Chapter 3 - The Place Nora Calder Tried to Warn Him About)
By sunrise, Roman Calder had made seventeen phone calls.
Emma heard only fragments.
Cancel Victor's access.
Freeze his corporate accounts.
Do not alert Northbridge.
No press statements.
Find the missing vehicles.
Get me the original foundation contracts.
Every instruction was delivered in the same quiet voice.
Emma began to understand why people found him frightening.
He never needed to raise his voice.
At six thirty, a woman named Dr. Leah Morgan arrived carrying two medical bags.
She was in her late forties with short blond hair and the exhausted expression of someone dragged from bed before dawn.
She knelt near Titan.
The dog allowed her close only when Emma stayed beside him.
Leah examined his neck and shoulders.
Her expression grew harder by the minute.
"There are pressure abrasions beneath the fur."
Roman stood on the other side of the room.
"Recent?"
"Some. Others healed."
"How long?"
"Months."
Roman looked away.
Emma watched him.
"You didn't notice?"
"He has a groomer. A vet."
Leah glanced up.
"A good coat hides a lot."
Roman looked ashamed.
That surprised Emma.
Men with his kind of money usually found employees to blame before they found fault in themselves.
Roman did neither.
He simply said, "I should have noticed."
Leah removed one tiny metallic contact from the dismantled harness.
"This is not a commercial product."
Emma agreed.
"Custom receiver."
Leah looked at the remote.
"Whoever made it knew exactly what they wanted."
Roman folded his arms.
"Could they make Titan attack someone?"
Leah considered the question.
"Animals aren't machines. Fear conditioning can make behavior unpredictable. They could make him panic. They could associate a sound with pain. They might be able to drive him toward a target."
Emma finished the thought.
"But they couldn't guarantee an attack."
"No."
Roman's eyes narrowed.
"Then why record a plan for the gala?"
Emma looked at Titan.
"Maybe an attack wasn't the point."
Roman turned to her.
"What was?"
"Chaos."
Elias, standing near the entrance, understood first.
"A hundred donors. Cameras. Executives. Politicians."
Emma nodded.
"If a massive Cane Corso rushed you in front of everyone, what would security do?"
Elias's face darkened.
"Shoot."
Roman looked at Titan.
The room went silent.
Victor may not have wanted Titan to kill Roman.
He might have wanted security to kill Titan.
And if shots were fired inside the gala, anything could happen next.
Roman pulled out his phone.
"Change of plan. Nobody cancels the gala."
Emma stared at him.
"You're joking."
"No."
"Someone has been conditioning your dog for an incident at that event."
"Which means they need the event."
"Roman."
"If I cancel, they disappear."
Emma stood.
"And if you don't cancel, you give them what they want."
Roman stepped closer.
Titan lifted his head.
Both Emma and Roman noticed.
Roman stopped at once.
That small act changed Emma's anger.
Not completely.
But enough.
"We have three days," Roman said. "I want to know what Northbridge is."
Emma looked at Leah.
Leah shook her head.
"Don't bring Titan."
"I wasn't planning to."
Roman looked at Emma.
"You know dogs. You recognized the equipment. I want you with us."
Emma laughed once.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I own a pet store, not a private intelligence agency."
"You already involved yourself."
"Your men involved me when they stormed into my store."
Roman reached into his coat.
Emma's eyes narrowed.
He placed a business card on the counter.
"Whatever your store makes in a year, I'll triple it."
Emma looked at the card.
Then at him.
"You really don't know how to talk to normal people, do you?"
Elias coughed into his hand.
Roman ignored him.
Emma pushed the card back.
"I'm going."
Roman looked surprised.
"Not because you're paying me. Because somebody did this to him."
She rested a hand on Titan's shoulder.
"And if Northbridge is still doing it to other dogs, I want to know."
Roman nodded.
"Fine."
"And Titan stays with Leah."
"Fine."
"And nobody touches him without letting him choose."
Roman hesitated.
"Fine."
Emma narrowed her eyes.
"You hate that word."
"I hate being given rules in my own investigation."
"This isn't your investigation."
Roman studied her.
"What is it?"
Emma looked down at Titan.
"It's his."
By eight thirty, Leah had moved Titan into a secure examination room at the veterinary clinic adjoining Emma's store.
Roman stationed two guards outside.
Emma insisted they wear ordinary jackets instead of black suits.
At nine, she locked the pet store.
The rain had stopped, leaving Boston washed gray and cold.
Roman's SUV waited outside.
Emma sat in the rear beside him while Elias drove.
Northbridge Canine Behavioral Center was forty minutes outside the city, hidden beyond a line of bare trees and industrial storage buildings.
The address from Titan's card did not lead to a polished training campus.
It led to an old warehouse.
No sign.
No windows on the lower level.
A single security camera hung above a metal door.
Elias parked two blocks away.
Roman looked at Emma.
"Stay in the car."
She opened the door.
"No."
"Emma."
"You invited the wrong person if you expected obedience."
Roman almost smiled.
Almost.
The warehouse door was unlocked.
That worried Elias more than if it had been chained.
Inside, rows of empty kennels lined the concrete walls.
Water bowls remained on the ground.
Blankets.
Chains.
Food containers.
But no dogs.
Emma walked slowly down the center aisle.
"They left fast."
Roman pointed toward a stack of paperwork on a desk.
"Or wanted us to think they did."
A monitor had been smashed.
Hard drives were missing.
Cabinet drawers hung open.
Emma entered the second room.
She stopped.
The wall was covered with photographs.
Dogs.
Dozens of them.
Beneath each photograph was a number.
Titan was there.
T-17.
Emma felt Roman arrive beside her.
He stared at Titan's photograph.
Someone had written beneath it in black marker.
CALDER RESPONSE TEST.
Roman's face hardened.
Elias called from the office.
"Sir."
They joined him.
He was holding a thin file.
Most of its pages were financial forms.
At the back was a handwritten note.
Roman recognized the handwriting immediately.
He took the paper.
Emma watched his face.
"What?"
Roman read aloud.
"Victor is lying about the dogs. Northbridge invoices do not match intake records. R.C. needs to see this before the board meeting."
He stopped.
The initials at the bottom were N.C.
Nora Calder.
Emma felt the air change.
Roman turned the page over.
There was one more line.
"If anything happens to me, check the old training ledger at Beacon House."
Roman whispered the words.
"Beacon House."
Emma looked at him.
"What is it?"
Roman folded the paper carefully.
"My sister's house."
"When was the last time anyone lived there?"
Roman looked toward the empty kennels.
"Three years ago."
From somewhere deeper in the warehouse came a metallic crash.
Elias drew his weapon.
Emma froze.
Another sound.
Scratching.
They followed it to a locked utility room.
Elias broke the latch.
Inside stood one small wire kennel.
A terrified white shepherd mix pressed himself against the back.
On the floor beside him was a shipping manifest.
Emma picked it up.
Twenty three animal identification numbers were listed.
Destination:
BLACKWATER PROPERTY 6.
Departure:
Tonight.
Roman looked at the frightened dog.
Then at the manifest.
Victor had not shut Northbridge down.
May you like
He had moved it.
And twenty two dogs were already gone.
