Chapter 11
“ARE YOU serious?” James asked harshly enough that Lyle flinched.
“Yes. He’s packing big dogs into the back of his truck,” Lyle said.
“You don’t need to come. I’m just going to follow him to see where he goes.
It’s not like I’m going to attend the fights or anything.
” He shrugged as he sat in his car, half a block away from the dogfighter’s house.
It was still light enough that he could see where the guy was going.
“You said you didn’t want me to go anywhere alone. ” Okay, that was pushing it.
“I’m on my way. Don’t go anywhere until I get there.”
“You need to hurry,” Lyle said. “He’s still loading things, so he may be a few minutes.
Park on the corner of E and Pitt Streets, and I’ll stop and pick you up.
” His heart beat rapidly. Maybe he was being completely stupid about all of this.
Oh, and let’s not forget obsessive. He knew that, and James was getting a good dose of his brand of crazy.
Maybe he should have kept this to himself.
But the truth was that he felt safer with James there.
“We’re on our way,” James said and ended the call.
Lyle didn’t think about who “we” might possibly be as the man brought out another dog.
This one he placed in the back seat of the truck.
Then he closed the door and returned to the house.
It was clear that he was getting ready to leave.
Lyle tried to think of some way to stall him, but he wasn’t going to approach the guy.
He had seen him at the shelter, and it was likely he’d be recognized.
Thankfully one of the neighbors came out, and they began talking.
Lyle lowered his window as angry voices drifted on the still air.
He couldn’t hear what was being said, but the tone was unmistakable.
Eventually the two men glared at each other, standing toe-to-toe.
Finally, the neighbor flipped the dogfighter the bird and went back inside.
Headlights showed ahead and pulled to the side of the road up that way. Lyle started the engine and went forward, keeping the truck in view. James stood with another man at the corner, and they got into Lyle’s car. “Lyle, this is one of my roommates, Wes.”
“Good to meet you, under crazy circumstances,” Wes said, and Lyle might have argued if he hadn’t spoken the truth. The truck passed them as they closed the car doors, and Lyle pulled into traffic. “Man, you got guts.”
“So what’s the plan?” James asked.
“I was just going to follow him to see where he goes. He has three pit bulls in the truck. So he’s going somewhere pretty important to him.
I wish I could have used the opportunity while he’s gone to check on the other dogs, but I found out his neighbor to the north and this guy are so not friends. He might be a source of information.”
“Are you dating Columbo now?” Wes asked.
Lyle might have been pissed if he didn’t like him already. “This guy is going to get training dogs for fighting from somewhere. He tried to get them from the shelter, but we stopped him. Show him the pictures I took yesterday.”
James held on as Lyle made a quick turn, heading west out of town.
“I did. That’s why he’s here. Wes may sound like a smartass, but he’ll show you pictures of his poodle Shep if you ask him nicely.
” James cleared his throat. “We don’t question your passion and motives, just the fact that there could be danger involved. ”
Lyle slowed down as they passed the Rustic Tavern on Newville Road. There was no one else out, so he could keep the truck in sight without getting too close. “I know. And maybe I’m totally nuts.”
“What you are is something most people aren’t. You have convictions and are willing to do something about them. That’s kind of rare,” Wes told him.
“Yeah.” James said, “He’s turning left.”
“I see him.”
“There isn’t much out here,” Wes added as Lyle made the turn after the truck, staying back aways.
Another vehicle turned after them, and Lyle began to feel trapped as the road got narrower.
A driveway appeared ahead and he turned in, the other truck passing.
Lyle waited and then pulled back out before continuing on.
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” James said, and Lyle was just thinking the same thing as a group of headlights shone ahead of them where the road ended.
“There isn’t much else out here. This is state land.
We used to hunt out here with my dad when we were kids,” Wes said.
“Unless you want to get into the thick of things, turn in here and cut the lights.” Lyle did as he asked.
“Go a little farther and turn around. We can see if anyone else is coming, and if not, let’s get out of here. ”
“Good idea. We know where they meet, and we don’t need to get caught or anything,” James added, with Lyle nodding his agreement.
