“Peeps and Dimitri,” she said.
He raced across the field over to Peeps and Dimitri and pranced around them. The children laughed and patted him. Mary watched him nudge them back over toward the playground. She grinned. Alexander owed her an apology on this one. Whether or not he’d been trained to herd, Shep knew what he was doing. Mary played Frisbee with the other children, watching Shep until the kids were back in the playground again, then called him back.
“Good dog! What a good dog, Shep!”
Eventually, the children who had been playing with Shep went to the playground and Mary sat down, with Shep lying beside her. She scratched his ears, relaxing and watching the children play.
“Do you run a daycare or something?” a mom sitting nearby asked.
“No, foster and adopted.”
The woman goggled at her. “They’re all yours?”
Mary nodded serenely.
“Seriously? That’s got to be twenty kids!”
“No, only sixteen, and two of them are at home.”
“I can’t imagine! How can you do it?”
Mary shrugged. “Look at them playing,” she said. “They’re just kids. We just happen to have a big, diverse family. They all help out. Once you have more than five… It’s not that big a deal anymore.”
“But they must need you all the time and keep you up at night. And the cleaning…”
“Everybody helps,” Mary repeated. “And the house isn’t always tidy! You learn to accept a certain amount of chaos.”
The woman turned and watched the children, older and younger, playing on the playground equipment. Shep pushed his nose into Mary’s lap, begging for more attention. She patted him and scratched his ears. His tail thumped on the ground. After another half hour watching the children, Mary stood up.
“Time to go home, kids. Let’s move out.”
There were protests from the younger kids, but the older ones encouraged them to finish up and get on their way without any meltdowns, and eventually, everybody got moving toward the house. Mary left Shep off of the leash and watched to see what he would do. He ran around the group of children, moving in and out, getting pats and attention and making sure they were all headed toward the house. Mary smiled, pleased with his abilities.
Chapter Fourteen
FRANK SPOKE TO ANYA on the phone. “Have you had any luck?”
“You’re going to have to let me know what breeds the others were if you can. I’m having troubles figuring out which dogs were part of that group and which weren’t.”
“They would all have been taken in the same day, right?” Frank pointed out.
“But they weren’t. They were under veterinary care before they came to the shelter. And each one was with the vet for a different length of time. So they trickled in over a period of… I don’t know. Maybe a few weeks.”
“And there’s nothing on their files to indicate which ones came from the Johnsons?”
“No. Their histories have been… fudged… They don’t mention the Johnsons. They just say, ‘owner died’ or ‘owned by a retiree’ or ‘from a rural farm.’ I haven’t found any files referring to the Johnsons by name, or to the… er… situation.”
“And how many dogs from the shelter went out of state?”
“More than seven. So I know it wasn’t just the Johnson dogs that went out of state. I need more information.”
“I need you to look for a German shepherd. But I don’t know dog breeds very well… there was a Rottweiler… a couple of cocker spaniels… umm, a golden… Don’t know if it was a golden lab or golden retriever… what else…” Frank faced the memories head-on instead of trying to shut them out. Tried to picture each face, each muzzle, as clearly as possible. What else had there been? “Another dog… I don’t know what kind. Big black and white dog.”
“Okay. That will help. I remember seeing a file with two cocker spaniels sent out together. I’ll go back and see where they went.”
“It’s really important to find the German shepherd. See if it went to Chicago.”
“I’ll try to find it. But remember, I can’t get into the files very often, and it’s slow work. I can’t be seen snooping around.”
“I know. I’m working on it from other angles as well. The guy at the animal shelter here, Bill, he said he’d see if he could find anything out.”
“Yeah, he’s already called, and he’s really spooked people. It’s not good. All these inquiries just make it hotter for me to work here. People are jumpy. They don’t want to keep hearing these dogs might be dangerous. You need to try to tone it down a bit.”
