Bourbon Blaze Read online

  “Thank you.” She settled back on the pillows. “How long have I been here?”

  “Three days, so far. You’ll probably be in for a couple more days. The dog tore into the back of your arms. The paramedics had to sedate you, you wouldn’t stop screaming and crying.”

  Sophia closed her eyes as her cheeks heated, not wanting her boss to see her shame.

  “Stop”. His voice was filled with compassion as he reached over and laid his hand over hers. “Nothing is embarrassing about this, Soph. I have to know, has this happened before?”

  “Yes.” Sophia responded through quivering lips. “Only once. When Tomas lost his job six months ago.” She lied. There was no way she was going to admit it to her boss, or anyone else.

  They both glanced up when the door opened, and a female police officer entered with an older man, wearing a white coat, close on her heels. The officer’s name tag read, “Beckett.” Sophia vaguely remembered a female voice telling her she was safe. She’d said her name was Kimberly Beckett.

  The older gentleman smiled at her. “You’re awake – good! I’m Dr. Hawke, I was the surgeon who operated on you when you came in. Let’s take a look at you to see how you’re doing.” Sophia studied the doctor. With his calm demeanor, and gray hair, he reminded Sophia of a grandfather. He took her wrist, placed his finger on it, and peered at his watch, taking her pulse. He then used his stethoscope to listen to her chest, before checking the bags hanging from the IV pole. “You are a very, very lucky lady. The paramedics gave you a mild sedative at the scene. You were torn up. We had to rush you to surgery and stitch you up. The tendons on the back of your left arm were torn. We repaired it, then we addressed the rest of your injuries.”

  “How many stitches did I need this time?” Sophia asked.

  “On both arms, your head, hands, back, legs, and buttocks, a total of four hundred and ninety-six stitches. Most of them are dissolvable. I’ll be keeping an eye on them while you’re here. Depending on how long you’re here, I can remove the ones on the back of your arm that sustained the most damage. You’ve been here for three days, we’re keeping you for another three, to make sure you don’t tear the stitches. We’ve got you on IV antibiotics to ward off any infection.”

  The doctor made sure Sophia didn’t have any further questions before he left, leaving Sophia alone with her boss, Chris and Beckett.

  “I suppose you need my statement.” Sophia wasn’t looking forward to it, but she knew there was no way out of it.

  “Please.” Beckett pulled a notebook from her pocket, and with a pen poised over it, she nodded at Sophia. “Whenever you’re ready.”

  She took a deep breath before she let it out slowly to tell her story. “I met Tomas three years ago and we dated. I moved in with him three months after that. It didn’t take long for us to learn a romantic relationship wasn’t for us. Because of our financial situations, we agreed to become roommates, without benefits. I never suspected Tomas could be an abusive asshole, and everything was fine until six months ago.”

  Officer Beckett asked. “What happened then?”

  “Tomas’s brother, James Carp, was arrested for operating an illegal dog-fighting ring. Dawg, D-A-W-G, the one that attacked me, was James’s number one fighting dog, he won all his fights. When James was arrested and sentence to five years, Dawg was assessed and found not a danger to anyone – how, I don’t know. Anyway, Tomas gained possession of Dawg. Around the same time, Tomas lost his job. He’s been unable to find another one. I don’t even know if he’s been looking for one. His unemployment benefits are due to run out in the next month.”

  Beckett jotted a few things down, then asked, “So, what happened to cause this last attack?”

  Sophia shrugged and winced in pain. God she was a mess. “I worked late. I didn’t call to let Tomas know I wouldn’t be home at my normal time.”

  “Where do you work?”

  “HALO Customs, this is my boss, Chris Bannerman. I’m a motorcycle detailer. I stayed late last night . . . or three nights ago, I guess, to finish a job, making sure everything was perfect before I left. I was hot and tired when I arrived home. Being late, and not calling to let him know, was strike one and two. Strike three, Tomas wanted to know where the beer was. I snarked and told him since I didn’t drink it, I don’t buy it. That’s when he punched me in the side of the head. Then he ordered Dawg to attack me.”

