Canine Cupids for Cops Page 17

  At five-thirty Jake left the comfort of his recliner with some reluctance, snapped the leash onto Snick’s collar, and headed down the street two blocks to the nearest park, a dog-friendly one with a fenced area where canine citizens could frolic off leash safe from traffic, while other park visitors were safe from them.

  Before they got there, Snick was all but walking on air. He knew this drill well. Freedom! Frolic! Fun! Things to sniff and a hundred spots to pee on, maybe some other dogs he could growl at or wrestle with. The place was sheer paradise from a dog’s point of view.

  Once inside the gate, Jake removed the leash. Not a second later, Snick took off at a dead run, so fast he was just a gray blur. Jake shook his head as he wandered to a shaded bench to sit down. If only I had a tenth of that damn dog’s energy…This new job promised to be a real challenge. Normally he liked challenges, but sometimes they mushroomed to gigantic proportions, and this looked like it’d be one of them, especially since it was his first as team leader for the electricians.

  * * * *

  Boz Corwin actually got home early for a change. Despite his involvement with the seemingly endless drug and gang investigations, the day had been relatively slow for the Las Cruces Police Department. As soon as he reached his little adobe house on the edge of the gallery district, he dumped his shoulder holster and Kevlar vest, snapped a lead on Athena and headed for the dog park. Even though the park was about five blocks from his home, the walk was a welcome bit of quiet, fresh air, and his first chance to put the worrisome and wearying details of the day into perspective.

  Thank God for Athena. She gave him a reason to get out, as well as a precious dose of sanity and unwavering loyalty to balance the seamy side of life in which he had his nose rubbed every day. Working vice had not been an uplifting experience. Working drugs and gangs was even more depressing. Athena gave him something totally outside that dismal world.

  The retired greyhound had the patience of a saint, at least with him. Even if he came in late and grumpy, she was unfailingly glad to see him, tolerated his growls and curses, and waited with something like stoic calm until he was ready to take her out. Normally he didn’t keep her waiting too long. She never made a mess in the house, however late he might be, and she’d never been destructive or rowdy. She was an absolute lady, something refreshingly distant from the females he normally encountered.

  The dog park seemed quiet. Boz noted a big man dozing on a bench and a woman with two small kids and a puppy at the far end of the park. The rest of the grassy area was empty. He shut the gate behind him and then released Athena’s leash. She cocked her head to look up at him as if for permission before she started away, moving with the grace of a gazelle. He knew she could run like the wind. Maybe later he’d throw her ball a few times and let her run, but for now, she was content to sniff, squat, and explore in a lazy way.

  There was some rudimentary agility equipment set up at one side of the park. He knew a group practiced there on weekends and had even watched a few times, amazed at the nimble Aussies, the clownish terriers, and diverse other dogs as they went through their paces. Athena watched, never showing any desire to join in the fun. He knew her racing days had put a lot of stress on her lean body. So far she wasn’t showing any signs of arthritis or trauma, so he didn’t want to push her. Besides, he didn’t have the time for a lot of training.

  Today, for some reason, she did wander over to that area, though, and moved quietly among the poles, ramps, and teeter-totter, sniffing curiously. All at once, a gray streak flashed past him heading toward the much taller, leaner dog. The little dog, a funny-looking guy with a square, bristly face, ran in circles around her, barking urgently.

  He reared up on his hind legs to sniff her butt. For once, she did not sit down or spin away. Athena usually played the professional virgin and got indignant about any liberties taken. Her behavior was unusual enough to make Boz watch.

  The next thing he knew, the damned little mutt had her backed up to one of the ramps, scrambled up it, and was in the process of trying to hump the taller female. Amazingly, Athena looked to be cooperating!

  What the fuck?

  Athena was spayed. He’d had that done the first week he got her, so what was with this perverted little scrap of dogdom? He wasn’t even sure what kind of dog it was. He never paid much attention to little mutts anyway, simply categorizing them as either barking rats or barking dust mops, depending on their overall appearance. This guy wasn’t quite either one, but he sure was a randy little bugger.

