Courage Under Fire

by Sharon Dunn

  “He was with the man I saw at the studio. They just went around the corner.”

  Noah tugged on Scotty’s leash. “Let’s go.” Noah’s walk intensified to a jog. “I’m glad I caught up with you. He’s probably setting a trap.”

  They hurried up the street. A few parade watchers were lined up for a half a block on the side street. They broke free of the crowd. Despite street closures due to the parade, there were still people wandering around. None of them had a yellow Lab puppy.

  Lani scanned the entire area not seeing the dog or the man. They continued up the street. She heard a faint bark, Oscar’s bark.

  “He’s headed toward the subway,” she said.

  They hurried toward the stairs that led to the subway.

  Noah clicked on his radio. “Got a suspect with the missing yellow Lab headed down the Fifty-Ninth Street entrance. Officer Branson and I are in pursuit.”

  They hurried down the stairs. Noah flashed his badge and leapt over the turnstile. The platform was busy but not overly crowded. She scanned the sea of faces. It wouldn’t be that easy to hide a squirmy yellow Lab.

  Noah patted her shoulder. “Scotty and I will check that area around the corner.”

  Lani hurried up and down the platform searching. Her radio glitched. She clicked her on button. “Go ahead.”

  The voice was Tony’s. “Rusty and I are at the exit. No sign of him.”

  “Nothing here either. Will continue the search.” Lani peered over her shoulder at where Noah had gone behind her. No sign of Noah. “Our suspect is wearing a blue jacket and a baseball hat.”

  “Got it,” said Tony. “I read your description of him in the report you filed. Muscular guy.”

  She hurried past some buskers playing guitar and violin. She could hear the subway moving through the tunnel whizzing toward the platform. She scanned the crowd again. If the man was in hiding, he might step out to board the subway. Her heart pounded in her chest. He was here somewhere. He had to be.

  Up ahead, she saw Tony and his chocolate Lab. When she glanced over her shoulder, Noah had emerged from around the corner. He shook his head. The stalker must know that he was trapped. Where was he hiding?

  Screams rose up from the crowd gathering to board the subway. Lani turned one way and then the other, trying to figure out what had caused the panic. The attention of the crowd was directed toward the tracks.

  All the air left her lungs when she saw Oscar bounding along the tracks, stopping to sniff something on the ground. The sound of the approaching train pressed on her ears. Lani sprinted toward the tracks to the edge of the platform. Scotty ran out ahead of her and leaped down onto the tracks. Scotty hurried after Oscar and grabbed him by the collar. The weight of the six-month-old pup looked to be almost too much for Scotty to carry.

  The train was within seconds of arriving at the platform. Scotty reached the area between track and platform. Lani sprinted the distance to where the dog was at. She reached down and gathered Oscar in her arms.

  The sound of the approaching train filled the tunnel. Noah came out of nowhere. All her attention had been on Oscar. Noah jumped down on the tracks and boosted Scotty back on the platform. Lani reached an arm down to help Noah up just as the train came into view. Though it had slowed to make the stop, Noah lay on the platform only seconds before it whizzed past and came to a stop.

  A cheer rose up from the crowd. Noah shifted from being on his stomach to sitting. Lani gasped for air while Oscar crawled into her lap.

  The doors of the subway slid open.

  Still out of breath, Lani bolted to her feet. “He’ll use this chance to get away. He probably wanted Oscar to be a distraction.”

  Noah rose to his feet as well. “Looks like Tony’s got the train covered.”

  Lani glanced down the platform to see Tony and his dog board the subway.

  Lani grabbed the leash that was still attached to Oscar. She searched all the boarding passengers and then turned her attention to the people who remained. None looked like her stalker. None bolted for the exit to indicate their guilt. Maybe Tony and Rusty would find him.

  Noah patted her shoulder. “He must have slipped out when we were saving Oscar.”

  Lani nodded. She leaned down to gather Oscar into her arms. “I’m glad I have this little guy back.” Oscar licked her face.

