Protect and Serve (Rookie K-9 Unit)

by Terri Reed

  As he waited for the Desert Valley police, he turned his attention to the woman sitting on the ground by the bushes. She’d drawn her knees to her chest and had begun rocking. Compassion tangled with suspicion. As much as he didn’t want to think ill of Gina, she certainly had a reason to dislike the lead trainer.

  “Gina, can you tell me what happened?”

  She didn’t acknowledge him but kept rocking, her gaze locked on something only she could see. He gently touched her shoulder.

  She started and scrambled away from him. “No, please, no,” she cried and curled into a tight ball.

  He backed away, giving her space. “Gina, I’m not here to hurt you.”

  She raised her teary gaze to meet his. She blinked as the glazed fog lifted. “Oh, Shane. We’re not safe. He’s here. He found me.”

  A knot in his chest tightened. He? “Who are you afraid of?”

  A visible tremor ran over her. “My twin brother, Tim.”

  “Wait, you have a twin?” He’d had no idea.

  “Yes. Two years ago he escaped police custody in Mesa and disappeared.” She rubbed at her temples. “I moved to Desert Valley to hide from him. I had hoped he wouldn’t find me here. But he has. And now...”

  Concern arced through Shane. They had an escaped criminal on the loose. Gina’s twin brother. Had he killed Veronica thinking he’d shot his sister? Or was this a contrived story to cover Gina’s crime? Was there really a brother, much less a twin? He didn’t know her well enough to know if she had a sibling. “What happened to Veronica?”

  “I’m not sure. I found her like this. I checked for a pulse.” She looked away. “There isn’t one.”

  He winced. She’d already contaminated the scene—if she wasn’t the perpetrator. “Don’t touch anything else or move again until the chief arrives, okay?”

  She nodded on a shuddering breath.

  “Why do you think your brother killed Veronica?” Shane asked her.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” She stared up at him. “He came here looking for me and instead found Veronica. He killed her out of rage because I wasn’t here.”

  “You didn’t see it happen?” Though her explanation was plausible, there were holes. “How would he know where you work?”

  “I don’t know. He’s smart.”

  “But you don’t work here anymore, right?”

  “What?” Her voice held a note of confusion.

  “Didn’t Veronica put you on indefinite probation?” It had been a spectacle. Veronica had turned her mean streak onto Gina yesterday right in front of the newest class of graduated rookies. Veronica had loudly and very publicly claimed Gina had used the wrong training technique and declared Gina was on probation indefinitely.

  Shane had attempted to talk to Gina after the incident because he’d felt bad for the pretty trainer, but she’d hurried home and he hadn’t seen her until now.

  Gina’s shoulder rose and fell. “She did. But in typical Veronica fashion, she called me this morning to apologize.”

  “That’s surprising,” he said. “She didn’t strike me as someone who would own her mistakes easily.”

  One side of Gina’s mouth curled. “Oh, it wasn’t a humble gesture. She does this almost every session. She gets mad for some perceived infraction and makes a scene.” Gina blew out a breath. “Veronica needed me to return to the center to process the intake of three new German shepherd puppies donated by Marian Foxcroft.”

  “So you were here today.”

  “Yes. This morning.” She wiped her forearm across her forehead. “I would have been at the training center this evening if I hadn’t already committed to serving at the community church’s Saturday-night potluck dinner.”

  He hadn’t known she attended church. He hadn’t seen her there these past few Sundays. “Do you mean the church’s singles’ potluck?”

  She nodded.

  For some reason the idea of her mingling with other singles rubbed him wrong. Which was so out of left field and inappropriate at the moment. Irritated at himself, he pushed the thought aside to focus on Gina.

  Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. He hated seeing her cry. Yet there was a jaded part of him that wondered if the tears were real. Were they a ploy to gain his sympathy?

  “Veronica wasn’t pleased that I couldn’t be here tonight,” she said. “But she agreed to microchip the new puppies and expected me to take over their care and training first thing on Monday morning.”

