8:45 AM
Ashley opened his eyes, and quickly squeezed them closed again, in an attempt to ignore the shaft of sunlight playing through the small window of the room. Flinging an arm across his face, he considered going back to sleep, but then the events of the previous night flooded into his mind, and he was instantly alert. He sat up, placed his feet on the floor, and took in his surroundings, discovering that he was on a folding cot in what appeared to be a small, cluttered storage room. He was still fully clothed, except for his boots and belt, which he noticed had been placed on top of a crate near the cot, along with his wallet.
"Wow, I guess the guy was right about that adrenaline crash," he muttered, amazed that he had actually been able to sleep at all. "Now, where the hell am I?"
He stood up, stepped into his boots and picked up the other items, then began making his way across the room. As he reached the door, he heard voices coming from the next room, and paused for a moment to listen more closely. He recognized one of them as Briar's, so he opened the door and stepped out, only to have someone immediately shout, "Stop! Do not move!"
"Huh?" he blurted, completely confused. "What the hell?" But almost the instant that the words left his lips, he heard a sound that made him do exactly as he had been told: a low, guttural snarl, which quickly turned into a deep, aggressive bark. Trying to move as little as possible, he glanced to his left, and saw a fairly large dog, with its ears flat against its skull and teeth bared.
"Toby, heel!" the voice called, and the dog dropped to its haunches, but kept its eyes steadily fixed on Ashley. He glanced around, and saw Cody hurrying through a door on the opposite side of the room, not stopping until he stood at Ashley's side. "Sorry, dude! I was gonna come wake you up when Dad gets back, and introduce you, so they'd know you're okay."
"Well, I'm definitely awake now!" Ashley declared. "I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I'm pretty sure this wasn't on the list."
Cody flashed a crooked grin, and said, "Yeah, but they kinda make people think twice about trying to come in and steal stuff, or fuck things up. You okay with dogs?"
"I love dogs," Ashley responded. "I just like them a little more when they're not trying to have me for breakfast."
"Yeah, I get ya. So let's fix that." Cody flicked his hand, and the dog came to its feet and approached them. As it got closer, Cody placed a hand on Ashley's arm and said, "Friend, Toby. Good boy! Now, hold out your hand."
Ashley reached out, his hand palm up, and the dog extended its neck and sniffed his fingers, then circled around, sniffing his boots and pantlegs. It then stopped in front of him, sat down, and extended a paw. He reached out and shook it, saying, "Nice to meet you, Toby." Taking the opportunity to look the animal over more closely, he saw that it had a thick silvery-gray coat, with what almost appeared to be a black hood, large, pointed ears, and a narrow muzzle. "German Shepherd?" he inquired, and Cody shook his head.
"He's a Belgian Tervuren. There are some similarities, but it's a totally different breed. The Turvurens and the Malinois are both used as police dogs, like the shepherds are, though."
Cody started walking back in the direction he had come from, and motioned for Ashley to follow. As they moved toward the doorway, Ashley remarked, "Just a minute ago, you said 'they'. Does that mean there's another one like Toby out there?"
"Fergus is out here with Briar, but he's not quite like Toby," the boy responded with another quick grin. "C'mon, you'll see."
As they stepped into the next room, Ashley saw Briar sprawled on a sleeper sofa, wearing some of the clothes she had purchased during their shopping trip, reclining on what he thought was a large gray pillow. This idea was proven wrong when the 'pillow' moved abruptly, causing her to drop back onto the sofa cushions, and leapt to the floor. At that point, his jaw dropped in amazement as an enormous animal bounded toward him and Cody.
The dog dropped to its haunches in front of them, and Ashley was startled to realize that, sitting down, the animal was actually as tall as he was. It was a dark, almost gunmetal gray color, with slightly wiry fur, long legs, and a massive head, with jaws that looked as though his own head would fit inside. "Holy shit! What the hell is that?" he blurted.
"That's Fergus, he's a sweetheart," Briar called from the sofa.
"Yeah, I got that much," he responded. "Let me rephrase, then. What breed is that?"
"His mother is a Neopolitan Mastiff, and the dad is an Irish Wolfhound," Cody explained. "The mom is a show dog, and I guess that her and dad got too friendly at some competition. I work part-time for a vet, and when she had her litter, they wanted him to put the puppies down, since they weren't purebred, but he refused, because they were healthy. So, everybody who works there took shifts nursing them, but only two of them lived. I got Fergus, and Dr. Mathis kept his sister. He helps Toby guard the garage and the apartment."
