“You have to stop,” Daphne groaned. “Laughing hurts.”
“I’m sorry,” Ink apologized. “I’ll try to behave.”
“Just give this pill time to kick in. Then you can resume your normal activities.”
“I can work with that.”
When we arrived at Daphne’s house, I helped her out of the truck and walked with her to the front door. We were halfway there when I heard the barking, which turned into a mix of growling and barking as we got closer. Once we were on the front porch, there was a loud thud against the front door, followed by some serious snarling.
“What kind of dog do you have?”
“A Doberman,” she said distractedly. “Shit. I can’t find my keys.”
“Do you have a spare hidden around here?”
“Hell, no. Do you know how many houses are broken into with spare keys?”
“Yes, I do, but a lot of people don’t.”
She walked over to a rocking chair on the porch and sat down. “I must’ve lost my keys this morning.”
I looked at the door and examined the lock. Then I motioned for Ink to get out of the truck and come to the porch.
“Think you can open that?”
“I can pick the lock, but there’s no fucking way I’m opening that door with whatever beast that is on the other side of it.”
“Diablo’s a big baby.”
“He sounds like the kind of baby that will eat anyone who isn’t his mama,” Ink said.
“Is it okay if Ink picks your lock?” I asked.
“That’s fine. I have a spare key in the house.”
While Ink worked on her lock, I called Flint to ask him to look for Daphne’s keys while he was at Irene’s.
“We already found them,” he said.
“Great. Let me know when you’re back in Croftridge, and I’ll come pick them up.”
“Dad said you’d probably be at the clubhouse. Do you want me to bring them by there?”
“Yeah, that works. Thanks, man.”
“No problem.”
“They found your keys. Flint’s going to bring them by the clubhouse later today,” I told Daphne.
“Oh, thank goodness,” she said.
“Got it,” Ink announced and stepped back. “The beast is all yours.”
Daphne gingerly got to her feet and walked to the door. She leaned against it and started speaking softly. “Diablo, baby, it’s me. I’m hurt, so you have to be easy.” As if he understood what she said, he stopped barking and jumping around. “Good boy. Now sit.” She opened the door and stepped inside. “Good boy. Place.” Then she motioned for us to follow her. “You can come in.”
Neither of us moved.
“I commanded him to place. He won’t move from that spot unless I tell him to. Well, he will if I’m in danger, but he knows I’m not right now.”