Chapter 8

Casey pulled up to the courthouse and thought about what she was about to do. It was one thing to tell a tall one to her friend and coworker Faith. That didn't really bother her conscience all that much, and when she had told the deputy her tale, she was protecting Dagomarus as much as herself. Again, her conscience didn't bug her all that much. When it came to Dagomarus, she would do whatever it took to protect him, she loved him, and that was that. However, this was a little different.

She was about to go inside and go before a judge and tell her story again, but this time there was going to be an official court record; a man was going to be accused of doing something he really didn't do. Granted, the sexual assault never happened, but he had tried to kill her lover and he had gone so far as to enlist two buddies to do it. Then the rifle shot through the window.

On second thought, that asshole deserved whatever was coming to him. She didn't like telling lies, but if she told the truth, they'd lock her up in the loony bin and throw away the key. She'd be the permanent guest at the rubber room hotel, and check out time would be suspended, indefinitely. Okay, so maybe telling this one lie would make her life a little easier. Even though it still bothered her, she pulled herself up straight and walked into the courthouse to get this over with as soon as possible.

When she stepped into the foyer of the courthouse she spotted Deputy Lockhardt sitting on one of the benches outside the courtroom. He stood up when she walked in and he waved her over. She was a little surprised to see him, but maybe he was here for something related to his job and it was just a coincidence. She smiled and waved back and walked over to him.

"Good morning, Miss Brandt. I'm glad you decided to take my advice and file for the restraining order."

"Good morning, Deputy Lockhardt. Yes, I decided to do this. I have to do something, and I guess this is the best way to get him to stop."

"I know it's not perfect, but it's the best I can do for you right now."

He seemed to want to say something more. He looked around to see if there was anyone within hearing distance, and he started to look uncomfortable.

"Miss Brandt, uhhh, I want to ask you something, but I'm not sure where to begin."

Casey was used to men getting nervous around her, she knew she was good looking, but she never let it go to her head. Watching guys get tongue tied around her was nothing new. Grinning, thinking she knew what he was going to ask next, she nodded.

"What is it, Deputy Lockhardt?"

"Well, uhhmmm, oh, damn. I feel so embarrassed about this, but, well..."

He was turning red, blushing, and he couldn't quite meet her gaze. He was shifting his weight back and forth on his feet, and his hands were twitching nervously. She watched this display, having seen it before, but she hadn't had a guy get this anxious trying to work up the nerve to ask her out since junior high. She wasn't mad about Deputy Lockhardt wanting to ask her out, she was amused more than anything. She would politely turn him down, of course, but she decided to have a little fun with him. She flashed him her biggest smile and posed herself to show off her hips, trying not to be quite so obvious about what she was doing.

"Go ahead and ask me what you want, Deputy Lockhardt."

He shot her a questioning look and seemed to come to a decision. He stopped fidgeting and drew in a deep breath.

"I heard you last night, Miss Brandt. I drove back past your place later on to check up on you, to make sure everything was okay, and I heard you."

He was really red in the face now, but he was looking her right in the eyes. Now it was her turn to go beet red, and start fidgeting.

"Oh."

She couldn't look at him anymore; her embarrassment was so severe.

"I panicked, thinking that Scott had busted in and was raping you; so I rushed to a window to look in to see whether I was going to need to call for back up and an ambulance."

He stopped at that point. He didn't know whether to continue or not. He wanted her to think about what he had said for a minute. She did think about what he had said, and it hit her like a ton of bricks. She got lightheaded, and she couldn't breathe. Her face went white and her legs didn't seem to want to hold her up anymore. She felt his hands on her, and he guided her onto the bench, setting her down gently.

"I'm sorry, Miss Brandt; I didn't mean to upset you this much."

She tried to get her breathing back to normal, and to fight back the panic that was about to burst her chest. She took several deep breaths, calming herself down a little. She was thinking furiously, what had he seen? Oh, God! He had seen her and Dagomarus having sex in her living room. She thought she had closed all the curtains and blinds, but somehow, he had seen enough. Now he was telling her that he had seen the two of them together.

