Chapter 17 #2
Lyle put Dahlia on the back seat and leaned over the console.
“You have a special place in my heart,” he told James.
“Look what you did for me, for us?” He held him tightly, letting the tension of the past hour or so break from around him.
He closed his eyes and just let it out. “You’re like our freakin’ hero.
I know I get crazy ideas, and maybe it makes you crazy because you go right along with me, but I love you for it.
I love knowing that I don’t have to worry if you have my back, because you always seem to.
” He blinked, trying to clear his wet vision.
James was quiet for a few seconds, his hand gently rubbing Lyle’s head. “You love me?”
Lyle lifted his gaze. “Yeah, I do. Is it too soon for that?” He blinked again, and James kissed him right there in the truck. The dogs all tried to get in on the act, but Lyle held them back and kissed James in return.
“No. I love you too. Why do you think I go along with your craziness?” He smiled as someone tapped on the window. They both straightened up, and James lowered the glass.
“We need to get a statement from the two of you on what you heard and saw,” the female police officer said.
“Do you want us to go to the station? I suppose you’ll need pictures of the dogs since they were what was taken,” Lyle offered. There was no way in hell he was letting them out of his sight.
“Yes. And any pictures you have to back up your story.”
“No problem,” Lyle told her. “Do you want us to follow you?” She nodded, and James waited until the police car pulled in front of him.
Then they followed her to the station, where they spent the next hour going over what they heard and saw.
Lyle forwarded the pictures he’d taken of Kevin putting the dogs into his truck.
They took pictures of the three dogs that had been taken so they could match them to the ones shown in Lyle’s pictures.
Finally, once they had signed their statements, James and Lyle confirmed that they would be willing to testify in court.
“Is there anything else?” James asked once they had answered questions.
She leaned over the table. “I guess I’d like to know how you knew they had taken the dogs?”
Lyle told her the entire story about inheriting the dogs and what Debbie said she planned to do with them.
“I don’t think Debbie ever intended for the dogs to be used in fighting.
That was Kevin’s idea. Debbie just wanted the dogs because they meant a lot of money and she could sell them for breeding. ”
“I see.” She made notes. “In the conversation you overheard, did she seem surprised when Kevin told her what he was going to do?”
Lyle thought a minute. “I don’t know. But he was pretty matter-of-fact. I’d say she knew what her husband was doing. You might be able to use that. If there’s a weak link, it’s her. She’s greedy and she’s motivated by money, if that helps you at all.”
“Maybe she’ll be motived by fewer years in prison.”
Lyle smiled. “As long as I don’t have to see her all the time.” He just wanted to go on with his life and not have the dogs go nuts every day when they took their walk in the park. Lyle still wasn’t sure what they were trying to do, unless it was to get the neighbors to complain about the noise.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
James explained about their nightly walks and how the dogs reacted. “It was stalkerish behavior, and I think it was meant to set the dogs off, but she could have been using that time to watch the townhouse. We don’t know.”
The officer wrote down everything. Then she thanked them, and they walked the dogs past the front desk and out of the station.
“Does your mom know about all this?” James asked.
“No. Everything happened so fast. But it’s okay. We have the dogs back, and I suspect the police have been all over my place looking for clues to how Debbie broke in and any evidence she might have left behind. I just hope they’re gone so I can get the dogs inside and fed.”
James drove him home, not saying very much. “I’m sorry about what happened,” he finally whispered.
“It wasn’t your fault. Debbie said she jimmied the lock—it was all on her. She broke in, and she was the one who took the dogs. You tried to find them as soon as you realized they were gone, and you found one of them, so don’t do this to yourself. I don’t blame you.”
“But you trusted me to look after them while you were away, and….” James was usually such an upbeat and positive person. He hated seeing him this way.
“Don’t go there. It only gives Debbie and her lunacy some sort of power.
She is the only one responsible for the dogs being taken.
We got them back, and they’re none the worse for wear.
Furthermore, we may have been able to help the police find more information about this dogfighting so hopefully they can put an end to it. So it’s a real win.”
“How can you be so… I don’t know, okay with all this?”
“Because someone told me once that you deal with what happens and move on. Or something to that effect. One thing I do know, I need to get the landlord to put in a better lock on the front door. Other than that… we’ll go on.”
James pulled into the drive, and the police were still at Lyle’s place, two cars parked out front. Lyle got out, and he and James went inside. He should have remembered he had relocked the door when he left. “Debbie said that she jimmied the lock.”
One of the officers knelt down and then began taking pictures. “That’s pretty obvious. This lock is well past its prime. It’s very worn and probably gave way pretty easily.”
“I’ll ask the landlord to replace it,” Lyle said. “Is it okay to take the dogs inside? I need to feed them and give them some water. I can put them in the basement area so they don’t disturb you.”
“Go ahead.”
James brought the dogs, and they went right downstairs. Lyle opened the back door and set up the surround so they could wander outside. Then he slumped into his chair, like the last of his energy has been spent and he had nothing more. “All I want to do is climb into bed and sleep until Tuesday.”