Trained to Protect

by Linda O. Johnston

  Remaining in the driver’s seat, she called back to Peace, “We’ll get out in a minute, I promise.” Then she pulled out her phone where she’d already programmed in her students’ numbers in case she needed to update them on a class time or something else.

  Now, she texted them.

  Peace and I have been asked to do a therapy session with a senior at the Chance Hospital this afternoon. I’ll describe it at our next class. Therapy dogs are in demand!

  She considered sending the same text to Doug and Maisie but they were a different kind of student. And with their relationships with dogs, they wouldn’t be surprised at this latest event.

  She’d let them know later—and in some ways would look forward to contacting Doug about it.

  “Okay,” she said to Peace when she was through. “Let’s go inside.”

  Like last time, she and Peace walked from the parking lot to the front of the hospital and into the lobby area, with Amber and Sonya along now. Also like last time, Peace got a lot of stares and quite a few smiles. Elissa had, of course, tied her identification scarf around her neck.

  Once again, the young receptionist, Rona, was at the front desk. Elissa asked for Petra and Rona called her then came around to greet Peace.

  Petra soon appeared in her blue scrubs, and first greeted Sonya, then Amber and Elissa. “Thanks for coming,” she said, also bending to pat Peace’s head. “Please follow me.”

  She told Elissa that the area where most senior patients were given rooms was on the third floor. “This particular one, Florence, has been in heart failure. Her treatment appears somewhat successful, but she’s sure she isn’t going to survive—and her resulting depression could make that a self-fulfilling prophecy. Her family says she likes dogs, so your therapy was the first thing that came to mind.”

  “Peace and I will definitely do what we can,” Elissa said.

  “Judging by your performance last time, I’m optimistic that you’ll be of help. I’ll take you there now.”

  They rode the elevator and were soon in the hallway outside the room Petra said was occupied by Florence and another older woman who’d also had a heart attack but was due to be discharged later that day. “The doctors paired these two together in the hopes that a roommate with positive results would help Florence’s state of mind, but that unfortunately hasn’t been the case.”

  Petra knocked on the door but pushed it open before either patient said anything. As Peace and Elissa, as well as Amber and Sonya, followed her in, Petra first approached the thin, smiling lady with soft gray hair who sat and watched television on the bed on the left. “Hi, Millie. You ready to go home today?”

  “I sure am. Can I take that dog with me?” Her gaze had landed on Peace and her smile broadened.

  “Nope, sorry,” Elissa said. “But you can definitely give her a hug.” Peace had done this often enough that she knew what to do when Elissa pointed toward the bed and said, “Go.” The sweet dog hurried over and, standing on her hind legs on the floor, nuzzled at the bed’s occupant, who laughed and patted her head.

  Elissa noticed that Sonya and Amber stayed near the door, as did Petra. After a minute Elissa said, “Good dog, Peace. Now, down.” Her dog obeyed and then Elissa pointed to the other bed. “Peace, go.”

  Once again Peace obeyed the command and in moments was standing on her hind legs with her front paws on the room’s other bed. It was occupied by a woman who appeared much older and definitely frailer than her roommate. Her hair was short and white, and her eyes were closed. She had small breathing tubes in her nose hooked by a clear hose to an oxygen tank on a platform beside her bed, and on her other side stood two women who might be family.

  “Hi, Florence,” Elissa said to the patient. “I’m Elissa, and this is Peace. Peace is here as a therapy dog, and she loves to help people.”

  “I really hope she can help our mother,” the older of the two standing women, in a straight black dress, said in a low, pessimistic voice. Her brown eyes were sad and her mouth grim.

  “Yeah,” said the other, who resembled her sister but was dressed more casually in jeans and a T-shirt.

  “Okay, then.” Elissa approached the bed, too, where Peace remained standing and wagging her tail but not otherwise attempting to get Florence’s attention. Elissa reached over and lifted the woman’s bony, wrinkled arm nearest to the dog. She laid it back down carefully on the bed, watching the woman for her reaction as Peace nuzzled it.

  In moments the woman’s eyes opened and she turned her hand over to place it under Peace’s chin. She made a noise that sounded somewhat questioning.

  “Florence, Peace would love for you to pet her, if you’d like. If not, she can just stay here and keep you company. In fact, maybe we could get her a bed on wheels so she can lie down beside you.” Elissa glanced questioningly at Petra, who remained at the door behind her with the others. The head nurse nodded and disappeared into the hallway.

  Amber approached Elissa and said softly, “I know it’s quick, but we’ll leave now. This has been great so far.”

  The two K-9 Ranch women left after a goodbye wave from Sonya to Elissa.

  When Elissa looked back at Florence, she was amazed and pleased when the woman said, “Peace?” Florence lifted her head to look at the dog as she moved her hand to pat Peace’s head. “Peace. Beautiful dog.”

  Elissa heard a soft gasp from one of Florence’s daughters. They both were smiling and both had tears in their eyes.

  Thank you, one mouthed to Elissa.