  “I have to ask, why would he get upset if you were only roommates? I could understand if you were still dating the guy, but not if you were only roommates.” Chris shook his head at her in confusion.

  “Yeah, I don’t understand it either. It seemed like in the last few months he thought he owned me. Like he could control me.”

  “Go on,” Beckett said when Sophia paused to wipe away a few tears that’d started to fall.

  Sophia winced as she tried to cover her embarrassment with her bandaged hands. She took several deep breaths to calm herself, but she felt more tears roll down her face.

  “Tomas used his belt, the buckle, along with the leather. I can’t tell you how long it went on before the police arrived.”

  “Why were you there?” Beckett asked Chris. “I remember seeing you when we arrived.”

  “Correct. After Sophia left work, I cleaned up my office and noticed I’d forgotten to give her this month’s extra paycheck, along with her regular one. When I showed up at Sophia’s, the neighbors told me what was happening, they were standing around, waiting for you guys to show up. I’d heard the sirens, and you came not a minute later.” Chris rubbed his forehead, sighing deeply, unable to look at Sophia.

  “Extra paycheck?”

  “We’re a custom shop, our prices are a little bit more than others. All artwork is designed to the customer's specifications and approval. Several times, customers are thrilled with the results of the new paint job and they tip. We don’t expect them to, it’s up to the customer, however, most of them do. Once a month, I figure out who earned what, and I cut them an extra check. I decided to swing by Sophia’s on my ride home, since it’s only a couple minutes out of the way. When I arrived, I heard screams, barking, and vicious growls. The neighbors were on the sidewalk. When I tried to get to you, they held me back, saying they’d called the police. I heard the sirens and decided to wait for you to arrive.” Chris kept his head down, not looking Sophia in the eye.

  “No, you did the right thing,” Officer Beckett said. “When we went in, there was no stopping man or beast. You might have been torn limb from limb if you’d gone in to stop them.”

  “Oh God.” Sophia jerked up and stared at the officer in shock. She could only remember bits and pieces of what’d happened after the attack started. “You didn’t kill Dawg, did you?”

  Beckett shook her head. “No, we used a taser on both. Carp was arrested. Animal Control took Dawg to the animal shelter. He’s being kept in quarantine until the rabies test results come back, and he can be assessed. I stopped by there before coming here; he’s shown no signs of aggression toward any of the workers since he’s been there.”

  “They told us the same thing after James went to jail. Thank you for not killing him. I don’t think I could live with myself if I caused Dawg’s demise.” Sophia shuddered at the thought of killing an animal. “What about Tomas? What’s going to happen to him?”

  “He’s still in jail. This occurred on Friday night, he won’t go in front of the judge until tomorrow morning. Today’s a holiday, the court is closed until then.”

  Before Officer Becket could continue, Sophia asked, “Can I press charges?”

  “That was my next question. Do you want to?”

  “Of course.”

  A thought occurred to Sophia and her eyes went wide. Beckett noticed. “What’s wrong?”

  “I live with Tomas, besides my bike, camping gear, art supplies, computer, and clothes, everything in the house is his. I don’t have any place else to go.” Sophia’s head flopped back onto the pillows, wincing in pain. �
�I do have a second cousin who lives in east bum-fuck nowhere, Iowa.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Chris assured her. “I’m taking care of things. Once I hear back from my contact, I’ll let you know everything. Chris was glad to see Sophia settled down again. After Officer Beckett asked a few more questions before leaving. Chris made sure Sophia was comfortable and didn’t need anything before he left for the night. He took a long way home, trying to clear his head. At home, he parked his motorcycle in the garage, went into the house, pulled a beer from the refrigerator, and made a call. “Hey, bro,” Curt Bannerman said as he answered. “What’s up?”

  Chris sat down in his favorite recliner in his living room. “Hey, got a couple questions for you.”

  “Shoot.”

  “How’s HALO-Iowa coming along?”