They sat still and quiet for a few minutes.
During that time, two more trucks passed, and then nothing more.
Lyle made the turn back onto the little-used road and headed out to the main street.
As he neared the turnoff, a truck passed them going the other way.
Lyle didn’t slow and made the turn back toward town, then picked up speed to get the hell away from there.
“What do we do now?” Lyle asked after a few minutes of silence. Wes watched behind them as Lyle drove as quickly as he dared. Once they neared the lights of town, along with other traffic, he slowed and made his way back toward where James had left his car.
“We can call the police,” James offered.
“And tell them what? That we followed a guy with dogs outside of town?” Wes asked. “We didn’t see anything. And as soon as the police go out there, they’ll move their dogfighting somewhere else.”
“So what do we do?” Lyle asked.
James turned in the passenger seat. “First, you promise not to do this again. These people mean business. The guy you’re following isn’t the leader.
He’s just a guy who likes to fight dogs.
But the people who run this sort of thing make a lot of money, and they aren’t going to go down lightly.
I’ve had the chance to do some research and look into previous cases.
There are animal cruelty laws, and this falls under that category.
But they can be hard to prosecute under certain circumstances. ”
“Okay. So what do we do?” Lyle asked more firmly.
“For now, nothing. We know enough to hurt these people. But what we need to do is somehow get video or actually see these fights.”
“The dark web,” Wes said. “Do you think these people just hold the fights? They film them and sell the video. People bet on this stuff, and they get off on it. So what we need to do is find someone who knows their way around these sort of places and can get us video of the fights.”
“How?” Lyle asked. “I don’t know anything about this sort of stuff, and I really don’t want to.” The thought made him shudder as he pulled to a stop near James’s car.
“Leave that to me,” Wes said. “I know people who know people who do this sort of thing.”
“Can you trust them?” James asked. “I mean….”
“He’s not a terrorist or anything. Just a guy whose hobby is bringing sex offenders into the light by tracking their online activity and then getting enough info to get the police involved.
He doesn’t want his name to get out, but this sort of thing would be right up his alley. ” He sounded kind of happy.
“Okay. Well, see what you can find out.” Lyle had no intention of going back there. He had figured they would just follow the guy. He hadn’t expected to feel like he was getting caught in some sort of trap, and truthfully, he was just happy to be back in town.
“I will,” Wes agreed and got out of the car, but James stayed in his seat.
“You scared me when you called. I was afraid you might get hurt.” He took Lyle’s hand. “I don’t like doing this. I really think we should let the police handle it.”
Lyle sighed. “I know. And I won’t go back there. We can let Wes’s friend see what he can find, and then we’ll turn everything over to the police. Let them deal with the whole mess. I promise.” He leaned forward, and James kissed him.
“You know, I do love how passionate you are about all this. I just want you to stay safe.” He kissed him quickly and got out of the car. Lyle watched as he strode to his car and got inside before driving away. All Lyle could hope at this point was that his level of crazy hadn’t driven James away.
LYLE AND the dogs sat outside James’s duplex, wondering if he should get out and knock.
He hadn’t heard from him since their escapade last night, and he wondered if he really had frightened him away.
Dash yipped from behind him as if to say, “Stop dawdling and go get him.” Finally, he got out of the car and walked up to the building just as James came out.
“Are you ready for dinner with my mother?” Lyle asked, half expecting James to tell him that he had changed his mind and wouldn’t be able to go.
“Sure.” He went to the car, and Lyle got in as well, driving the short distance to the house his mother had in the Old Mooreland section of town. James was quiet, and Lyle kept glancing over and wondering what he was thinking. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. “I prepared myself for anything.”
“I thought that maybe I had scared you away,” he admitted. “My particular type of crazy can be too much sometimes.”
James scoffed. “We all have our brand of crazy. Just because you haven’t seen mine yet doesn’t mean it isn’t there. I’m sure it will show up eventually.” He smiled and then got out of the car. “Wow, did you grow up here?”