Order (Tattoos and Ties 2)

“Not at all. He loves that house shoe you gave him. He climbed right on top to sleep.”

Alec left the dog food in the pantry, going for the sacks. He hid those before digging inside the bag for a couple of the items he purchased. “Can you wrap these for me?” he asked. “The wrapping paper is…somewhere.”

“In the hall closet, and yes, I’ll leave them there.”

“Perfect,” he tossed over his shoulder as he went for his bedroom closet where his baby Boston had naturally seemed to gravitate to last night then again this morning. Alec quietly opened the door, peering around the doorframe, staring down at the little guy who slept inside a paper lined box. His soft house shoe had been an immediate favorite, and he was, in fact, sleeping soundly on top of the shoe. He had a blanket in the corner and small bowls of food and water.

Alec had learned last night that puppy sleep was a different beast altogether. Twice over the course of the night, Alec had freaked himself out when he woke to check on the little guy and he’d just seemed to melt away, losing all the bones in his body, passing out fast asleep on his back, and nothing seemed to wake him. The first time, he’d actually grabbed the dog up, startling them both in his panic. It had taken a full hour for Alec to fall back asleep, only to be awakened again with the same fear.

As much as he regretted having to leave, Alec quietly shut the door and headed back out to find Olivia. “I’m going. I’ll be gone about three hours. Keep an eye on him, and can you please take him out to potty like we discussed?”

“My sister’s dog was potty trained in two weeks,” she stated proudly, something Alec found incredibly hard to believe, but also had no knowledge-base on potty training anything.

“Thanks, Olivia. The caterer should be here about three. They know what to do, just let them in if I’m not back, and call me if you need me. If Key gets here early, do everything you can to keep him out of the bedroom,” Alec instructed, reaching for the key fob in his slacks pocket.

“Mr. Key never comes inside,” she said in that same proud tone. “He won’t see him.”

Alec didn’t doubt that for one minute. On the rare occasion that Key beat him home, his mister was always out somewhere on the property. The only time Key willingly came indoors was to follow Alec in or to grab the keys to the locked garage holding his prized automobiles. Key had recently taken over their care, and he wasn’t sure they had ever been treated so well. He changed the oil every six weeks like clockwork. It didn’t matter that the Shelby was driven less than two miles between changes and his Maybach was driven by Alec as far as the grocery store and back, Key never missed an opportunity to tinker under their hoods. Maybe he should put the puppy in the garage. Key would definitely find him faster.

“Thank you for all your help,” he said as his phone rang. He answered through Bluetooth while walking toward the back door. “Alec Pierce.”

“Hey you,” Janice said. “I’m returning your call.”

“Keep your ears open,” he said, cheekily. Alec grabbed his suit coat off the kitchen chair, doing a quick glance to make sure the envelope with his resignation letter was still inside.

“Oh, it’s today. Goody. Did you remove the b-word from your letter?” she asked, chuckling.

“I regretfully did,” Alec acknowledged, and it had been with deep regret. The word fit the DA better than any other he could think of.

“How did yesterday go. Did you get an offer?”

He liked Janice so much. She was such a good friend, maybe better than even Blaine, and she was very down to earth. Her soon to be husband owned a lawn care company, so he suspected Janice would have no problem with Key’s blue collar background.

“I did and accepted on the spot with no regrets.”

“Great! Alec, this is going to be life-changing for you.”

“Absolutely, it will. I’m on my way in,” he said, getting behind the wheel of his car. “I’ve got a couple of things to tie up first, then I’ll submit my resignation, so maybe in about an hour and a half. Keep your ears open and let me know what you hear,” he said, pulling down his long driveway.

“On it, and listen, Alec, I know you’ve stuck around because of the Cummings case, but Betty Young agreed to take the case for criminal. She’ll do her absolute best for you. I’ll work with her and stay on it, I promise. Let this be enough,” she said. Her voice had lowered, and he smiled at how well she knew him when she really had no idea the truth behind what he had done.