Dog Tags for Christmas

by Lindsay McKenna

  The silence was even longer this time. “Yes, sir.”

  “Then you stay where you are and I’ll be over to get you, okay? Don’t move.”

  “I will stay right here.”

  Flynn got the name of the carryout and hung up. When he moved to grab his coat and car keys, Willow met him at the door. It was obvious she’d heard, because she handed him his things. “I’ll call Angela. Poor thing is getting no sleep today.”

  “I have a feeling this is much bigger than anyone realizes,” Flynn told her. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  With a final kiss he walked out the door.

  When Flynn and Mateo walked in the door an interminable forty minutes later, Willow cried out when she saw Mateo’s face. She made sure nothing was still bleeding, then dragged him into her arms. Immediately, he broke into sobs, telling her he was sorry over and over again. Willow hugged him tight, knowing that he was sorry. “You can’t help who your family is, Mateo. We all know that. You’re going to be okay.”

  When Angela arrived with another, older detective by the name of Stout, she gave Mateo a narrow-eyed look. “We’re going to record this conversation, okay? Detective Stout is going to question you and this has to be done right. It has to be done legally to stand up in court.”

  Stout introduced himself, sitting across from Mateo at the dining room table. “Do you agree that this statement is being volunteered willingly and without coercion?”

  “Yes,” Mateo told him firmly.

  “State your full name and age, please.”

  “Mateo Enrique Hernandez. And I’m fourteen.”

  Willow looked at Flynn in shock. The boy was only fourteen? They’d thought as old as sixteen.

  The story that Mateo poured out broke her heart. He had had nothing throughout his nomadic life, but now his father was beginning to make money by dog fighting. It was criminal capitalism at its finest.

  Willow glanced at the baby monitor. Raven slept like an angel, with no knowledge of how hard the world could be yet.

  Stout asked Mateo questions here and there, then asked him more pointed questions about the materials he himself had stolen. Guilt was written clearly across his face.

  “The bait dogs barely have a chance to survive. I try to take care of them, but some get so bad. The gray dog with the scars, Oscar?” he looked at Willow. “He was a bait dog for a long time, teaching the other Pit Bulls how to fight and attack. He had terrible wounds and almost died several times, but he kept getting better, so my father kept using him. It wasn’t fair to him, though. So, one morning I carried him out of the garage on my way to school. I hoped he would survive one more time and be able to be free. I called him Cruz.”

  He scrubbed his hands over his face, and it was obvious he didn’t want to cry in front of the police.

  “But the drugs that were stolen,” he continued, “that was my brother Paulo. He wants to be like my father, just after the money and the girls and the excitement. He doesn’t care about the dogs.”

  “But you do?” Stout asked skeptically.

  Fire came into Mateo’s dark eyes and he straightened in the seat. “Yes, I care about the dogs, but what am I supposed to do? I tried leaving the cages open, but he caught me. I tried hiding the medicine so that he would have to buy more, but that only hurt the dogs. He didn’t care if they were in pain, he fought them anyway.”

  “How many dogs does your father have, Mateo?”

  “Nine fighting dogs and twelve bait dogs.”

  Willow swallowed, afraid she was going to throw up. Because the Pit Bulls had been trained to fight, they would have to be strictly evaluated, then possibly euthanized if there was no chance of redeeming them. Such a terrible ending for a great breed. They were doing what they had been trained for, but it didn’t matter. Maybe they could find a rescue that dealt with former fighting dogs. There were a few around, but they were sorely underfunded and seemed to always be overcrowded.

  “So, the drugs that were stolen from Dr. James will be going to the dogs?”

  Mateo gave him a narrow-eyed look. “I’m tellin’ you all this stuff but how do I know I’m not killing myself by talking to you? What are you going to do with me when you get all your information?”

  Detective Holloway and Stout shared a look, and Holloway leaned forward, propping her elbows on her knees. “If we can get the information we need, we will set up a drug raid. Anybody illegal will be charged and eventually turned over to INS. We are trying to clean up our neighborhoods, Mateo. Your father is a very dirty part of it, and he will probably be sent back to Mexico.”

