Second Chance Soldier

by Linda O. Johnston

  But her mom was a big girl, and though it hadn’t been long since she’d lost her husband, she did need to go on with her life—in the way she chose, not the way Amber did.

  Amber restrained herself from glaring back toward the ornate doorway into the posh resort lobby after Evan and she walked through it to the parking lot. Dinner had ended, and she was still with her amazing dog trainer. He was a man who brought out so many emotions in her, even if she had to keep them under control.

  “This was a pleasant evening,” she said as they reached her car. She’d pulled her key out of her small purse and pushed the button to unlock the doors.

  Evan again opened the driver’s door for her. “Definitely.” He grinned down at her after she was settled in the seat before he closed the door. “If you’d like to give me a raise, I’d be happy to bring you here often for dinner.”

  She laughed along with him, then he got into the passenger’s seat.

  On the short drive, they recapped once more how the demonstrations had gone that day, and Amber was pleased when Evan said he figured that would become an important part of the ongoing classes. “Not every session should be videoed, and I’ll keep some stuff I teach private to make sure people will want to come for lessons and not just rely on trying to follow what I demonstrate on the website.”

  “Agreed,” Amber said. They then got into a discussion of what should be kept private and what should be shown to the world.

  It didn’t take long on the empty road to reach the nearby ranch, and Amber soon parked in the garage behind her house.

  “You can have tomorrow officially off,” she said. “It’s Sunday.”

  “Depends on what you mean by ‘off,’” he responded. “I’ll be working with all the dogs at the ranch, but I assume no one’s coming here to watch, or for lessons, right?”

  “Right, though some weeks you might wind up working both weekend days and getting other days as your version of ‘off.’”

  His laugh was short…but sexy. “Would you like to come and say good-night to Bear?” he asked. There was a smoldering look in his eyes under the dim light of the garage that suggested he wanted her to do more than say good-night.

  Her entire body, inside and out, grew warm, and she considered saying yes. Strongly considered it.

  But her mother would be home soon, and she didn’t want to have to explain to her how long it might take to say good-night to Bear.

  And maybe she was reading this all wrong. Last time, she’d thrown herself into Evan’s arms, kissed him, shared in such touching and stroking that it made her weak just thinking about it.

  Then he’d pulled away.

  Did she want to take a chance on that happening again?

  “Thanks,” she said, “but I’ll stay here at my house. I’ve got some dogs of my own to say good-night to.”

  “Would you like me to help with their last walks of the night?” He wasn’t giving up. Nor was he looking away.

  He was tempting her. Strongly.

  But she was strong, too. “No, we’ll be fine. See you tomorrow, Evan.” She opened the car door and got out.

  As he walked from the garage toward the driveway, though, she felt a surge of regret.

  *

  Evan couldn’t help looking—as always—toward Amber’s house as he took Bear for his last walk of the night. He saw car lights approach up the driveway and figured Sonya must be home. The outside lights stayed on for a short while—an indication of Amber’s final dog walks of the night. He also kept his eyes open for Orrin but didn’t see him.

  He’d enjoyed dinner that night as well as checking out the resort next door. Busy place. Too many people for his comfort, but he’d handled it. He’d especially liked seeing the obvious security guys patrolling the place in their suits. Too bad they, or their equivalent, hadn’t also patrolled the nearby ranch when Corbin Belott was in danger.

  “Just you and me, guy,” he’d said to Bear after giving the dog a quick hug before settling into bed.

  Evan slept well that night, despite a fleeting—well, not so fleeting—wish he’d been able to talk Amber into joining him in his house. Who knew where that would have led? He’d certainly not have backed away this time if she had shown interest in getting closer…in any respect.

  When he woke up, he had no plans to meet with Amber today—though he’d see her anyway. He had a quick breakfast in his kitchen after walking Bear again. He saw Orrin leave his house while he was outside but didn’t make a point of getting any closer.

  Could the guy have killed his employer? His personality wasn’t exactly friendly and he’d apparently argued with Corbin, but that didn’t mean he’d murdered him—did it?

  Or Percy. The geek was a bit…well, geeky. Evan thought that, of the two of them, Orrin was more likely to be the killer.

  “What do you think, Bear?” he asked his companion, and got a tongue-filled smile and tail wag from his companion.

  He had an urge to do something more to settle his nerves and relax a bit. Time to take his expertly trained dog on another long hike around the ranch.

  Which he did. This one was similar to the last, in the same direction but not getting so close to the murder scene.

  He again told Bear, “Search,” and his dog trotted off as if accepting and enjoying his mission.

  But no alerting this time, either. Just an enjoyable, mind-cleansing outing.

  One enjoyable enough to convince Evan it wouldn’t be the last time.

  *

  Amber was glad when, after breakfast the next morning, her mother settled in front of the television set to binge-watch one of her favorite shows.

  That gave Amber a chance to walk Lola and the pups, then sit down at the computer.

  Not to check things on the ranch website, although she took a peek, but so far Percy had made no changes. Nor to search more information about Evan, despite that idea appealing to her. A lot.

