Strangers in the Night

STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

Paige inhaled deeply. The air was sweet and cool. She could smell the late spring flowers on the breeze—lilacs, forsythia, hyacinths, maybe some early roses. Just what she needed after hours cooped up inside, staring at her computer screen.

It was late, just after eleven—her favourite time for a walk. A light breeze gently rustled the leaves on the trees. The sky was cloudless, the stars competing with the waxing gibbous moon. She could hear the foraging of small animals in the bushes, their furtive movements amplified in the quiet. Perfection.

Paige meandered down the sidewalk, moving from one circle of light to the next, stopping occasionally. She was in no hurry. Neither was her companion, Larry, who, at this moment, had his head buried in a lilac bush.

“Come on, sweet dog,” she said tugging gently on the leash. “You’re going to get your nose bitten off if you keep sticking it where it doesn’t belong.”

Larry pulled his head out of the foliage, and Paige could swear he smiled at her. Wagging his tail, he guided her down the sidewalk to the next bush.

This was their routine every night—a leisurely stroll right before bed. The nighttime solitude helped calm Paige’s mind. She took the time review her day, and think about what needed to be done tomorrow. Larry took the opportunity to get all the sniffs without being distracted by cars, kids, other dogs, squirrels, chipmunks, birds, people, or cats. Larry’s attention span was miniscule.

They walked slowly down the street, neither noticing the car behind them, rolling quietly, headlights out. Then Larry stopped, stiffened, and growled, hackles rising, his head turned to look behind them.

Paige stopped, turning to look where Larry was fixated. “What’s up, boy?” she said, just before someone—a man—wearing dark clothes, a balaclava, and gloves, ran up beside her and grabbed Larry’s leash, yanking it hard. But Paige would not let go. She hung on to Larry’s leash as if their lives depended on it.

“Gimme the damn dog!” growled the man.

“HELP!” screamed Paige as she wrestled the man for control of Larry’s leash.

They pulled and tugged, poor Larry being tossed around like a rag doll. But never the victim, he lunged at his attacker and sunk his tinny teeth into his calf.

“Son of a bitch!” yelped the man, letting go of the leash as he tried to pry Larry off of his leg.

Paige grabbed the leash, Larry taking one more snap at their attacker before the pair started running back towards home.

But the man was faster than Paige. She was almost to her property when the man overtook her. Without a word, he punched her in the face. Paige literally saw stars, falling to the ground, whacking her head on the sidewalk. He bent over and grabbed Larry’s leash out of her hand. Larry lunged for him again, this time sinking his teeth into the man’s arm. He swore, shaking Larry off, and dragged a frantic Larry to the back of the car. He grabbed him by the collar and heaved him into the trunk, slamming it.

Paige got to her knees, then tried to stand. She was wobbly, but that wasn’t going to let that stop her. She staggered towards the car.

“HE TOOK MY DOG!” she yelled. “STOP!” She made it to the passenger’s side door, grabbing the handle as the car screeched away from the curb, sending Paige tumbling into the street, scraping her knees and palms. She sat there watching Larry being driven into the night. Getting to her feet, she lurched after the car.

Another car pulled up beside her. She jumped back, panicked.

A woman leaned over and opened her door. “I saw what happened. Get in. We can follow them.”

Without thinking Paige jumped into the car. The woman punched the gas, following the taillights disappearing around a corner.

“He took my dog!” said Paige, straining towards the car in front of them. “We need to get Larry back!” She was shaking, breathing heavily.

“I saw the whole thing!” said the stranger. “I was just getting home from work, and heard you yell. I saw the guy dragging your dog and throwing him into the trunk. I jumped into my car to help.”

She slewed around the corner, just in time to see the getaway car make a left-hand turn, heading towards the highway.

“Why would they take Larry?” Paige looked at the woman. “He’s just a rescue mutt.” She shook her head, tears making tracks down her face. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” said the woman, “but we can try to get him back.” She took a quick look at Paige. “You okay?”

“I guess,” she said, gently palpitating the area under her left eye. “The guy punched me in the face.”

The woman stole another look at Paige. “He punched you?”