Frank thought about his captain trying to get a warrant to look at those records. That wouldn’t endear them to the animal shelter either. But if they were successful, it wouldn’t matter how the employees felt; they would be obligated to turn them over. He bit his lip. All Frank could do was pray one of the avenues of inquiry would work out so he could find those dogs and have every last one of them destroyed.
Frank was surprised to hear back from Anya again so quickly, after all of her warnings about how hard it was for her to get into the files. But maybe the knowledge that they were sure the baby had been killed by one of the Johnson dogs had motivated her.
“I found the cocker spaniels,” she said. “I’m sorry, I haven’t found the German shepherd yet.”
“Okay,” Frank said. “Where did they go to?”
“Midwest. I’ll email you the address of the shelter. You haven’t heard of any dog attacks out there, have you? Tell me we’re getting ahead of this thing.”
Frank sighed. “No, I haven’t heard of any attacks out there yet. I hope we can start tracking these dogs down before they hurt anyone else. I just can’t bear to think of more children in danger. It’s just so maddening they unleashed these dogs on the public in the first place. They should have known better. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist!”
“I know… It’s interesting, being in this environment… They are so scared of what the public will think. They couldn’t destroy the dogs and have the public on their case for killing dogs not proven to be a danger. And the guy in charge here, the one who had them evaluated… man, he hates putting down any animals. Even the ones who obviously should be. He sends a lot of dogs out for adoption at other shelters. It wasn’t just the Johnson dogs. I’m sure a lot of the other shelters just end up putting them down anyway, but Burton, he doesn’t want to be the one to do it. To sentence them to death.”
“Sounds like he’s not quite cut out to be the director of an animal shelter.”
“No, I don’t think so. He’s running scared now. He looks awful. Pale and jumpy. Losing weight. Coming to work unshaven. He’s afraid you’re right, Frank. He is terrified he sent these dogs out as family-friendly when they were dangerous. He won’t listen to what anyone has to say. He won’t even talk to your Bill. But now he knows at least one of those dogs was dangerous. I keep expecting him just to disappear one day, to stop coming into work altogether, because he just can’t handle it.”
“He should feel bad,” Frank said viciously. “I hope he rots in hell for what he did. If he’d had an ounce of common sense, this would not have happened. If he had any doubts, he should never have gone ahead and sent them out for adoption. What a coward.”
“Don’t be too hard on him,” Anya said gently. “He’s human and he made a human mistake. I can’t blame him. He loves these animals. But you have to be mercenary in a place like this. You can’t care more about the animals than the humans.”
“Yeah. Well, keep looking for the others, all right? Especially the German shepherd. If that police dog was one of the Johnson dogs too… Man, maybe it will finally light a fire under the police department and force them to do something.”
“Maybe. We’ll see.”
Frank stared at his laptop screen, frowning. He had tapped in the name of the town in Ohio the cocker spaniels had been sent to, along with experimenting with several search strings. And the
story that popped up was one he had seen before. He hadn’t thought this one was related to the Johnson dogs. It was the story about the dogs who had eaten their owners’ dead, rotting, toes. It had disturbed and disgusted him, but he hadn’t thought about the Johnson dogs when he read it.
Two cocker spaniels.
Two cocker spaniels had been shipped there from the animal shelter, and two cocker spaniels were involved in the toe-eating incident. It threw him. It wasn’t a violent, vicious attack like the baby or the police suspect, but it was weird and disturbing. He thought back to the cockers he had seen at the Johnsons’ house. They were not as threatening as the other dogs. They were the smallest of the pack and hung back at the edges. Obviously the lowest in the pack hierarchy. Maybe they hadn’t been involved in killing the Johnsons, but they had eaten their dead flesh, and now they had shown their propensity to do it again, even when they weren’t starving.
Frank felt sick. How was he ever going to sleep? He was already fighting with nightmares every night, always dreaming about their attack. Their eyes, their bloody muzzles, their laid-back ears, all advancing on him with their teeth bared, barking and growling, closing in for the kill.
