James duly produced it.
The deputy examined the badge and license closely then nodded in seeming satisfaction. “What brings a Charlotte officer over to this part of the state?”
“The theft of a K-9.” James lowered his hands as relief flooded through him. The deputy could have made things hard for him if he had wanted to. “This young woman is in possession of a canine in service with my police department. I came to arrest her for dog-napping.”
Shay took a step toward James. “You lying son of a—”
The deputy cut her off with a raised hand. “Dog-napping.” He continued to stare at James. “Is that a real crime?”
“Yes, sir.” James reined in his annoyance. There were still people even in law enforcement who saw K-9s as little more than tools instead of valued partners. “My canine partner was kidnapped from a vehicle in Charlotte a month ago. I doubt you got a bulletin about it all the way up here. But I’ve been following leads for weeks. It led me here. I should probably have come to the sheriff’s office first, but when I saw Bogart in this yard last night—” He noted Shay’s jerk of surprise at his mention of the night before, and filed that reaction away for later. “You could say I lost perspective.”
“Over your pet.” The deputy’s tone was still skeptical.
“Bogart’s a highly trained and crucial member of the K-9 service.”
The deputy turned his gaze on the big-eared dog who sat happily panting away at Shay’s side. “What have you got to say about this, Ms. Appleton?”
“This is my dog. I adopted him from animal control last month.”
“The hell you did.”
Shay took an instinctive step back at James’s hard tone. His expression was neutral but the tension in his body could not be interpreted as anything other than coiled strength under stress.
Deputy Wood moved his considerable bulk between James and Shay. “Easy, Officer. Go on, Shay. Tell the man your story.”
Shay shot James a rude look. “I volunteer at one of the animal shelters in Raleigh. I was at the desk when a woman came in with Prince.” She reached out to rest her hand territorially on her dog’s head.
Her accuser shifted his weight, as if uncomfortable. “What name did she give?”
“She didn’t.”
“Keep talking.”
Shay sucked in a breath of annoyance. She’d never done well with authority. His every word sounded like an interrogation. It was reminiscent of Eric in a bad mood. It worked her temper. “The woman said her dog had mauled a child’s pet. That’s why she had a muzzle on him. She said he was vicious and uncontrollable, and needed to be put down before he could hurt someone else.”
James swiped a hand over his mouth to block the vulgarity he couldn’t quite squelch as he gazed down at Bogart. The eager interest in his partner’s black eyes and happy thump of his tail highlighted the absurdity of the accusation. Bogart was too well trained to attack without cause. Yet his partner was capable of becoming a very dangerous adversary if commanded to be so. Had Bogart gotten frightened and attacked a child’s pet? He doubted that. Yet his heart tripled its beat. Everything he learned from now on could be crucial to protecting his partner’s future.
When James’s gaze rose to meet Shay’s again, it was the opaque, official stare of a lawman on duty. “She told you specifically to put him down?”
She nodded.
“Shit!”
Shay decided she couldn’t have worded her own response to the idea any better.
“Continue.”
“I told her our shelter doesn’t destroy an animal unless it’s so sick or injured that a vet recommends it. Or we have a formal complaint and court order. That’s when she got all huffy and said she didn’t have time for all that. If we wouldn’t destroy him, then she’d find a place that would.”
“Why didn’t you ask for verification of her accusation?”
Shay folded her arms protectively across her chest. “We aren’t the animal police. When a person walks in the door with a pet, shelters don’t ask them to prove ownership. We allow a person to surrender their pet without question. It’s better than trying to catch animals after they’ve been abandoned.”
“Go on.”
Shay glanced away, flushing with annoyance. Definitely, this guy was a cop.
“She was leaving when I decided something wasn’t right. Prince wasn’t showing any signs of aggression or anxiety. He even ignored a kitten that got loose from its owner and wandered over to brush up against him before being retrieved. So I stopped her and said that I’d fudge a few things, and personally take care of her dog.”
“You let her think you’d destroy him?”
Shay smirked at her interrogator. “I let her think what she wanted to think so she’d leave him with me. She actually gave me a ten-dollar tip.”
“That was fast thinking, Shay.” The deputy looked at James for confirmation.