Her Undercover Refuge

by Linda O. Johnston

  At least for this moment, all seemed wonderful here at the shelter, and for both Nella and him—and for Pebbles.

  Scott just hoped it would stay that way—and intended to do everything he could to ensure it did.

  Chapter 21

  Over the next couple of days, Nella remained alert. On edge. Concerned.

  And found herself surprised.

  No additional threats, for one thing. No cars coming after her, though of course she remained inside.

  Nothing new to worry about—although she continued to worry. After the car incident, which ramped up her fear, she expected something even worse as a follow-up.

  But all seemed well. No threats, by text or in reality.

  Not that she dared to feel safe. All she could do was wait. And allow herself to worry just a little less. Maybe.

  She wasn’t the only one. She discussed the lull, if that’s what it was, with Scott. He, too, remained alert. He didn’t consider the short time much of a lull—but he also seemed to let himself relax, at least a bit. He even visited his own home more.

  But he still stayed in his apartment at the shelter at night. And he checked on Nella often and stayed with her, at least for a while, each night.

  He also talked more with his contacts at the Chance PD and let Nella know about those conversations. Still no further word on who’d stolen the car—or driven it at her. Whoever it was had apparently been as careful as they’d suspected not to leave prints or other identification in the car, which remained under police control for now.

  Nella was delighted when Maisie visited now and then with her K-9 Griffin, and told the managers that she and her brother Doug, with his K-9 Hooper, patrolled the area often.

  Meanwhile, Nella’s routine at the shelter working with animals, mostly dogs, was highly enjoyable, maybe even more than before. She walked along with staff members as much as possible, accompanying Baby a little less but having Spike at her side most of the time. Fortunately, she didn’t necessarily need to have a K-9 nearby besides the visits from Griffin.

  Strange, after all that had happened before and the immediacy of the threats? Yes. But she certainly wasn’t complaining.

  And she did remain wary, for her own sake and for the staff members.

  Meanwhile, she had lots of fun with those staff members who took turns working with Jack. Telma was the one to take him to the local vet to check for a microchip, but there wasn’t one. If Jack had had a family before, there was no way to identify them.

  Of course it was a policy, at this particular shelter, not to send out social media notices about found animals, because the entire point of this place was to remain as private as possible.

  They would respond to any inquiries, though, which Scott had shown Nella came in frequently, since the fact that this was an animal shelter wasn’t hidden, just not publicized much. And the few other animal shelters in the area let people know to check for lost pets at the Chance Animal Shelter, just as this shelter also told inquiring people about the others.

  But no one, no shelter or owner, appeared to be searching for Jack.

  Now it was Wednesday morning. “You’re our manager in charge for the day,” Scott told Nella quietly as they sat at breakfast, after she had taken Spike for a walk alongside Bibi with Jack and Warren with Cheesecake. “We have a potential new staff member arriving around eleven, and I’d like you to conduct the initial interview. I’ll be with you, of course.”

  Nella knew the other managers conducted that kind of interview on their own, so she recognized Scott wanted to make sure her first interview went well. But she figured this could also be another protective effort on his part, a good thing. He had undoubtedly vetted whoever it was, since the person was coming at a scheduled time, as was the general practice.

  But with all that had been going on lately, she appreciated that Scott wasn’t just assuming what he’d found was the person’s whole story. What if it was a gang member, or someone else who’d issued threats—or driven that car—who’d lied and worked out some kind of proof because they wanted access to the shelter... And, possibly, her?

  “Sounds good,” she told him. “Can we meet first to go over what you know so far?”

  “Of course.”

  They got back to eating, sitting at one of the regular tables with others. Nella talked to some of those staff members and made plans to conduct another brief training session after she watched them feed cats and the smaller animals. As was standard now, she’d already observed some feeding dogs that day, ones they’d walked as well as others, after their earlier outings but before breakfast.

  Yes, today all seemed normal around here.

  If she kept her mind off those latest threats...

  Once more, when she was done eating, she retrieved Spike from his enclosure in the reception building and brought him outside. Most staff members joined her, bringing leashed dogs to work with, including their most recent new residents—Bibi still with Jack, Warren with Cheesecake and Muriel with Samson. The other staffers brought some longer-term canine residents, including Kathy with Baby, Nella was glad to see. As a result, the sort-of class Nella taught just outside the main office building was busy.

  With Spike as her companion and example, as usual now, Nella had no problem working on basic canine commands—and she’d been doing it here long enough that she didn’t see any staff members having problems with their dogs. Jack, though, did require a little more effort to get him to obey, but he remained a newcomer, after all—and he was an energetic Jack Russell terrier.

  She allowed her training session to go on a little longer than usual, which didn’t seem to make any dogs, except maybe Jack, obey less. Scott had gone inside the office building when her class started, which was fine.

