Chapter 22 #2
“He should be, and he’s harnessed in.”
“How did you ever manage that?”
“He’s irritable but consenting.”
Keeping her movements calm and purposeful, Kelsey slid into the worn cloth passenger seat, feeling awed by the sheer volume of space Devil occupied behind her. He could tie a show pony in a shadow-making contest.
“So, can you please tell me where we’re headed? The suspense has just quadrupled.”
“Edwardsville.”
She waited, hoping Patrick would offer more explanation on his own. The truck interior smelled like dog breath, and she focused on breathing through her mouth. Devil was panting, his head was cocked, and he was eyeing her with big, brown eyes.
“What’s in Edwardsville?” she asked as Patrick merged onto the street.
“Devil’s old vet. The one who microchipped him.”
“I thought his microchip was a dead end.”
“It was.”
When it became clear he didn’t intend to add anything else—Patrick was a one-task-at-a-time guy, and now he was driving—Kelsey drew in a controlled breath. As soon as he stopped at a light, she blurted out, “So why are we going there now? What purpose do you think it’ll serve?”
“Devil is different from the other dogs.” Patrick drummed the steering wheel with his fingers.
“Like I said before, he doesn’t want to connect with us.
I don’t think he’s watching the door and staring out the window because he wants to guard the house.
I think he’s looking for someone. Someone in particular. ”
Kelsey frowned. “His first owner? Devil’s microchip wasn’t even registered. Who knows if the person who first adopted him kept him. Dogs his size often pass through a lot of homes. And the vet stopped treating him before he was a year old.”
“Yes, when his owner moved.”
When the light turned green and Patrick didn’t add to his train of thought, Kelsey determined she’d need to settle in for the forty-five-minute drive and learn his plan when they got there.
With Devil’s panting and pervasive dog breath, and Patrick keeping to the speed limit but choosing to drive in the left lane since highway studies had determined it to incur the least number of accidents, the drive was close to torture.
She sent thanks to the heavens when they pulled into the veterinarian’s parking lot at ten minutes before five, with the office scheduled to close for the day at five.
Through the glass, Kelsey could see a woman leading a long-legged poodle toward the exit. Otherwise, the waiting room was empty.
“Will you go in ahead of me and tell them we have a socially challenged dog coming in? I’ll wait till you wave that the room is clear.”
“Sure, but what if they ask how come?”
Patrick’s forehead knotted in confusion. “A veterinarian’s office should understand that dogs who’ve been in fighting rings need an extended period of—”
Kelsey held up her hand. She’d figure it out when they got inside.
“Okay, got you.” She passed the poodle and owner on the sidewalk and headed in.
There were two people behind the desk, a guy and a girl.
She gave them the heads-up Patrick had asked her to, but had no idea how to explain why they were here.
Once Patrick was given the all clear, Devil hopped out of the back with more grace than Kelsey could’ve guessed.
The guy behind the desk huffed as he took in the sight of them through the large front window. With his massive head and giant body, Devil probably outweighed Patrick. The top of his head was just higher than Patrick’s navel.
Kelsey held the door as Patrick led Devil in, the leash short and secured with both hands.
The lobby was clean, sparsely furnished, and smelled of astringent.
The hair atop Devil’s haunches stood on end, but he seemed otherwise calm.
He sniffed the air, and lines of drool started to form at the edges of his droopy jowls.
He pricked his ears at a muffled bark coming from behind a set of swinging doors at the back of the building.
“How can we help you?” the guy behind the desk asked.
“This dog was microchipped here when he was ten months old. We’d like to get him home to his original owner.”
The girl popped up from her chair and pressed her palms flat on the counter. “Oh my God, is this him? Is he the guy they called about who was captured in that fighting ring? We don’t get dogs that size very often.”
“Yes, this is the dog,” Patrick replied. He dove into a Patrick-paced explanation of Devil’s behavior and how he felt that what the dog needed more than anything was to reconnect with someone he’d bonded with prior to his traumatic fighting time.
“Poor thing. Denise took the call. I heard about it later. We’d love to help get him home, but Denise said we don’t have a forwarding address or working phone number for his owner.
She moved out of the area several years ago, and we only have her old address on file.