Well, it was bound to happen sometime. Someone was bound to see her and Dagomarus together, she just didn't think that they would ever be seen quite that much, or in that position. She smiled to herself at her own pun. Well, now what? Deputy Lockhardt didn't seem to be mad; just embarrassed as hell. HAH! He wasn't the only one sitting here totally embarrassed. She needed to know what he was going to do about his knowledge of her and Dagomarus. Drawing up, she looked at the Deputy.

"Okay. So, what did you see?"

She wanted the Deputy to admit to spying in on her. She also wanted to make sure that he wasn't just guessing or fishing for an admission on her part. Deputy Lockhardt blushed again and looked at the floor. His hands started fidgeting again.

"Uhhmmm, well, I saw you and your dog. Together."

He didn't say anything more for a few seconds.

"I don't know if I can apologize enough for invading your privacy like that, but I had to tell you because there were a few things that didn't add up in your story, and when I saw the two of you like that, it clicked."

She started to say something but he put his hand up to stop her from speaking.

"No, let me finish, then you can tell me whatever it is you need to say."

She nodded, cheeks flaming furiously, waiting for him to finish.

"The two grizzlies attacking your camp was a stretch, but okay, it could happen. Going back into those mountains immediately the next day was the first alarm bell. The part about Scott making advances was believable, but getting two buddies out of the bar and sending them after you with guns, that was the second alarm bell. The final thing was the rifle shot through your window. Why would a man who was supposedly bent on having sex with you, shoot at you the next day? It didn't add up, something was missing."

"When I heard you last night, and then saw what you were doing, it suddenly made sense, or at least a little more. I am still confused about a couple of things, but I know what you told me wasn't the whole truth, and before you walked into that courtroom and stood in front of that judge, I needed to find out what's going on. So, Miss Brandt, are you willing to tell me what really happened?"

She listened to his speech and suddenly realized that as much as she thought she had covered her bases, she really hadn't. He was a smart guy, not some country hick with a badge. She chastised herself for not seeing it before. She was debated on how much she should really say. He could obviously tell when she was lying, so this made it extra tough on how to proceed. Well, according to one of her professors in psychology, the best lies are 95% truth. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Okay, but I need to know, how much trouble am I in? Are you going to arrest me for what I was doing last night?"

She was so frightened that she started trembling. She knew that if he wanted to, he could arrest her right now and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"I thought about it, believe me. It was a complete and utter shock to me to see that. However, I also believe that what a person does inside their own home, as long as nobody gets hurt, is their own business and it should stay inside the home. So, that being said, since that is your choice to do that, I'm not going to officially do anything about it."

He took a deep breath and sighed. He had just told her he was willing to break the law for her. He was skating on thin ice right now and whether she knew it or not, he had just put his job on the line for her.

"Thank you for being understanding. I didn't expect this, but thank you."

She watched him relax a little, but he was still nervous and uptight. He looked around again and made a decision.

"Let's go for a walk outside. I'd feel much better about having this discussion outside these walls."

He stood up and offered her a hand to help her to her feet. She took it, smiling gratefully, because her knees were still a little shaky. They walked out the front door and he motioned for her to follow him. He stepped past the hedges that lined the front walk to the courthouse and stood in the shade of the building. When she was standing next to him, he decided to tell her a little more.

"Look, after that crazy bonehead tried to plan the kidnapping of David Letterman's kid and nanny from the ranch, we've been a little more cognizant that our little piece of paradise has lost its innocence. That guy had been charged with rape and intimidation a few years ago. So when you told me that this Scott fellow did the same thing to you, and seeing as how you work for the Acantha, well, I got a little suspicious."

The wry expression on his face told her that he was smarter than the average guy. She also stopped and thought about what he had said about the kidnapping case. Crap! I didn't even think about that when I planned this out. I must have done it subconsciously.

