Darke Heat (5 page)

Paige’s drive back to Darke County was less painful than sitting beside Bryce for the ride up. The lack of conversation, and the intense mood of ignoring the giant white elephant between them, had exhausted her. She’d pick up Sheba on the way home, and then take a long soak in the tub and listen to something from her CD collection. Maybe Adele, but nothing country with lost trailers, dogs, and love. Except for the trailer part, her life was looking like a county/western song.

She plugged Sheba’s location into the
GPS
on the rental and realized she was close. She took the next exit, and found she was driving in the back of the boonies. The grass on both sides of the road was high. There were broken fence lines scattered through the grass. In the distance, she could see the top of an old silo, and figured that had to be where Sheba was.

If the person who had her dog doubted her ownership, she could access via her phone the article on her and Sheba from a training exercise they were interviewed about. She could come back with Sheba’s papers if she had to, but she hoped that wouldn’t be necessary.

As she pulled into what she assumed was the driveway, she double-checked the
GPS
with the chip’s app. This was the place. Sheba should be right around here somewhere. Off to the right was a dilapidated farmhouse. The silo was a skeleton of a structure, and the barn looked like it would cave in at any moment.

She heard it then, the sound of barking. Paige rushed out of the vehicle and called out to Sheba. Several dogs answered. They sounded vicious. What was going on? She cautiously approached the sound, which was coming from the direction of the barn.

Once inside, the smell nearly knocked her out. It was dark except for the light coming in through the holes in the slats of wood. Rows of cages lined the wall. Each cage held a pit bull terrier. Immediately she knew this was a dog fighting set up. In the cage near the end was Sheba. The pregnant German Shepard let out a soft welcoming bark, which enraged the other dogs. Paige walked over to open Sheba’s cage. It had a lock on it. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and took pictures of all the cages and the lock on Sheba’s cage and then dialed nine-one-one.

“Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?”

“My name is Paige Conner. I just found a barn full of caged pit bulls. At a guess, I’d say they are part of a dog-fighting ring. Whoever owns them stole my dog and has her locked up, so I’m going to email you the pictures from my phone and I’ll give you the address, but I’m not staying around.”

The dispatcher tried to get more info from her, but Paige wanted to get away. The dogs were making such a racket that it was sure to bring the owner back soon. She looked around for something to pop the lock with, and then decided to pry the hinges off. She didn’t see anything she could use, but the car more than likely had a tire iron and a jack.

“Sheba, baby, I’ll be right back.” She sprinted to the back of the truck and lifted the door. The spare tire and tools were there under the floorboard. She grabbed the tire iron and the jack handle, just in case.

Back inside, she tried to tune out the barking of the dogs, which were getting whipped up into a frenzy. She jammed the tire iron between the hinge pin, and used the jack handle as a hammer to drive it out. After several swings, it worked free. Then she worked on the other one. Once it came free, she pushed the door open so Sheba could get out.

The dog licked her face, happy to see her. She could see Sheba was heavily pregnant and should be convalescing somewhere peaceful and quiet instead of dealing with enraged pit bulls. Paige hugged her close to her body, and putting her hand in Sheba’s neck fur, walked quickly out. The other dogs started slamming their bodies against their cages in an effort to get to her. She couldn’t move fast enough to suit her, but with Sheba she had to be careful. The dog was ready to have her litter at any moment by the look of her.

In the distance, she could hear the oncoming sirens. Reinforcements were on their way, but she needed to get her dog home and that was all she was concerned about. She’d answer any questions later. If they didn’t like it, they could sue her, for all she cared. Better yet, let them question Bryce, since this was all his fault.

Don’t even go there, Paige
, she told herself. That way lays a world of hurt she’d have to deal with later. First, Sheba needed to be cared for. She put Sheba in the rental and got in behind the wheel. Driving down the dirt road, she passed the police cars on the way to the farm, but she didn’t stop. If they wanted to, they could follow her, or come after her, but she was going home.

She pulled onto the highway and drove faster than was legal, but she could hear Sheba mewling in the back seat. Fifteen minutes later, she pulled into her driveway. There were police cars in her driveway and in her yard.
They were fast. How’d they figure out where she lived so quickly?

She got out and went around to get Sheba and realized it was too late. The dog was going to give birth in the rented SUV. Returning the vehicle was going to be awkward, if she couldn’t get it cleaned out good enough. She pulled out her phone and called the vet.

“Hey Shelby, it’s Paige. My dog, Sheba, has gone into labor in the back of my rented SUV.”

“Oh, that’s not good,” Shelby replied, laughing.

“Is it unsafe?” Paige asked, her voice laced with concern.

“No, but returning the vehicle could be hazardous.”

“Yeah, I’ll figure something out. Can you be on call if she has a need?”

“Sure, but if she was bred to your other German Shepherd, she should be just fine.”

“Well, there’s the problem. She was misbred to a Rottweiler.”

“Okay, they’re bigger dogs, but she should still be fine. Call me if it goes on for several hours, or if one of the pups is struggling.”

“Will do, thanks.”

One of the officers was patiently waiting for her to end the call. He only heard part of the conversation, and was worriedly looking back at the SUV as if an alien birth were imminent.

“Is there a female in labor?” he questioned.

“Yes, a female dog.” He visibly relaxed. She’d correctly read his assumption by the look of shock on his face.

“Oh, good. Are you Miss Paige Conner?”

“Yes, I am, and I couldn’t stay at the site with my dog being pregnant and in labor. The noise was deafening and she needed to be in peaceful surroundings to deliver the puppies.”