The post office will no longer forward her mail either. ”
“But you have a name.” Patrick followed this with an emphatic nod, as if that explained everything. He pulled a piece of paper from one of the pockets of his cargo pants. “This is the number of his chip.”
The girl turned toward her coworker. He gave her a light shake of his head. “You can’t give them her name,” he said under his breath.
“His owner was a woman?” Patrick passed Devil’s leash to Kelsey and pulled a small stack of index cards from a different pocket.
The guy looked at Patrick and nodded. “If I remember correctly.”
Devil sank onto his haunches while Patrick sorted through the cards.
“That narrows it down. I’ve been searching through all of the popular big dog blogs and messaging some owners that live in the Midwest. A few have responded, and I’ve ruled them out.
I found seven people within a half-hour drive of here, and from comments left by similar user names on other sites, I believe I’ve linked two of those seven to bluegrass music by their attempts to win tickets to local concerts.
I suspect Devil’s owner is one of them.”
The girl behind the counter shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.”
Patrick singled out two cards. “I’d like to give you the names of the two women, and you can tell me if one is a match. If it’s one of them, I’ll be able to lead you through a Google search to help you find her contact information.”
Kelsey felt a wave of admiration wash over her. Patrick was an absolute genius at so many things. What a miracle it would be if this worked! But what if they found her, and she’d given him away? What if she wasn’t the one Devil seemed to be looking for?
Behind the counter, the two technicians huddled over one monitor. The girl entered the microchip number and clicked through several screens before flipping between the two cards. When she looked at the second card, her lower jaw fell open.
Kelsey grabbed Patrick’s elbow. “It’s a match, isn’t it?”
“Well, what do you know,” the guy said.
“That’s Tina’s card.” Patrick looked at Devil and said her name again.
Kelsey suspected the single thump of his tail was more because he was becoming attuned to Patrick’s voice than anything else.
“Tina F. was how she signed in on the blog.” He looked at Kelsey.
“She didn’t disable the tracking stamp on her photos.
I could find her house. If she hasn’t moved again. ”
Kelsey bit her lip. “I think it might be best to call or send a letter. It could be a bit much, you know.”
“The dog was eleven months old the last time he was seen here. Before that, she had him immunized regularly. He’s a month away from being six years old now.
” The girl passed Patrick back the cards.
Immediately after the F, she’d added erguson and scribbled Tina’s old street name underneath.
“You’re so close to getting there that it makes sense for this phone call to come from you. ”
Tina Ferguson.
They thanked her and headed for the door.
“Hey, will you let us know if it works out?”
Kelsey promised she would. With no other dogs in the area, Kelsey walked Devil around a mulch island for a bathroom break while Patrick searched on his phone.
As Devil was pulling in his haunches and taking a massive poop, Patrick let out a single humph. Kelsey looked over to find him engrossed in his phone. Pulling a bag from the nearby bag stand, she asked, “You found her number, didn’t you? It’s hard to believe it’s that simple.”
“It’s become easy to find people if you know where to look.” He offered Kelsey his phone and reached for the bag. “You should be the one to call. You’ll come up with better words than I would. I’ll bag it.”
Kelsey let her thumb hover over the number. What happened if Tina had given Devil up and wasn’t interested in reconnecting with him? She took a breath and pressed Dial. She was almost relieved when the call went to voicemail after the fourth ring.
She left a vague message, saying only that she was with the High Grove Animal Shelter and wanted to talk to Tina about a possible former pet. She ended the call and handed Patrick back his phone.
“I expected her to answer,” Patrick said, his forehead wrinkling.
“We have her number now. We can keep calling if we need to.” Kelsey squeezed his arm as they headed for the truck. “I’ve known you for five years, and hardly a week goes by that you don’t amaze me with some crazy fact you know or something remarkable like this that you do.”
Compliments weren’t something Patrick processed easily.
He gave her a confused look as he opened the passenger-side door.
The seat was still flipped up. He was able to motion Devil in and hook up his harness with almost no cajoling.
Then he snapped back the passenger seat and jogged around to the driver’s side.
“Thank you for coming” was all that he said before he started the ignition and busied himself in the activity of driving.