynn was surprised to see a grin on his face as he turned and headed in the opposite direction.
Had the kid actually provoked the bigger boy into attacking him so that he would stomp off in a fury? Sure looked that way.
Following him home was a more difficult proposition. Though the clinic normally closed between five o’clock and six, the evenings were getting shorter, and darker. He now knew the general neighborhood where Mateo lived, but not the exact address. Considering the kid always wore black, it was a struggle to see him in the night.
The neighborhood was probably enough to know for now. The subdivisions in the area used to be nice, but through the years the properties had gone downhill, as had the people who rented them. Now, this area was little better than section eight projects. Most of the population of the area lived below the poverty level, and there tended to be a heavier than normal criminal element.
Even now a group of thugs looked on as a cop car rolled past them. One of the men pulled out a phone and sent off a text.
Flynn had asked Willow if she knew any details about him, but she could only confirm what he had already seen. Mateo had an older brother and lived several blocks away. She couldn’t even confirm his last name.
Three years as an investigator and he couldn’t track a sixteen year-old Hispanic kid. It had been the better part of a couple weeks since Mateo had started working at Willow’s office and none of them knew any more information than when he’d started. He was a good worker, and loved his dog, but everything else was still in the black.
So, Flynn resorted to something a little tricky.
Lost and Found Investigative service was a full-service company, and his buddy John was a master with electronics and surveillance. When Flynn told him he needed to track a kid, John had immediately reached for a small box on a shelf.
“Stick one of these on him or preferably something he’ll wear everywhere. A jacket or ball cap.”
He handed over a small round disk, black in color. It had adhesive on one side.
“If you can get this GPS chip on him we can track it anywhere.”
So, that’s what he did. He didn’t even tell Willow because he knew her, and she wouldn’t be able to not feel guilty about tracking Mateo. This was for Mateo’s safety. If he didn’t show up again, they would know where to look for him.
Flynn planted the chip, then called John. His boss had stayed over after work to check to make sure the chip broadcast its location. Flynn felt a little bad about that because he had two brand new babies at home.
“I’ve got an address. He’s been here for a while. I’ll check in the morning to see if he went anywhere else, but I would bet that this is his roost.”
“Okay, thanks Gunny.”
“No problem, Flynn.”
John sent him the GPS location via text, and later that night Flynn drove by the area. About what he expected. Small, rundown cookie-cutter houses. There was a patch of browning grass in the front of Mateo’s house and an old white van parked in the narrow drive beside it. There was a good-sized garage in the back with lights shining through the windows. That was the only bright spot. The house was completely dark, which he thought was a little strange.
It didn’t look like kids lived there. Maybe Mateo only had the one older brother. An older woman was walking down the street, a heavy looking canvas bag over her shoulders. She was bundled against the October chill and he couldn’t even see her face. When she turned toward the house, his gaze sharpened. Was this Mateo’s mother? She let herself inside and a light flicked on toward the back of the house. Kitchen, perhaps.
Flynn continued on. At least now he had a little bit of information. He could trace the address back and find the rental or owner information that way.
Willow laughed as she watched Oscar nuzzle the little stuffed vampire she’d gotten him from the office. The toy had never been played with by any other dog because it was seasonal, so it wasn’t covered by everyone else’s slobber. Reaching out, she squeaked it for him.
Oscar cocked his head and nuzzled it again. Willow bounced it along the floor, engaging him, and he pawed at it. Willow laughed because it was the first time in a week and a half he’d ever even offered to take interest in anything like this. “This toy is all yours buddy.”
He mouthed the fur, licking it.
Later that afternoon, when Mateo came in, he looked at Oscar kind of strangely.
Willow waved at the boy, then paused when she realized he’d gone still. “You okay, Mateo?”
He nodded, seeming distracted. Crouching down in front of the dog, he held a hand out for it to sniff him. Oscar stretched out his neck to Mateo’s hand, then slowly began to wag his tail. Within just a few moments he was crowding into Mateo, licking at the boy.
Willow was surprised. The dog had been standoffish to say the least with other people. Mateo had a natural way with animals in the clinic, but it seemed like Oscar recognized the boy.
“Do you know this dog, Mateo?”
He refused to meet her eyes. “I’ve seen it running in my neighborhood. Then it disappeared. I thought it had been hit on the road or something.”
Willow thought there was more he wasn’t saying, but she couldn’t make him spit out the words. He worked for a few hours that day, but didn’t seem as enthusiastic about working as he normally did. Willow spotted him watching Oscar several times. She also thought it was a little strange that Mateo never asked how the dog had been injured, or where he’d been found.
It was almost as if he knew already.
That night she talked to Flynn about the strange way Mateo had been acting, and her husband got a thoughtful look on his face. “Just watch him. You’re right, though. Sounds like he knew the dog before.”
Willow nodded, still bothered.
