Second Chance Soldier

by Linda O. Johnston

  Probably not Kara, either, in their upcoming conversation.

  She only hoped she would be able to get initial answers from the assistant police chief.

  *

  Evan enjoyed the small lesson he was imparting to Sonya, here on the sloping, fenced-in grassy area.

  For one thing, Lola was a smart dog, and Sonya clearly enjoyed working with her—and with him.

  For another, it kept his mind off Amber’s abrupt departure—sort of—and his curiosity about what she was up to.

  The air was warm this late May morning. The dew on the lawn when he’d first started his lessons was dry now. He was glad, since he would have hated to see Sonya slip while working with the dogs and him.

  He wondered why he was the one to be teaching Sonya some of the elementals, why her husband hadn’t done it while he was alive.

  But Evan had already gotten the impression that Corbin had been happy to teach other people how to become trainers only if they’d take on that mission elsewhere. Corbin had no assistants to help him with any teaching here on his K-9 ranch. He’d been somewhat solitary, as Evan tended to be—though Evan recognized that as part of his PTSD and was working hard to get past it.

  “Okay, Lola, sit,” called Sonya, off to Evan’s right. She made the motion he had shown her. Lola just looked at her.

  “Keep it simple,” Evan told her. “Just say ‘sit.’”

  She nodded, and her reddish hair, like her daughter’s, bobbed a little despite being fastened up on her head. “Okay.” She walked closer to her Lab. “Sit.” She made the same motion. This time, Lola obeyed. That got a cheer from Sonya, and she kneeled to hug her dog.

  Evan just laughed. “We need to work some more on this if you really want to learn training techniques.”

  As her daughter clearly did. Evan wished Amber was here, too, learning the lesson with her mom.

  “I’m enjoying it anyway,” Sonya said with a smile that quickly faded. “I just wish I’d learned… My husband preferred doing this on his own.”

  Evan simply nodded. “Well, I’m here to help now. Just tell me how much you want to learn and I’ll try to work it out.”

  He continued to wish he had met Corbin. Maybe he would have a better understanding about the guy’s teaching methods. Corbin must have been a good guy in many ways, not only because he worked well with dogs, but this very nice woman had also been married to him.

  And Amber was his daughter…

  Amber. What was she up to? It wasn’t his business, yet he remained concerned about her, a feeling that would continue for as long as he worked here. Maybe longer.

  Especially if her father’s killer wasn’t found.

  He’d make no promises, of course. But if he accomplished little else while he was here, he hoped to help remedy that situation.

  While he did a damn good job training dogs.

  *

  The Chance Police Department was located in the small civic center on Chance Avenue. Amber had given her name to the policewoman at the reception desk and was shown into Kara Province’s office right away.

  Kara, in her black uniform, was behind her large, neat desk, looking as slim and tall while seated as she did while standing. “Please sit down, Amber.” She motioned to one of the chairs on wheels facing her. Her dark hair formed a feathery frame around her face, and her deep brown eyes looked concerned. “Everything okay at the ranch?”

  Amber took a seat. The chair was stiff and uncomfortable but she hadn’t come here to relax. “Things are going pretty well,” Amber said. That was true. Evan had certainly made a difference—in multiple ways. “But I’d feel even better if we had some answers about…well, you know.”

  It wasn’t really in her nature to dissemble that way, but she felt uncomfortable asking a cop about how the investigation into her father’s murder was going. Even though that was why she was here.

  “I wish I had answers for you.” The look on Kara’s face seemed compassionate and understanding—but it didn’t provide Amber with what she wanted. “You can be sure that once we solve that crime, you’ll be the first civilian we let know about any apprehension of a suspect.”

  Which meant they not only had to figure out who’d done it, but would probably also find and arrest that person before telling Amber anything more. She could understand that but didn’t have to like it. “Thank you,” she said anyway. “The reason I came was to give you this.”

  She handed Kara the printed list she had made that contained the names and email addresses of those who’d sent emails to the ranch’s account.

  As Kara looked at it, Amber said, “I know I already gave you the list of students who’d attended my dad’s classes for the last year or so, but I only got access to this email account recently and thought this information might be helpful, too.” At least as long as the authorities considered the possibility of any student being disgruntled enough to have hurt her father.

  She still preferred thinking it was some kind of random trespasser who’d decided to rob her father instead of someone her mother, or even she, had met, or perhaps even a jealous fellow trainer…but if that was so, the person might never get caught.

  Kara looked toward her. “Can I see the emails, too?”

  “Sure. I can forward them to you, if you’d like. There’s nothing particularly personal about them. Or threatening, either. I just wanted to make sure you had whatever information I could pass along.”

  “That would be fine.”

  “Oh, and another thought I had,” Amber said, “is that my father had such a wonderful reputation as a trainer… Well, are you looking into the possibility that any competitor wanted to eliminate him?”

  “That’s one potential motive we’ve been looking into.”

  “Great.” But Amber almost regretted that they’d thought of it, too. She wasn’t suggesting anything new, anything they could jump on now and quickly solve the crime. “I can give you the list of trainers we interviewed before we hired Evan, but I doubt it would be any of them.”