  A first session like this, with a person who had a difficult medical condition, tended to be short. But since Florence’s condition might not be as grave as the patient thought it was, Elissa planned to stay for twenty minutes unless told otherwise by Petra or someone else. The head nurse returned fairly quickly with an assistant helping her to wheel in a bed. They placed it right beside Florence’s on the side opposite the oxygen tank, arranged some sheets over it and then helped Elissa get the dog onto the bed.

  For the next twenty minutes Elissa found herself grinning along with the woman’s daughters as Florence talked to Peace in brief but loving terms, stroked the dog, laughed as Peace licked her, and moved over so Peace could get close to her on her own bed.

  This was one wonderful therapy session, Elissa thought.

  She felt in tune with her dog, as she knew the best therapy dog handlers did. Likewise, she believed Peace also on some level knew what her handler thought and felt. Plus, Peace clearly adored people and seemed to thrive on lavishing doggy love on them.

  Elissa used her phone to take pictures after getting the daughters’ okay, and Florence nodded about it, too. She told them she might post the pictures on social media to help promote the therapy dog classes she was giving at the Chance K-9 Ranch.

  Online stuff. Elissa would be glad Doug could see that and not just the accusations against her.

  “That’s fine,” said one of the women. “If you can get other dogs to help people this way, we’re thrilled to have our mom as an example.”

  As Peace continued her therapy duties while Elissa watched, she discussed timing of future sessions with Petra and the daughters. The consensus was for her to come every other day, if possible. Once again, the staff would ensure that the patient’s hands and clothes were cleaned. Elissa then exchanged contact information with the daughters, too, whose names were Pat and Fae.

  Eventually, the timing was right for the session to end. Though Florence appeared to want more time with Peace, she looked exhausted. Plus, that twenty minutes Elissa had allotted was now over—the maximum time she had figured would work best for a first session.

  “I won’t get to see Peace again,” said Millie from the other bed after Elissa had said goodbye to Florence but promised to return soon. “I’m leaving this afternoon. But I’m so glad I got to meet her—and I’m really happy that she was able to
help Florence so much.”

  Pat and Fae had expressed similar thoughts and Petra, who’d left for a while but returned, did the same. “Good job, both of you,” the nurse said as they entered the hallway and shut the door behind them. “Thanks so much. I’ll let our administrators know how well this worked out. I know not everyone was happy about the presence or training of therapy dogs here, but I’m sure now it will be fine.”

  “That’s great,” Elissa said, feeling thrilled. No matter what had happened to bring her here full-time, she now truly believed she—and Peace—belonged. “We’ll look forward to working more here, including visiting Florence again.”

  It was time to leave now. Elissa had an urge to call Doug to tell him how well things had gone—but that would only be appropriate if they actually had some kind of relationship.

  Although she could let him know, as she had with her other class members, that Peace was now acting not only as a trainer of other therapy dogs, but also as an actual therapy dog here.

  Yes, that would be a good reason to contact Doug—and Maisie, too. Later.

  Elissa stopped at the reception desk again, this time to say goodbye for the day to Rona.

  “Yes,” she said in response to Rona’s question, “things seemed to go great. Hopefully you’ll see us here again soon, and often.”

  “Wonderful!” the young lady exclaimed, adding to Elissa’s good feelings.

  As Peace and she walked out the front of the building and around the pathway to the parking lot, Elissa thought again of Doug, who’d been supporting her emotionally through some rather ugly stuff. Why not share something good with him now, as she’d previously considered?

  Later, she reminded herself. Maybe when Peace and she had returned to the ranch or—

  She’d reached her SUV and walked around it to the driver’s side, ready to open the rear door to let Peace inside.

  And stopped. And gasped.

  Attached to the side mirror was another of those damned signs. A small one. But it looked very much like the kind that had appeared at the K-9 Ranch.

  This one read “Therapy dogs and handlers are crap. You and your dog will pay.”

  Chapter 18

  The call came while Doug was in his office with Maisie. They were seated at their desks, their dogs at their feet, and his sister had been telling him about her latest assignment—accompanying some officers on a raid of a potential illegal narcotics sales facility.

  Griffin was definitely a skilled scent dog. He had alerted on some very large stashes in what was supposed to be—of all things—an exercise gym and health club. Health?

  “Some of the guys in charge have connections with other similar facilities,” she had been saying, “so you and Hooper can help check them out.”

  He’d been about to confirm they’d be glad to help when his phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket.

  Elissa.

  “Hello?” he said somewhat cautiously. He had already talked to Gil about the internet references to Elissa and the confusion about their origin. He intended to talk to her about it—but not this soon. Not while Gil was trying a few more avenues to get answers.

  “Doug? Doug, I need your help.”

  His heart immediately started racing. “What’s going on? Where are you?”

  She hadn’t finished her description of the latest sign and where it was before he stood, his eyes meeting Maisie’s. “I’ll be right there,” he said into the phone. “For now, go back into the hospital lobby where there are people around and wait for me.”

  He barely had time for a brief explanation to his sister before he’d grabbed his uniform jacket, attached Hooper’s leash and ran out the door.