  Willow thought he would be disturbed by the news, but he merely nodded his head. “My mother and Paulo, too?”

  “If they are illegal as well, then yes. Your status as a naturally born citizen of the States gets you more aid than any of them. Honestly, you may be placed into foster care for a while.”

  The thought of him going to a home scared Willow, but it had to be better than what he was living through now. Mateo didn’t seem disturbed by the news. Actually, he seemed a little excited.

  Mateo shrugged and returned to the previous question. “With the size of the bottles Paulo took, they will probably split the drugs. Part of it he will save for the dogs and the rest he will sell to his buddy Benito. He cuts it with his heroine.”

  Stout looked up at the name. “Benito Torres?”

  Mateo nodded. “He goes to all my father’s dog fights and he’s the only one allowed to deal there.”

  The two detectives shared a look. Willow swallowed, feeling scared. This was so far out of her depth.

  “Paulo is friends with Benito and I think he’s been dealing for him a little. Paulo has broken into several different veterinarian’s offices for those drugs.”

  Mateo was doling out a huge amount of information and Willow could see both cops getting excited. They left a half hour later, leaving Mateo with Flynn and Willow. She had agreed that the boy could stay with them for the night, until they talked to a judge about a court order for the raid. Willow hoped they caught all of them in the act so that there was no doubt that Mateo had given them everything.

  Mateo seemed wrung out, but he sat petting Oscar like he was an old friend. Willow went into the bedroom and got Raven when she started to fuss. The baby looked at Mateo with interest, then grinned at him. Mateo grinned back and she could tell that they liked each other. She fed Raven a bottle, Willow was very distracted. She lowered to the floor to play with the dogs and Mateo.

  Flynn rubbed her back. “I think something big happened here tonight. I have a feeling this will have a huge impact on Mateo’s life for the better.”

  Willow nodded, feeling the same.

  Chapter Twelve

  Angela called her the next morning. “The court order is a go. When we go in tonight, if there are any animals that need care can you take them?”

  “Yes,” Willow said immediately. “You’ll have to take animal control for the aggressive dogs but anything injured bring them to me.”

  “Okay, will do.”

  “I kept Mateo here today with me.”

  “Okay, good to know. It may be a late one tonight, Willow.”

  “That’s okay,” she sighed. “I’m used to being up nights,” she laughed.

  It was just after midnight when Angela finally called. “We’ve got ten of the bait dogs coming to you as well as two of the fighting dogs. Two of the bait dogs are deceased. They got ripped up in the fights before we raided.”

  “Okay. We’ll be here.”

  Flynn dressed with her to help her at the office, and when they left the bedroom Mateo was waiting for them at the front door. Wrapping her arm around his shoulders, Willow hugged him to her. “Let’s go fix these dogs.”

  She texted Nicky and her tech immediately promised to come in.

  It was tough work, and just when she thought they had seen the worst something else presented even worse. It was one of the most harrowing nights of her life. />
  Four hours later Willow sank into her office chair. She thought that all twelve of the dogs would survive, although two were iffy. The dogs that had fought tonight had no fight left in them, and lay curled up in pain. She’d hydrated them and given them drugs for pain, but it would be a while before they recovered.

  The bait dogs had been shocky from the cold and the excitement of the night. Several of them had wagged their tails weakly when Mateo spoke to them, and Willow could see how much his family’s treatment of the animals hurt him. Several times she thought she saw him wiping away tears.

  “Hey, they’re out of there now,” she told him firmly. “We will find them wonderful homes with little boys who will play with them and feed them snacks.”

  Mateo gave her a smile, but it was half-hearted. “Yes, ma’am.”

  He acted as if he didn’t believe her, which just hurt her heart. He seemed happy that all of the animals had received treatment.