"Well, I wouldn't argue with either of them, that's for damn sure!" Ashley stated.
Fergus, who had been quietly sitting and watching Ashley curiously, suddenly closed the distance between them and leaned against him, causing him to stagger momentarily. "He likes you, dude," Cody informed him. "That's his way of saying, 'Hey, some attention would be cool.' He really likes having his ears scratched."
As he began to work his fingers through the dogs rough coat, he said, "It's a good thing he didn't decide not to like me, he could probably swallow me in a couple of bites."
After a couple of minutes, Cody sent both dogs to lie down, and said, "Your bags are over there, if you wanna grab some clean clothes and a shower, we can have breakfast when you're done. Dad should be back by then, and he can talk to you guys about what he's set up."
Turning to look at Briar, he inquired, "Would you rather go first, Tink?"
"Already done," she informed him. "I've been awake for over an hour. Fergus here is a bit of a bed-hog."
Ashley quickly pulled some fresh clothes out of the Wal-Mart bags, along with the shampoo and body wash he had purchased, and Briar directed him to the bathroom, while she and Cody moved toward the kitchen. He stripped off his wrinkled clothing and climbed into the shower, running the water as hot as he could stand it, and almost immediately felt more alert. Once he was clean, dried off, and dressed, he returned to the living room, to find Wiley dropping an armload of bags onto the sofa-bed.
The larger man turned to look at him, and said, "Looks like we're both just in time. Briar was just about to have one of us go tell you that the grub is ready. And you got lucky today, they're both better cooks than I am." He motioned Ashley toward the kitchen, and fell into step behind him.
"Have you heard anything about what happened last night?" Ashley inquired. "Or are they keeping it quiet for now."
"Yeah, I picked up some info while I was out. Let's wait 'til we sit down, though. That way I don't have to keep repeating myself."
They entered the kitchen to find Cody removing butter and syrup from the refrigerator, as Briar placed a platter of waffles in the center of the table, then dashed back to the stove to stir a large pan sitting on the burner. Cody placed his items next to the waffles, then turned to Ashley and asked, "Coffee or juice, dude?"
"Since I assume I'm gonna need to be functional today, make it coffee, thanks," he replied as he lowered himself into a chair.
Wiley poured coffee, while Cody poured two glasses of apple juice, and Briar began doling scrambled eggs from the pan into the plates on the table. When they had all taken their seats and taken a waffle, Wiley inquired, "Do you wanna hear what I found out now, or would you rather wait 'til we finish eating?"
"You might as well get it over with," Briar stated. "It's not gonna be any better later, is it?"
"Probably not. But there is one kinda good thing, I guess," he said. "You were only half right on the phone last night. One of the cops is still alive."
"Really? Who?" Ashley blurted.
"That I don't know, they didn't give names. All I know is that the one they have in the hospital now was found outside the place."
Briar dropped her fork to the table, her eyes brimming. "Danny. That's good, at least, but poor Angie..." Her voice trailed off momentarily as the tears started spilling down her cheeks. "She was younger than I am! And she was supposed to be getting married in April, and this worthless fucking piece of walking sewage ruined that, just like he's done to Sylvia, and Earl, and those poor little kids who lost their grandma. Even Delight didn't deserve what he did to her, nobody does."
"Except him, maybe," Ashley muttered, feeling dangerously close to tears himself. Even though he had known the two officers only briefly, he had liked them both, particularly Danny's eccentric, sometimes raunchy, sense of humor and the generous nature that had prompted Angie to bring homemade treats to share with them on the nights they had been on duty.
He reached across the table to take hold of Briar's hand as Cody handed her a napkin. He noticed that a rather uncomfortable expression had settled on Wiley's face at her words, and he suddenly remembered something that she had said during an earlier conversation. "Oh shit, I almost forgot, the guy was a friend of yours, wasn't he? I'm sorry about that, man," he apologized.
"Yeah, I used to work for him, he was a good guy," Wiley commented. "He tried to help me find another job when the studio let me go, and when this place got started, he sent some business our way. He shouldn't have had to go out like that, and he damn sure should have gotten the chance to stick around long enough to meet the grandbaby that came along a week after his funeral, but it didn't work that way. All I can say is that this piece of filth better hope I don't ever get a crack at him, he's done too much damage to my friends for that to have a pleasant outcome."