"Honestly, Deputy Lockhardt, that never occurred to me. I'm not a reporter at the paper, I'm just the typesetter, but I mostly do the business cards and stuff. If that's what you thought, I guess I can't blame you for being nosey. As for the rest of this whole situation, I'm just not sure what to say."

She shrugged her shoulders, looking at him for a clue as to what he was thinking.

"First, call me Mark. If I'm going to help you with this situation, it would ease my mind a little if you didn't remind me at every turn that I'm a law enforcement officer, okay?"

She gave him a small smile, and nodded. She could sympathize with that very much.

"Secondly, I need to know if you and Scott have had any contact before that evening."

He stared right into her eyes, as if he was daring her to try and lie about this. She met his gaze solidly.

"No, I've never seen that guy before. He really did find my shredded campsite and the grizzly carcass and had followed my tire tracks up to the old Ranger station. He was genuinely concerned about my welfare before he even knew who I was. The trouble between us happened when me and my friend walked out of the cabin and scared him silly."

She looked at Mark and gave him a half-smile, blushing. Mark snorted and grinned at her.

"Yeah, I know how he must have felt when he saw your friend; which is the next thing I need to ask you about. Where did you get a dog that huge?"

He wasn't insinuating anything when he asked his question. She could see that on his face. Remembering her professor's words, she decided to tell him that 95%.

"He's not a dog. He's a wolf. We found each other the day before all this started. He was wounded and I bandaged him up. That night a grizzly did attack my campsite, but he is the one who killed the grizzly. There was only one bear."

She looked into Mark's eyes unflinchingly, speaking the literal truth. For his part, he knew she was telling the truth. Her eyes never flickered, her voice didn't change, and there was no sign of those little tics that people sometimes got when they were telling a tall story. He believed her this time. As hard as it was to comprehend, he knew she wasn't lying about this.

"So, you just sort of befriended each other, saving each others lives?"

He wasn't sure if that was what he truly wanted to ask, but it would do for now.

"Yes, I guess that's about the best way to describe it. I'm still a little amazed at the whole thing as well, Mark. I never thought anything like this could ever happen to me, or anyone else for that matter."

She started feeling a little more confidant as she stood there talking to Mark. He nodded in agreement at her last statement.

"Yeah, okay. But that still doesn't explain why Scott would do what he did. Just what did happen up there?"

This was where she was going to have to leave out that one crucial detail about Dagomarus. She hoped she could pull it off without him getting suspicious.

"My friend literally scared the piss out Scott. Not figuratively, literally—he wet his pants and ran. My friend didn't attack him, didn't do anything but stare at him, but that was enough. Scott ran away scared shitless. I imagine that his male ego didn't take to well to that display and that's why he acted out."

She met Mark's gaze head on, not looking away; trying to believe her own words--which weren't a total fabrication—and found it relatively easy for her to do. Mark chuckled, shaking his head.

"Okay. Yeah, I can see that happening. Your friend is huge and if I had to stare right into that, I guess I'd be more than a little intimidated myself. Knowing that he took on a grizzly and tore it apart, yeah, I'd be scared shitless too. Okay. So, Scott freaks out and goes running off. What did you do then?"

"I knew that when he freaked out and ran off that I was in deep trouble. So, I packed up all my stuff and left."

She left off several details, but that wasn't really lying, so it didn't bother her.

"Why did you think you were in deep trouble? Up to this point you hadn't done anything illegal; nor is there something else you aren't telling me?"

He gave her a penetrating stare. She blushed. It wasn't intentional, it was just her immediate response to his question of leaving out details and she was ashamed of lying, even though it was a lie of omission. He saw her blush and thinking about what he had witnessed at her house, he made the wrong assumption of why she did so.

"Oh. I see, or, uhhmmm, well, oh crap. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you again."