  “Scotty and I will do one more search up and down,” Noah said.

  Lani trailed behind pulling the easily distracted Oscar along. The pup stopped to wag his tail at a group of girls in school uniforms. The girls oohed and aahed. Oscar knew how to turn on the charm. Her phone beeped that she had a text. She clicked open the message.

  The dog was too much trouble. Next time it will be your boyfriend.

  Before, the message might have sent a wave of fear through her. But she was stronger now.

  Noah came back over to her. “He got away. I’m sure of it.” He stepped a little closer toward her. “Is something wrong?”

  “Another message from him.” She lifted the phone up so he could take it and read the text.

  “That guy has some nerve.” Noah’s forehead crinkled as he shook his head. He turned his attention to Oscar. “The good news is, sometimes being an obnoxious puppy works in your favor.”

  Oscar yipped and bounced around Lani’s feet.

  “Who does he mean, ‘your boyfriend’? I thought you weren’t dating anyone.”

  “He must assume it’s you since we’re together so much,” Lani said. “I’m sure if someone were watching from a distance, it might appear that way.”

  He shrugged. “I guess so.”

  Tony’s voice came through Noah’s radio. “We got nothing here. Sorry.”

  Noah radioed back. “Nothing here either.”

  “Well, guess we better finish the shift,” she said. “I’ll put Oscar in your car if that’s all right.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure the celebration will be going on into the night in Little Italy.” Noah let go of the radio and straightened his neck to look at Lani. “The Jamesons have their own Columbus Day celebration. Lots of Italian food. You want to come?” His eyes rested on her for a long moment. “Reed is welcome to come along.”

  Lani felt torn. She missed spending time with Noah, but being around him brought up the pain that there could never be anything between them.

  “My mom makes an awesome lasagna.” He tried to entice her.

  “Can’t turn that down, can I?”

  “Great, let’s go up topside and finish out this shift. Parade has probably moved past, but I’m sure there are still plenty of opportunists working the crowd.”

  They stepped toward the subway exit and climbed up into the daylight, Lani wrestling with the uncertainty of everything in her life. Could she handle just being Noah’s friend? Would she be able to complete her training with the stalker still out there?

  The only thing she knew for sure was that she was glad to have Oscar back. Even if he wasn’t police dog material, she’d grown fond of the little guy.

  THIRTEEN

  Noah lifted the lid on the spaghetti sauce and took in a deep breath filled with oregano and basil. His mouth watered. He reached for a spoon to sample the sauce. As he drew the spoon up to his mouth, he breathed in the heady aroma again.

  His mother entered the kitchen. “Get out of there. If you boys keep sampling the food, there will be nothing left for dinner.”

  His mother tended toward exaggeration. She had cooked enough to feed an army. Ivy Jameson’s blue eyes held a sparkle that had faded a little since the death of her son. Her dark hair was pulled up in a topknot. Even though she dressed in jeans and a blouse, she always carried herself with a certain elegance.

  Noah licked his lips and put the spoon down. “It could use just a smidgen more garlic.”

  Ivy wagged a finger at her son. “Too
many cooks spoil the soup, and the same could be said of spaghetti sauce. Now go on back into the living room. I’m sure your guest will be here any minute. What did you say her name was?”

  “Lani.”

  “Yes, I’ve met her. Pretty girl, blonde. Nice lady.” Her voice dropped half an octave and she gazed out the window. “I remember her from Jordan’s funeral.” Ivy studied her son for a moment. The jovial tone returned to her voice. “You like her, don’t you? I noticed you cleaned up and put on a fresh shirt.”

  “Can’t a guy take a shower without being accused of ulterior motives?” said Noah.

  Ivy laughed and shook her head while she stirred the sauce and checked the lasagna in the oven. “I know my son.”

  Noah rested his hand on the counter. “Okay, I like her...as a friend. I’m her direct supervisor, so nothing is going to happen.”

  “Too bad. Your brothers have all met such nice women.”

  “I know, Mom. One of us has to be the forever bachelor, right?”

