Page 14 of Operation: Discovery

Brendon nodded. “Yes, Pete. He’s ten. How old did you say you were?”

“I’m eight, so he won’t be in my class.” Adam popped the candy in his mouth and sighed.

“But you could enjoy the week together and then Pete will know someone at the school when he goes. He used to live about an hour from here,” Brendon said.

“I didn’t know there were any children here at Wayside.” Dee wasn’t sure what to think of families living on the same property as people going through life counseling for human trafficking.

“Only until the housing is built next door at the Homestead. Connor just bought the land a few weeks ago after a fire destroyed the old house that was there. He’s working with the county to get permission to put up multiple dwellings like he did here. Turns out, doing what you want isn’t as easy as you’d think.”

“Oh?” She tried to keep her surprise a secret at his willingness to talk to her about Wayside matters. Since he’d been suspicious of everything she’d done since they parted ways, his ready answer came as a shock.

“If he has two properties with multiple dwellings, then he’s a landlord. He doesn’t want to be a landlord, since he doesn’t charge us rent. The county says that the housing then becomes a condition of working for him, which is still payment. It’s a tangle and I’m not sure how he’s going to work through it.”

She knew nothing about real estate, but could feel Brendon’s frustration with the process. “It seems like sometimes laws meant to protect some, step on the feet of others. And it’s not that one wants to break a law, but I’m sure there are people who are glad to have it on the books.” People who lived in residences where owners had many houses, but weren’t taking care of their tenants, like whoever owned Moira’s house.

Adam filled the sudden silence. “Our landlord isn’t a nice man. Mom thinks he goes into our house when we’re not there.” Adam reached for a second piece of chocolate.

Brendon swung open his laptop and turned it on. “Do you happen to know his name? Or your address?”

Dee held her breath. The boy was only eight. Would he know? Brendon had been given the address by Officer Blake, so was this a test?

“Sure. I live on State Street. House number 327.” Adam popped the candy in his mouth.

Brendon’s fingers flew over the keys. He had heavy fingers on the keyboard, making more noise than what she expected. In a moment, he looked up at her with a questioning expression.

Moira and Connor walked into the room. “Brendon, Sam just came in. There’s trouble with your car.”

“Why was Sam looking at my car?” Brendon released the brake on his chair and headed for the door.

“It wasn’t Sam himself, but Max.”

Brendon stopped his chair. “Max? The K9? He’s been retired from the Cheyenne PD for years. What happened?”

Connor blocked the doorway partially and Moira pushed forward to get to Adam. She wrapped her arms around her son’s neck and closed her eyes. “Connor said Max was a former bomb-sniffing dog and he alerted on your car. The car that we all rode here in.”

ChapterSix

Despite his worry about why a bomb-sniffing dog would’ve alerted on his car, Brendon followed the small group out of the house. The group was joined by Rebecca, who’d heard what had happened through her door and followed. She’d looked happier earlier, after a day out in the sun, but concern deadened her eyes now.

“What do you think this is all about?” She tried to move alongside him but was struggling to keep up with the group and move both wheels at the same pace.

Brendon slowed slightly to accommodate her. “I’m not sure. Maybe it’s a false alarm. Max has been retired for a few years. He’s never alerted to anything here at Wayside. I can’t help but think he might just be getting too old.” That was the hope, anyway. What would have to be on his car for the dog to give them a false alarm?

He followed Connor’s group outside and down the ramp where Sam waited about thirty-five feet from Brendon’s car. Max was there, obviously in working mode. His golden snout was raised absolutely level, like he was at attention, his coloring making it difficult to see the white fur coming in around his chocolate nose.

“Sam, what happened?” Brendon asked, giving Sam and the dog plenty of space.

Max gave a subtle growl, just enough to let Brendon know he shouldn’t cross the invisible line of Max’s body.

“I was giving Max and Bubbles a walk. Bubbles was just running around, sniffing everything, and generally giving Max a hard time. All of a sudden, Max’s whole demeanor shifted. He growled at Bubbles and snapped his teeth. Not close enough to bite, but a definite warning. Out of curiosity, I pulled Bubbles in and let Max go. He immediately went to your car. Tail up, nose out. I called his old handler just to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing. That was his alert behavior for a bomb. I told him that was what Max was doing and he’s on his way out here now with his team. Might be a false alarm, but Max was a pro.”

“Who would put a bomb in my car?” Brendon knew it could’ve been placed at the blood drive but didn’t want to believe it. When could they have planted it? Everyone had fled the scene, and he’d stayed in his car when they’d picked up Moira and Adam. The coffee shop had a semi-hidden parking lot, but was still in the middle of town. It wasn’t a place where someone could hope to go unseen if they slid under a car.

“We can speculate all we want, but it won’t do any good until they remove the device and test it. In the meantime, we need to stay clear of that car,” Connor said.

While that was true, he was parked in one of two handicapped spaces in the Wayside lot right near the front door, meaning other cars were lined up close to him and only the other handicapped spot was open to the right of his car. If the bomb went off, there might be a lot of stranded people at Wayside. It might even damage the front of the lodge.

“How long ago did you call, Sam?” Connor asked.

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