“Just because you remembered my name—that don’t mean nothing,” Ivan said, sounding more like the teenager that he was, angry and sullen today.
Brian remembered being an angry teenager himself, and admitted that was part of what had drawn him to Ivan. Arguing with his logic wouldn’t get them anywhere.
“This is a little off the beaten path for you. How did you know I’d be here?” As he asked the question, he was also listening for Angela.
“I know stuff.”
No doubt about that, Brian thought. “That doesn’t answer the question.”
Brian could hear the kid shift from one foot to another, and he wished that he could see Ivan’s expression.
“I was surprised to see you, but you didn’t seem surprised to see me.”
“You can’t see nothing,” Ivan said. “And I knew you were going to be here.”
How, Brian wondered, ignoring the taunt. “So you found me. What’s on your mind?”
“I…uh…”
Stranger and stranger, Brian thought, comparing this conversation to one they’d had in his office the week before Thanksgiving. Then, Ivan had been sure of himself, polite, and he had made a convincing argument to have a second chance at the Beanstalk Gang, saying the activities, especially basketball, provided sanity in his life.
As Brian faced the young man, he imagined what he’d say to him if he could simply see. Despite the fact that Ivan had kicked away his cane, if he had intended any real harm he would have tried it by now.
“If I remember right, you don’t have wheels,” Brian said. “How did you get here?”
“A friend.”
Brian took a step forward, and when he heard Ivan back up a step, he inwardly smiled. The kid definitely wasn’t as cocky as he’d initially come off.
“The same friend who told you I was here?” One more step forward.
Ivan backed up again. “No.”
“What’s your friend’s name?” When Brian stepped forward this time, he felt the cane beneath his feet, and he bent to pick it up.
“How’d you do that? I mean, if you can’t see and all.”
“Sight is only one of the senses. You were going to tell me your friend’s name, and then you were going to tell me what you’re doing here.” Brian made sure his voice sounded authoritative.
“You owe me,” Ivan said, the words sounding forced, as though he’d just then remembered what he was going to say.
Brian took a step in the direction of his voice. “I doubt that, but just for the sake of conversation, exactly what do I owe you?” And he kept wondering where Angela was. Ivan’s older brother was trouble, and if he was the one who had driven the kid out here…
“I’m tired of you butting into my life.”
“I see.” Brian scratched his head, pretending to think. “You’re the same guy who lives to be on Coach Norris’s basketball team. And the one who hangs around the office because you’ve got a crush on Jodie. And the one who told me that you were in my debt after I bailed you out of jail when you were stupid enough to tag after your brother when he was dealing to an undercover cop. Is that right?”
“Well…. maybe I don’t want to play anymore.” He sounded uncertain, and the more he talked the more Brian was convinced that someone else had tried to fill his head with ideas—ideas that weren’t sticking very well.
“That’s easy. Just quit.”
“I’m no quitter,” Ivan said, the first real conviction in his voice since he’d shown up.
“Who brought you here?” Brian asked.
“A guy named Tommy Man—”
“Tommy Manderoll?” Him again. “Did he come inside with you?” Brian cocked his head to the side, listening. All he heard were the dogs barking, a sound that had somehow faded to the background during the few minutes he and Ivan had been talking. A door on the opposite side of the large room opened and closed, and then he heard the murmur of Angela’s voice. She didn’t sound upset, so whomever she was talking to couldn’t be Tommy.
“Brian,” she called. “Where are you?”
“Over here by the cocker spaniel,” he returned.
A second later, he heard her footsteps coming up behind Ivan. “It took me a minute to find Pete. He’s getting out the two dogs I’m interested in.” She stopped talking when she reached them. “Hello,” she said to Ivan.
“Hey,” he said, then tacked on a second later, “This your woman?”
“This is Angela London,” Brian said. “She trained my guide dog.” He waved in Ivan’s direction. “This is Ivan Fletcher.”
“Nice to meet you,” she said. “Ah, here comes Pete. Even though it’s cold outside, I’m taking them out to the yard.”
