“You’re not going to believe this, but she just walked in the front door,” Olivia replied. “Waltzed in like it was completely normal.”
“No, I mean get here. From Durango,” Mom said.
Ty gently turned me on my side. “Got a scar on the back of her neck, here. And look how thin she is! She’s had a rough couple of years, you can tell.”
“You don’t suppose she walked?” Mom gasped. “Through the mountains?”
Jordan laughed delightedly. “That would be amazing.”
“Oh, Bella, you are a very special girl,” Ty told me. “You can do anything.”
“So here’s the problem,” Olivia continued. “There’s an animal control officer here. I think it’s that same guy who harassed Bella in the first place. He says we have to bring the dog out.”
Ty straightened to a standing position. “Oh he does, does he?”
Layla crossed her arms. “What?”
“If we do, he’ll have Bella destroyed. We can’t let that happen. Is there something you can do?” Olivia asked urgently.
I felt Mom tighten. “I’ll handle this.”
Ty held up a hand. “No, not just you, Terri. I think we should all handle this.”
“Damn straight,” Jordan said.
Marty had sat back down but now he stood. “Hell yeah. He has no idea who he’s messing with.”
Mom turned to Olivia. “Have you called Lucas?”
I snapped my head up at his name.
“No, not yet. This is all happening so fast, Bella barely walked in the door before they told me the dog catcher was here. And…”
“And?” Mom raised an eyebrow.
“We sort of had harsh words this morning. He’s so stressed right now. Usually he calls to apologize later. It’s kind of one of the best things about him.”
Mom smiled warmly. “Maybe this time, you break the pattern? Seems to me he would want to hear about this as soon as possible. Take a minute.”
Olivia nodded. “Come, Bella.” She walked out of the circle of people, who were all closing in around Ty. I wanted to go and play and be petted and called a good dog, but Olivia had said “Come” and I knew Lucas would want me to do what she said. I followed her to the corner of the room.
Olivia held her phone to her face. “Hi, it’s me. Yes. Okay, yes, but … Lucas, would you stop for a minute? I do want to hear you say how wrong you were and how sorry you are. I want to hear you say it a lot. But I am calling about something else.”
Olivia smiled down at me, and I wagged. “You’ll never guess who just showed up!”
*
All of my friends took me for a walk down the hall past the desk-woman and to the door and outside. Night had fallen but there were a lot of lights so I could not only see but smell the hat-man and his truck with the dog crates. Two cars with flashing lights were parked next to that truck.
One woman and two men got out of those cars, all wearing dark clothes and carrying metal objects on their hips. Police. They walked with Hat-man up to greet my friends, who spread out next to me. Mom put her hand on my neck and I did Sit.
“I am here for the dog,” Hat-man declared in a loud voice.
Ty smiled cheerfully. “Is that right?”
“I’m executing a legal confiscation under section eight dash fifty-five.”
“Does sound pretty legal, I’ll grant you that,” Ty said.
Hat-man looked pointedly at the police standing next to him.
“We don’t want any trouble here, sir,” one of them stated cautiously. “But you’ll have to surrender the animal.”
Ty didn’t say anything.
“Understand?” Hat-man sneered. “We’re taking the dog.”
“All right.” Ty nodded, drawing himself up tall and gesturing to a man standing near to him. “But to do that, you’ll have to get past the Fourth Infantry Division of the United States Army.”
There was a long silence.
“Eighty-second Airborne Division, United States Army,” Mom declared firmly. As she spoke she held herself stiffly, straightening her back and adopting a curiously erect posture. I wagged but did not understand.
Drew wheeled his chair forward. “Second Marine Division.” He, too, went rigid.
Kayla stepped up next to Ty. “Sixth Fleet, United States Navy.”
“First Infantry. Army,” announced Jordan.
“Air National Guard.”
Several more of my friends spoke. There was a long, tense silence when they were done talking. I could hear a dog barking, far away.
The police seemed afraid.
Twenty-eight
“Sheriff’s here,” one of the police said. Everyone turned and looked at the car pulling up in the parking lot. When it stopped, a man stood up from the passenger side as if his bones hurt. For a moment he gazed over at us without moving, and then with a slight shake of his head he walked toward us, trailed by the woman who had been driving the car, stopping when two of the police went down to talk to him. The new man looked at me and I wagged.
“Easy, Bella,” Mom murmured. I glanced up at her, feeling her anxiousness and not understanding.
“So,” New-man greeted as he joined us. “How is everyone doing tonight?”
“We’re here to execute a dangerous animal confiscation and I got these people turning it into some kind of situation,” Hat-man said angrily. “It’s obstruction, it’s interfering with police business, it’s harboring a dangerous animal, and disobeying a lawful police order.”
New-man sniffed, looking at my friends as they stood beside me. “Pretty interesting,” he observed. “Is that your dog, ma’am?”
“She’s my son’s dog,” Mom replied.
I liked that the subject was dog.
“That a pit bull?” New-man asked.
Hat-man was nodding vigorously. “She’s been certified by three separate AC officers according to—”
“Chuck,” New-man interrupted, “did you think I was talking to you?”
Hat-man stiffened.
“We don’t actually know.” Mom shrugged. “She was found living under a house with a bunch of feral cats.”
“Cats. You don’t say,” New-man replied. “Never heard that one before.”
“None of this matters,” Hat-man said darkly.
“Maybe what matters is that you’re not taking Bella anywhere,” Mom said coldly. Now I felt a strong anger coming from her.
“We’re going to do whatever it takes to prevent you from touching this dog,” Ty added, gesturing to the men and women standing with him.
Everyone became tense. One of the police took a step back and put his hand on one of the metal objects at his side. For a long moment, no one spoke. I yawned anxiously.
“Chuck, what in God’s name have you gotten me into?” New-man finally asked.
“Sir, several years ago we received numerous complaints about this dog,” Hat-man said.