Now he would also be thinking about them eating his toes while he slept.
If he could ever get to sleep.
Mary saw the last of the school kids onto their buses and took a breath and a sip of her cold coffee.
“Well, it’s just the littles now,” she announced to no one in particular. “Now, we need to take the dog for a walk. Who wants to go to the park?”
They were all excited about accompanying her. Mary bundled up Suzie and put her in the stroller, put Sam in next to her, and helped the little ones get their shoes on and done up. Thank goodness for velcro. Once everyone was ready, she went outside to get Shep.
“How are you, Shep?” she asked. “Did you have a good night?”
Shep panted, wagging his tail, waiting for her to unlock the kennel. Mary lifted the latch. As he came out, she clipped the leash to the collar.
“Go for walkies?” she asked.
He barked once, prancing a little.
“All right. Let’s go.”
She took him back out to the front yard where the children were waiting. They cheered and crowded around Shep, patting him and talking to him, already an accepted part of the family.
“Okay, now everyone needs to give him some space. We’re going to take him to the park. Then we can have some time on the playground.”
They all headed out, walking with her, ahead and behind. Once at the park, the kids scattered when Shep decided to do his business. “Eww, gross!” Mary shook her head and watched them get on the playground equipment. She picked up after Shep when he was done. She took the leash off of him.
“Okay, Shep, go for a run,” she invited, motioning to the large open field.
Shep didn’t need to be told twice. He took off running, and for a few minutes, just ran back and forth crazily, like he’d been penned up for weeks. Sam started laughing watching the dog, his giggles ringing out across the park. Mary had to laugh along with him. There was nothing like the laughter of children. Especially Sam’s; he was mostly mute and tended to stay in his own little world.
“Isn’t he a crazy dog?” she asked Sam. He didn’t respond to her, but Suzie burbled happily beside him, giving Mary a huge gummy grin.
There was a flock of birds on the ground at the other side of the field near the pond. Mary watched the dog approach them. Rather than jumping after them immediately, he crept around to one side of them, cutting them off from the water. Then he made himself seen and started to herd them. It was amazing to watch his herding instinct. He was so happy to do it. Mary wondered if he had any experience, actually herding sheep or other animals. Professionally. If it was just instinct and he’d never been trained, then it was just plain amazing.
The waterfowl got more and more excited as he kept them away from the water, gradually moving them further and further inland. Oddly, none of them seemed inclined just to fly over him and land in the water on the other side. They kept waddling around, honking to one another and hissing at the dog and trying to walk back to the water’s edge. The dog kept pressing them, forcing them further away. Eventually, some of them started to take off to fly away. Shep jumped into the midst of them, barking his dissatisfaction with this result. And before Mary knew what had happened, several of the birds lay on the ground, dead.
Mary ran over, calling Shep back. “Shep, Shep no! Shep, come here!”
It was too late; she didn’t know why she was trying to stop him after all the birds had flown away or were lying on the ground.
She put him on his leash and looked down at the dead birds on the ground.
“Oh, no. Shep, why did you do that? Why would you kill them?” she asked him, pulling him away from his prey when he tried to investigate. “No. No, we don’t do that. That’s a bad dog!”
He looked at her, confused. His tail wagged back and forth very slowly. She knew he couldn’t understand why she was getting after him for instinctive behavior, but she couldn’t let him think he’d done a good thing. She had to get it across somehow. Mary took the dog back over to the stroller and tied the leash around the handle.
“Sit,” she ordered. “Now stay!”
He sat down and watched her. Mary went back across the field and gingerly picked up the newly slaughtered waterfowl. She was nauseated. It was all she could do not to throw up at the sight. She took them to the garbage can and disposed of them, a lump in her throat. She loved animals and it bothered her to see them hurt or killed.
“Mama?”
Mary turned and saw Fidel had followed her.
“What is it, Fi?”
“Why’d Shep hurt those birds?” he asked, eyes shiny with tears.
