Laura Scott - True Blue K-9 Unit Christmas

She waited, holding her breath, but the car didn’t return.

“Idiot,” she muttered under her breath. She looked down at Ricci, who nudged her with his nose. “I’m losing it, Ricci.”

Ricci wagged his tail and she hoped he wasn’t agreeing with her.

After cleaning up after Ricci, she went back inside. Ricci did the shaking thing again, spraying her with water. Pete’s kitchen would need to be thoroughly cleaned once they were gone. No doubt he’d had no idea what he was getting into by inviting them to stay.

Her cell phone rang, a jarring noise in the silence of the kitchen. She quickly answered it. “Hello?”

“Officer Johnson?” a deep male voice asked.

It took her a moment to recognize the detective’s drawl. “Yes, this is Officer Johnson.”

“This is Detective Zimmerman and I have a few more questions for you.”

She sank into the kitchen chair, wondering if Chief Jameson had already reached out to assign someone from the NYC K-9 Command Unit to work with him. “I’m listening.”

“Do you know Claire Munch?”

“Yes. As I told you earlier today she’s engaged to my ex-husband, Logan. But I can’t say I know her personally. She never said much when I dropped Jane off on the weekends she spent with her father.”

“I see.” There was a brief pause. “Can you be more specific? When did you last see her?”

She straightened in her seat. What was Zimmerman leading up to? “It’s been at least three weeks. She wasn’t always around when I’d drop Jane off.”

There was another long silence as Zimmerman digested this bit of information.

“May I ask what this is about?” Faith finally asked. “Have you spoken to Claire?”

“Claire wasn’t at the apartment she shared with Logan and the neighbors claim there were loud voices and some sort of argument going on between them roughly an hour before his body was found on the parkway. One of the neighbors mentioned he left, alone.”

Faith felt her jaw drop. “They had an argument, and now she’s missing?”

“I can’t say that she’s missing. For all we know she’s been staying with friends or at a hotel since their argument.”

Faith’s mind whirled with possibilities. Then, as long as she had Zimmerman on the phone, she asked, “Did you find any evidence of gunfire at the crime scene?”

“Nope. Nothing hit by a bullet or any bullet fragments.” He paused then continued, “I looked into your guy, Trevor Wilson.”

“And?”

“He was released on bail a couple of days ago. You may want to watch your back, Officer Johnson.”

Released on bail? Faith couldn’t believe it. “I will,” she belatedly responded.

“Oh, one more thing.” She waited. “Apparently your chief called mine and there’s an officer from your unit who will be assigned to work with me and my partner.” His tone was level, but she sensed he was frowning. “I guess you know about that.”

She couldn’t lie. “I asked for someone from my team to be included. I don’t think you should discount the help a good K-9 cop can provide. My partner was able to track Logan’s scent from the side of the road to where he’d fallen, which tells us he walked from the vehicle to the spot where he was stabbed.”

“Yeah, well, that information doesn’t help us much at the moment, does it?”

She wasn’t going to argue the merits of her K-9 partner. “Anything else, detective?”

“That’s it for now. Remember, watch your back.”

She disconnected from the call and sat for a moment, ruminating on what Zimmerman had told her. Claire Munch was missing, and Trevor Wilson was out on bail.

What did it all mean?

Pete woke up the following morning filled with an odd sense of anticipation. It had been a long time since he’d looked forward to a new day. Malina’s passing, preceded by several tense weeks of marital discord, had weighed him down. He’d moved forward for Mikey’s sake, and had even gone through counseling sessions with his son but hadn’t experienced the simple joy of being with someone in what seemed like forever.

Excited voices coming from the first floor had him hurrying through his morning routine. When he came downstairs, the scents of coffee and maple syrup made his stomach rumble with appreciation.

“You didn’t have to start breakfast,” he protested as he entered the kitchen. Ricci didn’t move from his seemingly new favorite spot, sitting between the two kids. He was too well trained to beg, but Pete knew he was smart enough to wait patiently for a morsel of food.

“Actually I did.” Faith gave him a harried look. She’d borrowed his sweats to sleep in last night and hadn’t changed back into her uniform yet. She looked adorable wearing his oversize things. “The kids were up early and complaining of being hungry so it was either listen to them whine or cook. I decided to make myself at home in your kitchen.”

“Sorry about that.” Pete realized he’d slept much better than his houseguest. “I can take it from here.”

She waved the spatula at him dismissively. “Don’t be silly. I’m already on the second batch of pancakes. Sit down. These will be ready shortly.”

After filling a mug with coffee, he did as she suggested. Mikey and Jane were seated on their pillows and had sticky smears of syrup on their faces. Mikey was blond, like Malina had been, and Jane was dark, like her mother, but at the moment they were acting like siblings. One minute they were arguing, the next they were grinning at each other.

“Daddy, can we build a snowman after breakfast?” Mikey asked.

“Yeah, can we?” Jane echoed.

Since Faith had pretty much promised they could, he exchanged a glance with her before granting permission. “Sure.”

“You’ll have to wait until we eat, too,” Faith cautioned. “You can use that time to clean up the mess from your fort.”

“I don’t wanna clean,” Mikey protested.

“Me, either,” Jane chimed in.

“Then I guess you don’t want to go outside to build a snowman.” Faith flipped the pancakes on the griddle.

Pete hid a smile as the two kids looked at each other, then back at their mostly empty plates.

“Okay,” Jane said. “We’ll clean up our fort.”

“Yeah,” Mikey agreed.

“Glad to hear it.” Faith took a damp washcloth to both kids’ hands and faces, before lifting them off their seats and onto the floor. Ricci gamely followed them into the playroom.

“That was slick.” Pete stood and brought the empty serving plate to the counter so she could fill it with fresh pancakes. “I should take lessons from you.”

“Trust me, it’s trial and error every day,” she said in a wry tone. She added pancakes and joined him at the table. “It’s not easy being a single parent, is it?”

“Not one bit.” He forked two pancakes onto his plate then looked at her expectantly. “I, uh, suppose you’d like to pray?”

Faith nodded and bowed her head. “Dear Lord, we thank You for this food we are about to eat. We also ask for Your strength and guidance as we seek Your chosen path. Amen.”

“Amen.” Pete looked at her curiously. “You really believe God has a chosen path for us?”

“Absolutely.” Faith didn’t hesitate. “It helps me get through each day knowing God is watching over me and Jane.”

Pete frowned for a moment, staring blindly down at his food. “It’s hard for me to believe that God wanted Mikey to lose his mother and for Jane to lose her father. It doesn’t seem right that he would put young, innocent children through something like this.”

“I know it’s not always easy to understand God’s plan,” Faith admitted. She reached out to touch his forearm for a moment, heat radiating from her fingertips, before taking another bite of her pancake. “And it’s true God often works in mysterious ways. I don’t have all the answers. All we can do is lean on Him for strength while moving forward, trusting that we will understand his plan for us when it’s time.”