Pretty Broken Dolls by Jennifer Chase

Chapter Twenty

Saturday 0945 hours

Katie felt energized and happier than she had all week as she drove to one of the lesser-used parks for police K9 training. Sergeant Hardy from Pine Valley Sheriff’s Department had invited her and Cisco to participate in routine training as the department’s own dogs practiced for an upcoming competition. It helped to keep Cisco’s energy in check and he would be doing what he loved most—searching for and catching bad guys.

Cisco whined and paced. He knew—most likely by the change of Katie’s energy level—that they were going to train.

Katie had called Lizzy and invited her to come and check out the dogs and training. She had sent a text with the location but didn’t hear back from her. Their shared military K9 training was one of the factors that had sealed their friendship. Few people knew what that type of bond was like until they trained and worked in police or military K9.

Even though Katie was on her own time and relaxing for a few hours off from the investigation, her mind was never far from the cases.

Yesterday had been intense, but she reviewed in her mind what they had really learned. She felt they understood Jeanine Trenton’s life a little better: her work environment was intense due to the workload and the lack of supplies—it was a job that wasn’t for everyone, and that was without the harassment that she had suffered. But Katie thought there were clues they were currently missing that would explain why she was murdered.

Katie turned into the parking area at the park where there were several K9 SUVs from Pine Valley as well as some from the surrounding cities.

Cisco amped up the volume of his whining.

“Easy, boy. Save all that energy for the bad guy.”

Katie got out of her Jeep and walked through the parking lot until she saw Sergeant Hardy talking with two officers that she wasn’t familiar with. He smiled and nodded when he saw her.

“Hi, Detective,” the sergeant said.

“Sergeant. Nice to see you.”

“Is Cisco ready for some action?”

“Always.”

“Good. We’re setting up for protection work and then some trailing to find the bad guy.” He made some notations on a clipboard.

“Great.”

“Are you on a tight schedule?”

“Not really. I’m meeting my uncle later, but he can wait.” She laughed.

“Well, it’ll probably be about twenty minutes before your turn is up.”

“That’s fine. Thank you.”

Sergeant Hardy added her name and moved on to the other officers.

Katie began watching the impressive teams working with a decoy—there were German shepherds and Belgian Malinois and one black Labrador retriever. She turned and saw a gold Camaro enter the parking lot. Recognizing it immediately, she hurried to the car.

“Lizzy,” she said, glad that her friend could make it.

“Wouldn’t miss this,” she said and shut her car door.

As Katie neared, she saw John get out of the passenger side. Taken back for a moment, she kept her composure. She thought Lizzy and John weren’t seeing one another because of the long distance, but they did seem like a good match.

“Hey, John. Nice to see you.” Katie smiled.

“Yeah, it’s hard to get him to get out in the fresh air,” Lizzy laughed.

“I can understand that.”

“I’ve heard so much about Cisco and his abilities, I wanted to watch the K9 teams in action,” he said.

“Glad you could come,” said Katie.

“C’mon, girl, let’s go check this out,” said Lizzy as Katie led the way.

The three of them joked and watched the impressive teams in action.

“Well, I have my favorite,” said Lizzy.

“The tan Malinois?”

“Nope, Cisco will always be my favorite. I remember him from the beginning.”

“Scott, you’re up next,” said Hardy.

“Go get ’em, girl!”

Katie hurried to her Jeep, opened the back door, quickly snapped on a leash, and led Cisco out. He was poised and ready. Always knowing when it was time to train or catch the bad guys, he waited for his handler’s commands. He looked exceptionally shiny in the sunlight.

Katie placed her gun in the holster and secured handcuffs to her belt.

They entered the area where an old baseball field once stood. There was a police car used to make the reenactment as authentic as possible.

“We’ll pop the back door when it’s needed,” said Sergeant Hardy.

Katie nodded. She knew this drill well and it was one of Cisco’s favorites. She glanced to the fence where Lizzy and John watched intently. Lizzy gave a wave accompanied by her big smile.

Katie put Cisco in the back of the patrol car and shut the door. She saw him chuff and whine as he paced back and forth.

She got behind the wheel where the keys awaited. Turning the engine over, it roared to life. She was supposed to drive across the field where the decoy—one of the officers in a heavy-duty bite suit—waited to agitate the situation.

Katie couldn’t help but flash back to her time on patrol in Sacramento. She wasn’t in a K9 unit, but sitting in the police cruiser brought back so many memories.

