Page 46 of Rescue Them

“What do you mean?”she asked.

James explained about their nightly walks and how the dogs reacted.“It was stalkerish behavior, and I think it was meant to set the dogs off, but she could have been using that time to watch the townhouse.We don’t know.”

The officer wrote down everything.Then she thanked them, and they walked the dogs past the front desk and out of the station.

“Does your mom know about all this?”James asked.

“No.Everything happened so fast.But it’s okay.We have the dogs back, and I suspect the police have been all over my place looking for clues to how Debbie broke in and any evidence she might have left behind.I just hope they’re gone so I can get the dogs inside and fed.”

James drove him home, not saying very much.“I’m sorry about what happened,” he finally whispered.

“It wasn’t your fault.Debbie said she jimmied the lock—it was all on her.She broke in, and she was the one who took the dogs.You tried to find them as soon as you realized they were gone, and you found one of them, so don’t do this to yourself.I don’t blame you.”

“But you trusted me to look after them while you were away, and….”James was usually such an upbeat and positive person.He hated seeing him this way.

“Don’t go there.It only gives Debbie and her lunacy some sort of power.She is the only one responsible for the dogs being taken.We got them back, and they’re none the worse for wear.Furthermore, we may have been able to help the police find more information about this dogfighting so hopefully they can put an end to it.So it’s a real win.”

“How can you be so… I don’t know, okay with all this?”

“Because someone told me once that you deal with what happens and move on.Or something to that effect.One thing I do know, I need to get the landlord to put in a better lock on the front door.Other than that… we’ll go on.”

James pulled into the drive, and the police were still at Lyle’s place, two cars parked out front.Lyle got out, and he and James went inside.He should have remembered he had relocked the door when he left.“Debbie said that she jimmied the lock.”

One of the officers knelt down and then began taking pictures.“That’s pretty obvious.This lock is well past its prime.It’s very worn and probably gave way pretty easily.”

“I’ll ask the landlord to replace it,” Lyle said.“Is it okay to take the dogs inside?I need to feed them and give them some water.I can put them in the basement area so they don’t disturb you.”

“Go ahead.”

James brought the dogs, and they went right downstairs.Lyle opened the back door and set up the surround so they could wander outside.Then he slumped into his chair, like the last of his energy has been spent and he had nothing more.“All I want to do is climb into bed and sleep until Tuesday.”

Chapter 18

JAMES WISHEDhe could make that little wish come true.Lyle sat in his chair, legs pulled up, and soon enough, he had dozed off.All the travel and then the excitement surrounding getting the dogs back must have been too much.Dash was the first to get up from where he lay in the grass.He sniffed around the chair and then stretched upward, looking at Lyle and then at him with those deep, black eyes.

“I know,” he said softly.Then James quietly went back upstairs, leaving Lyle alone with the dogs.The police were just finishing up.“Do you have any questions for us?”He really wanted to see if he could spare Lyle any more excitement.

“Not really,” Red said.“Where’s Lyle?”

“He’s downstairs with the dogs.He just got back from a business trip, and he’s exhausted at the moment.Did you find anything?”

“Yeah, we did.She left a number of things behind, as near as we can tell.Since we know what to look for because we have a suspect in custody, we have fresh prints on the door as well as the counter in the kitchen and a few other places, which indicates that Debbie was inside this unit recently.That’s enough to place her at the scene, which is all we were looking to do.She and her husband were caught with the animals in their possession, but now we can place her where the animals were kept, so it closes the loop.”He made a few additional notes while they were talking.“The lock on the front door needs to be replaced and a deadbolt added.That will make a repeat of such a break-in more difficult.”

“Thank you.I’ll be sure to tell Lyle.”He shook hands with the officers as they left and closed the door.He made sure it was locked, such as it was, and went back downstairs.

The dogs came up to greet him but were quiet.“Is Lyle still sleeping?”he asked them, and found him curled up in the chair, eyes closed, snoring softly.James got the dogs inside and closed the door.Then he gently lifted Lyle into his arms and carried him up the stairs.

The dogs followed James as he gently set Lyle on the sofa and covered him with a blanket.As soon as Lyle was settled, two of the dogs climbed on the sofa to claim spots near him and the others lay on the floor next to him.It was so cute how they all wanted to be close to him, like they knew what Lyle had done to bring them all back home and keep them safe.

James sat in the chair across the way, pulled out one of his books, and got some work done as he watched Lyle sleep.The townhouse was rather chilly in the fall afternoon, but James was warm and comfortable with Lyle and the dogs nearby.

“I’M SORRY,”Lyle said as he stretched.James put down his book and blinked a few times to pull his mind out of the law and back to the present.

“Don’t be.I needed a few hours of reading and was able to get it all done.”He stretched himself and got up to go to Lyle’s kitchen, where he made some tea and carried a mug in for Lyle.“So, besides the welcome home and all the activity, how was your business trip?”

“It was good.I got the training done, and I think it went really well.Everyone seemed to appreciate the insights I could bring, and the supervisor there was very pleased.”He sipped.“How was it here?Did you get done what you needed to?”

“Yeah, I did.I hope it was okay, but my roommates came over a few times for case work and discussions.I think they like your place better than ours.”He sipped his own tea.“You have more room than we do, and they loved the dogs.Each of them took a lap, and they got plenty of attention.”