"Hey, you guys need to eat your breakfast before it's too cold to choke down," Cody interjected. "You've got a busy day coming up, so you need to be on top of everything. And Dad, you need to let them in on what you came up with last night."
"You mean what we came up with, kiddo," Wiley responded. "This is as much your plan as it is mine."
After wiping her face with the napkin, Briar gave Ashley's hand a squeeze, and said, "Yeah, I'm kind of curious to know what that brain of yours has concocted, bro. How about you, Ash?"
"Could be helpful," he observed, before taking a bite of his eggs.
Wiley took a bite of his waffle, then said, "Okay, here's the plan. I picked up a few things you're gonna need that you didn't get last night, because the two of you are going on a bit of a road trip. Do you remember me telling you about that fishing cabin I was thinking about, doll?"
"Yeah, I remember," she agreed. "I guess this means you actually bought it, then."
"Yeah, Carmine knows the guy who was selling it, so he helped me get a pretty decent deal." He then turned to Ashley and explained, "Carmine is my brother-in-law, he's married to my sister Liz. Anyway, it's out at the north end of Cachuma Lake, not too far from their store, but not in one of the busy camping areas, either, so you should be able to stay pretty much under the radar. I talked to Liz last night after we got you two tucked in, and they're going out this morning to make sure the propane tank is topped off and stick some stuff in the freezer."
"Dude, are you sure it was such a good idea to pull them into this mess?" Briar quizzed her friend. "Did you explain the whole thing to her, and give her the chance to opt out?"
"Doll, that's my sister we're talking about, of course I did!" he retorted, somewhat indignantly. "And she was still totally on board. Hell, after what happened before, she'd probably give you the entire fuckin' store, you know that."
"Totally not necessary. But to stay on topic, how are you figuring on us getting there?"
"I have a truck ready to go, all we have to do is load your stuff in it," he said. "And like I said, I grabbed a few things while I was out, so finish eating and I'll show you."
They finished eating, then returned to the living room, where Wiley gestured to the pile of bags that he had carried in earlier. "Obviously there's not a big selection of cold-weather gear in stock at Wally World this time of year, so I stopped at Cabelas on the way back and got you each a heavy coat. Ashley, you look like you're about Cody's size, so I kinda went by that for yours, I hope it works okay. Plus, I also got these." He rummaged through the pile, then removed some small objects, extending a hand to both of them, revealing a pair of cellphones and several prepaid calling cards.
"These were Cody's idea," he continued, "along with that box over there. Why don't you open it up and let us see how it works, Briar?"
She removed the cover of the box and reached inside, emerging with a long, curly, light brown wig, which she quickly arranged over her short haircut. "Good idea, this is definitely not what anybody would be looking for," she announced, giving Cody a quick wink.
"There's a trucker cap and a couple of bandannas in there for you," Cody informed Ashley, "And shades for both of you, so you can maybe not stand out so much."
"And this, too," Wiley announced, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an envelope, which he handed to Briar. She opened it, and Ashley was surprised to see a thick sheaf of twenty-dollar bills. "If you have to stop for anything on the way, or you need Liz to bring you more supplies, you don't want to use your cards again. This way, your trail ends at the Wal-Mart."
She tilted her head to the side, quirking an eye brow and waving the envelope at him, which caused him to roll his eyes and say, "Oh, for fucks sake, it's February, remember? I just pulled this out of your quarterlies, I'll get the rest into your account tomorrow."
Her face cleared, and she replied, "Right, I forgot about that. So I can assume you got this stuff with them, too, right? You didn't put your own money into this?"
"Nope, it's all yours," he confirmed.
Cody, noticing that Ashley seemed a bit confused by the exchange, broke into the conversation, asking, "Didn't she tell you that they're business partners, dude? She owns half of the place, how else do you think the name came up? FM Auto Body - Frazier and Malveaux."
"No, I don't remember that coming up in the conversation," Ashley responded. "So is that why you're so willing to help us out, then?"
He was puzzled again when Wiley and Cody exchanged a rather odd look, then Wiley nodded and said, "In a manner of speaking, yeah. I figured she would have said something to you by now, but I guess not. So if you wanna come out to the garage with me, and help me load up the truck, I have a story to tell you. Then you'll understand why I'm helping you out. And if you haven't figured it out for yourself already, it'll also let you know what you can expect in the future."
With that, he gathered several bags in his hands and walked outside, and after a moment, Ashley followed suit, curious to hear the older man's tale.