She caught his flush and stammering apology; realizing what he was thinking, she decided to make the best of it.

"Yeah, well... I guess you've discovered my dirty secret, so, now what?"

She waited for him to get over his embarrassment and let him decide what he was willing to do about it. She was still mortified that she had been seen like that, but there was nothing she could do about it now. Just hope for the best and see what Mark was going to do.

"I can't even begin to understand why you are doing that, but, it's just not in my personality to judge you for it. I can see why Scott did what he did afterwards, though. I'm used to narrow minded people and the things they will say or do because of it."

He stopped for a minute, and thinking a little more, decided to finish his train of thought.

"I'm not comfortable with you perjuring yourself in front of the judge, but I don't see how we can change your story to fit the facts any differently without coming outright and telling the judge what you are doing. I honestly don't think it's anyone else's business knowing what you are doing."

He gave her a sardonic grin and shook his head.

"Look, Mark, he really did get those two guys out there that night to stop me. They really did have guns and they were drunk. What I left out was that they were more interested in finding my friend and shooting him. When they didn't see him in the truck with me, they chalked it up to Scott bullshitting them about it and so they left me alone. One of them even said he thought that Scott had sent them out there to stop me so he could fuck me. I am one hundred percent sure that it was Scott who put a bullet through my window last night; but again, what I left out was that my friend was standing in front of the window when he shot it out. That's what I didn't tell you. I didn't want anyone else to know I had him inside the house with me."

She gave him a defiant look, as if daring him to judge her actions now.

He listened to her explanation of events and it clicked. He thought about it for a minute and made a decision.

"Okay. I do believe you now. It all makes sense. Right now you've only broken two laws as far as I can tell. First, you have an endangered animal in your possession. Second, you filed a false statement to a law enforcement officer concerning the commission of a felony. I won't even list the third, as I don't see where it's any of my, or anyone else's, business what you do with your personal life."

"As for Scott, well, he is guilty of attempted kidnapping, a felony; he's also guilty of the attempted killing of a federally protected animal, which is another felony. There's also the fact that I could charge him with discharging a firearm within the city limits, reckless endangerment of the public, and willful destruction of private property. All this adds up to the fact that he could go to jail for at least 25 years, if not more, if all the counts were consecutively charged."

Her eyes got bigger as he listed all the broken laws and the consequences of those actions. She was shaking in fear and anxiety by the time he finished.

"What are you going to do, Mark. I mean, I know I could get severe fines and even go to jail for what I've done. But what about Scott? I don't think he's going to drop this, do you?"

Her eyes pleaded with him to understand her situation and not act too harshly with her. He did have some sympathy for her and the mess she was in. He couldn't really condone what she was doing with the wolf, but everyone had his or her secrets. Some were just worse than others. If she wanted to do that with a wolf, it wasn't his place in the world to judge her for it. She would have to answer for it to someone else, not him. He didn't like the fact that he was risking his career and even jail time himself if he allowed her to file the sexual assault charges against Scott. Then it dawned on him, she wouldn't have to file them to get the restraining order. He suddenly smiled and sighed with relief.

"Okay, here's the deal. Don't press the issue of the sexual assault; just tell the judge that you misunderstood his intentions. However, it's the truth about those two guys with guns, and they did try to prevent you from going home and Scott put them up to it. You can truthfully tell the judge that Scott attempted to kidnap you at gunpoint, although by proxy, and that makes him just as guilty."

"As for the shooting last night, tell the judge the truth; well, almost the truth. Don't tell him that you have a wild wolf in your house, which would be a crime. Tell the judge you have a half-breed wolf/dog mix and that you got it from a friend who couldn't take care of an animal of that size. That is legal, and you will be covered if anyone else finds out you have a giant dog in your possession. Okay? Do you think you can do that?"

He hoped she would do as he asked. This minimized the risk to his career and negated any possible legal troubles on her part.

