how he was going to deal with Dory. The bus ticket they’d given him was nonrefundable, meant only to take him back to the place where he’d originally lived—a small suburb of Saint Louis.
He’d been given the address of a halfway house, so he went there, arriving late at night, and resigned himself to spending some time figuring out how to get his hands on some money quickly. He sure as hell didn’t intend to work any of the low-paying menial jobs they probably would point him to. He had bigger things to hunt.
Even though it was late, with his release papers he got inside the door. They showed him to a bedroom and didn’t seem particularly worried that he asked to use a computer. The residents had one in a public room downstairs. Help himself.
So he did. He was too keyed up to just go to sleep. He’d dozed on the bus anyway. The only thing about this that shocked him was his surprising discomfort at not being surrounded by walls when he’d walked from the bus to this place. Not having his every movement watched or directed.
He’d never imagined the world could feel so big, and he suspected that once tomorrow began and life resumed out there, it was going to overwhelm him with chaos. He wasn’t used to chaos anymore. The order of his days had become deeply embedded over twenty-five years.
But so had sitting at a computer and hunting for information about his sister. She had vanished from the town where she had grown up. She was reputed to be a partner in a graphics business that had no address other than a web URL and email. The godparents who had raised her were dead.
He needed to know more about her than this, but he suspected if he called people around here in their old hometown he’d meet a brick wall. Well, unless he could somehow convince them he was someone else. Not likely. He feared too many local people might remember him. Maybe not young people, but the older ones who had probably devoured all the lurid details in the newspaper and on the evening news.
With that thought in mind, he headed upstairs to his room, where his bed was ready to be made. His own room. It had been a while. Not big, but bigger than a cell, without a cell mate.
For a little while the space bothered him, but then he settled down. Room was a good thing. If he thought back very hard to his early days in the slammer, he remembered how claustrophobic he had felt. No more of that.
Now there was infinite freedom.
He needed to remember how to enjoy it. To use it.
Dan Casey dropped by Cadell’s place in the morning. Dan had recently married a woman with a young daughter and was now expecting an addition to the family. Fellow deputies, he and Cadell had built a good friendship.
“So,” said Dan, pausing near the ostrich pen. The birds had been let out into the larger corral but didn’t seem interested in taking advantage of the space. They regarded Dan with the same glare they gave Cadell. Dan shook his head.
“So?” Cadell asked.
“Krys wants to come out and see the birds,” Dan remarked, referring to his five-year-old stepdaughter.
“Krys would be snack-sized for those demons,” Cadell said with a wink. “Bring her anytime I’m home.”
“And then there’s the puppy she wants.”
“Ah. Come on in, if you have time. Is she thinking young puppy? The vet has plenty for adoption.”
“I know.” Dan shrugged. “She likes the police dogs.”
A chuckle escaped Cadell. “You’re in for it. And I don’t mean from the dog.”
“I didn’t figure.”
They walked into the house together. The morning’s coffee had just finished brewing, so Cadell poured a couple of cups and they settled at his trestle table, left over from the days when hired hands ate with the family.
Cadell asked, “So what’s happening with Krys and what does her mother think?”
“Well, that’s the other question. Vicki has mixed feelings. She thinks a dog would teach Krys some responsibility but that in the end the two of us would be taking care of most of it. The idea of a puppy is irresistible, but every time Vicki mentions it, Krys gets a very mulish look and says she wants a police dog.”
Cadell nodded slowly. “Her birth father was a cop, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah, and Vicki’s wondering how much that has to do with this. It’s hard to tell, but maybe Krys has some lingering fears because of her father’s death.”
Cadell pondered that as he sipped his first cup of coffee for the day. A lot more would probably follow. “Well, I can give her a well-trained dog that would protect her and obey her. But you or Vicki are going to have to keep the training fresh or you’ll wind up with just another dog. Which might be okay.”
Dan sighed and rapped his fingers on the table. “The problem is, Krys isn’t being very clear about exactly what she means by a police dog. Does she just want to know it’s a police dog? Does she want it to be able to do certain things? One thing for sure, I am not giving that child a dog that will attack on command.”
Cadell had to laugh. “I wouldn’t dream of it. A kid that young? One temper tantrum...”
“Exactly.” Dan grinned. “I don’t think she’d tell the dog to hold us at bay, but by the time she’s a teen that could change.”
Both men laughed then.
Cadell spoke as his laughter faded. “I can make sure the dog recognizes certain people as friends, no problem. And I can train it to protect her without an attack command.” He paused and lifted one brow. “You do understand that if the dog perceives a threat to her, he will attack without a command?”
Dan frowned. “Depends on what kind of threat. I mean, the mailman holding out an envelope...”
Cadell shook his head. “No, more like a stranger takes her by her arm or hand. Or tries to get her in a car. Come on, Dan, you’ve worked with these dogs before. You must have some idea of how well they can discriminate.”
“Most of the ones I’ve worked with haven’t been that finely tuned. I didn’t know if they could be. So, okay. I’ll leave it to you.”
Cadell hesitated. “Wait a sec. I have an idea. I just gave a guard dog to a new friend in town.”
“Dory Lake? I heard about her from Betty, I think it was.” Dan was suddenly all cop. “What’s the problem?”
“Her older brother killed their parents. He just finished a twenty-five-year sentence, and Dory is naturally nervous about him being on the loose again.” He didn’t offer anything more than that. Not his place. Dan could look up the same files, if he wanted to.
Dan frowned. “She might have a reason to be worried.” Then he returned to the subject at hand. “So what’s your idea?”
“I just thought that with Dory’s permission maybe you and Vicki and I could bring Krys to see Dory’s dog, Flash.