Paige nodded. “Yeah. I wouldn’t give him Larry, so he punched me. But Larry bit the bastard. Twice. I hope he gets sepsis.”

The woman snuck another look at Paige. “You’re gonna have a shiner—it’s starting to swell and bruise.”

Paige touched her eye gingerly. “Ow!’ she said, quickly taking her hand away from her face. “If this guy has no problem punching me in the face, what’s he gonna do to a little dog?”

The woman at the wheel thought for a moment. “You think that he’s after your dog? Not you?”

“Definitely Larry. He grabbed his leash and tried to pull it out of my hand. That’s when Larry bit him the first time. On the calf. He let go of the leash, and we were able to run away, but he was faster.” She wiped at her tears, wincing when she brushed under her left eye. “We were almost home.”

“Do you know the guy?”

Paige shook her head, eyes still fixated on the taillights ahead of them. “Not a clue who he is, or why he wanted Larry.”

They drove in silence for a couple of minutes, Paige never taking her eyes off of the car ahead of them.

“Should we call the police?” asked the woman.

Paige shook her head. “No. Not until we know where they’re taking Larry. Is that okay?” She looked at the woman. “I mean, if you don’t want to keep driving, we could call.”

The woman smiled. “No. I think that we’re doing the right thing. If we call the police, they’ll tell us to back off and they’ll take over.” She shook her head. “What if they lose the car? Or spook hm? What if the guy says that Larry’s his dog? There are too many ‘what ifs’ to take any chances. We’ll follow him to where ever he goes, then call the cops when we know where he’s taking Larry.”

Paige sighed in relief. She turned to the driver.

“Uh, I just want to say thank you for helping me when I needed help. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along.” A small smile touched her lips. “So, thank you.”

The woman smiled. “You’re welcome. I just hope someone would jump in and help me if I was in a predicament.“ She turned to look at Paige. “I’m Nina by the way. I live just down the street from you at number 86.”

Paige tried to remember which house that was. She was at number 62, so ... “The house with the chestnut tree on the front lawn?” asked Paige.

“That’s me.”

Paige nodded. “I’m Paige.” She nodded towards the car that was pulling onto the highway ramp. “And that’s Larry.” She could feel her eyes misting up again. “He must be so scared,” she whispered.

They pulled on to the freeway. It was easier to follow the car with all the late night traffic.. They drove behind him with two cars between them. When he took the second exit ramp, Nina followed, keeping her distance. The later it got, fewer cars were on the road, the harder it was to follow the car without being spotted. Paige looked around.

“I know where we are,” she said, anger bubbling up.

Nina looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

“My ex, Xander, lives around here.” She clenched her jaw so hard it began to ache.

“You think this Xander had something to do with this?” Nina asked.

“Definitely.” She paused, her eyes on the car in front of them. “If Xander is behind this, the car should turn right at the next street.”

The car turned right.

“Asshole!”

Left, right, right, and the car pulled into Xander’s driveway. Nina and Paige drove slowly past and parked half a block away. They got out of the car and quietly ran back towards Xander’s house, hiding in the neighbour’s bushes. Nina pulled out her phone and started videoing the scene.

The front door of the house opened, and a man walked out.

“That’s Xander,” whispered Paige. The man who had snatched Larry no longer had is balaclava on. “And that dick-weed is Jeremy, Xander’s gym buddy.” She shook her head. “I hate that guy,” she hissed.

“Take your fuckin’ dog, and give me my money.” Jeremy walked to the back of the car, and pushed the trunk-open button on his key fob. The lid started to open, but Jeremy put his hand on the trunk, preventing it from opening. Paige could hear Larry barking from the trunk.

“My money man,” said Jeremy holding out the hand that wasn’t one the trunk.

Xander put his hand in his front right pocket, and pulled out a wad of cash. “Five hundred, like we agreed.”

Jeremy just looked at Xander. “The mutt bit me—twice. I think I might need a couple hundred more,” he said.

“Screw you. If you’re stupid enough to let a small dog like Larry bite you, that’s on you. Not me.”

“I could drive away right now, and you’d never see the dog again.”