“I don’t know, Fidel. I think it was a game for him. I don’t think he meant to do anything bad.”
She was embarrassed to be seen throwing the birds out. At least the park was not full of people. It was still quiet first thing in the morning. Her face burned, and she walked back over to the stroller
“We need to get going, Fidel. Will you tell the others it’s time to go home?”
“Okay,” Fidel agreed.
Chapter Fifteen
“MEET YOUR NEW GUIDE dog,” Marilyn said, putting the harness handle into Casey’s hand.
Casey couldn’t help but smile broadly. “Oh, I can’t believe I finally have one,” she said. She reached down and patted the dog’s head, stroking the silky short fur of his ears. “He’s beautiful.”
Marilyn laughed. “Yes, he is. Very nice-looking dog.”
“All that training… I thought the day would never come!”
“Well, now it has. Let’s get acquainted and make sure you are suited to each other.”
Casey nodded. “I’m sure we will be!”
“Why don’t we take the harness off and put it back on to start with?”
Casey had done this before, with the training dogs. She fumbled a bit with the first catch, then got it right and took off the harness.
“There, how’s that feel?” Casey asked, giving the dog a good scratch. “What’s his name, Marilyn?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. This is Joel, and he’s a golden retriever. He was a rescue dog from the pound.”
“Poor guy. I’m glad he was rescued. He seems to be very nice.”
The dog was greatly enjoying the scratch, wriggling happily under her fingers. When she stopped, he nosed at her fingers, whining for more.
“Hello, Joel. You’re a sweet boy, aren’t you?” she purred.
“Yes, he is. Why don’t you put his harness back on, and we’ll put him through the paces?”
Casey nodded. She slowly pulled the harness on over Joel and did it up.
“Okay. Forward.”
Joel pulled forward and Casey let him lead.
With Marilyn’s watchful assistance, Joel guided Casey back and forth, and then out
side and through the neighborhood.
“Oh, this is wonderful,” Casey breathed. “It’s going to be so nice to walk around without fear of running into anything.”
“You bet,” Marilyn agreed. “It gives a person a great sense of freedom. You’re going to have a great relationship with him.”
“Thank you so much!”
Frank awoke from a fitful sleep to the ringing of the telephone. He grabbed for it, blinking to try to clear his eyes. It wasn’t light out yet. He couldn’t see the time on the clock with his sleep blurred eyes and no glasses. He managed to pick the receiver up and hold it to his ear.
“Hullo?” he said hoarsely.
“Frank. Errol. I need you back here.”
“Captain—hi. Um, I was going to go out to Ohio. It looks like that’s where the cocker spaniels ended up.”
The Captain made the connection immediately. “The guy with the toes?”
“The guy without the toes,” Frank amended.
Errol chuckled at his morbid humor. “Right. Without the toes. Oh man, what a mess. Well, you’re going to have to put off your field trip to Ohio. I want you back here ASAP.”
“What’s happened?”
“I’ve got the warrant. I assume you would like to be the one to serve it.”
Frank drew in his breath. “You’ve got it?” he repeated.
“I’ve got it. So how soon can you be back here?”
Frank pulled the clock off of the nightstand and held it in front of his eyes. “I’ll pack my bag and head to the airport. I’ll grab a seat on the next flight back.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“Are you still at work?” Frank asked.
“As it turns out, yes. I’m going to stretch out on the couch for a nap now, and I’ll see you in the morning. When it’s really morning.”
“Okay. See you then.”
Frank was able to make pretty good time. He caught a cab to the police station rather than calling Janice to pick him up. He couldn’t believe they were finally going to see the files. They would see where the dogs had gone so they could prevent anyone else from getting hurt. He was cautiously elated. When he walked into the station, Captain Errol was not asleep, but sitting at his desk sipping a mug of coffee. His eyes were red and his face looked worn. He nodded at Frank.
Loose the Dogs Page 13