And though she watched over the next week, Mateo didn’t give her any more reason to wonder about him. He arrived to work usually by three, as soon as he could after school, and got in a solid couple of hours of cleaning before the office closed. Sometimes he walked the dogs that were in for boarding. And sometimes if Nicky was busy, Willow used him to hold the animals for treatment. Those were the times he seemed the most engaged, asking her insightful questions and coming out of his shell. Willow loved that he seemed so interested in veterinary medicine, and she nurtured that in him. He seemed to have a natural feel for the animals, especially those in pain.
Several times he helped her to put animals down.
Willow always felt bad as the calendar crept on toward Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was hard to lose a family member during the most joyous season of the year, and the pets that she saw were most definitely family members. Most of her clientele had been with her for years, so very often she felt the impacts as well as the owners. Mateo definitely felt the impact. He got quiet and watchful, stroking the animal as it went to sleep if the owners chose not to be present. It showed Willow more eloquently than anything else what a solid gold heart he had.
Chapter Nine
Mateo pulled on his hooded sweatshirt over his other sweatshirt and T-shirt, wishing he dared use some of his hidden money for a coat. He’d asked his mother several times for something warmer, and he knew she’d gone to Goodwill a couple of times, but she hadn’t found him anything he could wear. Or at least she’d said she hadn’t. Mateo had enough money to buy a really nice coat, but he didn’t want to do that. He didn’t want to run the chance of screwing up what he’d hidden.
So far his parents had accepted what he had said about working f
or the old guy after school. He didn’t dare tell them he was working for an animal doctor. His father would want him to steal drugs and bandages and stuff for his own dogs. Mateo knew him. The only way his father would accept Mateo working for a gringo was if it involved lying and stealing. Mateo would not do that.
As he walked home that day, head down against the cold, he paid less attention to his surroundings than normal. So he didn’t see Paulo on his tail until he heard the older boy chuckling quietly as he walked into the house behind Mateo.
Their mother was still at work so Mateo didn’t think anything of it when Paulo came to lean against his bedroom doorjamb. He always came in to bother him. There was a smug look on his face, though, that didn’t bode well. “I need help with the dogs later, slug.”
Mateo didn’t even look up from his open notebook in front of him. “I have homework, Paulo.”
“You have time to help me,” he persisted. “After all, you have time to help the pretty dark-haired animal doc.”
Mateo stilled, then glanced up at his brother. “What are you talking about?”
“That old man you supposedly work for is very pretty.”
Mateo felt fear skitter through his body, but he refused to say anything more in case in was incriminating.
Paulo just smiled and shook his head. “Maybe if you come out and help in the kennels, I will forget about your pretty doctor.”
There was no misunderstanding his words. Paulo had just completely flipped their situations. He now had the upper hand and Mateo was going to have to scramble to keep his mouth shut. If their father found out that Mateo was working for her, he would either make him steal something from her or just beat the crap out of him again, and ruin any chances he had of getting through school and doing something productive with his life.
Mateo worked like a dog that cold night, cleaning cages, feeding animals, caring for wounds, but he knew it was all for naught as he looked up and saw his father and brother standing together near his father’s office. Paulo’s mouth was running a mile a minute, and their father had a considering look on his face as he watched Mateo. Paulo had never been able to keep his mouth shut. If he had information, he would share it, no matter what the cost to others.
Mateo had a feeling his life was about to get very difficult.
But the expected attack never came. All night he waited for something to happen, but it never did. The next morning he got up and walked to school, watching over his shoulder for Paulo to appear. During one of his classes he snuck into the teachers’ lounge and called the office. Sue answered and seemed surprised when he told her he wouldn’t be in that day. But she promised she would pass the message on to Willow.
Then, though he hated to do it, he headed home.
Paulo seemed a little surprised to see him, but he was more than happy to put Mateo to work. Mateo did his best to not be friendly with the dogs in the cages, but it was very hard to do. Most of these dogs had had very little contact with people, even before they were gathered up from the streets. But a few, he could tell, used to be pets, used to a nicer life. They wagged their tails and tried to lick him through the cages. Those were the ones he really felt bad for, because they had no idea what was coming.
What would happen if he told Mr. Flynn what was going on here? Dog fighting was illegal. He knew that. His entire family knew it. But it was how his father made money. Mateo had done his best to get the most wounded dogs out of here, taking them back to the streets in the hope that someone would find them and maybe care for them.
Like Oscar.
It had been a shock seeing that scarred and healing dog. Mateo had snuck him out of the garage weeks ago and walked him as far away as he could, then hidden him in an alley and covered him up with a scrap of blanket that had been laying on the street. It hadn’t been ideal, but at least the dog hadn’t died in the fighting ring at the teeth of a much stronger dog. At least on the street he’d had the chance to get up and wander away and lick his own wounds. Even if he got caught by the dog warden he would have had a better life than living in his father’s garage.