“I’ll catch up in a minute,” Brian said.
“Are you sure?”
He nodded. After he heard her and Pete move away with the dogs, he said to Ivan, “Let’s go see your new friend.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, man.”
“It’s what we’re going to do anyway. Let’s go.” Brian stepped briskly forward, sweeping the cane in front of him, each tap subtly marking the next place he’d place his foot, determined that Ivan would have no idea that he felt naked and exposed as a newborn baby. They reached the door to the lobby, and Brian waited for Ivan to catch up and open it.
“Sandy,” he called, striding toward the counter and hoping he’d correctly remembered her name.
“Yes?” she answered.
“I have a favor to ask.”
“If I can,” she said.
He smiled. “I’m going outside with this young man, and if I’m not back in here in two minutes, call the cops.”
She didn’t reply.
“Sandy?”
“Yeah. Sure. Two minutes. Call the cops.”
“You’ve got it.”
He waved toward Ivan. “Let’s go.”
“This wasn’t my idea,” Ivan grumbled as they went outside, the cold air biting.
“I already figured that out.” Sensing that Ivan was close enough to touch, Brian reached for him, taking his arm just above the elbow. “I want you to go to the driver’s side of the car.”
“Okay.”
The easy agreement surprised Brian. “Anyone with you besides Tommy?”
“No.”
“And just so I’m clear, how did you know we were here? Was Tommy following us?” If he was it was long past time to get a restraining order.
“No, man. We were just hanging out, and some dude called on the cell phone about an hour ago, and we came here.”
So someone else had followed them.
Ivan came to a stop at the driver’s side of a vehicle, and Brian tapped on the window.
The window didn’t come down.
“What’s he doing?” Brian asked.
“He’s mouthing that he doesn’t want to talk to you.”
“Sure you do.” Brian raised his voice and knocked on the window again. “You didn’t make friends with Ivan and come all the way out here to sit in your car like a coward.”
Brian heard the click of a lock, and he stepped back.
“This guy have any bruises on his face?” Brian asked Ivan.
“A couple.”
“I figured you’d stay hidden behind Angela’s skirts,” Tommy said, getting out of the car.
“You figured wrong,” Brian said. “Now instead of sending Ivan in to do your dirty work, why don’t you tell me what this whole cloak-and-dagger bit is about.”
“I think you already know.”
“I don’t play games. Spill it or leave.”
“Kid, why don’t you get in the car,” Tommy said.
“See ya,” Ivan said.
“Afraid to be overheard,” Brian said after he heard Ivan get into the car.
“I thought you’d like to know I’ve been recruiting. Starting with your friend Ivan. And you might have noticed. He’s not the sharpest pencil in the box—”
“Must be the company he’s been keeping lately.”
“But he’s useful,” Tommy said. “I know just how much having this poster boy means to you. So here’s the deal. Invest a half million in my enterprise, and I’ll make sure I’ve got Ivan’s back covered.”
Brian stared in the direction of Tommy’s voice. “You want money?”
“You owe me,” Tommy said, the inflection sounding so much like what Ivan had said minutes earlier. “Invest, and I won’t recruit from your organization. Invest, and you can pretend to have the squeaky-clean operation you want everyone to think you have.”
Brian shook his head. “You’re barking up the wrong tree, pal. And you’re as stupid as you’ve accused Ivan of being if you think that, one, I’m going to give you a penny, and two, that I won’t call the cops down on you.”
“You’ve been warned.”
“Ditto,” Brian returned. When he heard the car door open, he added, “Ivan, if you want a ride home, I’ll see that you get it.”
There was a moment of silence while he imagined the silent exchange between Tommy and Ivan. Finally, Ivan said, “I’m good.”
The car’s engine started, and Brian stepped back, feeling his heel collide with the curb. He stepped onto the sidewalk and realized he’d made an error in not paying attention to how many steps it was before the turn to the front door.