  “Christ, Chris.” Curt let his breath out in a rush. “Busy as fuck. I can’t keep up with the demands. I’ve hired three more people, so we now have a total of eight employees, not including me. With Dana and the kids, it’s been chaotic around home. The shop is as demanding as the one in Daytona. Why do you ask?”

  “I have a situation here, nothing to do with the shop, except maybe leaving me in a lurch.”

  “Talk to me, brother. I’m at the shop now. I’ve got time.”

  “Remember how hard it was to replace you? I went through three detailers after you left.” Chris took a sip of his beer as he settled back into his chair.

  “Yeah, but you found someone almost as good as I am. Someone you don’t ever plan on losing.”

  “Correct, her name is Sophia Swanson, and she’s a godsend with an air gun. But we have a situation here and I need to send Sophia to you. I need you to keep her safe.” Chris rubbed his forehead as he waited for his brother’s response.

  “Talk to me.” Curt ordered.

  “You remember how we cut an extra check a month if customers leave a tip?”

  “Yes, I’ve started doing it here.”

  “I forgot to give Sophia hers on Friday. I decided to drop it off on the way home, since it wasn’t really out of my way.”

  “Go on.”

  “I approached the house Sophia’s neighbors were outside. I heard screaming, yelling, and a dog barking and growling. I tried to go inside, the neighbors told me to wait, that the cops were on the way. I waited until they arrived. I saw through the window Sophia’s roommate was beating her with a belt, and a German Shepherd was attacking her.”

  “Christ, is she still alive?”

  “Yes, Sophia received over four hundred stitches. Most of the damage was to the back of her arms, shoulders, and upper back. The dog ended up tearing a tendon on one arm. The dog is being held at the animal shelter for observation, and the roommate’s in jail. He’ll be in court tomorrow morning. She’s pressing charges.”

  “I should hope so. Why are you telling me this?”

  “I don’t know who or where, but she said she has a second cousin who lived in ‘east bum-fuck nowhere, Iowa’ – her words, not mine. I thought after she was released from the hospital, she could come work for HALO-Iowa. Get her out of Daytona.”

  “And keeping her safe. Do you think the asshole will get jail time?”

  “We’re hoping, but we won’t know until court tomorrow.”

  “Send her my way. I’ll talk to Dana about it when I get home. See if you can find out who her cousin is. Text or e-mail me all her information. I’m sure we can put her up until she contacts her cousin.”

  “Thanks, brother.” Chris sighed as he felt a weight lift from his shoulders as they spent the rest of the call catching up on business and family. Soon Sophia would be safe and working with his brother. Chris didn’t care which HALO she worked at. He wasn’t letting someone with that much talent get away. Chris’s overprotective, overbearing, big-brother, personality, was eased after he failed to rush into the fray to save Sophia when she’d been attacked. He knew he did the right thing by waiting for the police, but it didn’t sit right that he did wait. He could have helped her sooner.

  1

  Stormville, Iowa

  * * *

  Sean Kilduff shuffled into his kitchen, sighing in relief when he noticed the coffee was ready. He smiled when his dog, Kilo, came in through the doggie door at the back of the house. Kilo was his partner at work, a K-9 for the sheriff’s department. When not at work, Kilo was treated like a family pet. Sean worked the afternoon shift. He usually got home around one in the morning and was too wound up to go to bed. He’d fallen into the habit of going to bed around four. Normally, that wasn’t a problem, but this weekend he had to be up at seven for some training, and he was dragging ass.

  Thank goodness he’d had the foresight to prepare the coffee before he went to bed three hours ago. Pouring a cup, he took a bracing sip of the strong brew as he tossed Kilo a dog biscuit. He turned on his heel and stumbled toward the hallway.

  “I’m going to shower.” Sean told the dog. “Hold down the fort.” Fifteen minutes later, he was back in the kitchen, filling his travel mug. The food he’d left for Kilo the night before was gone. Sean to nodded, knowing Kilo would eat it when he was ready. Sean looked around and shook his head in amusement when he found the dog spread out in his dog bed.