  However, that didn’t explain how Gina came to be here now. Something about her story felt off.

  The sounds of Desert Valley Police Department’s finest arriving drew Shane’s attention. Since the station was so close, several officers came on foot while the chief of police and the lone K-9 officer of the department drove to the training center.

  “Is that...?” Louise Donaldson, the first officer to reach the scene, clamped a hand over her mouth and turned away.

  Officer Dennis Marlton put a hand on her back and bowed his head as if the sight were too much to bear.

  Officer Ken Bucks staggered back several steps. Though it was too dark to see his expression, Shane imagined that seeing an acquaintance murdered like this must be a shock, to say the least.

  The last murder victim in the community of Desert Valley had been the wife of K-9 officer Ryder Hayes five years ago. A murder that had never been solved.

  Shane glanced at Ryder, his face hidden in shadows created by the many flashlight beams directed toward the victim. Sitting at Ryder’s side was his canine partner, a handsome yellow Lab named Titus. Shane had seen the pair around but hadn’t really had a reason to interact with the Desert Valley Police Department’s only official K-9 officer.

  Chief Earl Jones, a tall, imposing seventy-year-old man with thick graying hair, knelt beside Veronica and checked for a pulse, apparently to confirm Shane’s pronouncement that the master trainer was dead.

  When he lifted his head, tears shone in his gray eyes. He stood, his hands fisted at his side. He was clearly struggling to contain his grief and anger. “Who did this?”

  “Gina believes her brother, Tim Perry, did,” Shane said, noting that Gina hadn’t moved, just as he’d instructed her. “She didn’t see it happen, though. I haven’t asked her how she came to be here tonight.”

  “Hmm, her brother, huh?” Earl scrubbed a hand over his jaw.

  “Apparently he’s a wanted criminal in Mesa,” Shane added. Did the chief know Gina had a brother who was in trouble with the law? Or had she kept that information hidden? The thought made him wonder what else she could be hiding. Was Gina capable of murder? Was the story about her brother a convenient way to deflect blame?

  TWO

  “All right, everyone.” The chief’s voice held a sharp edge that swept over the group outside the Canyon County Training Center’s side yard. “We have a crime scene and a potential suspect. Let’s work this for Veronica and bring her killer to justice.” His voice broke on the last word.

  Shane felt for the man. It was no secret that the chief and Veronica had had a special relationship. Though they weren’t related, Chief Jones regarded Veronica as the daughter he’d never had.

  And despite complaints from other trainers and rookies that she was too harsh, critical and demanding, Chief Jones’s philosophy was if you couldn’t handle working with Veronica, how could you handle all the stress of being a cop or training police dogs and their handlers?

  Chief Jones barked out orders for Marlton to fetch standing lamps and Bucks to call the coroner and start documenting the scene. “Donaldson, gather forensic evidence.”

  Officer Marlton left and returned a few minutes later with two huge freestanding lamps. Within moments, pools of sharp glaring light replaced the darkness.

  Shane and Bella stepped out of the w
ay as Ryder and his dog moved past. Shane could only imagine Ryder was remembering his wife’s murder. But in this case they had a clear suspect. They would solve Veronica’s murder.

  Chief Jones pinned Shane with a questioning look. “Have you cleared the building?”

  “No, sir, I was waiting with Gina.”

  Earl turned to Ryder. “You good?”

  Taking a deep breath, Ryder nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “Clear the building,” the chief instructed. “And, Ryder, be careful.”

  “Yes, sir.” Ryder and Titus headed toward the training facility door, keeping a wide berth around the dark, bloody trail.

  The chief ran a hand over his graying hair. “I’ll need to let her brother, Lee, know. He’s the only family she had left.” He shook his head with sadness.

  “Is he here in town?” Shane asked. He hadn’t known Veronica had a brother.

  “No, he’s in the state prison. He was convicted of larceny a few years back.”

  Shane bit back his surprise as he turned his attention to Gina. Seemed she wasn’t the only one with brother issues.

