I decided to add my own twist to the proceedings.
“Only follow the directions of Officer Marks, no matter what the
others tell you. Since it’s a game, you can have fun with it, but
be nice.”
“
Are we playing Simon Says?”
Again, my dog
astounded me with his ability to make leaps of logic.
“Exactly,” I told him, “except in this case we're
playing Marks Says.”
David pressed a kiss to my temple. “Red made a
connection to Simon Says? Damn, smart since we've only played the
game once with him.”
“I was thinking the same thing. Can you give me a
running commentary on what happens?” David squeezed my hand in
reply.
“What's the test?” I addressed Lieutenant Faber.
“We were hoping Red could check out the bags on the
table and identify the pistol.”
Red sat at my side, waiting.
Detective Jackson tried, “Do you know what bag the
gun is in?”
“
Well, duh.”
Red said in my head.
David must have caught my grin. He leaned over and
asked in my ear, “Someone being a smart ass again?” I simply
nodded.
The woman I assumed to be Officer Marks asked,
“Please.”
Red trotted over to the table. David informed me he
went straight to the third bag and nudged it with his nose. Red
returned to my side.
Officer Marks explained the next test. “One of these
bags contains an item of Officer Willman's. Could you get his bag
and give it to Lt. Faber.
“
Amateurs,”
Red snorted.
Red left my side again. Moments later, I heard him
drop a bag at the lieutenant's feet. There was a rustling of paper
while the bag was opened.
“Yep, that's mine,” Officer Willman identified from
his place near the door.
“Can you get my bag for me?” Lt. Faber asked.
“
Well, of course I could,”
Red snarked,
“if
your name was Simon or Marks. Really Teresa, this is the best the
police could come up with?”
I'm not a giggler, but I came close as I choked back
a laugh. David bent to my ear again, “More smart assery?” I
nodded.
Once again, Officer Marks spoke up, “One of these
bags contain an item of mine. My desk is in the next room. Could
you put my bag on my desk chair?”
Red must have picked the appropriate bag and I
listened to his nails click across the floor as he went into the
next room. David, his arm still about my waist, led me into the
larger room we had come through originally.
“Red has put the bag on the floor and is circling the
desks. He's sitting there with his head cocked, like he's thinking
of something.” David explained. “Ah, now I'm seeing his evil doggy
grin.”
“I hadn’t realized he has a repertoire of smiling
doggy facial expressions,” I commented, pleased at the new insight
to his personality.
“Oops, he put the bag on a seat at Officer Willman's
desk.” David said, “But wait, now he's pushing the chair, with the
bag, across the room to Officer Marks' desk. Good thing it’s on
rollers,” David joked.
“Holy shit,” Detective Jackson said from somewhere to
my right. “He knew to switch the chairs back.”
“He had me convinced when he waited for me to tell
him what to do,” Officer Marks said. “There was no logical reason
for him to only follow my instructions. I mean, how did the dog
know I was Officer Marks?”
“I don't know about the rest of you, but I am
convinced Red has an above average understanding of what people are
saying to him. For that reason alone, I would be willing to approve
his addition to the task force team. What is still unresolved is
whether he talks to you, and that skill is also a reason you were
recommended by Detective Stephens,” the lieutenant revealed in a
tone very close to a challenge.
“Whisper a secret to him. It can be a name, location,
quote… whatever. Say it low enough I can't hear. Red and I can
communicate as far as thirty feet away. I can hear if he projects
his thoughts from the next room.”
“
Are we done with the Marks Says game?”
Red
asked.
“Yes. Would you go with the lieutenant so we can get
the mind-speak proved? Then we can find out how we might be able to
help.”
“
Then are we going to dinner? David promised me
steak.”
I turned to David. “What's this about steak? You are
completely ruining his diet. I'll have a fat dog if you keep
promising snacks in between meals.”
“Tattle-tale,” David spoke toward the floor, “I told
you that was our secret. Back to kibble for you.”
Red threw himself on the floor at my feet and made a
production of rolling over such that he half-lay across my foot so
I'd know he was on his back, abasing himself.
“I'll waste
away,”
he whined dramatically,
“I’m shwwwinking to
nothing.”
“Oh cut it out, knucklehead,” I addressed the con
artist on my shoe. “You weigh almost eighty pounds. You’re hardly
wasting away. And you are
not
shrinking.”
His head rubbed my shin, and he even licked at my
kneecap,
“Pweeeeeze.”
I started laughing, “Pweeeze? Shwinking? Who in the
heck taught you all this baby-talk?”
David started laughing, “Sounds like something Ken
would say.”
“Yeah, it figures,” I snorted, “after teaching him
dude and wicked, it shouldn't surprise me in the least.
“Fine, Red can have steak. But, if you insist on
slipping him food, then I fully expect you to come over at least
once a week to run his ass off in the backyard playing catch.”
Red snapped to his feet,
“Yes!”
“Well,” Lt. Faber said, “after witnessing that little
display of drama, asking Red to follow me to the next room seems
redundant. Come on Red, let’s make this quick.”
From the other room, Red said,
“It doesn't make
sense.”
“So what? Just tell me what she's saying.” I
replied.
“
Como say yamma?”
Red repeated
phonetically.
I chuckled, then answered loudly enough the
lieutenant would be able to hear me, “She is speaking in Spanish.
It means 'what's my name?'”
“
She wants to know my birthday.”
“Halloween, that's why your AKC papers name you
Druid, we were using Halloween themes for the puppies in your
litter.”
I was done with the tests. “Come on back Red, and
let’s finish up here.”
