by Mary May
The next morning Sloan was waiting for her in his usual place. Jaxon mumbled something that passed for good morning as she headed for the coffee pot. Taking sleeping pills always left her feeling hung over the next day. But she could escape the world for a solid nine hours, so that was a bonus. She had no more settled into her desk when she saw Noah’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, headed her way with Higgins on a leash walking beside them. Jaxon felt her heart ache for the pain that was still visible on the grieving parents’ faces. Both seemed to have aged considerably in the last day or two.
Getting to her feet, Jaxon offered them her hand in greeting. “Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace. Can I bring you some coffee?” They both shook their heads after accepting Sloan’s greeting.
“No, thank you, we won’t be here very long. We came to see if you have found out who sold our son the drugs that killed him?”
“I’m sorry we haven’t, but I assure you we are working every angle on this case. We believe that we may have the location where the drugs are being made. So hopefully we will soon know who is selling it. I promise we will be in touch as soon as we know anything,” Jaxon explained.
Mr. Wallace slipped his arm around his visibly upset wife. “Detective Malone, would it help if you had a witness?”
“A witness to the drug deal?” Sloan asked.
“Yes. We have a witness if that would help.” Mrs. Wallace finally spoke up.
“A witness would be the break that we are looking for. Who is it?” Jaxon reached for a pen to take down the witness information but stopped when she saw where Mr. Wallace was pointing.
“Higgins? The dog is your witness?” When Jaxon said his name, Higgins’ tail thumped in response.
“Well, he was there and I’m sure he would recognize the person that sold Noah the drugs. Won’t you at least try to use him?” Mrs. Wallace begged.
“We also wanted to let you know that Noah’s service will be tomorrow morning at 10:00 am. At Serenity Meadows cemetery,” Mr. Wallace added.
Jaxon looked over to Sloan for help, but he shook his head, leaving it up to her. Considering the pain-filled eyes of parents that had done what no parent should ever have to do, she knew she couldn’t tell them no.
“Ok, we will try the dog and we will be at Noah’s service if we can make it.”
“There is just one more thing… you see, it’s so hard to have Higgins around without Noah. It’s hard on the dog, too. He is used to being a working dog. Even though his job was primarily to be Noah’s companion, he still felt needed. Now he just lies at the foot of Noah’s bed. I really think he is depressed.” Mrs. Wallace glanced up at her husband who nodded for her to continue.
“I’m sure it’s very hard on him,” Jaxon offered, not sure where they were going with the conversation. She didn’t know any doggy therapists.
Mrs. Wallace nodded. “Yes, and I noticed that Higgins seemed to like you. He came up to you that day you were at our house and… well, we want you to have him.”
Jaxon’s eyes grew wide as she looked over at Sloan, who seemed to be as shocked as she was.
“Mrs. Wallace, that’s a very generous offer, but I’m sure the best thing for Higgins would be to stay with you in familiar surroundings and with people that he knows. In time, he will adjust to Noah...” she trailed off as she saw tears well up in the older woman’s eyes.
“Please, Detective Malone… I can’t watch him pacing and looking for my son when I know he won’t be coming home. Please take him.” Mrs. Wallace held out the end of the dog’s leash and without comment Jaxon reached out and took it.
Two hours later Jaxon opened the door of her Mustang to let Higgins out while Sloan was busy unfolding his tall frame from the passenger seat. She was the only one who fit comfortably inside the low-slung sports car. Oh, well! She didn’t know when she bought it that she would be driving around with a six and half foot angel and a ninety-pound Black Lab. Not that she would have changed her mind. She adored the midnight blue Mustang, calling it the best boyfriend she ever had. They had a passionate affair and she flirted with it at every opportunity.
Wrapping Higgins’ leash around her wrist, she met Sloan at the front of her car. He had insisted that they take the dog for a walk in the same park where Noah’s body was found. It wasn’t a bad idea, but Jaxon would bite off her own tongue before she admitted it. Her feelings for her “partner” were slightly unstable since he told her everything. She did have one question. Okay, she had a lot, but one was bugging her.
