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  Soon, Scott accompanied them both through the reception building as they prepared to leave. “Let’s do this again soon,” he said. “Everyone seemed really glad to see you—and so did I. And I’m glad Griffin seemed relaxed.”

  “Me, too.” Maisie smiled at Scott. “We’ll be glad to come back. And you know, I assume, that I’m having that retired K-9 turned over to your shelter this afternoon, right?”

  “Right,” Scott said. “And thanks for that, too.”

  He walked out with them then to pick up his purchases from his car.

  Chapter 18

  At a little before two that afternoon, Nella received a call from Dan. “We’re here. Just parked in the lot behind your shelter. Do we come in the back door?”

  “No, please come around to the front. I’ll meet you in the reception area.”

  Under other circumstances, Nella would have gone outside to meet them. And it might have been safe even now, thanks to the police patrols in the area—including Officer Maisie and her wonderful K-9, Griffin, who had visited the shelter that morning.

  But instead, after hanging up, she walked from her office, where she’d been hanging out, into Scott’s. “My friends are here. I told them to come into the reception area.”

  “Good. Let’s go welcome them.”

  She figured his protectiveness about the shelter—and about her—was the reason he was joining her, and she appreciated it. She appreciated him, as usual. “Great,” she said.

  He preceded her down the steps and along the hallway, then waited for her to catch up before unlocking the door into the reception room. He entered there first, too. Which made her smile and shake her head—and silently thank him.

  Both Dan and Jon were standing, watching as the two of them came in. “Hi, guys,” Nella said, and introduced Scott to them. Of course, he had already met Dan by phone calls and emails, so they greeted each other enthusiastically.

  Dan, off duty, wore a button-down shirt and dark trousers, but no suit jacket. Jon was dressed more casually, most likely changing out of his uniform before they left L.A.

  “How are you?” Jon approached Nella with arms out as if he intended to hug her. She slipped sideways and smiled at him, drawing closer to the other two men. She thought she saw dismay cross his face but ignored it.

  Jon was a guy of moderate height, with thick, short blond hair and pale blue eyes. Nella considered him reasonably good-looking, but she had no interest in him other than as a cop who’d been her superior officer, since he was a sergeant.

  And she’d had even less interest in him when he’d started flirting with her—and became somewhat pushy, as if, because of his higher rank, she should do what he wanted. He hadn’t been abusive, but he had been annoying.

  She had been appreciative, though, when he had acted somewhat as her backup on the task force. But she’d figured if she emphasized that now, he might take it as an expression of her interest.

  “I’m doing well,” she responded. “I hope you are, too. And it’s so great that you’re both interested in starting a similar shelter in L.A. This place is amazing.”

  “Tell us about it,” Dan said. “And show us around.” He looked from Scott to Nella. Dan hadn’t changed from the last time Nella saw him. He appeared interested and relaxed, with a bald head and good build for any cop, including a detective like him.

  “So tell me what you want to see, and what you want to know,” Nella said. “Scott will be most able to help with both, but I’ll do my best.”

  For a few minutes, they sat on the chairs in the reception room, and Nella was the one to respond to most questions about how they protected both people and animals here. “I love it,” she finished. “It’s fun taking care of all of them.”

  “So you intend to stay here, at least for now,” Dan said. “But if we do open something similar in L.A., could you come help?”

  Nella aimed a glance at Scott. “Depends,” she says. “Maybe, but I doubt it would be permanent.”

  “Then you really like it here.” Jon didn’t exactly sound thrilled.

  “And everything’s going well for you here?” That was Dan. Should she be honest with him?

  To some extent, at least. “More or less—although there’ve been some texts that seem to indicate at least someone knows what this covert facility is about and isn’t happy.” She didn’t say that the last one had mentioned her. “I can’t help wondering if maybe some of those gang members could be involved.”

  Okay. That had to tell them she was concerned about her own safety.

  “We’re still trying to find them, like I said,” Dan told her, his brow furrowed. Okay, nothing new there. They’d been trying before. And she didn’t really know the source of those messages anyway. “Did those texts—”

  She interrupted before he could finish. “Know what? It’s time to take you on a tour of this wonderful place.” That was okay, since they were cops, and Nella had already gotten Scott’s approval. “Just Scott and I are in charge at the moment since the other managers are out collecting some new rescue animals for us to take care of. You’ll probably meet a few of the staff members who are under protective custody inside. Most visitors aren’t permitted to come inside and meet our residents, but your situation is different from most.”

  Once again, Nella allowed Scott to precede her, with the others following as they went through the door, through the entry facility and past the first dog kennels, then outside to the main shelter area. Nella happily explained all they saw. And sure enough, some staff members were walking dogs as they got into the center area.

  “Nice place,” Jon said, not sounding particularly happy. But Nella and Scott introduced both visitors to some of those staff members, explaining that they were police who happened to be visiting but not much else.

  A short while later, Scott got a call—and Nella was excited. Camp and Telma were on their way back to the shelter with three dogs they had chosen to add to the group of current canines needing new homes.

