Greyson (The K9 Files) - Dale Mayer Page 0,42

to go back to work too.”

He watched while she pushed the tendrils of hair off her face.

“Well, for the moment,” he said, “I’ll move into your downstairs and make sure nobody else tries to come into the house and take Danny again.”

“And that’s a temporary solution,” she muttered. “I need a long-term solution.”

“The only long-term solution,” he said, “is getting rid of this guy and finding out who hired him. If somebody was hired on, that is.”

She shot him a hard look. “Do you really think it could be anybody other than George?”

“What kind of event would cause him to do something like this, after all this time?” He looked over at Danny. “Why after two years would he come out of the blue and try to take him?”

Her shoulders sagged. “That’s the same question I’ve been asking myself since that fender bender,” she muttered.

“Exactly,” he said, “so we won’t rule it out, but we also have to focus on something other than just that, so we don’t make a mistake. I don’t want to be narrow-minded and get locked into one idea.’

“That’s fine,” she said, hopping to her feet. Grabbing their dirty dishes, she took them over to the sink and washed them. “And I appreciate you staying around to keep us safe,” she said, “but this is hardly what you’re supposed to be spending your time on.” And then she remembered the dog. “Oh, my God, what about the dog?”

“She’s in the backyard,” he said.

“But you said she can easily go over the fence.”

“I left her tied up for the moment,” he said. “I could hardly just bring her into your house without making sure it was okay with you.”

She shook her head. “Of course it’s okay with me. That dog saved Danny’s life. Twice.” She walked to the rear door, turned to look at him, and asked, “Do you think it’s safe?”

“I believe it’s very safe,” he said beside her, stepping out on the veranda. There on the corner, stretched out on her side, was Kona, the rope just letting her reach the veranda. He walked over, untied the end of the rope, and walked her inside the house. Stretching in front of the couch, Kona gave Danny a good sniffing over, then laid down on the floor right in front of him.

Danny had immediately slid off the couch and sat right up against the dog’s belly, then stretched out, with his chest over the dog’s chest. Kona just lapped up the attention from the little boy. She didn’t make any move to dislodge the boy. Not a twitch.

“We need to get her a collar and a lead,” he said. “This rope isn’t the best system.”

“Maybe not,” she said, “but it worked okay in the short-term.”

“It did, indeed.”

She motioned at it. “Do we leave it on?”

He hesitated, then nodded. “For the moment, yes.”

She frowned. “How will you go out and get a leash if she’s here with me? I’m not sure I’m capable of controlling her,” she said cautiously.

“I don’t think anybody needs to control her,” he said, “because she’s obviously pretty attached to your son.”

As they watched, Danny’s hand, which had been scratching Kona, slowed and eventually just stopped.

Jessica said, “Do you think he’s asleep?”

“Looks like it to me,” he said, “and that might solve your problem, since you said he wasn’t settling in so well.”

“Well, I knew he was tired, but this, this is too cute.” She shook her head, and Greyson smiled.

Then he got up with his phone, took a picture of it, and sent it to Badger. His response came back immediately.

Well, there’s the bond you mentioned.

Yes, but not necessarily the bond that will look after Kona, he responded. Then he looked at her and said, “I’ll crash here on the couch. Why don’t you take him up to his bed? He’ll sleep better.”

She nodded slowly and said, “Do you think the dog will be upset?”

“No,” he said, “Kona knows.” And he bent down, gently slid an arm underneath the little boy’s chest and legs, then passed him over carefully to Jessica.

She put him up against her shoulder and walked to the stairs. She stopped at the bottom, turned to looked at him and said, “Are you sure you are okay there?” she asked. “There’s not even a pillow or blanket.”

He pointed to a throw and said, “That’s there if I need it, so I’ll be fine,” he said. “I just want to have a short nap so I can recoup some of