Chapter 13
“DO YOU want to stay?” Lyle asked when they were in the car getting ready to leave his mother’s house. The evening had gone better than he had expected.
“I wish I could,” James said as he lightly cupped Lyle’s cheeks and then kissed him. “I really do. But I have hours of work that I have to do tonight to make sure I’m ready for tomorrow. I have to review my paper one more time before submitting it, and then there’s some more case work.”
“Oh,” Lyle said softly. He really knew he had no reason to be disappointed.
“If I get this work done tonight, then I’ll be able to get the rest of my work done during the week and we can have the weekend together.”
Lyle groaned. “I have to work until noon on Saturday. There’s a bunch of shipments that need to go out. They got behind a little because of the inventory we needed to do.”
“How did it come out?” James asked.
“It seems with the losses we calculated and what they recovered from the house, we aren’t missing all that much inventory.
So they are considering dropping the charges so they can get the merchandise back and go on with business.
But the district attorney is having an issue with that plan, because it seems the thief is wanted in another state.
It’s all a real mess, and because of that, I have to work on Saturday. ”
“How about a picnic? We could take the dogs and go out to one of the parks. The dogs could run and have fun, and we could have some time in the sun before it gets too cold.”
“Nice.” He really didn’t want to think too much about what his mom was going through. Though it was already right there, just under the surface. “That would be great.” He pulled away from the house and began the drive through town.
It wasn’t too late, but the roads were largely empty. He dropped James at his place and said good night before taking the dogs home. Lyle parked and approached the front door, and the dogs began to growl. He checked all around before unlocking the door and getting the dogs inside.
As soon as he let them off the leash, they raced downstairs, barking and making a ton of noise.
Lyle turned on the lights and peered down the stairs.
“Hey, guys, come on,” he called nervously, but all four dogs came back up.
He carefully went down the stairs, expecting someone to jump out at him, but everything was quiet.
He checked the back door and thought that someone might have tried to get in.
But they hadn’t succeeded, and he was glad he’d bolted that door closed.
This was one of the things he didn’t like about living here. Corky hadn’t either. Each of the units had a door on the ground floor that faced the path to the park. That side of the buildings had minimal light after dark and was an invitation to people who might want to try to get inside.
The dogs seemed to have calmed down, and Lyle made sure the door was still well secured before returning upstairs.
He thought of messaging James to let him know what he thought had happened, but didn’t.
James was working, and he didn’t need to be interrupted with something he could do nothing about.
Instead, Lyle went back upstairs and took the dogs outside for night-night potty.
Sticking to the sidewalk, he checked around the side of the building, but didn’t see anything at his door other than that the dog enclosure had been pushed aside.
He sighed and took the dogs over, folded up the enclosure, and set it beside the door. He’d take care of it in the morning. He probably should have known that it wasn’t going to be left alone. It sucked that people just couldn’t let other people’s things be.
“Come on, guys,” he told the dogs as they sniffed all around.
“Let’s go inside. It’s time to go to bed.
” He took them around to the front of the building.
They had all done their business, so he let them inside and locked the door.
Then he got them each a treat before settling in front of the television with all the dogs around him.
He messaged James just before he went upstairs. “Good night. I’ll be dreaming of you.” Okay, maybe it was corny, but he could live with that.
“I’m still working, but I’ll be thinking of you too,” James sent him, and Lyle returned a happy face before going to the bathroom to clean up.
Then he got ready for bed and climbed under the covers.
He really wished that James was there with him.
It surprised him how easily he got used to having James in bed with him.
And that worried him sometimes. Things with James just seemed easy, and they kind of fell into place.
Like there wasn’t some big drama or these huge hurdles to overcome.
The drama in his life seemed to come from his mother, work, or even the dogs.
Maybe that was how it was supposed to be…
or maybe the drama with James was something he had yet to discover.
“Don’t borrow trouble,” his mother’s voice said in his mind.
“Yeah, but that’s easier said than done,” he told himself and closed his eyes.
The dogs were all in their beds nearby, but Lyle felt weirdly alone tonight.
