Things were a blur for a moment as Ellen grasped the full extent of what had happened. Then she charged the young cop who, for whatever reason, wanted to send Brice to the next world, hitting him with a resounding roundhouse.
The other three blues were on him quickly, forcing him to the ground and cuffing him even as Ellen turned back to Beaux.
The big dog lay still, a stream of blood running from the left side of his head. He wasn’t breathing.
Her stomached clenched in anguish. He’d acted out of duty, no doubt, but Ellen knew it was more than that. He’d saved Brice, sacrificing everything, because he cared.
She remembered a bible verse from her Sunday school days. It said that there is no greater love than giving your life for your friends. No one had done that better than Beaux. No one.
Bending closer to his head, Brice right beside her, tears clouding her vision, she stroked his unmoving shoulder and flank, not feeling a heartbeat. More tears cascaded down her cheeks.
Damn. She hated this job. Right now, she could walk away and never look back. Ever.
“I’m sorry, Ellie. He was a great dog,” said Brice, softly.
His words slammed the truth home. She felt her body go into defense mode as she experienced an out-of-body sensation that she hadn’t felt since Big Harv was being rushed to ER. The worst part of this wasn’t just losing Beaux, but not being able to say thank you for saving Brice.
She bowed her head and let the tears fall again.
After a minute, she put both hands on Beaux, thanked him anyway, and kissed him on the forehead.
“We have to get someone to pick him up,” said Brice.
“I’ll do it. I’ll take him to the car.”
Bending over, she scooped him into her arms and was about to take him to the car when she felt it. A faint twitch of his front leg. A spasm from his neck. Then, unbelievably, his eyes popped opened, looking her over.
She almost dropped him.
“Beaux!”
In all of the excitement, she suddenly realized she hadn’t checked his wound closely. When she’d felt no heartbeat, she’d assumed he’d been shot square on and killed. That wasn’t always the case in humans and apparently not always for dogs. Sometimes, after a trauma, the pulse was so shallow that it was hard to detect. For one of the first times in her life she was glad she’d screwed up.
She pulled his head close, he licked her weakly, she kissed him again, then got a good look at the grazing bullet wound running two inches along the side of his head. It resembled the gashes he’d got from the knife, but there was no hole. She didn’t know much about dog physiology, but she was pretty sure he’d live, headaches notwithstanding, but they needed to get him medical attention.
She laid him back down on the sidewalk. He blinked, got to his front feet, then stood. He wobbled, then sat down, blinking at Ellen, then Brice. His eyes were a tad glassy, but he was gaining his wits, she thought.
“Just stay, Beaux. We’ll get some help for you,” said Brice, phone to his ear. “I’m sending for Anna. She’s a vet too, if I recall.”
“You heard the man,” she said.
The dog adjusted his legs to a wider stance and sighed.
Ellen patted him one more time. “Keep that asshole cop still a minute. I need to talk to this other piece of work.” She then turned toward Henry, lying on the ground beneath the two detectives, one on his back, the other on his legs. He was staring at her, a smirk on his face.
“You may have caught me, Harper, but we’ll win. We always come out on top. God has our back,” he yelled. “We always win. Even when we lose, we win.”
Her hands clenched in sudden rage.
Joel was dead, five other innocents as well, killed in violent, unimaginable deaths. He’d almost taken out Beaux and now was talking like God and he were best friends. Enough was enough.
“Let’s see how God covers your ass while I’m beating the shit out of you.”
She took two steps, seeing only the red of her emotion when she felt two arms lift her off the ground and walk her closer to the lighted building on the other side of the alley.
“Ellie. You can’t,” he whispered in her ear.
“I can. Let me go.”
“No. I need you here. There’s too much going on right in front of us to complicate things.”
She stopped struggling, her control beginning to return. “He has it coming.”
Brice agreed. “He does. But we have to do this right. I have to find out what’s going on with the cop who took a shot at me. You have to find out what the hell Henry’s talking about. They might even be related. Feel me?”
Taking a deep breath, she leaned her head back, almost back to normal. “I feel you. You’re right.”
“Should I let you down?”
“I don’t know. I kind of like this,” she said, grinning.
“I know what you mean. We’ll have to discuss this later.”
Gently, he set her on the ground.
“What’s going on, Brice? Henry and now this cop?”
He shook his head. “I-”
He was interrupted by a yell from one of the Detectives holding Henry on the ground.
“Detective Rogers. Come quick.”