She listened to his plan and agreed with it completely. She kicked herself mentally for not thinking of this plan on her own. Well, he did know the laws much better than she did, and her desire to completely hide Dagomarus from the outside world had clouded her thinking. She didn't hesitate for more than a second.

"Yes, I'll do just like you said. Thanks for doing this and helping me out of a really bad situation. I do have one question, though. Why? Why are you doing this?"

She needed to know his motives. She didn't want him thinking that he could get closer to her through this. She didn't want another boyfriend. She already had the love of her life and nobody could replace him, even though Mark did walk on two legs instead of four.

"I guess I just don't like anybody thinking that they can run roughshod over another person. I may never understand why you want to live that way, but that doesn't make it right for Scott or people like him to mess up your life. Is that what you wanted to know?"

He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't frowning either. He kept his expression as bland as he could.

"Yes, that's what I needed to know, Mark. I had to be sure of your reasons before I went into that courthouse. Even though we live in a town of only 1700 people, we've managed to never actually talk to each other. Up until a few minutes ago, all I knew about you was what Faith has commented on, and that was that you are a straight arrow, no humor, just all business. So, for you to lay all this on me this morning, I wasn't entirely sure I could trust your motives."

Then, not knowing why she felt the need to say anything more, she made a final statement.

"I really wanted to make sure you didn't have any romantic notions, because I already have a boyfriend."

She turned fiery red when she said it, but she didn't look away from his eyes this time, she stared right at him.

His first reaction was shock. He stood there with his mouth open, eyes wide and couldn't think of anything to say. Then he started laughing, loudly. He was holding his ribs and there were tears streaming down his cheeks. It took him a few minutes to get control of himself. He wiped the tears from his face and looked at her.

"Miss Brandt, you've got balls of steel. I like you. I still don't get you, but I like you. I would consider it an honor to call you a friend."

With that, he stuck out his hand.

She thought about what he said and how he had reacted. She made up her mind. She took his hand and shook it, forcefully.

"I think I would like that. Friends. You can call me Casey, all my friends do."

"Okay, Casey. Now that we have this figured out, let's go inside and talk to the judge."

He turned and put his arm out, motioning for her to lead the way. They walked back inside the courtroom and went before the judge. Even though the judge was concerned about having another attempted kidnapping in his jurisdiction in such a short amount of time, the circumstances of this case did lend itself to him issuing the most severe restrictions. He gave Deputy Lockhardt specific instructions as to how far he could go in enforcing the order.

On one hand, the deputy was surprised that the judge said anything to him about enforcement; however, noting that the judge was pissed about the potential bad publicity scandal that could result from this, he didn't think the judge went over the line. He assured the judge that he would do his best to ensure that Miss Brandt would be watched over and that he would try to catch Scott in the act and bust him. The judge went on further to say that he would be speaking to the D.A. about this case and that he would also speak to the sheriff. He wanted to make sure that if they could at least corroborate the attempted kidnapping, they could get Scott off the streets before he tried anything else. With that pronouncement, he struck his gavel and said good day to the pair.

They walked out of the courthouse and looked at each other. Neither one really knew what to say to the other. Finally, Mark broke the awkward silence.

"Well, I guess I better get back to work. Uhhmmm, look, Casey, I meant what I said about being friends. If it would be okay, would you mind if I stopped by your house when I get off shift tonight around 7 o'clock?"

His expression was one of slight embarrassment for having invited himself to her house, but he wanted to talk to her some more about this whole situation and he wanted to do that out of uniform and away from the courthouse. She eyed him suspiciously for a second, but didn't detect anything in his voice or manner that said he had ulterior motives. Then she decided to send him a clear message.

"Yes, that would be okay, as long as you don't mind the fact that my boyfriend will be there."

She managed not to blush too deeply this time when she said it. He snorted and gave her a lopsided grin.

"I'll say it again; Casey, you've got balls of steel. And, yeah, I sorta figured your 'boyfriend' would be there too. I don't mind if you don't. How's that?"

