Aimee Thurlo - Navajo Justice

As Laura put on Burke’s jacket and headed to the front door, Wolf came trotting up and sat directly in front of her, so close she could feel his breath on her leg. It was a little disconcerting, but as she looked down at him and saw him wag his tail, she knew it was okay.

Laura crouched down beside him and sank her fingers into the rough fur around his powerful neck. “I’m going to leave for a little while. You can watch Elena and make sure she’s safe.”

Laura tried to slip out the door, but the dog forced his way beside her.

“Wolf, no. You have to stay here.”

She pushed him back, hoping she wouldn’t get him angry, then slipped out the door quickly. Standing outside for a second, she heard him scratching at the door, but there was no howling or barking. Figuring she’d won this round, she locked the door and headed to her home.

Laura unlocked the front door and went inside, turning on the lights. The chaos the brightness revealed depressed her considerably.

Deciding quickly, she started in her office, knowing it was the one room she needed to get organized first, for her own peace of mind. Was it just her imagination, or did the room really look worse than when she’d left it a few hours ago? A relatively intact folder she was sure she’d seen earlier on the desk was now on the floor among the scattered papers.

Suddenly she saw a shadow out of the corner of her eye. Before she could even turn her head, a hand clamped down hard over her mouth and her arm was twisted painfully behind her back. It hurt so badly tears formed in her eyes.

“If you make a sound or struggle, I’ll rip off your arm,” the man growled. “Now tell me where it is, or I’ll just kill you right now,” he said, moving his hand back slightly from her mouth.

“What? What are you looking for?”

“Don’t play games,” he ordered, his voice no more than a rumble.

Terror shot through her. The man was crazy. Remembering a self-defense move the heroine of one of her books had used, Laura moaned and collapsed as if fainting, forcing the man to shift his hold to keep her from slipping away from him.

As his grip loosened, she stiffened and brought her heel down hard on his instep, simultaneously elbowing his stomach.

Laura screamed and twisted free. Only a few seconds ahead of her assailant, she raced for the front door, knowing it was her only chance.

Laura threw the door open, ran out and collided abruptly with Burke. He wrapped his arms around her, steadying her.

“Laura, what’s wrong?”

Her heart was pounding so hard she could hear it beating. “Someone grabbed me from behind,” she said. “He’s inside!”

“Wolf, guard her!” he ordered the dog, anger flaring on his face.

As Burke went past her into the house, Laura caught a glimpse of a figure going through the living room into the kitchen.

Realizing the man intended to escape out the back door, Laura made a split-second decision. She’d go around the outside of the house and try to catch a glimpse of him when he came out to the street. She needed to know who her enemy was and, with Wolf beside her, the man wouldn’t dare attack.

She was just approaching the driveway when the man leaped the fence that bordered her backyard, sprinting in her direction. She could hear Burke on the other side, closing in. Night shielded the stranger’s face in shadows and, before she could get a clearer look, he scooped up a large metal trash can and threw it directly at her.

At that instant, Wolf leaped up and knocked her to the ground, and the trash barrel missed by at least a foot. As it bounced across the yard, the man jumped into the passenger side of a parked car, barely escaping Burke’s leap over the fence and desperate lunge at the door. The vehicle roared away with squealing tires.

Burke ran a few more steps and, catching the vehicle tag number, wrote it down.

By the time Laura got to her knees, he was at her side. He helped her up, trying to gauge the extent of her injuries.

“Where do you hurt?” he asked brusquely, looking her up and down.

“I’m not hurt at all, I’m fine,” she assured him. “I have a few scuffs and bruises, but I’ll live.”

Burke shook his head. “Why did you try to head him off like that? What did you think you were going to do if you caught up to him?”

“I just wanted to get a look at his face. He threatened me in my own home.” Her voice trembled and she swallowed hard. “No one has a right to do that.”

“Home should be a place of safety, and he violated that. I understand. But you reacted without thinking it through,” he said, his tone somber. “And in situations like this, you can’t afford to do that. It’s dangerous to act impulsively, Laura. You have to be more careful.”

“I know, but I figured that with you at his heels and Wolf by my side, his focus would have been on getting away, not attacking me. And believe it or not, I never even noticed the car until he got in.”

Burke exhaled softly. “As you’ve seen, trouble can be anywhere. The intruder obviously had a partner. From now on, be more careful.” He looked down at the dog. “Okay, furball, if Laura ever goes off like that when you’re guarding her, subdue her. Knock her down and sit on her if you have to.”

Laura laughed. “He can’t possibly understand all of that.”

“No, but he does understand ‘Laura’ and ‘subdue.’ I wouldn’t try to run after a bad guy next time.”

“You mean he’ll bite?”

“Nah. He likes you. He’ll just knock you to the ground and stand over you, drooling. He’ll probably lick your face, too. Considering that he’s got a tongue that feels like a meat loaf, I can guarantee it won’t be a pleasant experience.”

“Ugh. That’s gross.”

“But true.” Burke cocked his head. “Come on. Let’s get back to your house.”

As they walked side by side, the warmth of his body so close to hers was unsettling. “I thought you worked at night,” she said, trying to bring her thoughts back to the business at hand. “Why did you come back so soon?”

“I just had to go meet with a contact. Investigations don’t depend on set hours.”

“So you are a cop?”

“A detective. Now tell me why you went back to your house when you did.”

“I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to get a head start cleaning up and making whatever repairs I could.”

They stepped inside her house a few moments later. The lights were still on and, as she looked around, she sighed. “I’m going back to my office,” she said, leading the way. “It makes me crazy to see paperwork from a project that took me between six months to a year to complete, scattered all over the floor like trash.”

“First, we need to call the police again. Don’t touch anything, but check as best you can to determine if anything is missing,” Burke advised.

Laura nodded. “I can tell it’s going to be a long night.”

LAURA STOOD WITH BURKE in the living room as the police car drove away. As before, there were no revelations, but at least the officers had the vague description Laura could give of the intruder.

“Now maybe I can pick up some of this mess,” she sighed.

“You’ve had two break-ins back-to-back,” he said, following her into her office. “Could they be related to something associated with your work?” Burke began helping her pick up the papers. Then, giving in to curiosity, he read the top paragraph of the page in his hand. “‘His mouth closed gently over hers…’ Whoa.”

“I write romance novels, Detective.”

He grinned widely.

It was the same condescending, amused look she got from men who’d never picked up a romance novel in their lives. The look she gave him in return made the temperature in the room drop by twenty degrees. “They’re not Machiavelli, but they take thought, skill and a lot of work,” she said in a hard voice. “And they’re not just about sex.”