Wayward, page 9
“I agree,” the lady with the mastiff rushed out. “He might have hurt my sweet bunny, so thank you so much.”
I already knew Bruce was the kind of man who hurt animals and women. Not that her “bunny” would have been one of his victims. Her dog could have eaten Bruce, but I appreciated the support nonetheless.
Linda, who I noted then was the only vet tech in lavender scrubs, rushed over, and I passed her back her baton. “Thank you so much for the assist.”
She took it and smiled. “My husband got this for me for protection, and I even went to classes, but really, you did that much faster than I ever could have. You kept us all safe, and we appreciate it.”
“You’re very welcome,” I told her as we all heard the siren right outside, earsplittingly loud for a moment before there was blessed silence.
Through the glass, we saw a policeman arrive, get out of his cruiser, roll each man over so they were facedown on the sidewalk, and secure them with cable tie handcuffs on the wrists and ankles. Moments later, he walked into the clinic.
My first thought was that he looked like he should have been the one on the recruitment posters for whatever kind of law enforcement he was. The word clean-cut came instantly to mind. Built like a swimmer, tall, maybe six-three, with wide shoulders, a narrow waist, and long legs, everything he was wearing clung tightly to his solid, muscular frame. His dirty-blond hair was cut short on the sides, longer on top. He was not at all what I’d been expecting, but again, I had this whole small-town thing going on in my head that was much more Mayberry than Rune.
“Who kicked the crap out of Bruce and his cousins?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but everyone else answered him instead. So much sound happening at once, like a wall of voices hitting him, and I would have yelled again, just as I had earlier, but he took care of it himself by gently clearing his throat. It was a much better way of settling everyone down. Once it was quiet, he turned to Dr. Coleman beside me.
“Doc,” he said, sounding tired.
“Deputy,” Dr. Coleman returned the greeting.
“Care to explain?”
“Well, Maks here,” he began, indicating me with both hands, “found Viola Berry’s two dogs out on the highway near the bend, which I guess is where Bruce threw them and left them to bleed out and die after he cut both. Thankfully, he didn’t cut deep enough to do any real damage to the muscles. I suspect Delilah was probably thrown as well, maybe kicked, because Bruce managed to break her front leg in two places.”
Heavy sigh from the deputy, who glanced at me. “You brought the dogs in, did you?”
“I did.”
“And when Bruce came here, probably to assault Viola, you protected her and everyone else in the office?”
It was an interesting way to phrase my actions. “I couldn’t let him in.”
He tipped his head at the bolt-action rifle in my hand. “Does that belong to one of the men outside?”
“It does,” I replied, passing the weapon to him. “And it’s loaded.”
He checked and then emptied it. “Did the owner threaten you with bodily harm?”
I had to be honest. “He did, yes. But I didn’t take it as a real threat.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning you shouldn’t either.” I clarified for him.
“Okay,” he said with a nod as two other officers entered and looked around before turning to their boss. “We’re taking in Bruce and his cousins on animal-cruelty charges and—Viola?” he called out.
The woman in question came out from the back, and only then did I notice that beyond a split lip and a bleeding nose and a bruised face, she was cradling her left arm as well.
“Are you pressing charges?”
She nodded quickly.
“You and Harper have some place to stay tonight?”
She shook her head.
“They’re going to stay with me,” Linda apprised the deputy. “For as long as they need to.”
“Oh no, Linda. I can’t put you and Thad and the boys in danger if—”
“Thad?” Linda scoffed. “My Thad? Letting any of us be put in danger?” She chuckled. “Come on, Vi, think about what you’re saying.”
Viola opened her mouth to argue, thought about it a second, and then closed her mouth.
“Listen,” the deputy began, “Bruce and his cousins aren’t getting out tonight, and Bruce, certainly, is going to prison on parole violations, plus what happened with the dogs.”
Viola nodded quickly.
He looked at Linda. “While I know Thad is a scary man, between his training and those dogs of his, the fact remains that—”
“All our dogs are angels,” Linda said defensively.
“And scary as all hell,” he countered. “But still, if you have any trouble, call the station, you understand?”
She pressed her lips together tightly. “So you’re saying if anyone scales the perimeter fence with the razor wire on top, you’d like us to give you a jingle?”
He groaned loudly as Viola dissolved into tears, and Linda moved quickly to take the younger woman into her arms.
“You should have taken me up on my offer the first time this happened, Vi, but now you’re gonna be just fine until you get back on your feet. That family commune you live on isn’t a good place for you or Harper or your dogs.”
“Auntie Linda,” Harper asked, walking up beside her, “your doggies won’t eat Delilah and Peanut, will they?”
Linda chuckled, cupping the little girl’s bruised cheek gently in her hand. “No, darling, they love other dogs, just not people who trespass on their land.”
Harper nodded, smiling.
“And we have six altogether now. I can’t wait for you to meet them.”
“Good Lord,” the deputy groaned.
Linda shot him the fakest smile I’d ever seen.
He grunted. “Viola, you and Harper both need to go to the hospital. When Tan comes back in after they load up all three of those guys, he’ll take you on over to the Medical Center.”