The two men just looked at each other for about a minute, neither saying or doing anything, Larry barking frantically. Xander put his hand in his left front pocket and pulled out his wallet. He looked inside and pulled out a much smaller wad of money.

“Sixty bucks. That’s all I’ve got,” he said.

Jeremy grabbed the money and added it to the five hundred dollars, and stuffed it all in his right hand front pocket. He looked at Xander. “You owe me, man. I’m not going to forget it,” he said taking his hand off of the trunk. “Take your stupid dog. I’m out.”

Paige hissed. “Larry is not Xander’s dog. He doesn’t even like Xander!”

The trunk slowly opened, but Larry was not waiting to see what was going to happen next. He jumped out of the trunk and took off running. Not towards Paige and Nina, but towards the road.

Paige couldn’t help herself. “Larry!” she yelled. The small dog switched direction mid-stride and headed towards Paige’s voice.

“Call the police!” she called over her shoulder to Nina as she ran towards the dog. Larry jumped into Paige’s arms.

“Larry! I’m so sorry I let them get you!” she said, her eyes welling up again.

But Larry wasn’t the only one heading towards Paige. Xander was running towards her, the anger on his face sending a shiver down Paige’s spine. Jeremy was right behind him.

“Get away from me!” she called, backing up. “I’ve called the police!” she said looking from one man to the other.

“She knows me, man” said Jeremy, anger in his voice. “I’m on probation. I can’t go back to prison.” He turned to look at Paige, menace on his face

“You should have thought of that before you snatched my dog!” challenged Paige. She’d repositioned herself closer to the street, leaving Nina hiding behind the two men. Paige could see her sneaking out towards them, a small cylinder in her hand.

“Hey dog snatchers!” said Nina raising the small canister of pepper spray. Both men turned towards the voice behind them. Nina let loose with the spray, making sure she aimed for their eyes.

Both men screamed, their hands flying to their faces. Jeremy dropped to his knees, and Xander bent at the waist.

“Bitch!” said Jeremy, tears streaming down his face.

“You’re the bitch!” Nina chirped back at him. “I’m not the one who’s sitting on the lawn crying,”

The police pulled up, and two officers jumped out of the car, walking towards the group.

“I have a canister of pepper spray in my hand,” said Nina. “I’m gong to put it on the ground now.” She bent down and placed it on the ground, and used her foot to roll it towards the officers.

“Any other weapons?” asked one of the officers.

Everyone said no.

The officers looked at the group. Two men writhing on the ground, two women, one holding a small dog, the other an older woman.

“Okay,” said the same officer, “What’s going on here?”

*****

Detective Terry Waits watched the patrol cars pull out, transporting the two dog nappers to the station. Detective Carlos Ito was finishing up with the two woman, who were going to come down to the station tomorrow to give their official statements.

As the women walked away towards their car, Ito returned to stand beside Waits.

“Well, that was easy,” he said. “It helps when all the bad guys are waiting for us when we get here.”

Waits nodded.

“Do you think they did the right thing? The women?” asked Ito bobbing his head towards the backs of the two women.

“I don’t know,” said Waits. “It was dangerous. They already knew that Jeremy Knox was capable of violence. It could have turned out a lot worse than it did.” She looked at the phone in her hand. “You heard him on the video—he said he wasn’t going back to prison. Who knows what he would have done?”

“I agree,” said Ito looking at Waits. “What would you have done if someone had snatched Casper”

Waits had thought about what she would have done if someone had grabbed her big white cat. “Probably the same thing,” she said. “Maybe with a bit more use of force,” she added.

“What do you think the ex, Xander, was going to do with Larry?”

“Well, he said he did it for revenge. Paige broke up with him, taking away her love, so he was going to take Larry away from her so she’d have no one to love. Petty, childish noneense.” She shook her head. “ I don’t know if he would have hurt Larry, or just taunted Paige.” She paused. “But the real star of this whole thing is Nina Ballard. She went above and beyond. Without her, I’m not sure we would have ever found Larry.”

In a southern accent Ito said, “Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers.”

Waits snorted. “Come on, let’s get back to the station. We got suspects to interview, and reams of paperwork waiting for us.”

They turned and walked towards their unmarked unit.