  They walked back to the house through the gently falling snow and Willow couldn’t remember being more tired at any point in her life. “I think I need to sleep for a week,” she murmured.

  Flynn tightened his arm around her. “Lets get you to bed. Mateo, you okay on the couch again?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Mateo sounded just as tired, and she had to admit that he had done so well. It was obvious that he had known many of the dogs that came in, even the fighting dogs, but it hadn’t stopped him from giving them care. “You did good tonight, Mateo.”

  Reaching out she wrapped her arm around his neck for a hug. He sagged into her. “That was hard.”

  “Yes, it was, but the dogs are better for the care that we gave them.”

  He nodded and held the porch door open for her.

  Flynn heard Raven fuss and he left the bed, leaving Willow to sleep. They were all going to be messed up today. Luckily it was Sunday and there were no clinic hours, but she would still have to go over and care for the injured that came in last night.

  Raven grinned when she saw him and held up her hands expectantly. Flynn changed her diaper and rubbed her feet against his beard stubble, making her squeal and jerk her legs back. As soon as he stopped, though, she held her feet up to him to do it again. “Typical woman, little miss. Changing your mind all the time. I see how you are.”

  Flynn carried her into the kitchen and found a couple of containers of baby food to warm up. In no time, Raven was covered in pear juice, but she was happy.

  Mateo came into the room, looking rumpled. “Hear anything?”

  “Not in relation to your family. What do you think you want to happen?”

  The boy sat down beside Raven and wiggled her hand in his. “I’m not sure,” he answered slowly. “I see you guys interacting with the baby, and I just know I never had that. My mother… well, I was an anchor baby, they called me. Paulo was supposed to be the one, but he was born early in Mexico. I was born in the states and they thought that my being a citizen would hold them here legally. No one cared about me personally. They were more concerned about the dogs than me. They probably won’t wonder where I am, even if they get deported. My father was on the streets in Mexico by the age of nine, so I’m old enough.”

  Flynn frowned, hating that it was obvious his words were what he believed. “You won’t end up on the streets. I won’t allow it.”

  Mateo glanced at him, then away with a philosophical shrug.

  “Go get something to eat,” he told the boy.

  Mateo walked into the kitchen. Flynn pointed out a cupboard with several different kinds of cereal in it, and Mateo just stood staring for a minute. Then he picked one and moved to the counter. Flynn pointed out the cupboard for the bowl and the drawer for spoons.

  When Mateo sat down there was a small smile twisting his lips. He sank into the cereal like he hadn’t eaten for a year. He glanced up curiously when Flynn set the cereal box beside him. “It usually takes a couple of bowls to fill me up,” he told the boy.

  Mateo killed the box of cereal, then seemed to feel guilty about it. Flynn waved off his concern. “We buy the food for it to be eaten.”

  Willow came out a few minutes later, freshly showered, hair already braided down her back. She paused long enough to give him a lingering kiss, walked over to Raven and gave her big smoochy love, then wrapped an arm around Mateo’s neck in a gentle squeeze. “How are you doing, hero?”

  Mateo scowled at her. “I ain’t a hero.”

  She moved to the kitchen. “I choose to completely disagree. Those dogs would not have survived if you hadn’t told the police about them.”

  She grabbed a banana from the fruit basket. The dogs all crowded around her feet, knowing that she was the softest touch for a treat, but she ignored them. Even the kitten lingered in the area watching. “I’m going to go care for the animals. I’ll be back in a bit, babe.”

  She leaned down for another kiss, but Flynn stood up to meet her. Taking her into his arms, he peppered kisses along her cheek and neck. “If you need help, let me know. Raven and I will walk over.”

  She nodded, peeling the banana. “Will do.”

  Oscar followed her out of the house. He would probably be a good comfort to the bait dogs.

  When he turned back to the table, Mateo was looking at him curiously. “What?” Flynn asked.

  The boy shook his head. “I just… my parents never did that.”

  Turning away, Mateo slurped up the last of his milk, set the bowl in the sink and hurried after Willow.