  Nella didn’t ask any questions about those new dogs, though she wondered if one of the three was the retired K-9 that Scott had been told about by Officer Maisie. She hadn’t had the chance to ask Maisie about it before. Even if the K-9 did move in here, though, Nella knew she couldn’t rely on the dog to protect her from any threats. Of course, she didn’t want to rely on Scott, either.

  She wanted to take care of herself.

  But under these circumstances, she needed to be flexible and smart, and accept all the help she could get.

  And help those new canine residents as much as she could.

  While they waited, she decided to give her visitors a brief demonstration of more of what she and the staff members did. She saw Warren walking Bruno, and Muriel walking Mocha. “Come with me and watch this,” she told Dan and Jon. With Scott beside her and the others following, Nella went into one of the buildings and got Baby out of her enclosure.

  “Do you want to work with anyone now?” she asked Scott.

  “I’ll just watch you,” he said.

  “Okay.” Taking the lead, she got the others to practice fairly simple commands like sit and stay, down and come with their dogs, and even try paw—which Baby seemed to get fairly quickly.

  “See?” she said to Dan—and to Jon, who remained beside him. “This is what we do.”

  After about ten minutes of intense doggy training, Nella decided it was time for them all to take a walk in the shelter area—again demonstrating to Dan and Jon what they did here.

  “What do you think?” she asked Dan quietly as Baby continued walking beside her, and Scott moved away to talk to a couple of residents who weren’t working with dogs just then. “These folks all have hard pasts, but their presents, and hopefully futures, are enjoyable and productive. They all get vetted before they are accepted here as residents, and they all appear appreciative
and helpful and even happy.”

  “Got it,” he said. “And I like it. I’d like to learn even more. But we need to leave in a little while. This was, unfortunately, a quick visit we managed to fit in, despite how busy we are at the station. We’ll want to come back soon, though.”

  “I understand,” Nella said.

  “But what about you?” he asked. “What you said before. Are you sure you’re okay here?”

  “Of course,” she responded. It was true. She would make certain of it.

  As they headed toward the entry buildings, Nella stopped as she saw Telma and Camp exit a door and walk toward them. Telma held the leash of a golden poodle mix, and Camp held two leashes, one with a pit bull mix and the other a German shepherd.

  “Hi,” Nella called out excitedly. Knowing how good at their jobs the two managers were, she assumed all three dogs got along well with others, although Nella would be careful since she still had Baby under her control. She allowed Baby to lead her in the other dogs’ direction.

  They each traded nose sniffs with Baby, and none appeared vicious or territorial in the least.

  “This is Cheesecake.” Telma waved at the golden poodle mix whose leash she held.

  “And these are Samson and Spike.” Spike was the shepherd, and he immediately sat and looked at his current handler, Camp.

  Well-behaved? It certainly appeared so. Could he be the retired K-9? If so, Nella felt hopeful that Spike would be a great asset to the shelter.

  Scott, who had been watching from near the dining facility door, caught up with them now. He immediately joined Nella and whispered in her ear, “Spike’s the former K-9. Maisie got him released to us today.”

  Nella couldn’t help grinning.

  The staff members, though they appeared curious about the new arrivals, did their jobs well and all continued to walk the dogs under their control.

  Dan and Jon stayed back, but they clearly were watching.

  “Looks like some good choices,” Scott said to his managers.

  “Yeah, we kept in mind what we thought you’d say about each possibility at the SLO shelter,” Camp said drolly. “I wasn’t certain about this pit bull, Samson, till I got down on my knees in his enclosure and he came over and began licking my beard.”

  Nella found that amusing, if a bit distasteful—literally. “And Cheesecake?” she asked Telma. “I assume she didn’t lick your beard.”

  “Not hardly. But she met my eyes and sat down the moment I entered her enclosure. It was like she was telling me she knew who I was and what I was looking for, and that she wanted to come with me.”

  “Delightful!” Nella couldn’t help exclaiming.

  “What about that—who is it? Spike?” Warren had joined them with Bruno as they stood at the edge of the walkway. “Why did you choose him?”

  “I’d imagine the answer is in that guy’s ancestry,” Scott replied, looking from Camp’s face to Telma’s and back again. “A German shepherd? Why not bring a smart and lovable dog here to help him find a good home?”

  “He looks a bit old,” Warren countered. And he did. Spike’s black-and-tan coloration had some gray in it, including on his muzzle. But he was alert, and clearly very friendly. He even pulled on his leash till Camp allowed him to get close to Warren, as if he recognized this man was talking about him.

  Maybe he did.

  “So, Nella, do you want to test these three to see how well they know commands?” Scott asked her, which also suggested that Spike was the K-9.

  “Absolutely. Here. I’ll give you a command first.” She held out the end of the leash she held. “Take Baby back to her enclosure.” She paused before adding, “Please.”

  “Will do.” Scott accepted the leash. His gaze back at her seemed more amused than offended, fortunately.

