Chapter 4 - THE VIDEO EVERYONE BELIEVED
By six o’clock, Titan was fighting for his life in an oxygen kennel.
By six-ten, local television stations were calling him a vicious police dog.
By six-thirty, I was suspended from K9 duty pending review.
Not suspended from the department.
Not yet.
But my badge felt heavier anyway.
Rachel picked me up from the hospital because Marcus had returned to shift.
The moment I climbed into her car, she reached across the console and grabbed my hand.
“Tell me he’s alive.”
“He is.”
She let out a breath.
“And Emily?”
“Not bitten. Bruised shoulder. Scraped elbow.”
Rachel stared through the windshield.
“So Titan saved her.”
“Yes.”
“Then this is insane.”
I looked at her.
“You watched the video?”
“Everyone has watched the video.”
I leaned back.
“Exactly.”
At home, our twelve-year-old son, Caleb, was sitting at the kitchen table.
He stood when I entered.
“Dad?”
“Hey.”
“Is Titan coming home?”
I swallowed.
“Not tonight.”
His eyes dropped.
“Did he attack that girl?”
“No.”
He looked up.
I walked toward him.
“He saw a rattlesnake next to her. He knocked her down so she couldn’t run into it.”
“So why are people saying he attacked her?”
I had no good answer.
Rachel did.
“Because people like being angry faster than they like being correct.”
My phone rang again.
Lieutenant Harris.
“Mercer.”
“Turn on Channel Seven.”
Rachel grabbed the remote.
The television came alive.
A reporter stood outside Centennial Park.
Behind him was a man I hadn’t seen earlier.
Mid-forties.
Expensive overcoat.
Angry.
The caption identified him as DANIEL CARTER — FATHER OF CHILD INVOLVED IN K9 INCIDENT.
The reporter asked, “Mr. Carter, do you believe the officer lost control of his dog?”
Daniel Carter looked directly into the camera.
“My seven-year-old daughter was tackled and pinned by a trained police attack animal.”
Rachel muttered, “Oh, come on.”
Daniel continued.
“I understand there are claims that the dog reacted to a snake, but this never should have happened. A police animal that ignores its handler is dangerous. Period.”
My jaw tightened.
Then the reporter asked the question that mattered.
“Will you pursue legal action?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Yes. We are exploring every option.”
Caleb looked at me.
“Can they take Titan away?”
Rachel immediately said, “No.”
But she looked at me afterward.
And she knew.
They could.
My phone rang before the segment ended.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Jack Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“This is Natalie Brooks. Emily Carter’s mother.”
I stood.
“What can I do for you?”
Her voice was shaky.
“I need to tell you something.”
I walked away from the television.
“What?”
“My husband doesn’t know I’m calling.”
I waited.
Natalie took a breath.
“Emily keeps crying about Titan.”
“He’s alive.”
“For now?”
“For now.”
She sniffed.
“She says he didn’t hurt her.”
My throat tightened.
Then Natalie said something I did not expect.
“She says there was a man near the bushes before the snake appeared.”
I frowned.
“What man?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she describe him?”
“Yes.”
Natalie lowered her voice.
“She said he was kneeling in the leaves.”
I went completely still.
“Doing what?”
“She says he had something in his hand.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. But Emily remembers one thing very clearly.”
“What?”
“The man saw the snake.”
A chill moved through me.
“And?”
Natalie whispered the answer.
May you like
“He walked away without warning anyone.”
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