Page 30 of Kent's Watch
“I don’t know, after what I learned, I think it might have something to do with CSAR.”
“Come again?” Marvin demanded as he sat up straighter in his chair. “Tell me exactly what you meant with that statement.”
“Vickers only joined CSAR to get a puppy he could train to be a bait dog for a dog-fighting ring. He thought it would be easy to get one of our dogs and only go through the motion of training him our way. He hadn’t expected to be kicked out in the first few hours of being there. I didn’t ask, and I never expected Kent to step in and do what he did.”
“What exactly did he do?”
“He only approached Vickers and laid a hand on his shoulder. He kept that hand there when I told Vickers to go outside. He, Kent, stood beside me as I kicked him out of the class. Scott was right there with the two of us. That was it, I can’t tell you whether Kent squeezed his shoulder or not, all I can tell you is that he placed his hand there and escorted Vickers outside at my command.”
“Wow, okay, did Jim say anything else?”
“He was taking Vickers in to book him on false accusations of assault. I don’t know the legalities of all that and whether he can do that or not. It’s not my concern. Then he was going to go out and have a conversation with Elroy and Judd.” Rita finished her wine and shook her head as she started gathering their dirty dishes. “Do you think there’s a dog-fighting ring in the area?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Marvin answered in wonder. “I would hazard to guess that there isn’t one in Fool’s Gold, but maybe over in Colorado Springs, or even up in Denver. How long has Vickers been living in the area?”
“I don’t know, maybe five years. I never had any interaction with him until the first day the new session started over at CSAR.” Rita shrugged as she took the dishes to the sink. As she cleaned them off to put in the dishwasher, Marvin took care of the food. Rita turned and grinned at him.
“You’re taking half of that home, right? There’s no way I can eat all that before it goes bad.”
Marvin looked at the huge bowl of left-over pasta, and looked at his daughter with a laugh. “Yeah, I can take half of it. I keep forgetting that I’m not cooking for three when I cook.” Rita remained silent because Marvin has been a widower for several years now. Rita’s mother had gotten sick and passed away when Rita was still in college. She had finished and came home, but after a few years, she’d saved her money and bought her own house. While in college, Rita’s grandfather had lived with her parents. Within six months of each other, both of them had passed away, leaving her father alone. That was why she had moved back in when she’d graduated. Once her father was okay on his own, she’d purchased her own house with the money she’d inherited from both her grandfather and mother.
They finished clearing away the supper dishes and food. Once they were done, Marvin started gathering his things and called for Tank to join them. Rita gave the dog a rub down andwent to the door to see her father and his dog out. As she opened the door, her father turned to her and kissed her cheek.
“If you want to give Palmer a radio, go ahead. As to the other thing, about calling his friends in, let me get back to you on that.”
“If you’re going to have them investigated, talk to Jake Cogburn over at the Brotherhood Protection. He’s Gunny’s son-in-law. After the stunt Vickers pulled with kicking Charlie, I had Jake do a deep background check on all of them. Nothing came back as suspicious.”
“Thanks, maybe I’ll stop by tomorrow and see Gunny. It’s been a while since we’ve sat down and had a beer together.” He kissed her cheek again, then grinned at his next statement. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe you should get some sleep, you look worn out.”
“I am,” Rita said, not offended by what he said. “I walked almost ten miles today. As soon as you leave, I’m going to bed.”
“Lock up after me.”
“Yes, Dad.” Rita rolled her eyes at him, then shoved him out the door. She shut it, and threw the lock, knowing her father waited until she’d done so. He confirmed it by calling through the door that she was a good girl for doing it. Shaking her head, she went to the living room and watched as he and Tank climbed into his truck, backed out of the driveway, and she waved when he tooted his horn. Fifteen minutes later she was in her bed. It didn’t take long for her to settle down and fall asleep.
CHAPTER 13
“Kent,”Rita called out as everyone was getting ready to leave after that day’s training session. She watched as he waited for the others to clear out before he came to her.
“What’s up?”
“Please, come back to my office,” she said as she turned on her heel and felt him walk beside her down the hall. As soon as they entered her office, she immediately went behind her desk and looked up at him. “Here,” she said as she handed him a box.
“What’s this?”
“The radio for the search and rescue.” She laid the box on her desk and opened it. “There’s a spare battery, and a charger. I’m sure you won’t need the instructions, but they are there also.”
“What channel or frequency does it stay on?”
Rita was impressed that he knew to ask that, and withdrew the folded piece of paper she’d placed there that morning. She held it up and nodded to him. “This is all you need to know. Keep it on that channel. You’ll hear the call when it comes in.”
“Is it a police channel?”
“No, it’s only for search and rescue. Most of the time it will be Jim Faulkner that will call it in. He’s the one that called me when Mikey went missing. Or one of the other police officers on duty.”
“How exactly does this all work?”
“If Jim, or anyone on the police force, answers a call for a missing person, they go out and investigate. If they can’t find them right away, they call us in. Be warned, nine times out of ten, our calls are for people lost in the wilderness. Jim doesn’t bother calling CSAR if it’s someone missing from town.”