Mateo had left him a small pan of water and the heel of a loaf of bread, then walked away hoping that he would be okay.
Obviously, someone had found him and he had ended up at Dr. Willow’s.
That made him feel like the little things he was doing to sabotage his father’s dog fighting ring were worth the danger he put himself in. He needed to be at least as brave as the bait dogs that came through here. They had no choice in their lives, and neither did he.
Mateo was just finishing up and getting ready to go inside to work on his Geometry homework when his father walked into the garage. The sour faced man took one look at Mateo and waved him over.
“Paulo says you’ve been lying to me.”
Before he could even see it coming, a hard hand smacked him to the ground. Mateo saw stars, but he scrambled to his feet. If he stayed on the ground it just made his father even more mad.
“Are you working for a doctor?”
Mateo clenched his jaw, and refused to confirm it. “Not anymore. I quit today.”
His father narrowed his eyes, as if he knew he was lying again. “Well, you better get your job back because I need to replace that medicine that mysteriously walked away last month.”
Mateo felt his stomach clench. Oh, no. He had been the one to get rid of that medicine, mistakenly thinking that if his father didn’t have the medicine he normally used on the animals, he wouldn’t fight the dogs. That had totally backfired on him. Stealing the tranquilizers and pain medication had only left the dogs in more pain and his father out more money when they didn’t want to perform. Not Mateo’s brightest moment, but when he had seen the bag standing open, he’d followed his gut.
“I can’t get medicine,” he told his father. “It’s all locked up.”
Luis smiled, then laughed. “Let me make this very clear then. You get the medicine, or you can just leave, because your bill for living has just come due. You haven’t had to do shit living here, but that is changing now. Get the drugs that you stole from me last month or you are out.”
With another slap to his ear, Luis made his wishes very clear.
Mateo lay on the ground watching his father walk away, fury building in his chest. Luis was making it very clear that his dogfighting and law breaking was more important than his own son. Actually, he’d made that clear a long time ago. Every time money had gone into the dogs rather than his sons’ bellies, he’d made the choice. Every time Paulo had brought in more strays and been paid by the head, he’d made his choice.
What could he do?
Mateo was only fourteen. Yes, he could probably survive on the streets but it was going to be December soon and the snow would be coming down hard. The dog fighting would continue every Saturday like clockwork. If he left, there was no way he could sabotage his father’s efforts. There was no way he could help the dogs. If he ended up on the street, he would have to let Dr. Willow find Ranvir a home.
That about broke his heart, and made the decision for him.
Mateo showed up for work Thursday morning like normal, like he hadn’t been a ghost the past two days. He wore his dark sweatshirt, a black toboggan and dirty jeans, just about the same thing he always wore. Willow scanned his face, but she didn’t see any obvious injuries. When she lifted her eyebrows at him in question, he shifted on his feet. “Sorry, Dr. Willow. I had other things to do the past couple days.”
She tried to take his words at face value, but there was something in his bleak eyes that made her think he wished he could have been here. “That’s fine. You’re not obligated to work here every day, Mateo.”
He nodded, pulling the toboggan down over the mop of his hair. Willow thought it was warm enough in the office, but he had gone outside a few times, walking dogs from the kennels.
“I know it’s a few weeks away, but you have Christmas vacation coming up for school soon. Think you’ll be able to be here to wa
lk the dogs and work the kennels a bit? We’re already scheduled to have several boarders over the holiday.”
Mateo nodded firmly. “Yes, ma’am. I should be able to be here every day.”
“Well, I won’t expect you on Christmas Day. I’ll take care of them then.”
He shrugged his narrow shoulders. “It’s just another day to me,” he said.
Willow frowned, wondering if he really meant that. Mateo didn’t have a lot of money, she knew that. When Flynn had told her about the conversation he’d had with the boy in the alley, she’d almost cried. She and Flynn weren’t rich by any means, but a hundred dollars was just kind of small change anymore.
Unless you’d never had it before. She needed to remember that.
Mateo wore the same threadbare hooded black sweatshirt every day. She’d thought about getting him something new or miraculously finding this great coat that someone mysteriously left in the lobby, but she didn’t think he would take it. Mateo was one of the most prideful males she’d ever met. He needed to have the means to get his own coat.
So, she would continue to pay him for the work he did, just not too much because that stressed him out. She laughed to herself. This kid and his issues was stressing her out.
Chapter Ten
Willow was still thinking about Mateo and his problems when she walked over to the office the next morning, glancing up toward the back steps. Why was the office door hanging open? She shook her head in confusion, then dawning fear, and walked up the two steps to look at the door. The metal flashing on the edge had been warped with force and it finally sank in. They’d been broken into.
Immediately she pulled her cellphone from her pocket and called Flynn. He had just left for work but he told her to go back to the house until he got there.
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