Trained To Protect. Linda O. Johnston
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wasn’t sure. And she would do everything she could to take the best care of her beloved dog.
It was early morning. Elissa was back in her SUV, driving up the mountain once more toward the Chance K-9 Ranch. This time she wasn’t alone. Peace was tethered safely in the back seat.
The sweet dog was quiet. Finally resting. Sleeping at last.
Elissa hadn’t gone to bed for a while the previous night, still trying to understand her poor pup’s continued restlessness.
She’d taken Peace for a walk but only a short one, since her moderate-size dog pulled on her leash a lot, despite being told to heel and to stay—something else that wasn’t characteristic of her.
Back inside the house Peace had again moved from room to room, as if seeking something. The source of some scent that only she, and not her concerned owner, was aware of?
That’s what Elissa had guessed. And of course that worried her.
So neither of them had slept well. Each time Elissa had woken, which was often, she’d heard Peace stirring on her fluffy bed on the floor beside Elissa’s.
Elissa used that as her reason to get up even earlier than she’d originally planned to walk Peace once more. The quiet residential area had seemed normal to her, with a few well-recognized neighbors outside, some also walking their dogs.
Peace had seemed somewhat calmer but still did more pulling than was usual for her.
Returning back inside, Elissa had showered, changed into the outfit she’d planned to wear for her demonstration, then fed them both a quick breakfast and gotten on the road.
And made herself concentrate on how she would perform her demonstration—or, rather, the best way to encourage Peace to show off how wonderful a therapy dog she was.
It was early enough that traffic wasn’t heavy, although, as always in this sometimes busy southern California area, she wasn’t the only one on the road, either. She stayed just above the speed limit, though now and then another car had passed her on the freeway—less so on the narrower mountain roads.
Finally she reached the turnoff toward Chance. She decided to take a quick drive through downtown, past the local hospital.
As she slowed, Peace awakened and sat up. “Good girl,” Elissa said, glancing in the rearview mirror. “Are you okay now?”
Peace was quiet and calm, and appeared like her usual self. Elissa took that to mean a positive response.
She soon stopped at a traffic light and turned onto the street that would take her past the hospital. When she’d looked it up on the internet and gotten the address, she had seen that there was an entire floor devoted to pediatric patients, and another area dedicated to seniors—both age groups that were excellent focuses for therapy dogs.
If all went well and Peace and she were hired, she would definitely introduce herself to the hospital administration and offer to do some demonstrations there soon.
The streets downtown seemed a bit crowded that morning but she had no problem navigating her way to the road to the Chance K-9 Ranch. She checked the time display on her dashboard.
“Looks perfect, Peace,” she said and headed along the road.
She wondered then if Officer Maisie Murran would find a way to visit the demonstration even briefly despite her indication yesterday that she couldn’t.
And her brother? He was even less likely to attend.
The road narrowed even more and Elissa kept an eye out for signs indicating addresses. As soon as she passed a large property labeled Chance Resort, she saw a signpost at the next driveway for the Chance K-9 Ranch.
They had arrived.
The ranch property was surrounded by a large plank fence that probably wouldn’t keep anyone out but perhaps helped to keep dogs inside. The gate was open. Elissa drove through it and up the driveway. She saw other vehicles parked at the top of the rise near what unsurprisingly seemed to be a ranch house—one story high and extending for a substantial distance.
“Let’s go,” she told Peace after parking beside another SUV, a big black one that appeared to be an official police vehicle, with a light on top. Was one of the K-9 officers there after all? Or was it another cop?
Elissa exited through the driver’s door, then opened the one behind it to let Peace out after snapping on her leash. When she turned, she was happy to see Amber exiting the house, holding the leash of a black Labrador retriever. A tall man came out after her, also leading a leashed dog, a German shepherd—Evan, the head dog trainer, whom Elissa recognized from the demonstration videos on the ranch’s website. With them was an older woman Elissa figured must be Amber’s mother. Sonya Belott. No surprises there.
But what did surprise her was that this group of anticipated people was followed by another person with a dog on a leash.
Officer Doug Murran and his German shepherd, Hooper.
What was he doing there? And why did Elissa’s heart both soar and sink at the idea of his watching her initial therapy dog demonstration?
There she was—the reason Doug had brought his dog to the Chance K-9 Ranch early this morning, even though he had determined yesterday not to come here at all.
And his presence was definitely not for the reason he’d even considered coming.
No, he was here on official police business.
A sign had been attached to the front gate near the road that had worried the Belotts enough to call the police and request that he or Maisie be sent to the ranch that morning. Maisie had already left for their previously assigned case, so it had fallen on him.
He’d just finished talking to Amber Belott and her mother, Sonya, as well as chief dog trainer—and Amber’s fiancé—Evan Colluro inside the house. Now he followed as they strode out to greet Elissa.
He couldn’t help liking the big grin on her face or the way she stepped forward and hugged Amber. Her hostess and potential boss introduced her to her mother and to Evan as well as to their dogs.
He saw her eyes shift slightly in his direction more than once. He didn’t think her smile was for him, which was fine. He kept his expression blank.
But he was looking forward to seeing her reaction to the reason he had been called out to the K-9 Ranch.
Still, the decision had been made to proceed with the demonstration that had brought Elissa to the ranch and to ignore, at least temporarily, the reason he was there.
He’d been asked by Amber to not only observe but to also help in the demonstration. He would pretend to be someone recuperating from an injury who was under a lot of psychological stress and needed soothing, perhaps by a therapy dog. Amber had said that Evan and her employee, ranch hand Orrin Daker, who was sometimes used as an agitator in K-9 training situations, would also participate.
That didn’t mean Doug shouldn’t at least be polite and greet her. “Hi, Elissa,” he said after the other introductions had ended. “And hi, Peace.” He’d heard her introduce her dog to the others, too, but he didn’t bend to pet her. Not when he was soon going to act like he needed some canine TLC from this therapy dog.
Besides, he now had even more reason not to allow his initial attraction to this lovely woman turn into anything. She was potentially involved in the case he’d just been assigned to handle.
But he felt a surge of warmth inside when she returned, “Good morning, Doug. And Hooper, too.”
Interestingly, her dog Peace got up close and personal with Hooper, her tail wagging furiously as she sniffed his shepherd’s face. Hooper seemed fine with it, sniffing and wagging back a bit. Good thing he wasn’t officially on duty at the moment.
“Okay, we’ll get started,” Amber said. “I’d planned to have some neighbors’ kids come over, but...well, things