  No, it was time to do some planning. She’d have to run everything by Evan, of course, but she started figuring out a potential schedule to incorporate all the kinds of dog training he would start with, including instructing and refreshing K-9 police officers with their own dogs, as well as teaching pet owners how to train their dogs. She also wanted to introduce their own three young shepherds to potential future purchasers for existing K-9 units when they were ready.

  After spending an hour creating online notes and a tentative schedule, she needed a break. Or so she told herself.

  There was actually something she wanted to look up on the internet. Someone. As she did frequently these days…her dad.

  Not that she’d ever found anything useful.

  Before she got started, though, the doorbell rang, and four sets of barks—three young and shrill, and the other a bit older—sounded throughout the house. All four dogs joined her at the front door, since she hadn’t locked the youngsters in their den.

  It was Evan. Not surprising. He’d indicated he wanted to give lessons to the shepherds despite it being Sunday.

  “Hi,” he said, then gestured toward the dogs. “Mind if I take those three out for a while?”

  “I don’t mind at all—especially if I can come later and watch.”

  “You’re more than welcome.” His tone, and the sexy look he shot her way, indicated his words were true.

  “Great.” She invited him inside, got the pups’ leashes, then watched as he took all three with him. Lola, beside her at the door, looked sad, but her mom joined them.

  “I think someone needs attention,” she said. “I’ll take Lola for a short walk—the other way.”

  She soon left Amber in the house alone. Amber took that time to do a Google search of Corbin Belott.

  His obituary came up first, as always, then his dog training and the ranch’s website.

  Nothing new.

  Amber had an urge to do something on social media to remind people about him, and that his murder remained unsolved. But Evan’s chastisement of her fo
r even mentioning that to their visitors after his demo popped into her head, and she knew he was right.

  Sure, she hated loose ends, and this one had so much emotion attached that she’d never get over it.

  But she appreciated that Evan cared enough to try to tamp down her rash impulses.

  She only wish he cared more about… No. Things were fine between them.

  She had to let that alone.

  But maybe it was a mistake to even look up her dad. Her state of mind was ruined. She couldn’t just sit at the computer now.

  Or maybe she had simply been hoping for an excuse to go watch Evan work with the young dogs.

  She popped her head into the living room—her mom had returned and was watching television. Amber let her know she’d be outside observing Evan’s lessons.

  And then she went out to do exactly that.

  *

  The day was progressing quickly, Evan thought.

  He hadn’t been surprised when he first saw Amber striding toward the chain-link fence as he and the young dogs were working on their obedience lessons, with Bear staying back, good dog that he always was.

  Amber didn’t say anything at first, just watched him. Once, it would have made him uncomfortable, but now just gave him the incentive to do the best job possible—which he would have anyway.

  When he finished working with each youngster he gave Amber the option to conduct her own lessons, which she did. By the time both completed their instruction, it was lunchtime, and Amber invited him, with Bear, to join her mother and her at their place. No reason not to accept the invitation, so he did.

  After they ate, Amber asked him to join her by her computer to go over some initial class scheduling—including for the upcoming week.

  Another reason to spend time with this dedicated woman who attracted him so much.

  More lessons that afternoon, again in Amber’s presence. More discussions, and games with all the dogs, and Evan felt himself smiling from the inside out. What a wonderful supposed day off even if—especially because—it was spent with his boss.

  “Tomorrow,” Amber began when she said goodbye at her front door, “as I mentioned before, I’ve a few other local students lined up to begin pet classes here—some people my dad had taught and I’d contacted to let them know we’re resuming lessons. We should get more of those, plus additional students, as time goes on. Then we can start looking for some help for you.” Her grin showed she was pleased, but he had managed not to punctuate it with a kiss.

  For dinner and the rest of the evening he and Bear were alone. He took his dog out again later for a walk, though, circling the ranch right after he’d eaten.

  He hung out for a short while around the main house, but though he saw some lights come on he didn’t see Amber, or even her mother. Then he headed back to his place, again not running into Orrin.

  Just an ordinary day, he thought as he entered his house with Bear.

  But he wished he’d simply knocked on the main house’s door and said good-night to Amber.

  Chapter 20

  Amber had gotten into a discussion with her mom after dinner about a reality TV show with contestants competing over their singing, and they’d watched a two-hour episode that night.

  She was therefore running late when she got ready to take the dogs out for the last time that day—too late to just give them an outing in their fenced-in area. That wasn’t as much fun anyway.

  First, she leashed up Rex and Hal. She took them out through the front door, locking it behind her. She’d already checked the other doors, from the kitchen and into the garage.

  She’d started doing that yesterday, when her suspicions about Orrin had ramped up, at least a little. She had promised herself to stay more alert, especially on walks, plus she didn’t want to worry about their handyman popping into their house and jeopardizing her mother’s safety. Too much anxiety on her part?

  Maybe so, but better safe, or at least safer, than sorry—even though she didn’t want to think that Orrin had been her father’s killer.

  Now, outside, she kept this walk short. It was dark but the standard lights around the driveway and houses were on.