  She liked the idea that he remained standing there for a few minutes after telling an obedient Baby to sit. He watched as Nella ran Spike through a group of dog commands she had heard given to K-9s, some of which she had tried here before—a lot of the normal ones for dogs plus fetch, follow, stand, and more. And dear, well-trained and clearly excited Spike obeyed them all.

  Would he protect her or anyone else from threats? She had no doubt that he would, if they occurred in a manner that was clear to him, like a person jumping on her and starting to beat her.

  But there were so many other ways that the threat could come true—such as her getting shot. Or the menace doing something even worse, like attempting to burn the whole facility down to get to her.

  Well, Spike might not be able to prevent those kinds of things, but Nella figured that, with his background, he would alert her and the others if there was a person nearby causing a dangerous situation.

  Nella recognized she might have to count on that, just as she had come to rely on Scott to do anything he could to find the source of those threats.

  Even though she still wanted to take care of herself in all ways. And to bring down those final gang members at last, assuming they were the source of the threats.

  Better yet, Dan and his group should do it. But she didn’t say anything about it to the two men standing behind her.

  For now, Nella handed Spike’s leash back to Camp while she worked briefly with Cheesecake and Samson. She was delighted that both appeared willing to work with her, even though neither seemed to know many basic commands—yet.

  “Cheesecake, heel,” she said to the poodle as she attempted to take her for a walk. Cheesecake sat and looked at her, as if she was curious but not knowledgeable about what Nella wanted.

  Nella remained patient as she got the poodle to stand and walk with her, and it only took a few minutes before she appeared to get it, that she was supposed to walk beside Nella, at her heel. And obey even more commands. Then, when the training session was over, she snuggled up to Nella, acting utterly sweet and adorable. Was she a potential therapy dog?

  And Samson? His initial expression as he regarded Nella when she gave him orders appeared bored. He didn’t obey her, either, at first. Then, almost as if he was shaking his head in exasperation, he started to obey each of Nella’s commands as soon as she demonstrated to him what she wanted.

  Hooray! Success. Nella felt proud of herself, and prouder of the dogs.

  And, most importantly, she had begun the process to help Samson and Cheesecake find perfect new homes fast—especially one for Cheesecake, where her wonderful personality could be utilized to help people.

  Spike, she hoped, would remain her companion for at least a while.

  Till there were no more threats or reason for her to worry about her safety.

  * * *

  Scott hurried as he finally returned Baby to her building, fastening the latch on her enclosure’s gate so she was secure and safe. Then he returned to the area near the offices where Nella was saying goodbye to her LAPD colleagues.

  “Sorry we couldn’t stay longer, especially after the long drive here,” Dan was saying. “But I saw, and learned, a lot. What you’ve got here is wonderful—especially considering the source of the people who work with the shelter animals.” He had bent closer to Nella as he spoke, clearly not wanting to upset any of those people, though none was nearby at that moment.

  “I liked it, too,” said Jon. “And the way those residents act with the dogs, and are treated themselves—it looks really great.”

  Scott liked that his idea for this shelter might expand, thanks to Dan. And he’d noticed that Nella seemed a lot closer to Dan than to Jon. But right now Jon continued praising all he had seen here, so Scott had nothing against him.

  In a few minutes, they finished their goodbyes. “We’ll be in touch, of course,” Dan said. “And maybe visit again soon.” He looked at Nella. “And—well, I’m not exactly sure what’s going on, but you know you’re always welcome to return to work with us if things aren’t going well h
ere.”

  Yes, Nella had mentioned to them what was happening, even if she hadn’t been specific about what those text messages contained. And she had told Scott she was willing to leave if the shelter was being threatened.

  But he thought that was the worst thing she could do just then.

  He wasn’t surprised, though, when Jon reiterated Dan’s invitation. “That’s right,” he said. “Come back to L.A. anytime. That could really help us dig in to start a shelter like this, you know. And—well, we’ve always got your back.”

  Maybe so, Scott thought. Well, so did he.

  He was glad when both men finally gave Nella a parting hug—brief ones, not particularly emotional, fortunately. They waited for Nella to unlock the door into the reception room. Scott followed the three of them and watched Dan and Jon leave—and felt relieved, even though he loved the idea of their opening a similar shelter.

  But he didn’t like the idea of Nella going back to L.A. for any reason. Especially now.

  “Are you okay?” he asked her once the others were gone and Nella and he stepped into the hallway beyond the reception room. He watched her lock the door. No reminders needed, of course.

  “Sure,” she said. “And I do hope they work on developing a shelter like this. It’s such a great idea.”

  He couldn’t really read her emotions as she looked into his eyes. Sorrow that her friends were gone? Pleasure that they had enjoyed what they’d seen here?

  Something else?

  “You know what?” she said as she started walking down the hall toward the first kennel area.

  “What?” Scott asked.

  “I want to spend a little more time with our new canine shelter residents.”

  “Then let’s go,” he said.

  In a few minutes, they had rejoined the staff members who were still working on some of the commands Nella had been teaching them. Nella took over with Cheesecake, Spike and Samson, one at a time.