He kept thinking about his mom and what might happen to her, especially since she refused to slow down up until the surgery.
He tried to stop his mind from racing, but failed until Dash and then the other dogs jumped on the bed and settled around him. Then he managed to sleep.
TOWARD THE end of the week, things went better at work than anyone expected, and the boss told Lyle and the rest of his team that they weren’t going to be needed on Saturday morning, which pleased everyone except Yarl, who was always looking for overtime if he could get it.
Still, that meant that Saturday morning he was free.
Lyle made sure the dogs were all set and hurried over to the rescue to help out.
What he walked into was pandemonium, with dogs running around the inside of the building, some of them scared and hiding.
Enclosure doors hung open, with Mitchell and his husband desperately trying to get the dogs back inside.
Lyle immediately set about getting dogs back in their enclosures and locking the doors.
“What happened?” Lyle asked Mitchell as he carried a little terrier mutt to his enclosure before closing the door.
“Someone got in here and opened everything. There were dogs barking and some cowering, while others chased up and down the aisles.” He looked haggard as Lyle found a small chihuahua mix and got her in her enclosure.
He was gentle with her and petted her before closing the door.
At least the sound had diminished as fewer dogs ran around.
“How many are missing?” James asked as he brought a large dog out from the back area of the shelter. He pulled at James, not wanting to go back in his enclosure. “Bruno, that’s enough,” James said firmly, and he finally went inside.
“He just wanted to run,” Lyle said.
“Yeah,” James agreed as the last dogs were put back.
“It looks like five aren’t here. We need to check around. Look in any possible hiding places.”
Lyle hurried behind the desk and smiled as he found Missy, a poodle mix, hiding underneath.
He spoke to her gently and coaxed her out with a treat.
Then he gently lifted her, petting her gently as he carried her to look for others.
“You’re such a sweetheart,” he told her, muttering other nonsense to her just to keep her calm.
After feeding her some more kibble and calming her, he placed her in her enclosure, and she lay down in her blanket, head on her paws.
“I have Rex,” Mitchell said as he brought out another dog.
“So that means that Lady, Mars, and Loopy are missing.” They were all small dogs, and Lyle felt his insides go cold.
“Did anyone check the video?”
“I did,” Mitchell’s husband said. “I’m Brad, by the way.” He shook Lyle’s hand as he introduced himself. “A guy came in really early this morning, dressed in a hoodie, so we can’t see his face. He took some dogs, but it was dark enough that I couldn’t see how many.”
“Damn,” Mitchell swore.
“I may know where they are,” Lyle said. “That guy who came in a few weeks ago. He’s a dogfighter. I saw him in town and followed him home. I know where he lives. We can check to see if they are there.” He wasn’t sure what he was going to do if they were, but it was worth a look.
“Don’t go alone,” Mitchell said.
“I’ll go with him,” James offered.
Mitchell seemed as determined as Lyle felt. “Be careful and don’t do anything foolish. We can call the police and get the dogs back that way.”
“What if he’s already gone before they get there?” Lyle asked
James nodded, and they headed for his car and jumped inside. “You plan to get the dogs if you can,” James told him. “I recognize that determined look.”
“Yeah, I do.” He started the engine and hurried out of the drive and headed toward town, turning left on College Street and continuing north.
They could see the beat-up truck with a cap over the bed in the driveway, tailgate open, but the front door of the house was closed and the garage door down.
He continued past the house and pulled to a stop just beyond the neighbor’s. Then Lyle got out and closed the door.
“What are you going to do?”
“Check the backyard,” Lyle said. “Like I did before. I’ll be right back.
” He hurried out of the truck and up to the neighbor’s front door.
He knocked and didn’t get an answer, which was good.
Then he went over to the fence and carefully peered over.
The three fighting dogs were tied up, but there were no other dogs in the yard.
“Shit,” he swore under his breath and hurried to return to the car.
“There’s only the pit bulls. No other dogs.
” His heart sank that the ones he had seen before might have been hurt…
or worse. “I’m going to check the back of the truck. ”