Baumer was a cop; cops listened to their instincts. But Gabe hadn’t been led around by his dick since he was in his teens. Hell, after a disaster or two, most guys figured out that the little head didn’t have much for brains.

And he was done with this conversation. “Since your shift has started, let’s have our meeting. I want to talk with you about my expectations for patrolling.” Because the officer wasn’t coming up to snuff.

Gabe led the way into his office and turned the conversation to problems going on in town and law enforcement talk.

Chapter Nineteen

Around Monday noon, Gabe had abandoned the piled-up paperwork in the office to deal with a fight between an Alaska Native and an asshole over a fender-bender.

Then he’d gotten a call from the grocery store. Two teens had thought Dante’s old eyes wouldn’t notice one boy slipping a frozen pizza into the other’s backpack.

An older woman called with a suspected intruder, which turned out to be a squirrel in the attic.

Minor problems but…yeah, he was having fun.

Back in town, he left the patrol car parked on the street and headed toward the municipal building.

“Chief Mac…MacNair?” A skinny boy with collar-length brown hair, well-worn jeans, and red T-shirt shifted from foot to foot. The kid couldn’t be more than ten years old.

“What can I do for you, son?” Looking down at the child, Gabe had a sudden vision of how fragile he and his brothers must have seemed to Mako.

“Um, there’s a dog. He…I can’t get him out, but he needs help.”

Gabe smothered a grin. The life of a small-town cop, right? “Show me.”

Checking over his shoulder to ensure Gabe followed, the boy led him to the alley behind Dante’s grocery. He dropped to his knees to peer under a parked car. “See? He won’t come out. He’s scared.”

Gabe joined him. A half-grown pup, maybe four months. Fluffy enough to be part husky. Sunken flanks and poor condition. Half starved. The tiny whine and terrified half-wag indicated the dog wasn’t feral.

With a hand on the boy’s shoulder, Gabe pulled him away from the car. “What’s your name?”

“Niko.”

“Run into the grocery, grab some turkey lunch meat, and tell Dante to put it on the Chief’s tab. Can you do that?”

“Yessir.”

As the child whipped around the corner, Gabe got comfortable on his knees and started talking in a low voice. “Good thing for you, pup, that the gravel isn’t wet or muddy. Looks like you found yourself a nice youngster... Behave and you might have a chance for a…” The puppy moved closer as he talked.

Before Gabe ran out of things to chat about, Niko was back. “What’re you going to do?” The boy passed over the lunchmeat.