She shook her head. “Deputy, I don’t have insurance, only Harper does.”
“We’ll take care of it. That’s what victim resources are for.”
Quick nod of her head.
Viola looked over at Dr. Coleman then. “I don’t have the money to—”
“I’ll take care of it,” I said, cutting her off. “Not to worry.”
“Oh, but you’ve done so much already and—”
“It’s fine,” I said in a gentle yet firm tone, trying to soothe her while also conveying that I was not taking no for an answer.
She caught her breath. “You’re sure?”
“I am.”
“Then thank you again.”
“You’re very welcome,” I said softly, smiling at her.
More tears then as her daughter rushed over to me. I wasn’t used to having little kids hug me, but I patted her on the back and assured her nothing bad was going to happen again. “Your uncle Thad will keep all of you safe.”
“Okay,” she whimpered.
When I glanced at Linda, she mouthed a thank-you. I had to wonder if perhaps Thad could come off a bit gruff to a young person. Maybe my vouching for him, after I’d saved Harper’s pets, was a good thing.
It took a bit, getting the three men into the cruisers. I watched as the deputy and his two men, Woosley and Tan, put them in the back of their utility vehicle, all crowded in together. All three, the deputy said, were telling the same story about how I’d attacked them. But since there was security footage from the front of the vet clinic that the deputy collected, there was no talking their way out of being charged.
The deputy stayed with us while his officers left with the men, taking them to the detention center in Seaside, where there were others to assist them.
“So are you the sheriff’s first deputy and the other guys are not deputies?” I asked, trying to get my head around the hierarchy.
“No,” he replied, looking up from the tablet he was typing on and meeting my gaze. “We have a chief of police here in Rune, Daniella Ramirez. She was promoted last year when her predecessor, Gil Brasher, took a job as the chief of police in Seaside.”
“So he basically moved to a bigger post, and Ramirez moved up. And the other two guys?”
He grimaced. “Were already here when I transferred.”
“The plot thickens,” I teased him, which wasn’t like me, but he was smiling and we were talking like regular people, which hadn’t happened to me in ages. I never met anyone new, but the past few days, between two sets of marshals and my trip to the vet, had been full of new faces. And the deputy’s was by far the best.
“Yeah,” he groaned. “Tan and Woosley are good guys. They’re just not…thinkers?”
I scoffed.
“There’s no way to make that sound any better, and believe me, I’ve tried.”
“So they’re great at following directions.”
“Yes. They’re great at executing orders,” he said, jumping on the compliment. “Just excellent at that.”
“But Ramirez, she needed someone who could think outside the box to back her up.”
“That’s what she said, yes.”
“And you wanted to live here in Rune for some unfathomable reason.”
He nodded. “I did. I used to live in New York, and I…shit, you don’t wanna hear my entire life—”
“Yes, I do. Please.”
He searched my face for a moment, took a breath, then said, “I lost a friend in the line of duty, and once, he was more than just…that.”
“I’m sorry,” I said softly.
Slow nod. “After that, doing the same job just wasn’t feasible anymore, so I looked for a new one as far away from home as possible and finally ended up here.”
“Do you miss home?”
He squinted at me.
“You said you looked for a new job as far away from home as––”
“I did?”
I nodded.
“Funny,” he husked.
“Because you don’t think of it that way anymore?”
“That’s right,” he agreed. “This is home now.”
“And do you love it here?”
He exhaled deeply. “It’s been a huge change, and I feel like I gave up a little, like I should have stayed there and stuck it out and—Jesus.”
“What?”
He straightened up from leaning against the counter and looked at me. “I never just—who are you?”
“Maks,” I said, smiling at him, offering him my hand. “Maks Gorev.” I was trying out the new name. I had wanted to use my mother’s maiden name, but that was too close, so instead I used her mother’s, my grandmother’s, a woman I’d worshipped, which would be a stretch for anyone to know, even my father. He had never concerned himself with my maternal family, whereas I knew everyone on my mother’s side.
He took my hand in his, holding on. “I’m Deputy Chief Gale Malloy, but you can call me Mal, most people around here do.”
But that couldn’t be right. “Really?”
“Yeah,” he said, looking at me oddly. “Why?”
I shrugged. “I dunno. You don’t look like a Mal,” I replied, admiring his pale-green eyes that reminded me of jade. My mother had taken me to lots of museums when I was young, before I was old enough for my father to take an interest in, and I’d seen so many magnificent carved pieces. “You look like a Gale.”
His lips parted as he stared at me. “My grandmother, she’s the one who named me. It was her father’s name.”
“I can stick with Mal if you—”
“No, no,” he cut me off. “Gale is good.”
“Okay,” I said, releasing his hand and shoving both of mine into the pockets of my jacket so I wouldn’t try and touch him or something.
I really wanted to touch him.
The yearning for another had been dead for so long that it surprised me with the sudden pulse of need. I wasn’t even sure what to do with that feeling.
“So what do you do, Maks?”
I sighed. “I have no idea. I’m starting over myself.”
“How funny,” he whispered, like that had surprised him.