  Ivy shut the oven door and placed her hand on her hip. She reached over and squeezed Noah’s chin. “I want you to meet a nice girl. If not Lani, then maybe one of those sweet women from the Sunday school class your father and I teach.”

  It was his turn to stare out the window. “Yeah, maybe.” The phrase “if not Lani” echoed through his head. The truth was he had dated a couple of the women from church. All of them were nice, but kind of ordinary.

  The doorbell rang. By the time Noah made it into the living room, his niece Ellie had answered the door. Ellie was Carter’s daughter by his first wife who had died. His brother Zach sat on the couch with his wife, Violet. Carter and his fiancée, Rachelle, stood by the window watching the dogs play outside through the sliding glass door. And Katie, Jordan’s widow, sat by herself. Her tunic length blouse covered her bulging belly. The family had learned of her pregnancy after Jordan’s death.

  Alexander, the family patriarch, rested in his easy chair, arms folded over his chest, half dozing. He wore a Mets sweatshirt and baggy pants.

  Ellie opened the door. Lani stood holding a casserole dish. Her brother, Reed, was behind her. Katie pushed herself to her feet. “Let me take that.”

  As the two women stood by each other, he was struck by how much they looked alike. Both were blonde, similar hairstyles, tall and slender.

  “It’s my contribution to the festivities. Just some brownies. Not very Italian, I know.”

  Noah was impressed that she’d managed to throw anything together in the short time they’d gotten off shift.

  Zach rose to his feet. “All the food in this house gets eaten.” He held a hand out to Lani. “Good to see you. I’ve been in the field so much. I guess our paths haven’t crossed much lately.”

  “Yeah, Noah pretty much has me at a desk for now,” Lani said.

  A little tension entered the room. Of course, his brothers knew about the stalker. But they had a rule about not bringing work into family celebrations. Noah diverted the conversation to the Mets.

  Lani and Reed stepped into the living room. The group engaged in small talk until Ivy called them all to the large dining room table which overflowed with food. Zach opened the sliding glass door so the dogs could come in. Frosty, Eddie and Scotty lay down just on the threshold between living room and kitchen. The two foster pups of Stella, one black and one yellow, whom Carter referred to as Mutt and Jeff pranced around the older dogs before settling down.

  After Alexander said grace, dishes were passed around and plates filled up with food. The conversation was about the parade, which Ellie had attended with Carter and Rachelle.

  Lani shared about getting Oscar back.

  “So where is he now?” Zach asked.

  “He’s back at the kennels for now. The vet is making sure he wasn’t harmed while he was being held. I know he needs to be returned to his foster family. I just am fond of the little guy. He’s not K-9 material.”

  Reed laughed. “Yeah, he’s kind of hyper. He gives Jessie a run for her money. She’s not used to that kind of energy.”

  Lani tore apart a piece of garlic bread. “Speaking of missing dogs. Have you made any progress in finding Snapper? I was thinking you should look on the website I checked when I was trying to find Oscar.”

  Noah glanced nervously at Katie. Lani didn’t know they didn’t talk police business at meals. He tensed, worried that bringing up anything about Jordan’s death would be upsetting to Katie this late in her pregnancy. Snapper was his brother’s K-9 who had gone missing after Jordan’s murder.

  Reed shook his head. “No progress far as I know even with that sketch Dominic helped us put together of the man who gave Snapper to Dominic.”

  Katie set her glass down. “There was a sketch made of the man who took Snapper?”

  Noah glanced at his brothers, feeling a rising tension. Dominic was a foster kid from Brooklyn who’d taken care of Snapper for a while before the dog had run off. Dominic claimed that a man had given him the German shepherd, and everyone hoped that finding the guy would result in Jordy’s murderer being put behind bars. Reed and his fiancée, Abigail, were working on adopting Dominic. “We weren’t trying to keep you out of the loop, Katie.”

  “We just wanted to protect you and your baby,” said Carter.

  Lani cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. I think I may have spoken out of turn.”