  Officer Donaldson squatted down in front of Gina. “Honey, I need to swab your hands for gunpowder residue.”

  A stricken look crossed Gina’s lovely face, making her already pale complexion even more so. “I didn’t shoot her. I don’t even know how to handle a gun.”

  “It’s procedure,” Officer Donaldson explained as she worked. “Our department isn’t large enough to employ a crime scene technician, so all of us officers have been trained to do basic forensic collection.” She bagged the pad that she’d swiped over Gina’s hands and face.

  “I touched Veronica to see if she—” Gina turned away.

  “I’ll send everything gathered to the lab in Flagstaff. As long as the particle count is twenty or less, then you’re fine. Cross contamination happens.”

  “But even if you don’t find any sign of gunpowder on Gina, the lack of forensic evidence could be explained away,” Shane said. “Someone wearing gloves when they pulled the trigger wouldn’t have any residue on their hands. There could be some blowback on the perpetrator’s clothing.”

  Gina whipped her attention to him.

  “True,” Officer Donaldson said. “The lab won’t be able to process Gina’s clothes until she’s able to surrender them.”

  The flash of a camera burned Shane’s eyes. Officer Ken Bucks snapped shots of Veronica’s body.

  “Marlton,” the chief called to the older officer standing off to the side, observing.

  “Yeah, Chief,” Dennis Marlton answered, but didn’t step closer. He had his arms folded over his potbelly as if protecting his paunch. He was shorter than his coworkers and had gray, thin hair and watery blue eyes that squinted at the chief.

  “You and...” Earl frowned as he glanced around. “Where’s Harmon?”

  Dennis shrugged. “Late as usual.”

  The chief harrumphed. “Bucks, go with Marlton to canvass the area. See if anyone saw anything that might be helpful.”

  Bucks looked at the chief, his face glowing a pasty white in the light of the lamps. “I’m taking photos.” He pointed to the trail of blood. “You said to document everything before we lose any evidence.”

  “Right. Stay on it.” Earl turned his sharp steely eyes back on Officer Marlton. “You can handle the interviews alone.”

  Officer Marlton sighed heavily and unfolded his arms. “Fine.” He trudged off, mumbling about having to do everything himself.

  Shane watched him. His father, a police chief in Flagstaff, would never have stood for such disrespectful behavior from his men. First Harmon not showing up, then Bucks defying an order and Marlton making it clear he wasn’t happy doing his job.

  There was a rumor going around that Chief Jones would be retiring soon. Perhaps that was why the chief wasn’t strict with his employees. Or it could be the grief and shock of Veronica’s death.

  “I’ve gathered what I can from Gina,” Officer Donaldson remarked as she held on to the evidence bags.

  “Thank you, Louise. We’ll get Gina’s clothes bagged. Would you track down Harmon and then start a search for Tim Perry? Build a profile. I want to know where he’s been and what he’s been doing.”

  Louise nodded, her usually serious expression even more grim on her pale face. “On it.”

  Earl squatted down in front of Gina. “When was the last time you saw your brother?”

  Her hazel eyes looked too large for her petite face. “Do you mean before tonight?”

  Shane frowned. “So you did see him tonight.”

  She kept her gaze on the chief. “When I returned home from the potluck, he was in my bedroom. He had a knife. I ran downstairs hoping to get to the phone but he was too close so I escaped out the front door and ran this way, hoping to make it to the station, but then I found...” She closed her eyes.

  “Why were you hiding in the shrubs when Bella and I arrived?”

  Her eyelids popped open. “I was afraid you were Tim.”

  Or was she hoping she could slip away undetected?

  A car pulled up. Shane yanked his gaze from Gina to see Sophie Williams, another trainer at the center, emerge from behind the wheel. Tall, earthy and willowy, the former K-9 cop’s normally confident demeanor was lacking as she hurried over.

  Her shoulder-length blond hair was tied back in a messy ponytail, and her hazel eyes were anxious as she took in the scene. She and Veronica had clashed many times during Shane’s weeks of training. He watched Sophie closely. Was her shock real? Could she and Gina have come up with a plan to off their boss?