  While she was out there, she realized she hadn’t talked to Mirri for a while and placed a call to her friend while following the leashed dogs.

  “How’ve you been?” Mirri asked right away. “And how are you and that gorgeous dog trainer of yours getting along?”

  “He’s not mine—though I have to admit he is gorgeous. And he’s definitely a fine employee.” As well as overly protective at times…but that wasn’t a bad thing.

  “Well, we need to get together one of these days to talk.”

  “Fine with me. I need to drop by Pets and Products soon for some stuff for the dogs, so I’ll call first and we can set up a time to go out for coffee.”

  “You’re on,” Mirri replied. They said their good-nights and Amber hung up.

  Meantime, she had circled the house a couple of times with her current charges. Fortunately, Hal and Rex had been cooperative, so it was time to accompany them inside.

  Next, she took only Lucy out, since she tended to walk Lola by herself. The slightly older dog, who wasn’t destined for more serious training and being taken in by a police K-9 unit, was entitled to separate attention from her family, after all. And like the male pups, Lucy did what she needed to do fairly quickly.

  Then it was Lola’s turn. Though it was only around ten o’clock, Amber no longer heard the TV and popped into the living room to check on her mom. Since Sonya wasn’t there, Amber assumed she’d already headed to bed. When she reached the hall she heard water running in the bathroom, so she figured she was right.

  As she passed by, the bathroom door opened. Her mother, in pajamas, looked at her groggily. “Good night, dear,” she said.

  “Good night, Mom,” she responded. Her mother entered her bedroom and shut the door behind her without asking the status of dog walking for the night. That was fine. Amber had usually completed it by now, so Sonya probably assumed that was the case tonight.

  With the three younger dogs shut in their den, Amber leashed up Lola, who’d been following her, and once more locked the front door behind her.

  For fun, she decided to make this walk a little longer, with a short venture down the narrow road toward the employee houses.

  And if she happened to see Evan there, out with Bear? Well, that would be an extra benefit of the walk.

  She saw no indication of Orrin outside, but as she passed his house her cell phone chirped, the sound indicating she had received a text. Odd. She did exchange texts sometimes with friends, but this was a bit late for one. She figured it was probably Mirri with some kind of follow-up thought.

  But when she pulled her phone from her pocket this time she didn’t recognize the displayed phone number.

  She pressed the button to look at the text—and gasped.

  It said, I have heard you are asking too many questions, pushing too many people. Back off now or what happened to your father will happen to you.

  *

  Evan was on his laptop when he heard heavy and quick knocking on his front door. Bear immediately started barking, and they both hurried down the hall.

  Evan pulled the door open, concerned why someone was knocking on his door at this hour. He wasn’t surprised that it was Amber. But he was surprised at the look of panic on her face as she pushed past him into his entry, pulling leashed Lola behind her.

  “What’s wrong?” he demanded, closing the door, then taking Amber into his arms. For comfort only, he told himself. And because he was damn worried about her.

  “This.” Her voice was shaking, and so were her hands, as she handed him her cell phone.

  He read the text and nearly smashed the phone on the floor. But that wouldn’t help to find out who dared to make this threat. And he was going to find whoever had done it and ensure the person was locked up—with maybe a few bruises first to take to prison.
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  “Okay,” he said. “Just stay calm, and we’ll discuss what to do now.” Like, remain here, in his presence, so he could protect her tonight. And tomorrow?

  He already had several ideas.

  “I can’t believe it,” she said, pacing the floor of his small entry. “I didn’t do anything today to look for my dad’s killer. And yes, I was a bit foolish with the things I said yesterday, and this seems to indicate that the person who sent it heard about that. Should I approach everyone who watched the demonstrations yesterday and ask who they talked to about what I said?”

  “Of course not,” Evan said. She should leave that to him. Better yet, to the cops—if they actually jumped in to follow up on this. It could even have been one of them who spoke out of turn, although if so they’d never admit it.

  But then, who would?

  “Look, here’s what we’ll do,” he continued. “First, come in and have a beer so you can relax a little. Although…”

  “Although what?”

  He’d thought about Sonya. The text seemed to threaten only Amber, but if the killer wanted to hurt her in more ways than one, he—she?—could go after her mom. “Is your mother okay?”

  “I made sure the doors were locked and saw her close the door to her room before I left,” she said.

  That didn’t mean she’d be fine all night, but he would check on her later. “Okay. Let’s discuss what to do next, then I’ll walk you back there.”

  “Fine.”

  He led her into the kitchen, where he got from the refrigerator bottles of his favorite dark beer for each of them. He watched until Amber took a swig, figuring if nothing else the brew might relax her a bit.

  He also made sure Lola knew where Bear’s water bowl was and gave each of the dogs a treat.

  When he joined Amber at the table, her hands were clenched around the bottle, and she was trembling. He moved his chair beside hers and gently pulled one cold hand away and held it.

  “First thing we should do,” he said, “is call the cops—your buddy Assistant Chief Kara if it’s possible to get hold of her at this hour. Tell her what happened and have their techies on staff trace the phone number—though I’ll bet it’s an untraceable burner phone.”