“Ma’am, what noise? Did you hear the gunshot?”

“No, there wasn’t any gunshot, just the dogs barking. I’m sure I’d never be able to hear anything over those dogs barking their heads off.”

“These dogs haven’t barked at all,” he said accusingly.

“Of course not, my dogs are trained explosive sniffers. They don’t bark unless they are in attack mode.”

“So what dogs are you talking about?”

“The pit bull terriers at the abandoned farm. I called it in and emailed the pictures. Wait, you’re not here because I called the police about the pit bulls in cages, are you?”

“No, ma’am. We’re here about the dead body your employee found on your training course.”

“What?” Right then her knees buckled and she sat down in the driveway.

“Are you okay, Miss Conner? Do I need to get one of the paramedics over here to help you?”

“No, I’ll be fine. It’s been a long day and too many shocks coming one right after the other has been a little much.”

“Why don’t you just stay seated? I’ll check up on the call you made. Then I’ll take your statement.”

She finally gathered enough strength to get up and check on Sheba. The first puppy was nestled up to her belly and the second one was crowning. She heard her name called and turned to see Jamie Torres walking toward her. The young man was white as a sheet and looked exhausted.

She’d found a great kid in Jamie. He wanted to learn all about dog training as well as helping with feeding and exercises, and was determined to be a K-Nine officer when he grew up. He’d done a good job watching over her new place when she went to Fort Bragg. But with finding a dead body on the property, he must be wondering about her as an employer.

“Jamie, are you okay?”

“Yes, I had quite a scare finding that body on the training field, but I’m all right.”

“Why don’t you take the rest of the day off? I’ll send the police over to your place later if they have any more questions for you.”

“Thanks, I waited until you came back so you wouldn’t walk into this blind, but I guess you did anyway.”

“I appreciate that, but go ahead and leave. I may start the training a little later tomorrow. It’s been a rough day all around. I’ll call to let you know when we’ll begin. Oh, and Sheba is having her puppies,” she added.

“Really, where?” he asked with genuine excitement.

“In the back of the SUV.” She pointed inside the car. He peeked in and then looked puzzled as she watched him.

“Those don’t look like purebred German Shepherds.”

“They aren’t, but they’re hers, so they’re mine now.”

“There are four of them so far,” he said with a wide grin.

“Yep. Get going and I’ll call you tomorrow.”

He waved as he took off. He only lived a few houses down, so he walked back and forth when needed.

The officer she’d talked to before came over again. In the background she could see other people wheeling off what she figured was a body in a black bag on a stretcher. She felt a chill spread down her spine.

“Are you feeling better, Miss Conner?”

“Yes, I’m doing better,” she lied.

“I need to ask you a few questions. Is that okay?”

“Sure.” She figured his asking was a rhetorical question since he was going to ask whether she agreed or not.

“You left early this morning when a man came by and left Jamie Torres in charge of the dogs’ training?”

“Yeah, I left at eight a.m., or there about, when Officer Bryce Prescott of the DEA came to take me to pick up my dog that he borrowed without asking,” she said with emphasis. “We arrived at his place up near Detroit around lunch time. I took my other dog, Samson, for a test run, to see how he handled long car trips. When we got to where Bryce had Sheba, Samson, my other dog, warned me that there were explosives present. The bomb squad was called and they got us out of the backyard.

“Bryce kept my other dog for some case he’s working on. I called to rent a vehicle to drive back home, and when I saw that Sheba’s chip showed she was close to home, I put her coordinates into the
GPS
and drove straight there. I got to the location where Sheba was, and there was a broken down barn with all these caged up pit bull terriers and Sheba. I broke Sheba out and came home.

“I did call in the incident and emailed the pictures from my phone. Then I drove home and you’re here, and my dog is having puppies in the back of my rental car.” She turned and looked in the window. “She’s got five now,” Paige added.

“You do realize it’s only four in the afternoon?” he said skeptically.

“Great, the day is young. I might be able to cause a little more mayhem after dinner,” she replied sarcastically.

“Sounds like you’ve already had a full day of it,” he replied in all seriousness.

“Yep. Who was the person found dead on my property? How were they killed?”

“The man’s name is Levi Hershey. He was a known felon. Does his name ring a bell?”

“Nope, I don’t recall anyone by that name.”

“Here’s his last mug shot. He was found on your training field with a gunshot wound to the head. Ballistics isn’t back yet, and the casing wasn’t found, so we assume he was shot and killed somewhere else and then dumped here on your property.”

Paige looked at the picture but nothing about him looked familiar.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t recognize him.”

“He wasn’t from around here. We’re not certain why he was in the area, but the Sheriff thinks it may be related to one of our other cases. Well, we’ve wrapped up everything here. I’ll check out your story and get back to you if I have any other questions,” he said.

“Yeah, you do that, in the meantime, I have a birthing dog to attend to.”

Most of the vehicles had left, and it was just Paige and the officer.

“If you see or hear anything out of the ordinary, please call.” He handed her his card.

She didn’t even look at it, just stuck it in her pocket. She wondered what would be classified as out of the ordinary after a day like today.

He finished jotting down his notes and walked back to his car.

She went back to look in on Sheba. The count was now eight. She had eight mixed breed puppies, but Sheba was doing fine. The back of the SUV, not so much. Thank the good Lord for leather seats. Maybe she could hose it out. She left Sheba and headed over to see how the other dogs were holding up. They all had food and water and were happy to greet her, unlike some humans she could name.

She’d just made it to the front porch when Bryce pulled into her driveway.

Not now, I need a break. Some down time to lick my own wounds,
she thought irritably.