“Yeah,” I said, my own voice going out on me.
We just stood there, quiet, staring at each other until he took a breath, like he was coming up for air from deep underwater, gently shook his head, and smiled at me.
“So I, um, need you to tell me from the beginning what happened today.”
And I had a thought: should I call Alvarez? She said to alert her over anything. Minor, major, and everything in between. Those had been her orders. But…Bruce and his cousins were already being taken care of by the local police, and then there was Gale Malloy, whom I had this unfamiliar urge to get to know better. I was betting that whatever had sent him to Rune had to do with him and his partner, his lover, working some kind of ongoing criminal investigation, and since I myself was a criminal, maybe finding that out would make him take a step back from me. I didn’t want him to take a step back, I wanted him to take one forward. Hopefully many. I didn’t want him to have any reason to put any distance between us.
“Well,” I began, “I was on my way from Portland and just driving, you know?”
He nodded, and I noted how warm his eyes were on me, how soft. “I do know.”
“And up the coast, it’s a nice drive, everything is right off the highway, but I think I took a wrong turn because it went from four lanes to two and then there was the dog.”
“So you’re the kind of guy who stops for dogs.”
“Of course,” I said, grinning at him. “Isn’t everybody?”
“No,” he said, and his voice sounded rough. “Not at all.”
We were definitely having a moment.
“Sir,” a vet tech I’d never seen before addressed me, and Gale and I both turned to look at her as she held a wiggling, whining Misha. “Your dog wants you.”
He was awfully cute to be a cock block.
SIX
My plan had been to leave the vet clinic without Misha. I was fairly certain it was the best thing for him. I knew nothing about having a pet. I’d never been allowed one—my father felt that caring for an animal promoted weakness. Later, when I’d seen him kick stray dogs to death, shoot at cats from his car for fun, I knew better than to put anything he could possibly harm in his orbit. He was a vicious man in all ways, and any pet of mine would have been in danger.
Now, faced with taking Misha with me, I realized I probably couldn’t keep a plant alive, let alone a dog. It was a terrible idea. Conchita—call me Connie—disagreed. She’d brought me the small white fluff ball because, she said, he wouldn’t stop howling since I left the back area where the cages were. I was going to argue, explain what was wrong with this idea, but the moment I tucked the dog against my chest, he instantly settled, nuzzling against me before letting out a long, contented sigh.
A chorus of awws swept through the room.
“Oh, Maks,” Gale murmured, reaching out to pet my dog. “He’s crazy about you.”
“Yeah, but I’m just renting a place, and I haven’t even been there yet. I have no idea if I’ll even be allowed to keep a pet.”
“You don’t know where you live?”
I shook my head.
“How?”
“I rented it over the phone, sight unseen,” I explained, which was true to a degree. Technically, Alvarez had rented it, but she hadn’t seen any pictures either. She’d found me a one-bedroom place in a remote location where no one would have eyes on me. That was what she’d looked for.
“I’m not positive of the address,” I told him. “But it’s something like Summerton or Summer Ridge or—”
“Summerland Drive?”
“Yeah, I think that’s it.”
“Interesting. If I’m right, I think you have the empty guest cottage behind Ada Farley’s place.”
“Why is that interesting?”
“Because I live in the Craftsman to her right. There’s a drive that goes down the middle, between our places, and I think you’re in the cottage at the end of it.”
“So we’ll be neighbors,” I concluded.
“Yeah,” he agreed, smiling at me.
The two of us, one way or another, would have been meeting today.
Strangest day ever, and because it was how my brain worked, there was a slight niggle in the back of my mind telling me that being anything but honest with this man was a bad idea. Nothing based on a lie ever turned out well anyway.
“I’m sure Ada will let you bring your dog,” Gale assured me. “She’s feisty, but I can tell you—from seeing all the barn cats she feeds and that she’s had Dr. Coleman pick up to be fixed and given their shots—that she loves animals.”
“So yes,” I addressed Connie, “Misha is coming with me.”
“Good. Now since that’s where you’ll be living, Misha will need protection,” she stated. “There are a lot of things out there dying to make a meal of a small dog.”
“Out where?”
“Misha needs a vest,” Connie called out, ignoring my question, and I saw two techs scramble to get whatever it was she’d asked for.
“What vest?” I pressed her. “And out where?”
Gale was chuckling beside me.
She waved her hand dismissively. “Summerland is on the side of the mountain, and the forest is a bit dense in that area. You don’t want to lose your baby to predatory birds or a pack of coyotes, now do you?”
“No, of course not, but—”
“Neon yellow or froggy green?” another tech asked, holding up two vests, one the color of safety gear on a construction site, the other of little life jackets I’d seen kids wear into pools. The colors weren’t really the interesting part. What made the vests stand out was that they were both covered in a mix of bondage spikes and porcupine quills.
“So? Which one?” Connie prompted, and I realized she was waiting for me to say something.
“I’m sorry, what are those?”
Long exasperated sigh from Connie. “They are anti-coyote-and-hawk vests.”
Apparently it was a really stupid question on my part. “Okay,” was all I could think of to say.
