at her and leaning that blocky head against her chest, was unbelievably comforting. Encircling the puppy in a gentle hug she stroked the velvety floppy ears and heard the youngster actually sigh. Who knew dogs could be so expressive?
Beside her, a growl rumbled in Jessie’s throat. Was she jealous? Oh, dear. Now what?
“It’s okay, Jessie,” Abigail said quickly. “I love you, too.”
That didn’t placate the bloodhound. The quiet growl was followed by stronger rumbling, then a bark. Midnight’s head whipped around. Both dogs were staring at the closed apartment door.
Abigail scooted forward to perch on the edge of the sofa, her body as still and tense as that of her canine companions. Something metallic was making a scratching sound. The doorknob was moving!
Before Abigail could decide what to do, Jessie began to give voice in a way that left no doubt she was extremely upset. Whoever was on the other side of that door was definitely not officer Reed Branson. And his K-9 partner knew it.
* * *
Finding a parking place directly in front of Abigail’s apartment building was impossible, so Reed flipped on the blue-and-white Chevy Tahoe’s flashing lights and left it idling as close to already parked cars as possible.
He stepped out. Listened. Heard a dog barking. Traffic noise nearly drowned out Jessie’s angry warning but the closer Reed got to the outer apartment door, the more sure he was. He slammed his palm into the bank of buttons on the intercom and was able to enter almost immediately because several residents responded.
Howling and guttural barking echoed down the stairwell, giving Reed’s feet wings. He’d reached the second floor landing and was turning to start up to the third when a figure going the opposite direction bumped his shoulder so hard the blow nearly knocked him down!
Adrenaline enabled him to take the final section of stairway two and three steps at a time. He skidded to a stop at Abigail’s door. Jessie was still barking. Puppy yips were background noise.
The hallway around him was empty. Reed knocked. “Abigail. Ms. Jones! It’s me.”
Not only did the dogs fall silent, it was quiet enough for him to hear her footsteps approaching. “It’s really you?”
“Yes.” He held his badge in front of the peephole. “See?”
Abigail opened the door and instead of ushering him in, threw both arms around his neck and fell into his embrace.
At their feet, Jessie was panting and wagging her tail. Midnight was so excited she ran in circles around the couple and wrapped their legs together with the trailing leash.
Reed braced himself against the doorjamb for balance. “Whoa. What happened? What’s wrong?”
“I—I don’t know.”
“Okay. One thing at a time.” He checked to make sure there was no immediate threat, then bent to unravel the snare of the short leash. “There. Let’s go back inside.”
Abigail didn’t comply as quickly as he liked so he slid an arm around her waist and half carried her through the open doorway. Jessie entered ahead of them with the pup bringing up the rear, much to Reed’s relief.
He closed the door, then escorted her to the sofa, sat down with her and clasped her hands. “All right. Tell me everything.”
Although her blue eyes were wide and she still looked frightened, she said, “I think the dogs heard a prowler in the hallway. I—I heard a funny noise and thought I saw the doorknob turning but nobody came in.”
“Not surprising considering the racket Jessie was making. She’s not trained for personal protection but she knew she was supposed to look after you—and the puppy.”
“Midnight barked, too. It would have been kind of cute if I hadn’t been so scared.”
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