“So, want to tell me why you took the feather?”
“You do know it was mine to start with, right?” he said with a slight grin.
“I’m aware; now why did you take it?” she asked again.
“Mollie had it long enough. I couldn’t have her running anymore tests on it. The last thing I needed was for her to be able to run DNA on it.”
Jaxon stopped walking to stare up at him. “What would she have found?”
Sloan chuckled. “A DNA strand like no other, I assure you. It was best if I stopped her before she got any further.”
“So, what do I tell her when she asks about the feather? Mollie is like a pit bull when you give her something new and exciting to unravel. She will ask questions. A lot of questions. Never mind, I think I will send her to you for answers.” Then she started walking again, leaving him behind.
“Hey, what am I supposed to tell her? I can’t tell her the truth and I can’t lie. Jaxon! Wait up!”
Jaxon stopped and waited while Sloan caught up to her and Higgins. “What’s the matter? I thought you had all the answers,” she said with a sweet smile.
“Ha! Not even close. That’s a common misconception about us angels, but we are not all-knowing.”
Jaxon couldn’t help but laugh at Sloan’s woe-be-gone expression. “So, what did you do with it?”
“I put it back in my wing.”
“Won’t it fall out again?”
“It didn’t fall out the first time. I pulled it out.”
That had Jaxon arching her brows in suspicion. “Why?”
“How else were you going to find it?” he asked.
Jaxon pointed to a bench. “Ok, sit!” she gave the order to Sloan, then busted out laughing when Higgins promptly planted his behind on the sidewalk.
“Good boy, Higgins, now let’s see if the angel can follow demands as well as you do.” Crossing her arms, she looked at the angel in question.
“If I obey, do I get a treat?” he said as he lowered his tall frame down onto the bench.
“No, but I get something,” she said as she sat next to him. “I get some answers.”
Sloan waited while she decided which question to start with; it didn’t take her long.
“Why were you following me before?”
“I was learning what I could about you. The first thing you need to understand is we reveal ourselves to very few humans, and only under very special circumstances. When we do need to show ourselves, it helps to know the best way to do it and that varies with every human. So, I watched and followed you until I felt like I knew the best way to approach you.”
Jaxon’s eyes grew cold and hard. “Tell me that you were not involved in Mitch’s murder. Tell me you didn’t have him killed just to make a place for yourself in the department.” The pain in her voice made Sloan wince. He placed his hand on hers before he spoke.
“Jaxon, no. I had nothing to do with his death. I was as surprised as you were. That’s what I meant earlier when I said angels are not all-knowing. In so many ways we are like you. We only know what we are shown or what the Lord reveals to us. I am incapable of taking a human life, Jaxon. I would have found another way to reach you.”
Jaxon nodded then stared off into the distance, not willing to let Sloan see the raw emotion she knew was in her eyes. “So why drop the feather?”
“Because I knew it would appeal to your innate sense of curiosity. You wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from trying to figur
e out where it came from.”
Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she reached out to ruffle Higgins’ ears before replying. “Basically, your entire mission hung on me being nosey?”
Sloan returned her smile. “You are correct, ma’am, and now I guess we better see if Higgins can tell us anything. Unless you have more questions?”
Jaxon dusted off the seat of her jeans as she shook her head. “Oh, I got questions, Buddy, but they can wait.”
A few minutes later they watched as Higgins whined and pawed the ground where they had found Noah’s body. He snuffled and sniffed around the bushes and through the undergrowth. Briefly his hackles raised and a deep growl rumbled in his chest. Jackson glanced up at Sloan.
“Could be that he will know the pusher if we ever find him,” he said.
When Higgins finally sat at Jaxon’s feet, she patted the dog’s head. “I’m sorry, Boy, but we will find out who did this. I promise.” They left the park with no more answers than when they came.