She grinned.

"Okay. I'll see you around seven."

They shook hands and went their separate ways.

She stopped briefly at the furniture store and confirmed the delivery time for the new bed. She told them that she would be home by 2 o'clock that afternoon to let them in. With that taken care of, she stopped at the glazier's next. They said they weren't too busy today and that they could have someone out to her place around three to fix the window. She gave them her address and left. Her next stop was going to be the most stressful of the day. She was going to have to face Faith and her one thousand and one questions.

She pulled into the parking lot and took a deep breath. Okay, let's get this over with so I can get home and fix this mess as best as I can. When she walked in the back door, Faith was waiting there for her and pounced on her like a mountain lion on a doe.

"So what happened? Did they arrest him yet? What did the Sheriff say?"

Faith's questions were rapid fire, not even waiting for an answer before she was on to the next one. Finally, Casey had had enough of Faith's questions.

"ENOUGH! Will you calm down? I told you I would come talk to you; don't treat me like one of the pidgins you chase for a story."

Faith was shocked into speechlessness. Casey had never raised her voice to Faith before. Casey was the low person on the totem pole and Faith had always treated her with a slightly superior attitude. Steve walked out of his office to see what was going on. He saw the look of shock on Faith's face and the pissed off look on Casey's, and decided to step in and calm things down before it got out of hand.

"Alright, ladies. Faith, go to the courthouse and get the details like you would from any other incident. Casey, step into my office, I would like a word with you."

Steve turned and walked back into his office. Faith shot Casey a dirty look and huffed before turning back to her cubicle and grabbing her notebook. She studiously ignored Casey as she walked past and stepped out the door. Casey, for her part, was shocked as well. She didn't think she would have ever spoken to Faith like that, especially since she might get fired if she did. Now, that seemed to be a real possibility since Steve wanted to talk to her in his office. Well, if I'm going to get canned, I might as well do it with my head held high.

She stepped into Steve's office and he motioned for her to shut the door. She did and then sat down in the chair in front of his desk. Steve looked at her for a second, grinned, and then started chuckling.

"I never thought I'd ever see the day when someone could shut her off like that. Thanks for making my week."

Casey was struck speechless. Here she thought she was about to get fired; and instead, she was being honored and even given a compliment for her outburst. She blushed slightly, and grinned.

"I didn't either, but damn it, she really pissed me off. I know she's a good reporter, but I thought I was more to her than just another story. I guess the stress of this whole mess finally caught up to me and she was the match that lit the fuse. I won't let it happen again, Steve. I'm sorry."

"Don't be! I can't say that if I was in your shoes, I would have been as nice as you were. So don't worry about it. I'll talk to her later and make sure she doesn't try to come down on you too hard. Now, back to why I asked you in here. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Thanks, Steve. I really appreciate it, but right now all I need is the rest of today off so I can go let the glaziers fix my window and then clean up my house. I filed for a restraining order this morning and I got it. Deputy Lockhardt has been nice enough to offer to keep an extra eye over my place, so I think I'll be okay."

She looked at Steve and hoped he would do as she asked.

"Sure, no problem, Casey. Take the rest of the day off, with pay. It's the least I can do for you right now. I don't want you to think you're obligated in any way, but do you mind telling me what's going on?"

She could tell that Steve was genuinely concerned for her, so she wasn't at all hesitant to tell him exactly what she had told the judge. When she finished her story, he sat there looking at her like she had two heads. She finally coughed lightly to get his attention. He blinked several times and the shook his head.

"Damn, I guess I never would have thought it possible; but after this past year, with that Letterman thing, I guess it shouldn't surprise me that it was only a matter of time before the big bad world found its way to our little corner of heaven. You know, thinking about that case; when people get wind of this, there's going to be a lot of talk. You won't be able to hide in a town this small. Do you have any idea what you are going to do if it blows up and gets crazy?"