  Kilo, a four-year-old Belgian Malinois, was smart, and the best work partner Sean had ever had. Sean was a deputy sheriff for the county. After leaving the military, he’d gone through the police academy, joining the county sheriff’s office after graduation.” Kilo was the first K-9 dog to come to their county. Over the last three years, once a month, Sean and Kilo went to surrounding counties in the state to help train other K-9’s.

  Kilo was double trained. When Kilo had been bought by the Sheriff’s department, Sean was asked to be his handler, they had gone through training together. They trained for the general duties of a K-9, which included tracking and biting apprehension. They lived in the middle of east bum fuck nowhere, Iowa. At the time Kilo had come to the department there had been a rash of bomb threats in the area. It had been decided that Kilo would be trained for bombs and not drugs. With K-9’s its either one or the other to signal out for the handler. Bombs or drugs.

  After being trained to sniff bombs, Sean regretted they hadn’t been trained to sniff out drugs. Until they’d been called in by the State Police to sniff for bombs on several of their cases. As part of the training they were going to today, Sean would be talking to the other K-9 handlers about their dogs’ abilities. He was starting a list of which dog was trained for which purpose, hoping it would come in handy in the future.

  Sean snickered, and shook his head when Kilo started to snore. He laid on his back with all four legs in the air. His snoring could wake the dead. Once he had everything, Sean grabbed his keys and said, “Let’s go.”

  Kilo was on his feet and at the door in under five seconds. He shook himself, looked up, and whoofed at Sean.

  “Ready to help the pups out?” Sean asked, again talking to the dog as if he were a real person. Sean held the door open for Kilo, stepped out, and locked it after him. He held open the back door to his police issue SUV. Kilo jumped in and settled on the back seat. Sean went to the driver’s door. He settled in before he started the SUV, he glanced in the mirror.

  “Settle in, Kilo. We’re going two counties over for this month’s training. It’ll take us the better part of two hours to get there.” Sean grinned when the dog gave a small woof and laid down with his head on his paws.

  Thirty minutes before he arrived at his destination, Sean’s cellphone rang. Pushing a button on the steering wheel, he answered, “Kilduff.”

  “Sean, it’s Donna from the office, I didn’t wake you, did I?”

  “No, I’m about thirty miles from my destination. If you recall, I have training today.”

  “Crap, I forgot. Never mind.”

  “Donna,” Sean said. The woman was a wonderful woman but could be scatterbrained at times. “Why did you call me?”

  “Neil called in. I wa
s wondering if you could cover for him.”

  “Nope, you’re going to have to call him and have him come in. Have you told the Sheriff he called in?”

  “Not yet,” Donna said. “I didn’t want to bother the man. I was trying to help Neil out without involving the Sheriff.”

  “Sorry, but when it comes to Neil, I’m not going to be doing him any favors. It’s because of him I’ve been switched to the afternoon shift. It hasn’t been a week yet, and he’s calling in. I’m calling bullshit, tell the Sheriff, or I will. And Donna.” Sean paused. “I will be calling Phil on one of my breaks to follow-up with him to make sure you let him know Neil called in.”

  “Fine.” Donna had hung up on him.

  Sean sighed as he rang off, he settled in for the rest of the drive. Neil Saunders was a deputy for the sheriff’s department. Sean had been with the department for eight years. Neil’s been in for two years, but more like three and a half if you wanted to get technical. When he’d joined the department, he’d already been in the Army Reserves. Six months after joining the Sheriff’s department, the Reserve unit Neil was with had been deployed to Afghanistan. Neil spent the next fourteen months in the desert. He returned a different man. The fun-loving, happy-go-lucky, easy to smile man, was no more. Neil was serious all the time. He hardly ever cracked a smile. He had even stopped going out with his co-workers for a beer after work.

  Sean thought Neil suffered from PTSD. Before leaving for Afghanistan, Neil worked the afternoon shift. The shift Sean was now on, from three in the afternoon until midnight. After returning, Neil had gone back to the afternoon shift, but Sheriff Phil Olsen didn’t like how Neil hadn’t been getting any sleep. After talking it over with Sean, the two men temporarily changed shifts. This way, Phil could keep a closer eye on the younger man.