CHAPTER 7
“Someone want to tell me why there is a dog in my office?” Rawlings’ voice boomed through the police department. Then ten seconds later, “Malone! This has your name written all over it!”
Jaxon grinned at Sloan, who just shook his head. Rawlings came toward them dragging a growling Higgins by the collar. “You want to tell me why you put this dog in my office? He tried to bite my hand off!” The veins on his neck had started to bulge slightly.
“I’m sorry, sir, but the dog is a witness to a crime.”
“A witness? What in the blue blazes are you talking about, Malone?” He turned his gaze on Sloan, who had been silent. “What do you know about this?”
“Just what she said, sir. Higgins was the only witness in the drug deal that ended with the death of the Wallace boy. His parents brought us the dog hoping we could use him to help identify the pusher. It’s not as crazy as it sounds, Chief. There have been documented cases where animals have identified criminals.”
Higgins’ tail started whipping hard when Sloan said his name, but then he lifted his lips once more at Chief Rawlings, showing all of his very sharp teeth. The commander didn’t look any more convinced when Sloan offered the explanation than he did when Jaxon gave it, but his frown wasn’t as deep. He looked at each detective then down at the large dog at his side.
“Keep him out of my office. He is clearly aggressive.” He then turned and walked away.
“That was weird. Why was he being so aggressive toward the Chief?” Jaxon asked as she watched Rawlings march back to his office.
Sloan shrugged. “I have no clue. Maybe the Chief is secretly a cat person?”
That made Jaxon snort with laughter. “Somehow I doubt that. I guess I better take him to my place. We already know he would starve at yours.” Jaxon stood up to take Higgins to her house when the phone on her desk rang. Picking it up, she listened to the officer on the other end for less than thirty seconds before slamming the receiver down.
“We have another victim of the suicide killer. But he didn’t finish this one off. Let’s go see if we can find out anything.” Stopping suddenly, she looked down at the dog sitting at her feet. “Well, I guess he gets to go, too. Come on, Boy, we might just make a cop dog out of you if you hang out with us long enough.” Higgins seemed to like the idea, giving her a soft woof and a tail wag.
After loading the dog into the back of the unmarked cruiser, they sped to the local hospital. After letting the dog out of the car, she noticed Sloan giving her a perplexed look.
“What?”
“This is a hospital. You can’t take him in there, can you?” Sloan asked as he followed behind her.
“He is the only witness in a murder. I’m not about to leave him in the back of my car. If they ask, I will say he is on official police business.” When Sloan raised his eyebrows, she raised her own.
“What? He is, isn’t he? I’m not telling a lie. Besides, he is a trained therapy dog. He knows how to behave.” As long as Rawlings wasn’t around, she thought to herself. Higgins’ aggressive behavior toward her boss bugged her, but she hadn’t had a chance to think about it. When Sloan offered no other arguments, she led the way into the hospital.
“So where was he found?” Jaxon asked the officer who was there with the victim.
“He was left right outside a church, but that’s not the scene of the crime. He was attacked then moved when they believed he was dead or close enough to leave him.”
“I think they want the victims found. I thought it was odd when we found the last guy in the grocery store parking lot. The one before that was in the bus station bathroom. There hasn’t been much press chatter about this, so he isn’t getting publicity. I wonder what his thrill in this is.” Jaxon looked at the man lying in the hospital bed with an IV stuck in his arm pumping blood back into his body. He looked like any other guy you would see on the street. He didn’t look like a drug user or a gang member. He didn’t look particularly successful; he simply looked average. Unfortunately, the victim was still too weak for questioning, so they made arrangements for the officer on duty to call them when he was stronger.
Later that night Jaxon was sitting on her couch with a sleeping Higgins sprawled across her lap. Whoever trained the dog clearly didn’t teach it that he wasn’t the right size for a lap dog, but she decided she didn’t mind. The dog’s warmth and company was actually rather nice. Her favorite detective show was on the television but she hadn’t paid it much attention. The latest serial killer’s victim was on her mind. There was a clue staring her right in the face but she couldn’t figure out what it was. It was as if something was whispering in her ear that there was a connection between the murders and everything else that was going on in her city.
