Chapter 10 #2
“I doubt you can. Mom travels so much that I’ve only seen her maybe a dozen times in the last few years.
So I have to make the occasions count. Besides, with all the travel, Mom is an amazing cook.
Like, she picks up the cuisine of each place she visits.
So I can honestly say that I have no idea what we’ll be eating.
” He could hear the amusement in Lyle’s voice.
“Well then, we’ll just have to be adventurous.” James yawned and closed his eyes, not wanting to end the call, but relaxed. He had all his work up to date, he was ahead in some classes, and barring something unexpected which could come up at any time, he was in good shape with classes.
“Oh,” Lyle said. “I forgot to tell you. I saw that same guy again. This time he was out at Knisely’s when I was getting the food that Corky used for the dogs.
He was looking at collars and leashes—the really big, heavy-duty ones.
I didn’t let on that I was interested in him, but I followed the guy after he left. ”
“You what?” James asked more loudly than he intended to. He sat up, instantly awake. “Are you okay? Did anything happen?”
“Nothing happened. I’m fine. It wasn’t as dramatic as all that.
I left the store behind him, and instead of turning south to go home, I went out north into the alphabet streets.
He lives on G Street in a house that looks nice enough from the front.
I was expecting a run-down hovel, but the house was well kept.
I parked down the street and walked along in front and past the neighbor’s.
He has a high fence, but I could hear the dogs out back. ”
James swallowed hard. “You didn’t…,” he said, knowing full well that Lyle wasn’t going to give up.
“The neighbor wasn’t home, so I went through their yard.
The bad guy’s backyard is full of dogs. Like, there were three pit bulls or pit bull mixes.
They were each in a caged run of sorts, and then the other side of the yard had these chains and small dog houses made out of tarps.
These dogs were smaller, and a few of them looked like they might have been limping.
All of them were in dirty conditions, with some overturned water and food dishes.
The tarps seemed kind of pathetic, and I wanted to go in there and take all the smaller dogs to Mitchell.
They were a mess. I swear he lets the bigger dogs chase and hurt them. ” The pain in Lyle’s voice was real.
“You didn’t hang around, did you?” James asked, his throat dry.
“No. I did take some pictures, though, and then got out of there and returned to my car and went home. No one followed me, and I made it back here a while ago. But I can’t help feeling for these dogs…
all of them. They are in such bad conditions, even the fighting ones.
” He paused. “I did some research, and most of it said that fighting dogs were nearly impossible to retrain. So they’d need to be put down. ”
“I know,” James said softly. “And it’s not their fault. Their owners are the ones responsible.” His phone chimed as he received a text message.
“I sent you the pictures, and I wonder if I should talk to Mitchell to see if he has any advice. I mean, there has to be a way to help these animals. But I don’t know what to do.”
James sighed to himself and took a minute to look at the pictures. “Jesus,” he muttered under his breath.
“Yeah. It’s pretty bad.”
“Let me look into what can be done. I know some people at the law school who might be able to give us some advice as to how to proceed. I mean, we could call the police, but if we did, then he’d know he was being watched.
” What he needed was a few days to talk to folks who knew more than he did.
“Give me until Wednesday dinner to see what the best course of action is.”
“I think I can do that.”
“And please, stay away from this guy. He may have a backyard full of dogs, but he could also have a house full of guns, and who knows what he might do if he thinks someone is watching him. Obviously he lost one of his dogs, but he has others.” James looked more closely at the pictures, and he could see that some of the dogs were suffering.
Hell, they looked like the ones on those ASPCA commercials.
“Yeah. But….” Lyle paused, and James had the idea that Lyle was not going to stop. “If I get the chance, I’m going to see where this guy goes. Maybe we can find out where they are holding the dogfights. Then we can call the police, and they can get everyone involved.”
The thought of that made James shudder. But he knew Lyle well enough already to know that he wasn’t going to stop. “Don’t go anywhere alone. Promise me. I hate the thought of you doing this, but if you’re hell-bent on it, do not go alone.”
“All right. If I get the chance, I won’t go alone. Not that I’m going to stake out this guy’s house.”
James snickered. “I wouldn’t put it past you.”
“I keep thinking about what I would do of one of my dogs were involved. What if Dash were in that backyard, forlorn and miserable? I’d do anything to help him.” Damn, that was hard for James to counter.
“It’s two days. Try to keep yourself restrained until then. We’ll figure out a way forward once we have a better understanding of how to bring as much hurt down on this guy as possible. Okay?” He hoped Lyle would agree and keep himself safe.
“I won’t approach him, but I will drive by the house a few times to make sure the dogs are still there and that they aren’t hurt… well, anything more than they currently are.” Concern filled Lyle’s voice, and James wanted to rush over there just to hold him and make sure he was going to be okay.
“Just be careful.”
“You aren’t going to tell me not to go?” Lyle asked.
“I’d love to. But I think I’m coming to understand that when you care about something, you throw yourself into it.
So telling you not to go would be like trying to stop the tide.
Just make sure you’re safe and that you don’t bring trouble home with you.
” There was nothing more he could say or do.
Lyle was an adult, and he would do as he wished.
Telling him to stop caring would be like asking him to cut off his right hand.
It just wasn’t going to happen, and in the end James didn’t want it to.