  But she watched for him. When he reappeared, she figured it was time to go prepare for the interview she’d be conducting in a little while.

  “Okay, gang,” she called to her crowd. “Class over. Go walk your dogs some more, or play with them, or both.”

  “Thanks, teacher,” called Warren, followed by Bibi’s echoing “Thanks” that was then repeated by pretty much everyone.

  Which made Nella feel good, especially when she didn’t see a single dog balk at heeling beside its trainer as the group disbanded—not even Jack beside Bibi.

  She thought about taking Spike right back to his enclosure in the reception building but figured she could do that later, when she went to greet the person she’d be interviewing, who would enter the shelter via the reception room.

  For now, she and Spike headed toward where Scott still stood near the office building.

  “How’d it go?” he asked as they reached him.

  “Really well.” Apparently he hadn’t watched much, which was fine—though Nella did feel a small pang of disappointment. But he couldn’t—shouldn’t—be with her all the time, especially when nothing major was going on. And she had seen Camp and Telma observing from this area on and off, so there had nearly always been another manager nearby.

  But she had been the manager in charge, which she liked.

  Especially when she didn’t have to worry about immediate threats against her—or worse, the shelter and any of its occupants.

  Was this just temporary? She certainly hoped not. But there’d been no conclusion...

  “So what should I do now to prepare?” she asked Scott.

  “Let’s go to my office. I’ll show you the results of my initial research on this woman—who showed me by phone and secure email that she was a viable protective custody candidate, and why it appeared what I learned was potentially correct. Then we’ll talk about what you should ask, not too different, though, from the way you treated Alice when she—and you—first got here.”

  “Great.”

  That research discussion went well, and Nella felt comfortable waiting with Scott
, and Spike, until the shelter phone rang and the interviewee let them know she was in the reception area—which they already knew, thanks to the security cameras. They told the woman someone would be right with her and headed back downstairs—where they first dropped Spike off in his enclosure, and a couple of the other dogs greeted him.

  Then they headed to the reception area. Its occupant was a woman who matched the description and photograph Scott had received, midtwenties, moderately deep-toned skin, long black hair pulled back in a clip—very attractive, Nella thought. Except for her haunted, frightened expression as she looked from Nella to Scott and back again.

  “Is this—is this the shelter that’s looking for people to join the...staff?” she asked quietly. Apparently she’d been given at least some information by whoever suggested she come here or during her initial vetting process.

  “That’s right,” Nella said. Scott remained behind her, holding the door into the shelter open. “Please, follow me,” she told the woman.

  In a minute, they were inside one of the last interview rooms along the hallway just before the dog enclosures nearby, including the one holding Spike. Nella told their guest to sit down. Then, referring to some information she’d entered into a file on her phone, she began quizzing the woman.

  Her name was Angie Black. In her midtwenties, she came from San Francisco. She had recently ended an engagement to the son of a tech magnate who was CEO of a major computer company.

  That hadn’t gone well. Her fiancé, from a family with such power, had exerted some of it over her, threatened her, abused her horribly and promised more revenge. Soon.

  So here she was.

  And after a short while and a few phone calls to contacts Scott had at the San Francisco PD, plus a visit to see how she got along with the dogs in the enclosures in this building at the moment—Spike and others of various sizes and temperaments—and a visit from Telma and Camp for their okay, their new staff member, now called Denise, was hired. She’d been told to bring clothes and other supplies as if she’d been heading out on a trip, in case anyone saw her, though she’d been warned to stay silent about where she was going and why.

  When asked, she seemed to feel fairly confident she’d not been seen by her ex-fiancé or anyone else, since she’d left in the middle of the night and took her time driving here—but hadn’t stopped for anything. She’d loaded up on gasoline and snacks stealthily before getting on her way.

  And now she appeared a little more relaxed than when Nella first met her.

  Nella, carrying some of the supplies Denise had brought to the reception area, showed the newcomer upstairs to yet another apartment on the floor where hers and Scott’s temporary one were located.

  Nella still hoped things would change so she could have a choice whether to move someday. But not now. She certainly couldn’t count on just a couple days’ worth of peace to mean all the threats were over. Especially after the last one.

  But, oh, how she wanted to...

  Enough. She was a manager, and she had to reassure the new staff member she’d just hired.

  “Make yourself at home,” she told Denise. “I’ll come back in half an hour and take you back downstairs. I’ll show you around, introduce you to some of our shelter pets and to some of our other staff members, too, who have different, yet similar, stories to yours.”

  Of course she didn’t mention the recent threats to the shelter, or to her—or the car incident. Scott and the other managers and she would now take care of Denise, so she wouldn’t have to worry about those threats or any from her former life.

  Not anymore.

  * * *

  Scott had thought Nella was a wonderful person from the moment he had met her. That opinion kept growing.