  Boz looked around for the owner. Obviously not the woman with the kids and the spaniel puppy, at least he didn’t think so. She was studiously ignoring the whole thing and trying to divert her two children’s attention. Must be the big guy. He seemed to be awake now and was watching, shaking his head a bit.

  “Get your fornicating dog off of mine,” Boz yelled. “She’s spayed, but that’s not the point. This is a public park, and owners are supposed to keep their dogs under control. That mutt of yours is about as out of control as he can be.”

  The big man stood and started, not toward the dogs but in Boz’s direction. “Cool your jets, dude. Your dog’s not exactly struggling to get away. She could grab mine and throw him across the park if she didn’t want to play. Let them have their fun. Mine’s fixed too, by the way, so he’s shooting blanks.”

  Boz saw the other man topped him by a good four inches and probably more than fifty pounds, all of it muscle. Even though he had plenty of training in self-defense and martial arts for his work, it would be pretty stupid to pick a fight with a bruiser like the mutt’s master. Boz’s mom hadn’t raised any dumb kids.

  He had to admit the sight of the little gray dog clinging to Athena’s lean hips and humping away was pretty damn funny. The act was not going to produce any mismatched pups, so what was the harm in it? Athena could certainly move if she didn’t want the attention, even if it left the gray mutt hanging upside down by his willy.

  As the owner drew near, Boz turned to take a better look at him. The sight was enough to stop Boz in his tracks. This big man was one good-looking son of a gun. The faded T-shirt he wore hugged a muscled torso worthy of a Mr. USA competition. Thick wavy hair the color of dark chocolate surrounded a rugged face, burned brown from what had surely been long hours in the western sun. Brilliant blue eyes contrasted with his ruddy skin. The effect was mesmerizing. When he quit scowling and grinned, Boz had to grin back.

  The big man stuck out a massive, work-hardened hand. “I’m Jake. The dog’s name is Schnickelfritz, but I call him Snick. Since our canine kids seem to be hitting it off so well, guess we should get acquainted.”

  Boz accepted the handshake and introduced himself. “Boz Corwin. Athena’s my fur-girl’s name. She’s purebred greyhound, raced in her youth they told me. Best lady a man could have around. What kind of dog is your bud there?”

  “Snick’s a Miniature Schnauzer. The shelter people said he’d been a stud in a puppy mill. They neutered him before I took him. Looks like he hasn’t forgotten what it’s all about, though. If I’d seen what he was trying to do, I’d have called him back, but I guess I dozed off. Nobody around and I didn’t figure he’d get into too much trouble. My bad.”

  Jake’s little boy grin was so appealing it ought to be illegal. Boz mentally shook himself and tried to back off from the surge of attraction that swept over him.

  Shit, five minutes ago I was pissed and now…Man, no fuckin’ way. Big, sweaty laboring-type guys aren’t my thing. This bruiser would probably deck me if I made a pass at him anyway. Just ‘cause our dogs are getting it on doesn’t mean we should.

  Chapter 2

  From then on, although it wasn’t quite every day, they began to meet at the dog park frequently. Jake told himself he didn’t look forward to seeing Athena and Boz, but he knew that wasn’t quite honest. Snick sure did, and, to be truthful, Jake wasn’t much more reluctant.

  Athena really was a sweet dog. She stood three times as tall
as Snick, sleek and classy as an exotic sports car. Shy, though, and slow to take up with people. She stuck to Boz like Super Glue most of the time, but seemed to take a shine first to Snick and then to Jake. She came bounding to greet them now with her slender tail fanning eagerly. Talk about the odd couple, though. Fuzzy, belligerent, little Snick was the tramp to her lady, for sure.

