Trail Of Danger

“Hello?”

Whatever the caller said caused her to lean against the counter. Was she shaking? Perhaps it was bad news and she needed moral support. Convinced he was right, Reed joined her and the dogs.

“I—I can’t. I’m not ready,” Abigail said, listening to the caller’s reply before she added, “Are you sure?”

Apparently the answer was affirmative because her tight grip on the phone began to whiten her knuckles. He gently cupped her elbow and mouthed, “What’s wrong?”

Distracted, she lowered the phone. Her eyes were wide and moist, her lower lip quivering slightly. “It’s one of my kids. A girl I’ve been working with for several months. She insists she has to talk to me in person.”

“Where?” Reed asked.

“She’s at the AFS office where I work. That stands for A Fresh Start. It’s only about six blocks away, right here in Brighton Beach. I usually walk, it’s just that...”

“I understand. How about if we go with you?”

“You’d do that? Really?”

“Of course.”

Abigail lifted the phone to her ear again and agreed to the rendezvous. “All right. I’ll manage. Tell her to meet me there in thirty minutes.”

Her blue eyes were still wide and misty when she ended the call and looked at Reed. “I hope that’s enough time.”

“It will be if we drive instead of dragging this pup on a leash. I’d like to see her relate to teens.”

“Some of them are very troubled,” Abigail told him.

“All the better for temperament testing.”

“Right.”

He saw Abigail standing very still and eyeing a purse that sat at the end of the kitchen counter. Clearly, she was far from over the trauma of nearly being abducted.

“Tell you what,” Reed said, keeping his voice light and pleasant, “I’ll go get my car and come pick you up. How does that sound?”

The smile she gave him showed great relief. “Sounds good. That way we won’t have to drag Midnight and get her all dirty from the sidewalks.”

He matched her smile with a wider grin. “I’ll leave them both with you so Jessie can help influence the pup.” After snapping short leashes on his K-9’s collar and Midnight’s harness, Reed handed the opposite ends to her. “You’re in charge.”

“Hey! Wait. I don’t know what to do.”

“It’s easy. You just stand where you are or sit back down on the couch. They’ll follow you.”

“Like this puppy followed you up the stairs, you mean?”

Reed chuckled. His ploy had worked. Abigail was concentrating on handling the dogs instead of dwelling on her pending trip outside. Anything he could do to relieve her angst was a plus. It was likely that her healing would depend upon taking baby steps, such as initially venturing out with him as her companion and the dogs for distraction. She was certainly acting less afraid than she had when she’d first taken the phone call.

He gave Jessie the hand signal to stay, turned, and was almost to her door before Abigail called, “Hurry back.”

That sounded so much better than the state in which he’d found her when he’d first visited, he was thrilled. The sooner she got over her fright and regained her memory of the incident at the carousel, the sooner the NYPD would be able to locate and arrest her assailants. At least, he hoped so. No matter how much he enjoyed the young woman’s company, he was going to have to back off soon. His official duties didn’t allow for much of a social life, not to mention the inadvisability of spending free time with the victim of a crime.

Jogging along the narrow sidewalk and dodging pedestrians, Reed realized he felt the absence of his K-9 partner. Jessie was so much a part of him, on and off duty, it was as if a critical element was missing. He could count times like this when he’d left her behind on the fingers of one hand.

The faster he moved the stronger his sense of foreboding grew. He had to get back to Abigail—and to Jessie—as fast as possible.

FIVE

Edging sideways toward the sofa, Abigail was surprised to find both dogs keeping her company the way Reed had promised. Once she was convinced they weren’t going to go berserk, she began to relax a little and sat down. One of the dogs stepped on her toes. She didn’t have to guess which one.

“I’m sorry, Midnight,” she crooned like a mother to her baby, “this just isn’t going to work out between you and me. You see that, don’t you? Hmm? It’s not that you’re being difficult right now, it’s just that I’ve never had a dog, let alone a puppy. I’d probably confuse you so badly you’d never become a police dog.”

The pup’s brown eyes sparkled, her ebony coat glistening. She wagged her whole rear end and panted at Abigail’s feet, leaving a small damp spot on the right knee of her jeans. “See what I mean? Why can’t you be still and easy to handle like Jessie is? Huh? Look how good she’s being.”