  She had done a great job interviewing Denise that morning. At lunchtime, she’d introduced their new staff member to her new comrades. The others knew not to quiz her on what had brought her to the shelter—at least not here, in the group. If she wanted to talk about it with any of them, she could do so later. And Nella, in introducing her, had made it clear, with no detail, that Denise unsurprisingly shared a similar background to the others.

  After lunch, it was dog-walking time again. Once more, Nella took charge of introducing Denise to the routine, though she did let the young woman know that if she didn’t want to walk dogs, at least not now, she could keep cats or the smaller animals company. Before getting a response, Nella showed Denise around the entire shelter complex, including the cat house and the other small animal enclosures inside it.

  Scott didn’t watch them. He knew he didn’t need to. But he did go upstairs to the offices during the introduction to check on a few things—including making sure no threatening messages appeared on either the shelter’s email or phone.

  Of course the most recent one had come on Nella’s private phone, but he felt sure she’d let him know if anything like that happened again.

  Or anything else.

  Although, thanks to the way he had this place rigged, nothing as scary as that car chasing Nella was likely to happen inside the shelter, against her or anyone else.

  He would continue to make certain of that. And never forget, despite the lull of a day or two without threats, that those prior ones still hung over Nella.

  When he returned to the central walking area after his visit upstairs, he saw Nella with Denise, who had Honey, the black Lab, leashed beside her—and Nella, unsurprisingly, had Spike.

  He approached them. “Everything okay?” He bent to give Spike and Honey a pat, then straightened to aim a smile at Denise.

  She still appeared nervous, dark eyes uneasy, but she said, “Yes. Thank you. Thank both of you. I’m so glad I’m here.” Still holding Honey’s leash, she reached out and hugged first Nella, then Scott.

  Since he’d conducted quite a bit of vetting before he permitted his contacts at the San Francisco PD to send her, Scott felt comfortable with her being here. “You’re welcome,” he said, and was amused when Nella made a gesture that caused Spike to bark his okay, too.

  Chapter 22

  Late that afternoon a family and a solitary man came in at separate times to look at pets available for adoption, so the staff members were sent upstairs to their apartments, or to meet in the community room on the floor above.

  That was a good thing in multiple ways, Nella figured, because she was able to discuss with Denise on her first day here how the adoptions worked—and also make it clear that no staff members could be seen. The place needed to appear like a regular shelter to visitors, and staffers needed to stay away for their protection. Only managers brought visitors around to see potential pets.

  The results that day were uneven. Despite visiting all areas containing dogs, the family didn’t find one they wanted to adopt. However, the man chose Rover, the Scottish terrier mix. As usual, the potential adopters had sent information before coming, and Scott had checked them out. Since they’d been approved, the man already had an okay to bring a dog home—which he did.

  Nella wanted to cheer. And maybe cry a bit. She would miss Rover, as she missed the others adopted since she started working here. But they all should have much happier lives with their new families, despite the love and attention they received from staff members and managers.

  Scott was with Nella as she went inside to let the residents know the results—and to get someone to clean the enclosure where Rover had been living, even though a couple of other pups also stayed there. But it seemed more final to do a last cleanup. More closure for all the people here.

  When Scott and she went to the meeting room above the apartments, where most residents were hanging out, including Denise, they were immediately asked whether any adoptions had occurred. Nella let them know about Rover, and everyone seemed excited. She told them then that it was okay for them to come downstairs when they were ready and got assurances from Bibi and a coupl
e of others that they’d clean the enclosure where Rover had been.

  On her way back downstairs, following Scott, her phone rang. She didn’t get many calls these days, but that worried her less than if she’d heard the sound of a text coming in.

  She pulled her phone from her pocket and looked at the ID. Dan.

  “Hi, Nella. I’m calling because I’ve been thinking even more about the idea of starting a shelter here. I’ve been looking around, conducting research and talking to appropriate people—making sure they understand the need to keep it quiet—and really think I’m making progress.”

  Nella had stopped at the base of the stairs in the building housing the apartments, meeting room and dining area. Scott, who’d been in front of her, was already outside. “That’s great.” She leaned against the wall, smiling toward the door where she’d last seen Scott. “I’ll be so excited to hear when you’ve actually got something going. And I’m really glad you’re keeping me informed.”

  “Well, that’s the thing,” he said. “As we told you, we’d really like for you to be part of the process. And though I know you haven’t been at the Chance shelter long, you’ve already seen a lot more about how it works than we really know. It would be fantastic if you’d return and take charge of getting this off the ground. You could always stay in touch with your contacts there in case you have any questions. Also—well, you’ve indicated you received some bad messages there. You’d be away from that here.”

  “Unless they came from those gang members still at large,” she reminded him, hearing how chilly her voice had suddenly gotten. “And this shelter isn’t secret, just who the staff members are and why they’re really here. I assume it would be the same there, so those gang members, if they’re the perpetrators, would probably cheer if I get closer to them again.”