  He learned Boz and Athena lived about five blocks in the opposite direction from the apartment he shared with Snick. While the dogs sniffed around and played doggie games, Jake and Boz had begun to talk. They both liked ethnic food, whether Mexican, Italian, Chinese, or Middle Eastern, and patronized some of the same little restaurants hidden in odd corners throughout Old Town. They both read a lot when they had time—thrillers mostly or true war and crime stories. They both had a penchant for the eighties music they’d grown up with, even while admitting a lot of it was not exactly classic. Finding subjects to talk about never seemed hard, although they tended to avoid personal matters.

  Jake wasn’t even sure yet what Boz did for a living. The smaller man was close-mouthed about his work, making a vague comment about security when Jake mentioned he was in the construction business. Jake had shrugged it off as not important anyway. Hell, he wasn’t planning on having a relationship with the man, was he?

  The sudden realization the idea had indeed crossed his mind threw him for a loop. He’d always been into casual easy come and easy go kinds of hook-ups. He wanted nothing he could not walk away from without looking back when a job ended, and it was time to hit the road again. He’d learned that trick in the navy, and so far, it had served him well.

  Something about Boz just didn’t seem to lend itself to such a casual connection, so he hadn’t even hinted at anything more than their current casual friendship. The smaller man displayed an intensity that seemed to indicate a dead-serious approach to life, even though he affected a flippant, satirical manner.

  Suddenly, it was September. The steamy afternoons of the summer rainy season turned drier, while the early morning air held a hint of fall. This far south, winter did not amount to much, but the change of seasons was still a factor, a welcome one for most of the residents. Fall was a good time for construction work—few worries about material or incomplete work getting wet and none about frost or blizzards. With luck, the company would have the new medical complex completed by the end of the year.

  Jake’s team was responsible for the complete electrical system, powerful and secure enough to ensure critical diagnostic and surgical equipment functioned without a hitch and life-support was absolutely guaranteed for those patients who required it. He took the responsibility seriously and kept a close eye on every wire run and every connection made. Everything had built-in backup provisions, and they’d wire in a massive generator to pick up in a nanosecond during any failures of the regular power grid. Thus, he was personally disturbed when newly installed wires began to turn up missing and critical components his men swore had been placed disappeared.

  Management was furious, of course, because these losses cost them twice, in labor to redo work and in replacing expensive materiel. Jake took the situation to heart as if it reflected on his supervision. He began to watch his men even more closely to be sure none of them were pulling out stuff to sell, maybe to go to Mexico or to wildcat construction projects run by unlicensed contractors working under the radar.

  With the current economic problems, the sale of copper from wire and state-of-the-art electronic components could bring in supplemental income for many. He knew a thriving black market existed. Frustrated with his inability to find out what was happening, Jake knew some relief when he learned the company had hired added security people and called on local law enforcement as well. He’d heard hints the thefts could be tied to local drug and gang activity since the facility was near the edge of a district where rival gangs held sway.

  One morning, the superintendent called Jake aside as soon as he came on shift. Jake would join a meeting with the LCPD detective in charge at eight o’clock. Jake waited at the modular office where the super hung out, impatient at the delay in the day’s work. His assistant would get things going, but he wanted to be there himself.

  He did a double take when he saw the now-familiar figure striding toward him, even if the greyhound was not at the man’s side. Boz? What the hell is he doing here?

  Boz seemed equally shocked. He came to an abrupt halt a few paces from Jake. “You’re Mr. Rasmussen, the electrical foreman?”

  “One and the same. And you—by chance are you Detective Lieutenant Corwin? Oh, man, I never made the connection. You mentioned security, but it didn’t register.”

  Pete Landers, the super, stepped out of the office at that moment. “You guys know each other? Well, that’ll save some time getting acquainted. You both know what’s going on, so as soon as we set some basic ground rules, I’ll leave you to the details.”

  “We met at the dog park with our fur kids,” Jake explained. “We had no idea what the other guy did for a living. Guess we do now.”

  He spent the rest of the morning walking Boz through the complex, showing him where wires had been pulled out and missing modules should be. Boz asked pointed questions, especially about the background checks on the men who made up Jake’s crew and other tradesmen who were working in the same areas.