  Noah placed a hand over hers. “You had no way of knowing.”

  Katie sat across the table from Noah. She put her napkin on the table. “I want to see that sketch.” She rested a protective hand on her stomach.

  “I can probably pull it up on my computer after we eat.”

  Alex raised his glass of lemonade. “Yes, later. Now let’s enjoy the meal.”

  Noah glanced at Carter and then at Zach. Katie had a right to know what was going on with the investigation, but with the baby due in three weeks, he didn’t want to add stress to her life.

  After dinner, Noah went upstairs to retrieve his laptop. He sat on the back porch watching the dogs play while Katie and Lani leaned in close to see his screen. The trees had turned shades of gold, rust and yellow and a cool autumn breeze whirled around them. They all had put on their fall jackets while they sipped the cider Ivy had offered them.

  Noah typed in his password to access the official files. He clicked past a long list of documents before the sketch came up on-screen.

  Katie sat back in a lawn chair. Her voice grew cold. “I know who that is.”

  Breath caught in his throat. This could be the breakthrough they needed to catch Jordy’s killer. Noah glanced at Lani.

  “Can I have a closer look?” Lani asked.

  Noah handed her the laptop and then drew his attention to Katie.

  Noah tilted his head toward the computer. “So who is he?”

  Katie rose to her feet and stepped to the edge of the porch. “His name is Martin Fisher. I knew him from church. We dated briefly before I met Jordan. I hadn’t seen him at church in ages. But he came to Jordan’s funeral and gave his condolences.”

  So this Martin Fisher might have killed Jordy out of jealousy.

  “What did he seem like at the funeral?” Noah stood up and stepped closer to Katie, who gripped the railing of the porch. “I’m sorry I have to ask you these questions.”

  “It’s all right. If this will get us closer to catching Jordan’s killer—” she turned to face her brother-in-law “—I don’t mind thinking about it.” She smoothed her hand over her belly. “The two of us will be all right.”

  “Did he act peculiar in any way?”

  She shook her head. “He was perfectly nice. And seemed really concerned about me.” Katie looked down at the ground, still resting her hand on her tummy. “He came by about three weeks ago to check in on me. He wanted to take me out to dinner. I said I wasn’t ready to dat
e.”

  “How did he react to that? Was he angry?”

  Katie shook her head. “One of the reasons we only went out a couple of times was that he came on a little strong, in kind of a smothering way. When I turned him down three weeks ago, I could tell he was upset, but he was still polite.”

  “Can you tell us anything else about him?”

  “We only went out a couple of times. He worked construction and stayed in good shape for that.”

  Katie turned back toward the house, shaking her head. “Why would Martin have taken Snapper? You don’t think...”

  Her voice trailed off, but Noah knew what she was thinking. Was Martin Jordan’s killer? It looked that way. But he could not draw a conclusion without solid evidence. Still, this felt like a huge step in the right direction. Noah shook his head. “I don’t know anything for sure.”

  Ivy opened the sliding glass doors. “Come on inside, people. We’ve got gelato and Lani’s brownies.” Ivy closed the door and disappeared back into the kitchen.

  “I think I might need to lie down for a bit,” said Katie. “If there is any progress in the case, I want to know from now on, okay?”

  He nodded. His sister-in-law went inside to head up the stairs.

  Noah shook his head. He hated putting her through all this, but she was a strong woman. If they had kept her in the loop in the first place, they would have been able to ID the man in the sketch sooner.

  He turned back to face Lani who had closed the laptop. Her features were taut. And her face had gone pale.

  She tapped her finger on the laptop. “I think this is the same man who has been after me.”

  Noah reeled from the confusion. “But how?”

  “I barely glanced at the sketch when it was shown in a briefing. We look at half a dozen of those a week. But now that I look at it and his face is burned in my mind... I think it’s the same guy.”

  Noah sat down beside her. “If his connection is to Katie, why is he after you?”

  “I don’t know either. We kind of look alike. Katie said he was a little over-the-top with his affection when they were dating.”