  Flynn wondered if Willow was aware she’d picked up another stray. Only this one wouldn’t be as easy to let go.

  All of the animals were holding steady. A couple of them had drastically improved and their personalities were beginning to shine through. Willow was happy to see several of them respond to Mateo’s soft voice.

  Detective Holloway called as they were finishing up the feeding. “Mind if I stop over?”

  “Absolutely. You can come see the dogs you helped saved.”

  When she arrived, Angela made the appropriate sounds as she looked at the animals. “It looks like they’ll all survive.”

  Willow nodded. “Definitely. Even though this has been stressful, I appreciate you bringing them here.”

  “Well, I appreciate you taking them. It was a bit of a madhouse last night.”

  Willow pushed a rolling stool over toward the detective, then took one for herself. She waved Mateo to grab one as well.

  When they were all settled, Angela looked at Mateo. “Everything was as you said. The drugs were in the house and they were actually completing the deal with Benito when we interrupted them. Your father made the mistake of trying to run, so he got taken down kind of hard. Benito had a weapon on him and Paulo fought, both of which mean extra charges. Your mother was also arrested and is already with INS. Everything you told us panned out. The animals were in the garage and there is enough evidence to pin drug trafficking on them, as well as animal abuse, dogfighting, and a list of other things. Last night was an excellent use of intelligence. We took a lot of drugs off the street. Just so happened Benito’s SUV was also carrying a huge stash of drugs he planned on selling when he got to the fight last night.”

  Mateo snorted. “He’s a bad dude. He needed put away.”

  Angela nodded. “I agree. Thank you, Mateo.”

  He shrugged away her thanks, arms crossed over his narrow chest.

  “Now the hard part,” Angela continued. “Child Protective Services will be over to talk to you in a bit, Willow. But I think you’re going to have to go with them, Mateo.”

  For a heart-stopping moment he glanced at Willow, then away. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Willow’s throat tightened at the anguish he was trying very hard to hide. “Oh, Mateo. You’re a tough kid. I have a feeling you’ll always come out on top, no matter where you go or what you have to do.”

  He scowled but didn’t argue with her.

  “I went into what I thought was your room and grabbed you
a few things,” Angela told him. “Hope you don’t mind.”

  Angela handed over a tattered duffle bag. It was stuffed to the rim with his shirts and clothes. And there at the side was the pair of boots where he had hidden his money. When he looked up Angela winked at him.

  Smiling, he shook his head.

  Willow caught the exchange as well and she appreciated that though Angela had seen a lot in her career she still had compassion.

  The woman who came from Child Protection Services a few hours later was not as understanding. She gave Mateo one look and seemed to make some kind of decision about him, because her questions were sharp and the expressions on her face skeptical. She kept glancing at her watch, so Willow knew she had some place she wanted or needed to be, but the entire conversation was disheartening. Maybe it was because she’d been called into work on a Sunday.

  Flynn probably made her more uncomfortable, but he wasn’t even trying to be intimidating. He was leaned against the far wall holding Raven, shades on, with Maya sitting guard at his feet. The CPS woman wouldn’t know, but Maya was so close because Flynn was tense. Mateo and Willow sat on the couch, with the woman sitting in the chair across from them. Willow held Mateo’s hand in her own, and he seemed to need the support.

  “So once he’s in the system we won’t be able to see him,” Willow asked.

  “That will be up to the foster family who takes him, but no, probably not.”

  In spite of her determination to not cry, tears burned in her eyes, but she refused to believe she would never see Mateo again.

  “And what about my dog?”

  The woman sniffed. “There are no pets allowed in the foster system.”

  Mateo’s hand tightened on her own almost painfully. Though he didn’t move, she knew without even looking at him that this had been the greatest blow he’d taken through the entire ordeal. Losing his parents had been nothing, moving nothing, but the loss of his best friend was going to wound him like nothing else. Ranvir had been one of the bait dogs he’d tried to rescue, months ago.