  “We’ve got a serious drug and gang problem here,” Boz admitted. “The city tries to keep it quiet, but this close to the border, there’s a lot of spillover from the drug wars going on in Mexico. I’ve heard some of the cartels plant people in a variety of jobs and activities. It’s a way to launder money, pilfer valuable commodities, and get toeholds in a lot of unexpected places. We tend to think of gang members as street kids, dropouts from school, unemployed, and so on. That’s not always the case, though. Stereotypes rarely tell the whole story.”

  Jake nodded. “I don’t suspect any of my men have that kind of background. They all checked out clean, but we do have some day laborers in and out, people hired just for a short-term need. I don’t think they’re vetted much, if it all, and you can’t keep them under surveillance all the time. If there’s a problem, that’s probably where it’s at.”

  “I’ll be coming in for a few days with that kind of cover myself,” Boz said. “Keep it quiet, of course. I’m fluent in Spanish and, although I’m black Irish, I can pass for Latino and do often enough. I don’t know where I’ll be ‘working,’ but I’ll be around. Just so you know. No double takes or friendly chatter when I show up, okay?”

  He smiled, and Jake had to grin back. “You got it. If you show up here, I’ll put your ass to work.”

  * * * *

  Boz scratched Athena’s ears, hesitating more than usual to head for the dog park. “So your little buddy’s papa’s an industrial electrician, girl. And a boss. Should’ve guessed, maybe. He’s got an air of authority and assurance that doesn’t fit a common laborer. It doesn’t make any difference to you, and it shouldn’t to me either, but it caught me off guard. Usually I pick up on things faster. Think I’m slipping?”

  Athena sat back on her haunches and regarded him with a serious stare, as if she pondered the import of his words. Then she gave a doggy grin and thumped her tail several times. She jumped up, grabbed her leash from its hook by the door, and turned to look back at him.

  Come on…quit jawing and let’s go. She couldn’t have said it any plainer if she could speak the words aloud.

  Boz laughed. “Okay, girl. None of this angst and confusion for you, is there? Maybe I need to take a page from your book. Let’s go see if Snick and Jake have beat us to the park tonight.”

  They had. Snick flew across the fading grass as soon as he saw them and was waiting when they reached the gate, wiggling with impatience. Jake sauntered over with a casual air that didn’t quite fit his expression.

  “Wondered if you were going to make it this evening,” he said. “After the dogs have their romp, what do you say we get together for dinner at Mama C
onchita’s and talk about this joint project a little more?”

  Boz hesitated. He couldn’t see any harm in it, even if somehow such a meeting had the feel of taking their friendship up a notch. Was he ready for that? Still, if they had a basic plan laid out, it could make working the case easier. They wouldn’t be too conspicuous in a quiet corner of the small neighborhood café where they could talk more freely than they had at the construction site. Their unwritten rule that dog park talk stayed casual seemed to curtail having such a discussion here. As if the “kids” couldn’t be exposed to serious matters. That was stupid, even though Boz couldn’t deny it felt right.

  After a moment, he shrugged, just a small twitch of one shoulder. “Sure. Meet you there about seven?”

  Jake glanced at his watch. “Yeah, that’ll give me time to fix Snick’s dish and then hike over to the restaurant. There’s not much room to park around there so I usually just walk.”

  “Works for me,” Boz agreed. He turned to watch the dogs, one way to keep his gaze off Jake and deny the concerns building about the possible hazards of working more closely with this man who already was making inroads into his careful shelter of isolation.

  Undercover dicks should stay that way—in both senses. At the thought, his twitched in a way that left little doubt as to its ideas about the situation. Down, boy. We’re not playing that game.

  Jake was one sexy, fascinating man. There was no way Boz could deny the attraction he’d felt from the first, but feeling and acting on it were two different things. He had plenty of practice keeping his feelings, the whole spectrum of them, under wraps. In vice you saw people you had to sympathize with as well as those you loathed from the first glimpse. Although many were even superficially charming and charismatic, you very rarely revealed any emotions because it could give a criminal dangerous leverage to use against you.