The Disturbance by Allana Kephart and Melissa Simmons
Angus blinks at me silently, like I'm speaking Klingon. His tail is thumping loudly against the leather seats, so I have to believe he understands something I've told him. I can't imagine my dad will be thrilled about this… He's a big bad police officer, yes, but the man will crawl up on a table and scream bloody murder at the sight of a teacup Chihuahua.
Well… Maybe he'll take kinder to larger dogs, I tell myself. I let out a sigh and open the door, stepping out of the car. Angus leaps in the front and follows out after me, rushing around and between my legs excitedly. I pull in a deep breath and lead him to the front door, hissing, "Heel. 'Kay?"
He makes what I'm going to call a sound of agreement. I nod and push the front door open, feeling the bottom drop out of my stomach when I see my dad leaning back in his favorite recliner, watching the news on the television. I knew I had to face him, but I thought I'd have the chance to steel myself first! "Hey, Dad," I say carefully.
"Adam," he says in greeting, not looking up from the TV. "Can you believe this? It's been a couple hours and that murder vic you found is all over the news! Surefire way to chase the suspect out of-Why is that thing in my house?"
Completely ignoring the fit he was about to throw about Mr. Hendrick's murder on every Illinois news feed, I plaster on the biggest smile I can and say, "Dad, meet Angus. Angus, meet my dad, JJ Emerson," in lieu of explanation.
My dad is not a small man. He's almost six-four and looks like all he does is pull-ups and jumping jacks. Sure, he has a bit of a potbelly coming in from age, but he is truly the most frightening man this side of Chicago. So seeing him pull his feet up on his recliner like a little kid is nothing short of hysterical. "Adam James Emerson," my dad says. "Why is that dog in my house?"
"There's a perfectly logical explanation for this," I tell him.
"Is that so?" he grunts. "I'm listening."
I scratch my head, stalling for time. Angus plants his fluffy bum on my foot and tilts his head back to look at me. Then an idea strikes. "He's a witness!" I cry.
"A witness?" my dad repeats, sounding exhausted already.
"Of course!" I continue. "And he might be in danger."
"Adam…"
"I'm serious! I mean, think about it, Dad, this poor creature witnessed his owner being brutally murdered, his own father. I cannot even imagine the emotional trauma he must be in," I say seriously. "Our murderer was clean, didn't leave a single print, but he also didn't think about eliminating a key witness-but I promise you, if I had let those terrible people from animal control take Angus here, our killer would have struck again."
"You named it…" my dad sighs. He puts his feet back on the floor and drops his head in his hands, groaning in frustration. "Adam, the dog cannot stay here."
"Aww, come on, Dad," I plead. "Look at this face. Look at these big, sad eyes-how can you throw this poor baby out on the street?"
Angus whines and drops his ears, lying down on his stomach and pulling himself toward my father with his front paws. I see every muscle in my father's body tense, but he retains his girlish screams of panic. "Very easily."
"What's going on in here?" my mom asks, sneaking in from the kitchen. My dad opens his mouth to explain, but before he can my mom squeals. "Oh my goodness! Who is this?"
"Mom, this is Angus," I say with a barely contained smirk.
"Angus!" she cries, her eyes widening in thrill. She drops down on her knees and Angus throws himself into her waiting arms, rubbing all over her as she coos and pets him.
"Faye," my dad begs, a blush creeping up his neck over his wife's automatic acceptance of a giant creature in the living room.
"Whose is he?" my mom asks me.
"His owner was killed." My dad's eyes grow comically wide and he promptly makes a slicing motion across his neck, knowing where I'm going with this. He puffs out his cheeks and mimes punching himself in the face, shooting himself in the mouth, stabbing himself in the gut and even hanging himself, each action followed by a subtle point in my direction. I blink at him innocently and shrug one shoulder, pretending I don't know what he's trying to tell me, and say, "He's homeless, Ma."
"Oh, that just won't do!" my mom says, shaking her head. "Not when we have this big pet-free house. Right, John?"
"Faye, I don't know…"
"Don't tell me you're afraid of this dog," she says. Angus rolls off of her and barks at my dad. Mom and I pretend not to see him flinch, and Mom scoots closer to him and puts both her hands on his knee. "Please? What harm could it do?"
My dad's resolve visibly cracks under Mom's doe-eyed stare and he bites down on his lower lip, shaking his head as he tries to come up with a way to deny her this wish. My mom is a petite little thing, with a head of auburn hair and giant brown eyes that have always been able to crack through my dad's spiky exterior. I am pretty sure he's never been able to say no to her.
"Fine," my dad groans out like the word physically hurts him. "Fine, fine, we can keep him…for now…"
The Disturbance by Allana Kephart and Melissa Simmons
One day Adam and his partner was out doing their job patrolling around when they were sent to talk to this guy who saw a dog wondering around his neighborhood. When they pull up in the driveway of the 911 caller they spot this dog whom they have no doubt that is the same dog the caller was speaking of. The dog wanted Adam to follow him so he did; followed him right to a murder scene. Adam soon realized that the dog belong to the victim. Adam started thinking about the dog and he soon realized that the poor little doggie was homeless and his heart just couldn't let that happen. So needless to say Adam took the dog home with him.
Oh and by the way Adam still lives at home with his parents which one of them; his dad is afraid of dogs. Poor little doggie oh how is this going to turn out for Adam and the little doggie? Will his dad let him keep the little doggie? Can he count on his mom to help him persuade his dad to let him keep the doggie? To find out the answers to all of these questions you will just have to pick up your copy of Write to Rescue and read The Disturbance by Mel and Lana.
I fell in love with the little doggie. He is so sweet. I love doggies and have three of them myself and I don't know what I would do without either one of them. I have one that likes to follow me to the bathroom all the time. She is a needy human little thing and has love bouncing all over the place. She loves everybody. Oh I am sorry I got off track there for a minute please forgive me. All of the characters in The Disturbance were so amazing and sweet. There is no way anyone could help but fall in love with them. I just wished it was longer and I could get to know them better and I hope that their stories doesn't end with The Disturbance that they continue on in other stories maybe.
1- My Family - All of my nieces and nephews, my siblings-they just make my life so much richer and I would not be the person I am without them.
2- Music- music drives me; my work and my writing and without it I'd be useless and totally unable to create new characters and universes for them to live in.
3- Books! - There isn't much that makes me happier than finding a new book to get lost in. Reading has been my happy place since I was a kid.
4- The smell of lavender, vanilla & cinnamon together- it is just very appealing and soothing to me, smells have a huge influence on me-some people think I'm weird..but they calm me down and make me happy a lot of the time.
5- Netflix- where else would I have access to tons of television shows and movies streaming on my TV? Thanks to Netflix I can switch from Supernatural to Arrow and then on to Psych with just the push of a button. I love it.
1- Food…. Yeah, that is the first thing that came to mind. I love food and I love eating, lol
2- Books. Reading them, writing them, they have always been my sanctuary.
3- Animals! Dogs, mostly (my dogs, specifically), but I love them all. They keep me very happy.
4- Netflix--yeah, I ripped Mel off here. I love Netflix with a passion. I would not have been able to fall in love with The Walking Dead, Psych, Merlin, Supernatural, Orange is the New Black, Dexter, Arrow and SO many more if it weren't for Netflix.
5- Again, I shall rip Mel off--my family… And not just my parents and their support, but my book family too. The ladies and gents I have had the pleasure of working with, as a reviewer, beta reader or fellow anthology/co-author. I love you guys.
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