She put the car in drive and eased it forward. Cisco was barking and wanting to get to work. The decoy stood ahead, facing her and not moving. She shifted the car into park and exited the vehicle.

“Put your hands up!” she said. “Put them where I can see them!”

The decoy obliged and put his hands in the air.

“Turn around and put your hands on your head!”

The decoy hesitated.

“Do it now!”

He slowly turned around and raised his hands, placing them on the back of his head.

Katie walked forward assertively, approaching the decoy. She patted him down and then placed one handcuff on his right hand and then he turned and began struggling with her. He pushed her hard and Katie hit the ground.

“Cisco!” she yelled. “Fass!” she commanded in German, meaning “bite”.

The cruiser’s back door popped open and instantly a black blur flew out of the car and was attached to the decoy’s arm, taking him to the ground.

Katie climbed to her feet, watching Cisco.

“Okay,” said the decoy, and stopped moving.

“Cisco, aus!” she yelled, ordering him to release his bite.

Cisco did so immediately, relaxing his jaws, and sitting to await the next order, but still barking incessantly, never taking his eyes from the decoy.

Katie approached the decoy to secure the other handcuff and he grabbed her forcefully.

Cisco immediately jumped into action again.

“Aus!” Katie yelled and the dog let go. “Platz.” Cisco instantly lay down.

There were a few claps and whispers from the audience due to Cisco’s impressive skills of releasing the bad guy in record time.

Katie secured the other handcuff and escorted the decoy to the police car as Cisco obediently walked to heel at her side.

Lizzy and John whooped and hollered. “Good boy, Cisco!”

Katie laughed, feeling a bit winded due to the adrenalin pumping through her body. Taking the cuffs off the decoy, she said, “That was great.”

“Hey, sorry about shoving you so hard. I’m used to big guys.”

“No problem. Made it more real.”

The decoy went back to the exercise location as Katie snatched up Cisco’s leash. They walked back to the main area.

“Great job,” said Sergeant Hardy. To the rest of the group, he advised: “You could learn something from Detective Scott. Great call-off.”

Lizzy hurried to Katie. “Wow, you haven’t lost your touch. Cisco is spot on.”

“Thanks,” she said smiling. Katie loved the work.

“Okay, I’m totally impressed,” said John. “That was awesome.”

“Thank you. It’s a lot of fun, that’s for sure. These dogs are all amazing.”

Katie went back to her Jeep to give Cisco a rest and spent the next half hour chatting with Lizzy and John, waiting for her turn at the tracking and trailing exercise. She saw a different side to John from the professional forensic scientist side and found out that he was really funny and charming. She still didn’t know if Lizzy and John were going to try to make a long-distance relationship work, which made her think about Chad—wondering what he was doing at that exact moment. They had been playing phone tag, leaving text messages and voicemails but never quite connecting.

* * *

Katie had secured Cisco in a lightweight harness and a fifteen-foot leash so that she could have control of him as they moved through the forest for the tracking exercise. She waited for the green light from Sergeant Hardy. This particular exercise wasn’t a spectator one, which left Lizzy and John to wait at the parking lot until Cisco found the bad guy.

“All ready, Scott?” said Hardy.

Katie focused her attention ahead. The trail wasn’t like what she was used to. It was narrow and places were cluttered with low brush and downed tree branches. It was cooler in the dense trees as she gathered her thoughts.

“Cisco, such,” she said.

Cisco took the lead, keeping his nose down. Every once in a while he would stop and catch some scent in the air.

As the dog led Katie slightly downhill, she navigated the forest as best she could so that she could keep Cisco’s pace. It was tricky as branches scraped by her legs. She found herself in a bob and weave move every few feet, keeping small branches and pine needles from slapping her face.

Cisco slowed until he completely stopped. His ears up, he scrutinized the forest as he caught wind of something airborne and unnatural. The scent made him growl—low and guttural.

Katie stopped. She too listened but the only sound she heard was the slight breeze weaving through the trees. There were no birds chirping and nothing sounded in the underbrush. Goosebumps rose on her arms. Taking Cisco’s lead, she felt something was wrong. There were no footsteps behind her of the sergeant or any other officer following.

“Cisco, what is it?” she whispered.

Two consecutive gunshots exploded just above their heads. After two seconds, two more gunshots sounded. It echoed all around them.