  Sophie halted beside Shane, but her gaze was on Veronica. “Oh, no. Is she...?” She clamped a hand to her mouth. Tears leaked down her face.

  “Sophie, what are you doing here?” Earl asked, clearly puzzled by her presence.

  “I heard on the police radio that something had happened at the center,” she explained. Her teary-eyed gaze moved to Gina and widened. “Oh, no, Gina. Are you all right? Were you attacked, too?”

  Before Gina could answer, Earl filled Sophie in on the details. It was clear by the way his voice shook that he was hanging on to his composure by the tips of his fingers.

  A few minutes later, Randolph Drummond, the mortician who doubled as the coroner, arrived wearing a subdued black suit, white button-down shirt and black tie. He carried a medical bag. He stopped a foot away from Veronica’s body to don gloves and booties, then he squatted beside her.

  Bella whined. Shane stroked her head. She let out a loud bark just as a commotion broke out near the doors. Two small German shepherd puppies raced out of the center, followed by Titus and Ryder. The older dog circled the puppies, unmistakably in an attempt to corral them.

  “Oh, no,” Sophie said.

  Gina jumped to her feet. “The puppies are loose. How...?”

  Shane snagged Gina by the elbow before she could chase after the puppies. “We need your clothes.”

  She blinked at him, then grimaced. “Of course.”

  Shane turned to the chief. “Veronica was microchipping the puppies tonight and was supposed to come over to the condo afterward to work with James and Hawk.” K-9 rookie officer James Harrison and Shane shared the furnished condo used by out-of-town rookies. “I’ll call James and let him know what’s going on. Maybe Hawk will be helpful.” James’s bloodhound, Hawk, specialized in crime scene evidence.

  The chief held up a hand. “Have him clear Gina’s house before you take her home to change. Bring back her current clothing in an evidence bag.”

  “Sir,” Shane spoke up. “Shouldn’t she be taken to the station for questioning?”

  Gina let out a small gasp. “You can’t really believe that I...”

  The stricken hurt in her eyes st
abbed at him, but he couldn’t rule her out as the murderer, not until forensic evidence cleared her. “You had a very good reason to want to hurt Veronica.”

  “So did many other people,” she shot back.

  “True.” Including the other trainer, Sophie. Could the two women have conspired to murder their boss? Though Sophie had once been a cop, that didn’t mean she couldn’t have colluded with Gina. Hmm. Something to talk to the chief about later.

  To Gina, Shane said, “Veronica humiliated you on Friday. And from what I’ve heard, she stole the fiancé of one of your best friends.” He hated throwing the rumor in her face but it went to motive.

  “It’s true Veronica did steal Simon from Jenna just to prove she could. It broke Jenna’s heart and caused her to resign and leave, not only the training center but Desert Valley.” Gina squared her shoulders. “And yes, I may have loathed my boss, but I never wished Veronica dead.”

  He wanted to believe her. There was something about the young trainer he found very attractive. Even now, she was standing up for herself but not in an over-the-top display of hysterics or viciousness. He respected her quiet confidence in the face of hardship.

  Yet his father had always told him that the evidence never lied, only people did. Was Gina lying?

  And Dad had said to never make a judgment on innocence or guilt until all the evidence came in. “If your brother is truly after you as you’ve stated, then you should be where you can be protected.”

  Earl narrowed his gaze on Shane. “She’s been questioned. She’s innocent until proven guilty. But you’re right, she’s in danger and needs protection. That’ll be your job, Weston.”

  Oh, man. He hadn’t expected to be given a protection assignment. What did he know about being a bodyguard? He’d trained to be out on the streets, catching criminals and thwarting the schemes of bad people. Surely the chief would want someone with more experience to protect Gina. “Are you sure—”

  Earl arched one eyebrow as he cut Shane off. “Yes.” There was no room for argument in his tone. Then Earl turned his gaze to Gina. “Don’t leave town.”