He listened to Tommy’s car driving away while he headed back toward the front door, sweeping his cane in front of him. To his relief, he felt where the sidewalk turned, and he realized the air in front of him felt somehow different, as though the mass of the building loomed close. A second later, his cane touched the edge of the building, and he slowed. Sure enough, the door was right in front of him. He opened it and stepped inside.
“That was two and a half minutes,” Sandy said from his right, evidently looking out the window. “Everything all right?”
“Fine,” he said, now wondering if Andrew Brogg was the missing piece of this puzzle. “Are there any other cars out there? Especially a beige or gray sedan being driven by a guy wearing glasses?”
“Don’t see a soul,” she said.
Just because he wasn’t there now didn’t mean that he hadn’t followed them here. But that was something he’d never be able to prove. “Which way to the yard?” he asked Sandy. “I want to go watch Angela in action.”
His statement echoed in his head, along with the hundred other things that were part of ordinary conversation. Seeing, looking, watching…and to use other words was awkward in the extreme. Sensing Sandy beside him, he turned his head, half expecting the dark void to dissipate so he could see her.
“But before we do that, there’s a cocker spaniel in the back that I want to know about.”
“There are a couple,” Sandy said. “Do you remember which one?”
“Angela said this one was extremely matted. Something about his owners going on vacation.”
“Ah, I remember that one. An older man brought him in. This poor dog hasn’t had a bath or a bit of attention and he said the dog was too much for them.”
“That sounds like the one,” Brian said. “I’d like to adopt him, but I can’t take him until tomorrow.”
She touched his arm. “That’s wonderful. He’s a sweetheart, but in such a mess that nobody seemed interested. Let me pull his file.”
She walked away, and Brian followed her back across the room, really paying attention to the feedback the cane was providing to him about the space. He could do this, he thought. He’d confronted Ivan and that creep, Tommy, and that had turned out okay. As different coaches had told him dozens of times over the years, act like you know what you are doing until you do.
A moment later, Sandy made a sound of distress. “This dog tested positive for heartworm.”
“Meds take care of that, right?”
“Most of the time,” she replied, going on to tell him about the possible risks and adding that he’d be facing a big grooming bill on top of whatever the cost would be to take care of the heartworms.
“You’re not talking me out of this,” Brian told her. “The dog caught Angela’s eye, and that’s enough of a recommendation to know he should get another chance.”
“Okay, then. Let’s get started with the paperwork.”
Fifteen minutes later, it was all finished, and Sandy guided him toward the yard where Angela was evaluating the two dogs.
“I was beginning to think you’d gotten lost,” Angela said as he made his way down a pebble-covered walk toward her.
“Nope. How are the dogs?”
“The boxer has potential. The other one I’m not so sure about. He’d make a wonderful pet for someone but his attention isn’t as focused as I’d like it to be.”
“Maybe he’s nervous. You know, test anxiety.”
She laughed. “I remember having that myself.”
Over the next half hour, Brian listened to Angela put one dog then the other through an evaluation that tested whether they already knew basic commands, how readily they paid attention to her. She eventually decided the boxer was the only dog she’d take. Listening to her praise about how smart the dog was, Brian began to wonder if his idea of adopting the cocker spaniel and giving it to her was such a good idea. If it turned out not to be, he figured his house was big enough for two dogs.
She filled out the paperwork for the dog and paid the fee to adopt him. Angela laughed when they headed for Brian’s vehicle because the dog’s demeanor completely changed the instant they headed for the parking lot.
“I wish you could see him,” she said to Brian after they were settled into the car and had pulled out of the parking lot. “He’s a happy boy, though the next stop is the vet’s office, and so that may have him worried again. He’ll need to stay there a couple of days, get a checkup and make sure he doesn’t have anything contagious that could be spread to the other dogs at Guardian Paws.”
“And then training begins,” he said.
“It does. And hopefully, he’ll live up to his potential. If he doesn’t, he’ll end up being someone’s very well-trained pet.”