  “Fine. It wouldn’t hurt to check.” Kara’s smile was sympathetic. “As I’ve told you, we’re doing all we can to solve this. There are very few homicides in Chance, and the department wants to bring in whoever did it as soon as possible.”

  “I understand,” Amber said. She also understood what Kara wasn’t saying. Their police force wasn’t large. Their resources were few. With hardly any homicides to investigate, their skills might be limited.

  In other words, there might never be a resolution to what happened to her father.

  Amber considered that unacceptable—but she also considered it probable reality.

  She asked, “I don’t suppose you’ve found anything to indicate that continuing to give dog-training classes at the ranch will somehow cause whoever killed my father to strike again, have you?”

  “We have no reason to think you or your mother are in any danger,” Kara said, “but please be careful and let us know if you get any sense of someone intending you any harm.”

  “And our new trainer? Does he—I mean, does the fact that we have someone now giving lessons as my dad did mean our new guy could be in trouble?”

  “Once again, we don’t have reason to think so, but you should inform him of what we’ve been talking about, too. He should also remain alert.”

  “Like the dogs he trains,” Amber said, unable to help herself.

  “Yes,” Kara agreed. “Like the dogs he trains. Look, I understand how scared you might be and how hard this situation is, Amber. It’s not in my job description to be too friendly with anyone affected by a crime, but I’d like to stay in contact with you, and not just for gathering evidence. Maybe we could meet for lunch or dinner someday and just talk. I like dogs, you know. I thought about becoming one of our K-9 handlers but wound up getting into administration instead. But maybe I could take a class anyway to learn that kind of skill, too.”

  “Maybe so.” Amber smiled.

  “Great,” Ka
ra said. “Now, I hate to kick you out, but I’ve got another meeting coming up. But if you happen to get any additional ideas about who killed your dad, feel free to call me anytime.”

  “Of course,” Amber said. And she hoped she would get some new amazing insight immediately that she could pass along so they could learn the truth.

  *

  Amber’s mind remained on their inconclusive conversation as she walked to her car in the civic-center parking lot. Nothing new yet.

  She purposely drove past Percy’s Cords and Clouds shop as she started back to the ranch, wondering if that was a mistake. But she didn’t see him through the shop’s relatively small windows, and he probably didn’t see her.

  Even if they’d seen each other, so what? She felt sure the tech guy would stay in touch, wanting whatever business he could get from the ranch and the upkeep of its website. And maybe to flirt despite her not encouraging it.

  But other than giving her access to the ranch’s emails, he had done nothing to help her figure out what had happened to her father.

  What else could she do to find answers? Even if she wanted to, she had no idea how to goad the killer into revealing himself—or herself—without having any idea about motive, let alone identity. Unless it had been a robbery, and if so, that person was unlikely to return to do it again, assuming it was a visitor to town.

  And why would a resident do such a terrible thing?

  She turned onto the narrow road toward the ranch, still feeling frustrated. She wanted to do something.

  She had to do something.

  And then it hit her, what she could actually do this afternoon.

  Would it result in the answers she wanted? Highly unlikely, especially after all this time.

  But it would at least be doing something positive.

  Something Evan could help with—better than anyone else around here.

  And he’d expressed an interest in doing it.

  All Amber had to do was to finally schedule the time to lead Evan, and his well-trained K-9 specializing in scenting skills, to the area where she believed her dad had been murdered.

  All she had to do…could she do it?

  She had to.

  Chapter 12

  Evan was in the puppy room of the main house when he heard Amber return from her outing and start conversing with Sonya in the kitchen.

  He didn’t suppose that was what she or her mother called this room—a den, maybe, or family room. But it had been fitted out and organized to house the pups in training. He supposed family room fit best, since he considered canines he trained to be relatives of sorts, even those who wound up being acquired for their trained skills by other people or police departments. He gathered that Amber and her mother considered these young dogs, and Lola, their family, too.

  His own family—parents and older sister—lived in Chicago. They kept in touch, cared about him, but no one had been pleased when he’d joined the military. Nor did they particularly like dogs. They’d made it clear they expected him to return home once he was discharged after his disastrous deployment in Afghanistan, but he had too much to deal with to try to become the son and brother they’d hoped for. At least not yet. And Bear was even closer to him, and more understanding, than they were.

  Now he was down on the linoleum floor, socializing with the dogs. Well, playing with them, a good form of socialization.

  He was nearly ready to head back to Bear and put his smart dog through his paces to help his own state of mind. But he’d hung out here hoping to see Amber again.

  He needed to learn what she had planned for him tomorrow, Saturday. He wouldn’t usually have weekends off, but Amber hadn’t confirmed yet whether she had scheduled any classes on this one. As time went on, he would do most of his scheduling himself.

  He held rambunctious Rex against his chest and patted tail-wagging Lucy. Hal just sat watching them. “See you guys later.” Evan put down Rex and rose to his feet.

  Time to go see his boss…and that thought made him grin.

  He had only taken a few steps before Amber appeared at the door, Lola at her side. “Hi, Evan.” He couldn’t quite read her expression, but thought he saw a ghost of a smile, although it appeared forced.

