Free Forensics Squad Unleashed by Monique Polak Page A

alarm when you go!”

    The barking starts before Dad and I are out of the car. When Larry comes to the door, there are three German shepherds at his heels. One of them is muzzled and making a low growl. I hope that isn’t Roxie.
    “Everything’s good,” Larry says, and as if on cue, the dogs settle down, even the one wearing the muzzle. I wonder if the dogs have been trained to respond to the words Everything’s good .
    Another dog is wagging his—or is it her?—tail. The dog has one ear that sticks up and another that flops over. I hope that’s Roxie.
    “Come right in.” I can feel Larry studying us. We are here to see if we like Roxie, but now I realize Larry is deciding whether he likes us.
    “I’m Rob Letour,” my dad says. “And this is my daughter, Tabitha. If you don’t mind my asking, why is that dog muzzled?”
    “Pixie’s a fear biter,” Larry explains. “She bites when she’s anxious. A lot of dogs who bite are fear biters. There are people like that too—the kind who snap because they’re scared.”
    I’m just glad the muzzled dog isn’t Roxie. “Nice to meet you,” I say, reaching out to shake Larry’s hand firmly. I want to impress him with my good manners. “Is that one Roxie?” I ask about the dog with the funny ears.
    “That’s Roxie, all right. I got her when she was a pup and trained her to be a guard dog. She was a natural—curious and alert. I rent my guard dogs out. Roxie worked at a car dealership. The people over there would have kept her longer, but I have a policy of retiring my dogs after they’ve worked six years.” Roxie has come to sit down on her hind legs next to Larry. He leans down to scratch her forehead. “This girl deserves some downtime.”
    Roxie’s funny ears are pricked in a way that makes me think she knows we are talking about her.
    Larry turns to us. “Why don’t you tell me a little about yourselves?”
    My dad goes first. “Tabitha here came up with the idea of getting a guard dog. We had a break-in a few years back.” Dad looks over at me as if he is asking my permission to go on with the story. I nod to tell him it is okay. “Tabitha and my wife were both home at the time,” he adds. “Luckily, Tabitha was in her room upstairs, so she didn’t see the thieves. Which may be why she bounced back afterward. But my wife, well, she witnessed the crime and she’s been a bit”—Dad is trying to come up with the right word—“uneasy ever since. We’ve tried everything—alarm system, meditation, yoga, therapy—so when Tabitha suggested getting a dog, I thought it was a good idea.”
    I can see Larry watching my dad, noticing how he cracks his knuckles when he talks about my mom. “It sounds like what you’re looking for is more a working dog than a family dog,” Larry says.
    If I don’t say something, he may not let us have Roxie. “We’re looking for a working dog who can be part of our family.” I can’t help smiling when I say that. The sentence came out even better than I planned. “Roxie’s a beautiful dog. I promise that if you let us have her, we’ll take really good care of her.”
    I know it’s a good sign when Larry and Dad start discussing money. Larry does not want much for Roxie. “But I’ve got some conditions I’d like you to agree to before I consider letting you have her,” he tells us. Roxie is used to a lot of physical activity, so she will need to be taken for walks at least twice a day. He is adamant about that, and I promise to take Roxie out every day, rain or shine.
    “We have a big backyard where she can run around too,” I tell Larry. Then I look at Roxie. “Wait till you see the yard. You’ll love it.”
    Larry also says Roxie needs to be fed a special raw-food diet, and he’d like her to continue to see her regular veterinarian for checkups.
    “None of that’s a problem,” Dad says. “I’d like to bring my wi—”
    Larry talks over my dad. “Before I decide anything, I want to meet