After catching herself nodding off on her couch, she got up and went to bed only to be awakened a few hours later by the sound of Higgins’ deep growl. Opening her eyes, she blinked rapidly, trying to wake up enough to see what had the dog so upset. Had Rawlings come into her home unannounced? Finally, she spotted him at the foot of her bed with the fur on his neck standing straight up and teeth showing; for a second she thought he was staring at her, but he was looking just above her head. Looking up, she saw a strange shadow on the wall behind her bed. What made it so strange was it didn’t belong to her or Higgins. She watched as it traveled slowly across the wall and toward the ceiling. Its long bony arms and slim misshapen body left no doubt that what she was seeing wasn’t human. Higgins’ growling grew deeper and louder as his body stiffened up, preparing for attack. Jaxon slid down to the foot of her bed one inch at a time. Carefully she eased out of her bed until she was kneeling on the floor next to the furious dog. The sound of her own heart hammering in her chest was nearly as loud as Higgins’ growling. She felt every hair stand up and watched as her breath came out in soft white puffs as the temperature in her bedroom dropped. She had found herself in a few situations that had caused her to feel fear, but not like this… nothing like this! The terror she was feeling right now was because she knew there wasn’t anything she could do to fight this thing on her own, and for once in her life she was completely defenseless. Or so she thought…
Unable to stand the intruder’s presence one second longer, Higgins exploded onto the bed, leaping upwards toward the dark figure.
“Higgins, no!” Jaxon shouted, but it was too late. The dark mass leaped off the wall nearly making Jaxon wet her pants when she realized it wasn’t a shadow, but an actual creature. It screamed and swirled around the snarling dog for a brief moment before it disappeared.
“Sloan! Sloan, where are you?” Jaxon scrambled to her feet shouting out Sloan’s name as she ran to her living room, flipping on every light as she went. She had just chambered a round in her pistol when he appeared.
He took one look at her pale face, trembling body and the gun in her hand before he pulled her into his arms.
“You had a visitor tonight.” He said it as a statement not a question
.
Nodding her head, Jaxon tried to get herself together enough to leave the safety of Sloan’s arms, but she couldn’t seem to do it. Closing her eyes, she listened to the baritone in Sloan’s voice as he whispered soothingly to her. Never had she felt so safe as she did in that moment.
“Jaxon?” Sloan pulled back then repeated his earlier statement about her visitor.
Nodding her head, she stepped back. Placing her gun on the kitchen table, she wrapped her arms around herself. “Yes, how did you know and what was it?”
“Without seeing it, I can only speculate, but I’m guessing it was a low-ranking demon sent to spy on you…feel you out, so to speak.”
“That thing touched me?” She couldn’t stop the shudder from running up her backbone.
“No, it had no need to touch you physically. It was testing your aura…your essence.”
“Okaaay,… and why would it do that?” she asked with a frown.
“To see whose side, you are on.”
Fifteen minutes later found Jaxon on her couch with a blanket around her shoulders a warm dog on her lap and a hot cup of coffee in her hand. She took several sips of the hot brew before lifting her eyes to Sloan.
“I want to know everything you know,” she demanded.
Sloan’s lips twitched as he fought off a grin. “That might take longer than we have right now, considering I have been around since pretty much the dawn of time.”
“Ha-ha. How about you tell me everything you know about what’s going on in this city. We got time for that?” Jaxon couldn’t stop the sharp edge in her voice.
“I can fill you in on what I can. Some things are not for humans to know.” He lifted his hand towards the ceiling when she opened her mouth to argue. “Hey, house rules. Nothing I can do about that.”
Rolling her eyes slightly, she waved her hand at him. “Fine, whatever. Tell me what you can, but first tell me why that thing in my room tonight thought I might be on their side.”