  The hospital wasn’t far from the station but he drove there in case he needed wheels for his part of the investigation. He immediately saw Elissa’s SUV in the parking lot and grabbed a space near it. He and Hooper first circled the vehicle on foot.

  The sign was still there. Unsurprisingly, she’d been smart about it. He called the station to have a crime scene investigator sent there.

  “Stay,” he told Hooper. His dog could guard the SUV while he went inside for just a minute—and found Elissa.

  Sure enough, she was in the lobby as he’d instructed her, sitting in a far corner of the busy room with Peace lying on the floor at her feet. She looked pale and frightened, staring down at her hands folded on her lap.

  He was a little surprised she was by herself since she now knew some people here—but maybe it was better this way. Without knowing who had hung that sign, or the previous ones, trusting no one seemed a good decision.

  He rushed over to her. For a few seconds when he stopped right in front of her, she didn’t even look up. But when Peace stood and started nuzzling his leg, Elissa seemed to shrug off her fright, at least a little.

  When she met his eyes, she immediately stood and threw herself against him. He gently put an arm around her and gave her a brief hug before stepping back. He was in uniform. He was on duty and had an investigation to conduct.

  But what he really wanted to do was to hold her close and comfort her.

  “I saw what you’re talking about before I came inside,” he told her. “I’ve called in to get an investigator sent over. Let’s go out and wait, okay?”

  “Okay,” she said then looked him in the face once more. Some color had returned to her skin and her expression now seemed more determined than scared. “Thanks for coming. Now, please, get whoever is doing this.”

  * * *

  Okay. She had to get hold of herself. Even if Doug wasn’t there, she needed that. She could do that. She had Peace with her. Her dog might not be a police K-9, but even as a therapy dog she would protect the human she loved—or at least bark and growl at anyone menacing her.

  But as they followed Doug back to the parking lot where Hooper sat stiffly beside her SUV, Elissa knew that her renewed sense of courage was largely because of Doug’s presence...and not entirely because he was a cop about to investigate the latest threat against her.

  Peace seemed to recognize that Hooper was on duty. She wagged her tail but did not approach her K-9 buddy.

  “Okay,” Doug said when they stopped beside her SUV, “tell me exactly what you did this morning, and when and how you did it.”

  He had been with her when Sonya had passed along the request that she conduct a therapy dog session with an ill senior at the hospital, and she told him that was mostly what she had been up to. “I even told my students about it by text, just to let them know how in demand therapy dogs and their handlers were. I didn’t include Maisie or you, though, but only my new students without a background in training dogs.”

  She described all that had occurred in the hospital room with the ill lady and how she had responded. And how, when the session was over, Elissa had simply led Peace back to their vehicle to head back to the ranch—and discovered the sign.

  “It was horrible,” she finished. “But I took a picture with my phone.”

  She noticed a couple of official police vehicles arriving. Doug soon spoke to the occupants and they discussed how to check out her SUV and the sign and any other evidence they could find.

  Which Elissa found sweet and kind. She hadn’t been physically hurt by all that had been going on in her life, even though she had most likely lost her beloved job. Even so, she felt horrible. Scared. Angry—in a futile kind of way.

  Doug soon joined her. “We may have a break here.” He pointed up toward some power poles. “Security cameras. Maybe we’ll be able to see whoever did this. Anyway, right now I want to take you back up to the ranch while the investigation is conducted. We’ll get your vehicle home to you later, when all this is done.”

  “But I hate to put you to any more trouble,” she said, while at the same time feeling relieved that not only would she be leaving this difficult scene, but
that she’d be in Doug’s presence a little longer.

  “Believe me,” he said, looking so deeply into her eyes that she felt herself flush—and wish he’d never look away. “It’s no trouble.”

  Tension resonated in his SUV, especially since Doug spent most of the time on the phone, using its Bluetooth connection to talk to the investigators.

  At least that way she could hear what was being said.

  One investigator had taken possession of the sign. He had dusted her vehicle for fingerprints and said he would do the same with the sign when he returned to his office. He had gone into the hospital and spoken with its security staff, who were sending him the footage taken by their cameras during the pertinent times.

  Soon they headed up the ranch’s driveway. “Let’s stop at the main house first,” Doug said after he parked. “I don’t think Amber or the others here are involved with all this, but I want them to know what happened—and that the Chance PD is on it, and not just its K-9 unit. It hopefully will be safer for you if they’re aware you’re home, too.”

  “Okay.” Elissa appreciated his reasoning and had no problem letting her bosses know of her presence. But she also wanted to be alone for a while.

  As it turned out, they were all in the yard watching Evan present a K-9 lesson to handlers from another police force and their dogs. This wasn’t the time to let them know what was going on. But at least they would know she was back.

  Doug and Hooper accompanied Peace and Elissa to her house, where she unlocked the door and promised to lock it again behind them. She expected Doug just to leave.

  He didn’t. Instead he asked her for a bottle of water, which she provided, getting herself one, too, and making sure the dogs also had a drink. Then he accompanied her into the living room. And immediately pulled her into his arms. Then he kissed her—hard and long and so deeply that she nearly grabbed his hand to lead him to her bedroom.