Wendy stammered about.
“Call the manager back,” Tucker demanded. “Please.”
The sullen fat man returned, primed for this latest altercation. “What?”
“I want to see the doctor’s report.”
“What doctor’s report?”
“You know what doctor’s report. The one concerning the supposed bite Bernie Rottenheim got from the War Dog of the same name.”
“It was … verbal.”
“Right.” Tucker turned to the receptionist. “Do you have a business card?” he asked. “My lawyers need to contact you.”
Wendy’s smile fell away, and she handed him the boss’s card, while shooting the manager a quick glance. “Is there a problem?” she asked Tucker.
“Absolutely there’s a problem,” he said. “That dog never bit anybody. Any report, verbal or written, on such an incident is a lie. And I intend to prove it.” And, with that, he turned and walked outside. He could hear the two women talking a little bit, but he didn’t give a damn. As soon as he stepped outside, his phone rang. It was Badger.
“So you need to tell me that again.”
“Well, apparently the victim won’t let her sister even see the wound. I need a copy of the file. I want to know what doctor sent in the report, and I need to know what I have to do to put a stop to this,” he said. “Otherwise I’ll make a social media scene that you’ve never seen before,” he said, “because this dog did not do anything.”
“We need the facts straight first,” Badger said in a warning tone.
“Sure, but then we also need a copy of that file and proof that the dog did bite someone. The guy here doesn’t have a doctor’s report and doesn’t care, and the sister detested the dog and wanted to get rid of it. But she conned her parents into adopting it as the dog and she share the same name. The dog hated her right from the first day, and I believe the feeling is mutual.”
“And what about the parents who adopted the dog?”
“Well, they don’t handle the strife or the daughter well, so they took off on a holiday.”
“Expecting all this to be over with before they get back, I presume?” Badger said in disgust.
“As far as I can tell, yes,” Tucker said. “Honestly, it’s all BS. I swear to God that dog’s never done anything wrong in her life.”
“Well, you need to hold that thought, but we’ll have a bit of a fight to get that kill order canceled.”
“Get it extended at least,” he said.
“I’ll do what I can,” he said. “You need to track down the doctor, and you need to track down that sister and get a look at the leg.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure how to do that. She’s one of the most manipulative people going, and her whole goal is to get rid of the dog and to save face. She’s getting a lot of attention from this.”
“Great, she gets the attention, and the dog doesn’t.”
“Yeah, that’s the way these people work, right? What we need to do is save the dog and figure out how to punish the daughter later. In the meantime, we need the War Dog out of here.”
“I hear you. Is she in any danger? She should be well cared for,” Badger said.
“She’s in a cage, but I don’t trust the manager of the pound. I think he’s been abusing Bernie. She regarded him as the enemy.”
“Does he have any connection to the sister?”
“No clue, but it’s something I’ll have to look into,” he said, “and that’s depressing too.”
“It sounds like another play of their game,” he said.
“I think so. I just don’t understand who, what, and why.”
“You will,” Badger said with confidence. “Don’t worry. You will.”
“I hope so. It’s just shit right now, and I’m pretty damn pissed off about the whole thing.”
“Good,” Badger said. “Get pissed off, but don’t get mad. Get even.” He added, “If nobody else can give that dog justice, make sure that we find justice for her. She deserves it. She’s saved a ton of military lives, and we need to make sure that we do the same for her.”
Tucker hung up, and Addie joined him. “Let’s go see your sister.”
Addie grimaced.
“I want to see the wound and the doctor’s report. Got any better ideas?”
“No, but my sister won’t answer your questions, won’t agree to show you anything,” she said.
“Typical psychopath. Still needs to be done. Are you in, or are you out? Don’t waste my time. I need to talk to your sister. Can you make that happen?”
She winced. “I can take you there,” she said. “No guarantee that she’ll talk to you.” At that, her phone rang, and she looked down. “Speaking of which,” she said, “it’s my sister.” She answered it. “Bernie, what’s up?”
Tucker leaned in closer to overhear both sides of the conversation.
“I’m outta painkillers,” she said petulantly.
“Did you check the bathroom?”
“Of course I did,” she said.
“What about the upstairs bathroom?”
“Yes, I checked there too.”
“Fine,” she said. “I’m out shopping. I’ll come by afterward.”
“And fast,” Bernie said.
Addie looked to see Tucker’s eyebrows raised at that. “Yeah, I should be there in maybe fifteen minutes.”
“Good. Damn dog,” she said. “I didn’t think it would take this long to heal from something like that.”
“Maybe I should take a look at it when I’m there,” she said. “Make sure it’s not infected.”
“No,” her sister snapped immediately. “Nobody’s fucking touching it.”
“Well, when’s your next doctor’s appointment?” she asked.
“I don’t have one. I’ll be just fine without it,” she said with a sneer. “I’ll be much better when the dog’s dead. On Friday. Then at least I know he won’t come after me again.”
“It’s a her, not a him,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Whatever. It’ll be dead soon. That’s all I care about.”
“If you say so,” she said. “I’ll come over in a bit.” She hung up the phone. Of course he heard, but she repeated, “Bernie, asking for her painkillers.”
“Yeah, she’s a total psycho bitch. But those painkillers were prescription, right?”
Addie nodded but frowned too. “Yeah?”
“Which will have a doctor’s name on them. Good. That’s easy enough to find. Let’s go. I’ll deal with your psycho sister then.”
They arrived at the family home, and Addie let them in with her key. Her lazy self-entitled sister remained on the couch in the living room.
“About time. Get me my painkillers.”
Addie winced, turned to Tucker.
He whispered, “Don’t let her know I’m here yet. Get the pills. I need a snapshot of the doc’s info.”