“I am most impressed, Ms. March. Thank you for
humoring us. This has been absolutely fascinating. I've never seen
anything like Red and his reasoning ability. We would welcome your
help with the task force. Detective Stephens can give you an
outline, hopefully enough for you to make a decision as to whether
you think your skills can work for us. Unfortunately, we don't know
Mr. Preston and he's not cleared for this discussion.”
“Lt. Faber, I certainly understand and sympathize
with your position, but the facts are Ms. March will probably
discuss anything you talk about with me, and likely Sebastian
Declan as well. Bas and I served together; we are both ex-Navy
intelligence with clearances high enough to get us in any top
security job we qualify for. Teresa’s safety, and the safety of her
dog, are of the utmost importance to us. We have the training
required to ensure their security.
“Three of the four of us will be together whenever
you need Red and Ms. March. If I'm not available, Bas will be with
her. She's a capable woman, but she can't tell if someone outside
the task force notices their abilities. Therefore, she will be at
risk of being overheard or seen doing something uncommon. Bas and I
can minimize the risk; the four of us have a familiarity, and
communication system in place, to help prevent others from
understanding what is going on between the two of them. We are also
focused on her, rather than your investigation, leaving your
officers free to do their work instead of watching out for
them.”
The lieutenant seemed to come to a decision and said,
“The task force is being put together to catch a rapist who has hit
houses around the Whitworth University district. So far, four young
women have been attacked, and the last one is still in the
hospital. We have gotten no DNA evidence at any of the scenes and
we are hoping the dog, Red, can pick up something. We have K-9
units in Spokane, but we think Red's ability to communicate may
give us a little more information than following a trail. Maybe the
rapist's scent is all over the clothing we recovered and Red can
confirm the same assailant for each rape, or tell us if there is
more than one. Frankly, we are stuck and we hope you might come up
with something which can point us in the right direction.”
Lt. Faber's frustration was evident in her tone.
“Please take the weekend and consider if you can help us. In the
meantime, if I can get your personal info, Mr. Preston, and info
for Mr. Declan, I can see about getting you approved as
consultants, unpaid most likely, so you can accompany Ms. March if
she is needed at a scene.” David stepped away from me to exchange
email addresses and phone numbers. I heard him mention a list of
references.
Detective Stephens took this moment to say, “The
concept of asking a team of civilians to work on a task force is
unusual, but it's my hope we can get you on board, in the next few
days, as a consultant. I think Red's insight would be invaluable to
the team.”
“I certainly hope we can help, Detective. Bastian,
David, and I had discussed offering our service to the police as a
way to maximize Red's gift. We are excited about the potential to
help. However, I also recognize I can't keep us safe and I will
need one of the guys with me so I can concentrate on working with
Red. I very much hope you get the approvals on your end, so we can
work together as a team.”
Since we'd already missed our dinner reservation at
Anthony's, we decided to call Bastian and invite him to join us at
a local tavern where we could grab a burger and a beer. We wanted a
chance to review the task force conversation with Bas to get his
opinion; only fair since we were volunteering him to help when
David wasn't available. I wasn't familiar with bars downtown, so we
stopped at the first decent-looking one and phoned Bas.
The two men were renting a house close by and we
anticipated Bastian would get there within ten minutes, so we went
ahead and ordered three burgers and a pitcher of beer. He arrived
before the food did, leaning over to give me a quick kiss on the
hair as he slid into his seat. “Wow, you guys didn't tell me this
was a fancy dress-up meeting or I would have worn boots instead of
sneakers,” he joked.
“If you can't dress up for pool and darts, why bother
buying the formal clothes,” I quipped right back.
“Oh man, I would love to see you shoot pool in that
dress,” Bas said with heavy innuendo.
I grinned and shook my head because Bas is a letch
and can't help himself. My black lace dress was an inch or so above
my knee, and the V-neck was modest, showing only a hint of
cleavage. I was pretty sure he couldn't see the black stockings or
dainty black velvet stilettos tucked under the table. “Jerk,” I
said. “You simply want to see the blind girl try to hit a cue ball,
and you don't trust me with sharp darts.”
The burgers arrived and we enjoyed our food while it
was hot and the beer while it was cold. I heard the sounds of
eating from under the table and asked, “Alright, who is feeding Red
and what are you feeding him?”
Both men were silent. “Seriously? Both of you?” I
shook my head.
“
There is no steak. They are substituting fries
and bites of hamburger,”
Red said, not sounding terribly put
out at the swap.
I wasn't going to win this. “Fine,” I sighed,
accepting defeat. “Don't overdo it or he'll be up all night moaning
about a bellyache.”
“So,” Bas said, burger consumed as he settled back in
his chair with a topped off beer, “what happened at the police
station?”
David recapped our evening, with me adding occasional
input from my perspective. It was interesting to hear David’s
observations regarding the officers and detectives. The lieutenant
was clearly the most skeptical when we'd entered the room. The fact
she allowed us to prove our abilities said a lot about her level of
desperation to try anything which could help them get a break in
the case.
In David's opinion, Officer Willman was stubbornly
holding on to his disbelief, whereas Officer Marks probably walked
into the room wanting Red to succeed. Detective Jackson was the
most surprised by Red's moving the chair, and that was his tipping
point.”
Bas asked a few questions about Officer Blair which
no doubt prompted Red to mention,
“He took pictures of us on his
cell phone.”
“What?” I was completely surprised. “Why didn't you
say anything?”
“
I didn't notice him taking the pictures. I saw
his phone hooked up to the computer. All the pictures flashed up
before he made the computer screen black.”