It took only a moment for Abigail to realize she’d goofed again by calling a name. Jessie, who had been calmly waiting at her feet, leaped onto the sofa next to her and took up the place she had chosen on her initial visit. That left Midnight alone on the floor, and it was clear she didn’t intend to stay there when her canine companion was cuddling up to a friendly human.

Big, soft front paws landed in Abigail’s lap as the puppy made an unsuccessful leap to join the party. Abby instinctively leaned forward and reached out to keep her from falling. She managed to hug the younger dog’s shoulders, felt the texture of the glistening fur and received a wet slurp under her chin for her efforts.

“Eww! Stop,” she ordered, chuckling in spite of herself. Rather than push Midnight back down she hoisted her onto the sofa on the side opposite Jessie. To say the pup was overjoyed was an understatement. It immediately crawled closer, succeeding in getting only its front half into her lap.

There was something very special about the unbridled attention and obvious acceptance of both dogs. When she’d been petting Jessie earlier, Abigail had thought she’d felt mild contentment. Having Midnight draped across her lap, gazing up at her and leaning that blocky head against her chest, was unbelievably comforting. Encircling the puppy in a gentle hug she stroked the velvety floppy ears and heard the youngster actually sigh. Who knew dogs could be so expressive?

Beside her, a growl rumbled in Jessie’s throat. Was she jealous? Oh, dear. Now what?

“It’s okay, Jessie,” Abigail said quickly. “I love you, too.”

That didn’t placate the bloodhound. The quiet growl was followed by stronger rumbling, then a bark. Midnight’s head whipped around. Both dogs were staring at the closed apartment door.

Abigail scooted forward to perch on the edge of the sofa, her body as still and tense as that of her canine companions. Something metallic was making a scratching sound. The doorknob was moving!

Before Abigail could decide what to do, Jessie began to give voice in a way that left no doubt she was extremely upset. Whoever was on the other side of that door was definitely not officer Reed Branson. And his K-9 partner knew it.

* * *

Finding a parking place directly in front of Abigail’s apartment building was impossible, so Reed flipped on the blue-and-white Chevy Tahoe’s flashing lights and left it idling as close to already parked cars as possible.

He stepped out. Listened. Heard a dog barking. Traffic noise nearly drowned out Jessie’s angry warning but the closer Reed got to the outer apartment door, the more sure he was. He slammed his palm into the bank of buttons on the intercom and was able to enter almost immediately because several residents responded.

Howling and guttural barking echoed down the stairwell, giving Reed’s feet wings. He’d reached the second floor landing and was turning to start up to the third when a figure going the opposite direction bumped his shoulder so hard the blow nearly knocked him down!

Adrenaline enabled him to take the final section of stairway two and three steps at a time. He skidded to a stop at Abigail’s door. Jessie was still barking. Puppy yips were background noise.

The hallway around him was empty. Reed knocked. “Abigail. Ms. Jones! It’s me.”

Not only did the dogs fall silent, it was quiet enough for him to hear her footsteps approaching. “It’s really you?”

“Yes.” He held his badge in front of the peephole. “See?”

Abigail opened the door and instead of ushering him in, threw both arms around his neck and fell into his embrace.

At their feet, Jessie was panting and wagging her tail. Midnight was so excited she ran in circles around the couple and wrapped their legs together with the trailing leash.

Reed braced himself against the doorjamb for balance. “Whoa. What happened? What’s wrong?”

“I—I don’t know.”

“Okay. One thing at a time.” He checked to make sure there was no immediate threat, then bent to unravel the snare of the short leash. “There. Let’s go back inside.”

Abigail didn’t comply as quickly as he liked so he slid an arm around her waist and half carried her through the open doorway. Jessie entered ahead of them with the pup bringing up the rear, much to Reed’s relief.

He closed the door, then escorted her to the sofa, sat down with her and clasped her hands. “All right. Tell me everything.”

Although her blue eyes were wide and she still looked frightened, she said, “I think the dogs heard a prowler in the hallway. I—I heard a funny noise and thought I saw the doorknob turning but nobody came in.”

“Not surprising considering the racket Jessie was making. She’s not trained for personal protection but she knew she was supposed to look after you—and the puppy.”

“Midnight barked, too. It would have been kind of cute if I hadn’t been so scared.”

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