The Devil's Menagerie (36 page)

“How do you think the parents will do?”

“I think they’ll do just fine. That woman … she’s strong, Braden. Real strong.”

They settled into companionable silence. The air turned cooler as a bank of fog crept inland. The weather pattern was changing, Braden had said. Summer was over. Temperatures would be dropping all the way down into the fifties. There was even a chance of rain.

Karen said, “You’re good, Detective—did I tell you that? A good cop, I mean.”

“Glad you clarified that.”

“You should be one of those fast-track guys—a sergeant by now, even a loo.”

“I was derailed. Maybe you heard the story.”

“Even so. You should’ve been able to ride over that incident.” She considered what she was saying. “I’ve seen something of politics in big-city police departments. I’ve seen it in the FBI.”

“No kidding!” Braden sounded aghast. “In the Bureau?”

She ignored his sarcasm. “I can see why you’d make your superiors nervous. You’re good, so they’d want to use you to make themselves look good, but you’d be a threat to them also. They wouldn’t want to help you onto that fast track.”

“I can see the advantages of having a resident shrink to explain these things to me.”

“I’m not exactly a resident.”

“You could consider it,” Braden said lightly.

This time she was silent for a long time. “I want you to know, Detective, it’s not a suggestion I’d reject out of hand. But I’m not ready. I discovered something about myself these past few weeks … that I can do what I do. Even if I’m scared.”

“I could’ve told you that.” He hitched his aluminum and plastic-webbed chair closer to hers, put his hand over hers. She didn’t withdraw it. Her skin felt hot to the touch. “Maybe you should stay the night, sort of a mini-trial run, you might say.”

“Well …”

As if in response to the suggestion, there was movement from inside the apartment. Karen heard nails clicking across the hardwood floor. A large dog joined them on the deck, a female golden retriever. She had long, silken, golden hair, a broad skull, a very cold nose that she pressed against the side of Karen’s hand, asking for a caress. She also had thick scar tissue on the back of her head and she dragged her left rear leg slightly when she walked.

Karen stroked the dog’s head. “You’re pretty good at keeping secrets, Braden. Until tonight I never knew you even had a dog. All this time you never mentioned her.”

“I put her in the kennel when this business started. I knew I wouldn’t be around here much, and it wasn’t fair to Duchess.” He paused. “She worries when she’s left alone too long.”

Something in Braden’s voice caught her attention.

He smiled. Duchess reacted immediately, coming over to him and trying to push her head in his lap. She settled for resting it on his knee while he fondled her ears.

“I got her from the vet. She’s spent a lot of time there. I think she thinks of it as a second home. They all make a fuss over her.”

“She was injured? In an accident?”

“She’s a rescued dog,” he said after a moment. “She was abused—beaten with a length of chain, among other things. That’s why she has that scar tissue here on her neck and back.”

Karen shivered. “She seems so friendly, so happy …”

“It took her a while to trust again, but she has so much in her it wanted to come out.”

They fell silent again. Traffic rumbled by along the beach road. A seagull drifted overhead, circled and landed on the railing at the far end of the balcony. Braden said, “You finish that burrito?”

“Every last crumb.”

“Not good for ’em anyway.”

The seagull walked along the railing for a moment before giving up and flying away. It flew into the thick cloud bank across the road and was swallowed up, like a figure in a vintage movie set in London.

“I could get used to this,” Karen murmured.

“The offer still goes. And you could find work here.”

“I already have a job … and I’m not finished.”

“There are still monsters out there.”

“Yes …”

She was amazed how comfortable it was, sitting there with him on his tiny balcony, watching the slow march of the huge gray cloud bank, feeling the air change.

“One less, now,” Braden said.

HISTORICAL FICTION

Trail: The Story of the Lewis & Clark Expedition

Down From the Mountain

SCIENCE FICTION

Down to Earth

Psychedelic-40

Barrier World

The Sentinel Stars

Corpus Earthling

No Place on Earth

THRILLERS & SUSPENSE

Way Out

And Hope to Die

The Lair

Night of Violence

Intruder

From a Dark Place

Nor All Your Tears

The Magnificent Siberian

The Brea File

The Devil's Menagerie

Stalk

The Ice

White Harvest

all available as Jabberwocky ebooks

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