Something inside Jules finally relaxed. They’d all be together. “Let’s leave the doors between the rooms open.”
“Of c-course.”
* * *
It was hard to return to the drudgery of reports after talking to Jules, listening to her sexy sleep-roughened laugh and the warm note in her voice as she’d told him good night. He wondered if she’d made up the possible Viggy sighting to have an excuse to call him, and then Theo frowned. If she hadn’t, if Jules really had seen something moving in the woods, what had it been? Just a mule deer or a coyote, or could it have been something more dangerous, like a mountain lion or a bear or a person skulking through the trees? Although Monroe was a fairly quiet town, it did have its share of troublemakers and criminals. He should stop by, check things out.
“Better look around, just in case,” he said out loud, making Viggy raise his head. Although the dog wasn’t plastered against the seat like the first few times Theo had taken him out, his body language was still screaming that he was unhappy.
“Want to go see Jules?” he asked, feeling like an idiot. Viggy wouldn’t understand him. For some reason, though, Viggy thumped his tail weakly against the seat. Despite knowing Viggy couldn’t understand English, and that the dog had responded to something in Theo’s tone, rather than the words, he chose to take Viggy’s reaction as affirmation that he was doing the right thing. “Okay, then.”
Ignoring the little voice in his brain that was mocking him for his pathetic attempt at finding any excuse to visit Jules, he shifted into drive. He’d just pulled out of the car wash parking lot when his radio came to life.
“Unit 5449 requesting assistance on a traffic stop in the three-hundred block of Timson Street.”
Theo was less than a mile away. As he picked up the mic to tell dispatch to put him on the call, he resigned himself to waiting to see Jules. At least he knew she’d be at the diner later. Dispatch copied his transmission, and Theo flicked on his overhead lights, accelerating down the abandoned street. With as little traffic as there was, he kept his siren silent. No need to wake the sleeping neighborhood, he figured.
“Ready for this?” he asked Viggy. There was no tail thump that time, just a mournful look that Theo caught in the rearview mirror. “Sorry, buddy. You’ll have to wait to see your fan club. Otto needs our help.” His foot pressed harder on the gas, and a tiny shock of excitement bubbled up in him. It was familiar, yet foreign, since he hadn’t felt anything except for numbness on a call for months. Theo welcomed that surge of adrenaline. He’d missed it. Turning the corner onto Timson, Theo saw the front of a newer Ford pickup. Behind it, Otto and another man were silhouetted by Otto’s squad car headlights.
“Vehicle belongs to Gordon Schwartz,” the dispatcher continued, and Theo’s shoulders tightened. Schwartz meant possible explosives, which meant Lieutenant Blessard was going to want Viggy to do a check. Theo glanced in the rearview briefly as he pulled in behind Otto’s vehicle. Vig’s tail was firmly tucked, and he’d started panting tensely, the very picture of canine anxiety.
Quickly letting dispatch know he was on scene, Theo got out of the car, turning on his portable radio as he did so. Otto had Gordon out of his pickup and in cuffs, and Theo cautiously approached, his gaze scanning the scene to make sure someone else wasn’t going to pop out on them. As he passed the truck, he looked in the bed and then the cab. Gordon was screaming at Otto until he caught sight of Theo.
“You!” Gordon gave a bitter laugh. “Why don’t you sic your vicious attack dog on me? Oh wait, because it’d run and hide! Perfect dog for a fucking useless, tax-stealing pig who wants to stomp on my constitutional rights!”
Theo cocked an eyebrow at Otto, who gave an almost invisible eye roll in return, making Theo have to swallow a smile. The big guy was usually the king of poker faces, so Gordon must’ve been aggravating him. Otto started searching him, and Gordon’s yelling ramped up several decibels, especially when Otto carefully extracted a Beretta Nano from the cargo pocket of Gordon’s BDUs.
“You’re violating my second and my fourth amendment rights, you fascist asshole!” Gordon screamed.
Otto handed the compact pistol off to Theo. He cleared it, and then placed it and the magazine on the hood of Otto’s squad car. There were four other cleared handguns there, and Theo shook his head. The guy was prepared for a battle. Theo had no doubt they’d find a lot more when they searched his pickup, too.
“Theo,” Otto said, projecting his voice to cut through Gordon’s rant. When Theo looked at his partner, he saw Otto was holding out yet another gun, this one a 9mm Glock. Theo accepted gun number six as Gordon’s protests rose to an outraged howl.