Brian thought about all the animals they’d seen today, and she’d tested only two, then rescued only one. “So, it’s not automatic that he’ll become a service dog?”
“No. Of the dogs we rescue, only about one in five goes on to become a service dog.”
“I had no idea.”
“The ones that break my heart are the old guys who are no longer cared for because someone got bored or they got old or who knows why.”
“Like the cocker spaniel?”
“Like the cocker spaniel,” she agreed. “I can’t get him out of my mind.”
The worry in Brian’s chest eased at that, and he trusted his hunch that he’d done the right thing. Tomorrow he and Sam would come back for the dog, and thanks to listening to Angela’s process, knew that both a groomer and a veterinarian were on his list of people to find.
By the time they had taken the boxer to the vet’s office and left the dog for its evaluation, it was past lunchtime. Before they headed to the next shelter, Brian talked Angela into stopping for a bite. She didn’t want to take time for a sit-down lunch, so they ordered a submarine sandwich to share, then ate it in the car in the parking lot of the next shelter on their list.
The conversation flowed easily between them while they ate, and Brian decided he was glad that she hadn’t wanted to go to a café. Here, there were no outside distractions, and he could simply focus on what she was saying and imagine how she looked. She’d always worn one of two coats when they’d been out, one a deep burgundy that made her skin look like ivory velvet. The other was a midnight blue, and he’d always liked how it made her eyes look, enhancing gray or blue specks within the depths of the iris that he didn’t see at other times. He liked the positive way that she looked at everything, which he still didn’t understand. With her past and her prison record, she had reason to be harder than she was. Firm as she was with the dogs, the only time he’d seen that hardness was when she’d confronted Tommy. Given his own experiences with that, he now understood.
Brian supposed he should tell her about that, and he was thinking about that when she said, “I’ve been arguing with myself all morning on whether to tell you that I saw Andrew Brogg this morning.” She was silent a moment, then added, “He followed us to the shelter. Talk about someone who keeps turning up like mold on bread.”
“Then I suppose this would be a good time to tell you that Tommy Manderoll was also there.”
“He was?”
“He’s the one who brought Ivan out there, and he made it pretty clear that I can invest—as he calls it—or he’ll turn Ivan into a mule.”
At once there was the soft touch of Angela’s hand over his. “Oh, Brian. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s a stupid plan he has, and it won’t work.”
“But thanks to me, you’ve got this to deal with on top of everything else.”
Brian turned his hand so he was clasping hers. “The way I figure it is that it all works out okay. Thanks to you, I found my path through faith again. I have a terrific dog that will be living with me by the end of the week—”
“If he passes his last test.”
“He’ll pass, I’m sure of it.” Brian squeezed her hand. “And I got to know you. Tommy is a small price to pay for that.”
Angela felt an enormous lump form in her throat at Brian’s declaration. She studied his face, and his brilliant eyes were so intent on her that she had to remind herself that he wasn’t seeing her. The connection she felt with him, though, was just as deep as it would have been had their gazes been locked.
Oh, how I love him, she thought.
She turned her head and stared outside at the winter day, which was one of those beautiful, perfect, Colorado days with a blue sky and enough snow on the ground to put a person in the Christmas spirit. She longed to think that what they had between them could be this perfect. But it wouldn’t be. Even if Tommy’s plan was as stupid as Brian believed, there was still Andrew Brogg. And if it wasn’t Andrew, it would be someone else.
A tear slipped from the corner of her eye. She looked up, and, sitting across the parking lot from them not twenty feet away, watching like he always was, was Andrew Brogg in his car.
When her gaze met his, he smirked and gave her a salute.
With awful clarity, she knew as surely as she was sitting here that Andrew had called Tommy. Remembering what he’d said to her just yesterday—you will help, you just don’t know it yet—she knew that Andrew was pulling some strings with Tommy who in turn was manipulating Ivan. And she finally recognized the expression she’d seen in Tommy’s eyes yesterday.
Bone-deep fear.