  In fact, if he had to describe what she looked like, his first guess would be…tormented.

  He had an urge to hurry toward her, hold her against him, ask what was wrong. He wasn’t sure where she had gone but wished he knew now.

  “Hey, Amber, welcome back,” he said. “Ready for more training demos this afternoon? Or a discussion about classes we can provide this week? Or—”

  “Good guess that I want to command your presence now for a meeting with me.” She laughed—sort of. “But you didn’t guess the reason yet.”

  “Let me guess, then. You want me to participate in a guessing game?” If she wanted to attempt to keep this discussion light, he’d try to oblige her despite seeing pain in her lovely brown eyes.

  “Nope. But I do want to give you a direction for the rest of the day, as your boss.”

  Uh-oh. He’d been attempting to look her straight in the eye but gave that up. “What’s that?” He tried not to sound unhappy. He’d known what he was getting into by taking this job.

  “You mentioned yesterday that you’d be willing to come with me to the area where my father was killed and bring Bear along, in case there’s something he can sniff out about the location or murder weapon or whatever. I’d like you to do that now.”

  Really? He liked the idea, had thought of it himself. But not now, while she seemed to be in pain.

  “I’m not sure this is the right time,” he said.

  “Sure it is. We’ll make it a training session for Lola, too. My dad really loved her, as we do. He trained her, but not as an official K-9, just encouraging some of her best skills, like scenting and some tracking, that kind of thing. She won’t do as well as Bear, but maybe she can help. If not, it’ll be a good exercise for her.” She paused. “We’ll come with you to your house to get Bear, since the area is… It’s that direction on the ranch property.”

  “All right, but, as we discussed, the chances of the dogs sensing anything are remote.” Like, almost impossible after all this time. But what if the killer had dropped something that the cops, or their K-9s, had missed?

  What if the killer had returned to the scene of the crime and left a scent or more? That happened sometimes, didn’t it?

  In any event, even if nothing helpful came from this outing, maybe it would at least offer Amber one more step toward closure.

  “I understand,” she said. “But let’s do it anyway.”

  “Yes, please,” said a voice from behind Amber. “I’ll stay here so I won’t hold you back, but I’ll be eager to hear what happens.” So Sonya, too, wanted to learn if the dogs could find anything else.

  The pressure was on, Evan thought, though he’d already warned them that nothing was likely to result.

  But he and Bear would at least give it a try.

  *

  This was undoubtedly a mistake, Amber thought as she led Evan, Bear and Lola up into the hills beyond the house where Evan and Bear now lived.

  But it was a nice, pleasant day for a strenuous walk with the dogs. Both were leashed now, but Amber figured they would let them loose when it came time to see if the dogs could find anything.

  She had put on hiking shoes along with the work shirt and jeans she still wore, and Evan’s athletic shoes also appeared comfortable beneath his dark gray casual clothing.

  It was warm out now, but not too hot. Neither Evan nor she wore a jacket, and the hiker most likely to feel uncomfortable was Lola since her Lab coat was thicker than Bear’s short German shepherd fur.

  “How far is it?” Evan asked as they began climbing the rolling green lawn toward the top of the hills, which were covered by a small but thick forest.

  “Right up there.” Amber pointed. “Kind of on the edge of the trees.” She hesitated. “It seemed str
ange to me, and to the cops, too, from what I heard, that whoever did it left my dad’s b—Er, my dad outside instead of inside the cover of the trees, where it would have been harder to find him.”

  “Whoever it was apparently didn’t want to hide that your father was dead,” Evan said. “Only who killed him.”

  She couldn’t say anything in response. On some level, that gave her the thought that whoever did it hadn’t wanted to be entirely cruel to anyone but her dad. If he’d simply disappeared—been buried somewhere in the woods, perhaps, or somewhere no dogs would have discovered him easily, either—then she and her mother could still be wondering whether her father had simply decided to run away. Not that something like that sounded like him, but they wouldn’t have known.

  “I guess that’s a good thing,” she responded.

  Evan seemed to be holding back his stride to match hers. Of course, since he was taller and undoubtedly in better condition, this kind of trek was probably simple for him.

  On the other hand, though it had been some time ago, Amber had learned from Evan’s references when he applied for this job that he had suffered some injuries thanks to an IED explosion overseas…

  “Would you like to slow down?” she asked.

  “I’m fine,” Evan responded immediately. “Are you okay?”

  “Definitely.”

  He began a discussion about his anticipated work week. She confirmed that, as things progressed in starting new classes, he’d get a couple of days off each week that weren’t necessarily Saturday or Sunday.

  “I figured,” he said. “Fine with me.”

  She heard the breathiness of her voice and realized the exercise was taking a toll on her, but she didn’t slow down.

  Eventually they reached the edge of the forest. She looked down the hillside. The ranch appeared like a line of homes, the largest in the center. A distance beyond, in the opposite direction from the way they’d walked, were the larger, more posh buildings of Nathan’s hotel and resort.

  The narrow road passing below both developments looked like a small, winding string. No vehicles went by as she watched.

  “This is some view.” Evan stood beside her, looking essentially in the same direction she did. The dogs sat on the ground beside them, both panting a little from exertion.