Stephanie barked excitedly and tugged at the leash. Brad looked in the direction she was scrabbling for. Judge Nichols sat on a bench in front of a small pond. The older man raised a hand in greeting, and Brad and Gabe strolled over to join him.
“Hello, Judge,” Brad said. “I didn’t expect to see you out here today.” Nichols was the one and only judge for Crook County, and although his jurisdiction wasn’t awash in lawsuits and crime, his schedule kept him busy. Too busy for an afternoon spent at the park on a workday.
“And I didn’t expect to be here.” Nichols leaned over, stroking the Lab’s back and murmuring in her ear. A gust of wind lifted a tuft of the man’s snowy white hair into a messy peak. He sat up, his shoulders drooping. “But sometimes difficult decisions are easier to make on a park bench than in my chambers.” He looked down at the dog. “I see Stephanie hasn’t been adopted yet.”
“Animals with physical deformities are hard sells.” Brad smoothed his thumb over the puckered skin covering her missing left eye. “But someone will want her. She’s too much of a sweetheart to go without a home for much longer.”
Judge Nichols gave a bare whisper of a smile. “I’m glad you’ve kept such an optimistic view of human nature.”
Gabe snorted. “Delusional one, more like.”
Brad ignored that. He plopped down on the bench next to the judge. “Something wrong?” Usually the man was as cheerful as everyone’s favorite grandfather. He’d also been a good donor to Forever Friends in the past. Maybe if Brad helped Nichols with his problem, he could hit him up for another donation.
Nichols spread the love around to a couple of other dogs. “Just wondering why a young man who seems to have every advantage would persist in acting like a jackass, excuse my French. I have to determine an appropriate sentence for a serial offender. But the problem is that I like the boy.”
“If the punk did the crime, he can’t be surprised when he gets the time.” Gabe widened his stance and crossed his arms over his chest. “Everyone needs to understand there are consequences to our actions.”
Brad stifled his eye roll. Out of a misplaced sense of guilt, Gabe was a bit of an annoying hard-ass. He had all the love in the world for four-legged creatures. People, not so much.
The judge looked up at Gabe and pursed his lips. The dismal gloom in the man’s blue eyes gave way to a twinkle, and one edge of the judge’s mouth slid up. He looked between Brad and Gabe, his smile growing and opening until he was showing all his teeth.
Brad swallowed. No good could come from that look. He popped to his feet. He’d ask for a donation another time.
Gabe must have sensed the bad juju, too, because in unison they each took a wary step back. “Well, we gotta get going.” Brad rubbed the back of his neck. “Things to do.”
“Of course.” The judge patted Stephanie on the back and stood as well. “You two must be very busy running that shelter by yourselves.”
Brad and Gabe shot looks at each other. What was the old man’s angle? “Um, it’s not so bad,” Brad said. Gabe nodded.
“But still”—the judge advanced a step—“it would be nice if you got some more help around there. Someone who could walk all the dogs, give them baths, that sort of thing. That would take a lot off your plate.”
“Sure, but I can’t afford that right now.” Brad cleared his throat. “In fact, we’re just about to start a fund-raising drive and—”
Judge Nichols chuckled. “You misunderstand me. This is really quite perfect. I have a young man who needs to be taught a lesson, and you need free labor. It’s a win-win situation.”
“What is?” Gabe asked. His shoulders rounded, already resigned to the inevitable. If Nichols wanted something, he generally got it.
Brad wasn’t quite so fatalistic. “You can’t think that you’re going to put your problem child at Forever Friends.”
“Dax isn’t a child, even if he acts like one. He’s twenty-five, intelligent, and a nice guy. When he’s not acting like a jackass.” Nichols shook his head. “He just needs to learn he can’t do whatever he wants whenever he wants. I think several months of picking up dog poop will work wonders on his attitude.” He rubbed his hands together. “I’ll send you over a copy of my sentence that lays out all the specifics of Dax’s community service first thing tomorrow.”
Brad’s shoulders drooped to match Gabe’s. “Great,” he said, his voice flat. He and Gabe had enough trouble training unruly dogs to behave. Now they had to train an unruly punk? But Nichols was a generous donor. And the judge wielded a lot of power in Crook County. It would be foolish to refuse him.
“Well, I’d best let the young man in question know his fate. And let him know how easy he got off.” Nichols pointed a finger at Brad and Gabe in turn. “Don’t be nice to him. Make him do all the dirty jobs, and don’t let him slack off. If he does, tell me. I’ll have a jail cell prepared.”
Stephanie barked, concerned at the judge’s stern tone, and Nichols bent down and gave her one last pat. “I’ll see you two later.” He turned to walk away. “Oh, and don’t forget to put me on your mailing list,” he called over his shoulder. “I’ll send my donation over first thing.”
Gabe stepped next to Brad. “Did he just bribe us? He dumps a convict on us and then says he’s going to make a donation so we don’t object?”
Brad rubbed his side and started back across the lawn to their van parked on the street. “I think that would qualify more as extortion. We take his problem child or else he withholds his donation. Either way, we’re stuck with this Dax.”
Gabe grumbled. “Who the hell has a name like Dax?”
“I guess we’ll find out.” They reached the van, and Brad opened the back door. He began loading the dogs up into their crates. Lifting the Lab brought a twinge to his side, and he winced.
Gabe grabbed Stephanie and settled her inside. “Your side bothering you again?” he asked in a low voice.
“It’s fine.”
“Having a kidney transplant doesn’t mean that you’re completely healthy when it’s over. Even though you didn’t have any complications after your surgery, you can still—”
“I said I’m fine.” Brad rubbed the back of his neck and tried to take the steel out of his voice. “Look, the surgery was a long time ago. But it’s left me a little slower than someone like you. Staying fit is good for me. After a hard run, maybe I feel it a bit more than the average guy, but it’s nothing to worry about. It’s all good.”
No one knew better than he how good he had it. After spending most of his teenage years in and out of hospitals, Brad could never be anything but grateful that he’d received a new kidney. Lagging a few steps behind his athletic friend was nothing compared to all those hours in dialysis.
“Well, when we get back to the shelter, I want you to get your ass hydrated.” Gabe closed the back door and gave him a hard look.
“Yes, Mom.”
Walking around him, Gabe knocked his shoulder into Brad’s, making him stumble. “Asshole,” Gabe muttered. “I don’t even know why we’re friends.” He climbed into the passenger seat and slammed his door closed.
Smiling, Brad strolled to the driver’s side and hopped in. He knew why they were friends. Beneath Gabe’s crusty exterior, he was a loyal person who just needed a little encouragement to lighten up. Kind of like Isabelle Lopez. Checking for traffic, Brad pulled out into the street.
Tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, Brad remembered the real estate agent as he’d first seen her—ass up rescuing a puppy from under the dumpster. It was a pleasant image. Once he got back to his office, and after he hydrated,