They shook their heads.
“He was my boyfriend thirteen years ago. He was a bad boy on a bad track, but he went into the navy. He pulled up stakes, completely changed his life, became a Navy SEAL, and served to protect your sorry asses for thirteen years,” she said, with an arm sweep to include Amos. “Then Kurt comes home, does a job for the War Dogs Division that places him here. Five punk kids surround me with steel bars to beat me to a pulp, and Kurt rescues me. And do you guys care?” She shook her head. “You don’t.”
The silent men finally protested. “Hey, we don’t know anything about what happened here. We’re still at the beginning of our investigation.”
“Yeah, but you listen to him,” she said, motioning at Amos, the detective, “and then there won’t be an investigation. It’ll be a slam dunk, and this poor guy, Kurt, will find his ass in jail. So believe me. I’m watching and so is the rest of the world to see how you handle this.”
At that, the detective swore on her. “Don’t you even begin to think you’ll get into our investigation,” he sneered.
“You’re the one whose ass is on the line now,” she said, leveling him with a hard look. “Kurt here isn’t a punk kid anymore. He’s got friends in high places, and he’s in the right, so you do what’s right and make sure that you clean up this gang mess! In the meantime, you need to call an ambulance for the guys bleeding all over the ground.”
With his arm around her, Kurt backed her up slightly and said, “Come on. Let’s sit you down in your car, until you calm down.”
She looked up at him, shook her head, and said, “No, I want a piece of pie and coffee.”
He started to chuckle. “I can get behind that idea.” He looked back at the other cops. “If and when you’re ready to take a statement from us,” he said, “we’ll be inside.” And nudging her gently, he pulled her toward the coffee shop.
As they walked, a golden streak beside him tore off into the woods, and he froze.
“What was that?” she asked.
He called out, “Sabine? Come here, girl.”
The dog turned, looked at him, and bolted into the trees.
“Wow,” Laurie Ann said. “Was that her?”
“I think so, yes.”
“Well, she certainly turned at the sound of your voice.”
“But the question is,” he said, “what was she doing here in the first place?”
“Maybe she heard the ruckus and was coming to investigate?”
“Maybe,” he said. He looked over to the cops, still moving the gang members. “I think she attacked these punks in the first place, which has her life on the line,” he said.
“Maybe,” she said. “So then I hate these gang members even more.”
“Not a whole lot we can do about rescuing her right now. But those kids? That’s a whole different story.”
“Do you think the cops will do anything?”
“They will give them a warning. Maybe charge them, then release them on bail. They’ll come back after me and possibly you now.”
She sucked in her breath. “Seriously?” She froze, looked up at him.
Just then they heard a short bark.
“Do you want to go talk to her?”
He frowned, hesitating, torn between his choices. Then he shook his head firmly and said, “No, let’s get you inside to have a coffee.”
She stopped, placed a hand on his chest, and said, “I’m fine. I’ll go order coffee and pie. You go talk to Sabine and see if you can take a few more steps across that bridge.”
And, with that, she turned and walked away. He loved her strong character, who she was, and raced after the dog. When he got to the brush, he sat down on one of the logs and just called out to her, “Come on, girl. Come here.” He put a few more treats from his pocket on the log, and, when he turned to look at her, she was there, staring, her eyes wide and glittering.
“Those were the assholes who hurt you, weren’t they?”
She gave a small woof.
He nodded. “That’s all right. I hurt a few of them for you. What I do need to do is make sure they don’t know about the connection between you and me. Otherwise they’re likely to come back after you,” he murmured. And that was not something he was prepared to let happen. He smiled, placed a few more treats there, tossed a few at her feet, and then stood. She immediately backed up into the brush.
“That’s all right, girl,” he said. “I know it’s been a tough life. But it’ll get better, I promise.”
And, with that, he turned, and he slowly walked away. When he stopped at the edge of the brush, he smiled, whistled, gave her a wave. “I’ll be back tonight,” he promised. And he headed back to the coffee shop.
Chapter 7
Laurie Ann watched as Kurt sat down to join her at the booth, her coffee and pie before her to soothe her emotions after the encounter with the pipe-wielding teenage gang. “Did you find Sabine?”
“Yeah, but progress comes in small steps,” he said. “I’ll come back tonight and visit with her some more.”
“Okay,” she said, but a note of doubt was in her voice.
When the waitress appeared, he said, “I’ll have what she’s having. Thank you.” He turned and smiled at Laurie Ann. “Trust does not happen overnight.”
She nodded. “I know that,” she said and frowned. “Do you really think Jeremy or I am in danger from that teenage gang?”
“I don’t know. The gang leader will get his broken nose and arm treated, but I have no idea how many other friends he has.”
“Because I don’t want to think of any harm coming to Jeremy.”
“Oh, no, that won’t go down well either,” he said, studying her face.
“But you’re not telling me it’s not a possibility.”
“No,” he said. “I never lied to you. Remember?”
She winced. “Great,” she said, “so, in effect, this could get very ugly.”
“Right now, no reason to even think about that,” he said. “With any luck those teenagers have other crimes that they can be held on, and they’ll go straight to jail.”
“Maybe,” she said. “What about Reggie?”
“He’s the one who walked away?”
She nodded. “I’m afraid that they’ll go after him.”
“And it’s possible,” he said. “Unfortunately there can be no good answers in something like this.”
“There’s no good answers all around. They’re teenagers and already just hoodlums, with guns and pipes,” she said in outrage. “And they threatened me when I didn’t do anything.”
“They didn’t care if you did or not. They are belligerent, ugly personalities, looking to make themselves feel better because they hate their lives. The only way to do that is to beat on somebody else,” he said. “They needed to pump up who they are to make themselves feel like they are big badasses.”
“You were never like that,” she said.
“Nope,” he said, “because I was already a cocky badass, who knew I was a badass. I didn’t have to do stupid stunts like that to feel empowered.”