doggy-door. “I’m glad Jenna’s found a friend.” Balto thought. “It’ll be good for her. She needs a female friend, someone to talk to about those female things I can’t hope to ever understand.”
Balto yawned and curled up on the rug in front of the couch. He reflected back on what he’d told Jenna he was going to do today. If she saw him right now she’d probably tell him he was lazy, sleeping when the sun’s up…” “…but I didn’t lie to her.” Balto thought. “I’m going to do those things today…”
He yawned and laid his head on his paws, closing his eyes. “…I’m just going to take a nap first.” Balto slowly drifted back to sleep, a smile on his face.
“Now who are we going to see now?” Alyse asked as she and Jenna kept walking down the narrow alleyway.
It was mid-afternoon now and Jenna had managed to get Alyse introduced to almost all of her family and friends.
Jenna smiled and stepped over a rusted paint can in the alley. “I’m going to introduce you to my grand-daughter Shanaea.” She said. “…you remember Kodi?”
Alyse nodded. “Yeah, Kodi and Dusty right?”
Jenna nodded back at her. “That’s right, well, Shanaea is their daughter.”
“…oh?” Alyse said. “I thought you said they only had one litter.”
“They have only had one.” Jenna said.
A confused look came over Alyse’s face. “…but all of the kids were still at the dog shed.”
Jenna smiled. “…not Shanaea.”
“…hmm.” Alyse said. “…where are we going anyway?”
Jenna sighed. “…due to certain… events about a month ago; Shanaea moved out of town.”
“Why?” Alyse asked, a puzzled look on her face.
“I’ll let her tell you that if she chooses to Alyse.” Jenna said. “It’s a controversial subject around town.”
Alyse nodded. “I see…”
Jenna could tell by her tone of voice that Alyse wasn’t really satisfied with this answer. The two of them stepped out of the alley and onto the soft white snow that was all that lay between town and the old trawler west of town.
Jenna sighed. “…alright, I guess if I don’t tell you you’ll hear it from someone else… Shanaea lives with another dog now. His name is Tiembe. Shanaea rescued him after a sledding accident about a month and a half ago.”
“So are they mates?” Alyse asked.
Jenna smiled. “...not yet, but everyone sees it coming.”
“So, what’s so controversial about that?” Alyse asked.
“Well about a month ago Tiembe almost killed Shanaea.”
Alyse stopped walking and her smile disappeared. “…what?” She asked. “…wasn’t that reported to the Keeper of the Law?”
Jenna nodded. “It was, but at his trial… Shanaea defended him. …and she did it so well that Blaize just put Tiembe on probation.”
Alyse sighed. “…the poor dear, she’s probably in denial isn’t she?”
“That’s what I thought at first.” Jenna said as the two resumed walking. “…but Shanaea seems to think that Tiembe has a mental condition. She says she’s trying to help him… and to her credit he hasn’t hurt her again… yet.”
“…yet?” Alyse asked.
Jenna sighed. “That’s why this subject is so controversial… Tiembe admitted at his trial that before he attacked Shanaea he killed at least three other females in other towns across Alaska.
“…and Blaize just let him go?” Alyse asked.
Jenna nodded. “Shanaea requested that his sentence be suspended so she could try to help him… if he tries it again the suspension will be remitted and the original sentence carried out.”
“What was the original sentence?” Alyse asked.
Jenna looked up to see that they were nearing the old trawler. “…Blaize sentenced him to death.” She said.
The two walked in silence for a moment.
“…but… but doesn’t she know that’s dangerous?” Alyse asked. “…doesn’t she realize Tiembe could kill her?”
Jenna nodded. “…she does, but… she loves him. Shanaea saved his life. If she hadn’t done what she did, Blaize would’ve killed him.”
Alyse smiled. “I guess love can make us do some pretty crazy things sometimes.”
Jenna thought back to all the crazy things she’d done in her lifetime. Every time she could think of doing something that would have made other’s question her sanity it was because Balto, her children, or her family was in trouble, because of love.
Jenna smiled and nodded. “Yes it can.” She said.
About that time Shanaea saw them from the top deck of the old trawler. “…hey Jenna.” She said.
Jenna heard the familiar voice and looked up. “…hi Shanaea.” She said.
“Well what brings you all the way out here?” Shanaea asked.
“I’ve got someone I’d like to introduce you to.” Jenna said.
“Oh great.” Shanaea said. “…come on up.” Then she turned and walked away from the rail.
Jenna turned to Alyse. “…come on, it’s this way.”
Alyse followed Jenna around the front of the ship, which angled upward out of the snow. “How’d this ship get here?” She asked.
Jenna turned and ducked through a small hole in the middle of the ship. “Balto told me that this used to be a shipyard of sorts; not very big, they only made a few of them, and this is one of them. He said when they were launching it, the boat slipped off the dry dock. The bottom of it was smashed, and they didn’t repair it. They just left it here. It used to house the workers at the shipyard.”
Alyse followed Jenna through the bowels of the ship to a set of steep wooden stairs. “Ah, so they turned their expensive mistake into a free building.”
Jenna started to climb the stairs. “Yeah, something like that. The boat housed the workers for a while and then a new ship building company bought them out. The new company tore down all the buildings except this one. A petition was raised to save the old trawler and it passed. No one really used it, so it was vacant.”
Jenna reached the top of the stairs and turned right, ducking under a fallen crossbeam, then she jumped up two crates and from there leapt to the loft above.
Alyse followed. “Well you seem to know your way around.”
Jenna smiled and walked through a doorway. “When he was a stray; Balto lived here.”
“Ah, I see.” Alyse said.
Jenna turned right and started walking up another set of stairs. “When Balto was adopted by Luke the boat was empty again. A dog named Tim and his family used to live here, but Tim’s mate was killed not too long ago, and shortly after that Tim moved in with another female out in town.”
“…he did what?” Alyse asked.
Jenna sighed. “…there’s some controversy surrounding that subject too.”
“…as well there should be.” Alyse said.
Jenna got to the top of the stairs and turned left. Then she started climbing another set of stairs. “Yeah well anyway it was vacant and when Shanaea said she wanted to keep Tiembe away from town for awhile it only made sense that they should stay here.”
Jenna reached the top o the stairs and pushed open a small trap door in the ceiling. Then she climbed out onto the deck. “Shanaea is probably in the wheel house” Jenna said. “…follow me.”
Alyse nodded and followed Jenna as she walked down the sloping deck.
Jenna stopped in front of the doorway to the wheel house. “Are you in there Shanaea?” She asked.
Shanaea’s answer came from inside. “Yeah, come on in.”
Jenna stepped through the doorway and walked over to Shanaea, who was curled up on top of a blanket that covered a quarter of the floor.
Shanaea smiled and looked up at them. “…go ahead and make yourselves comfortable.”
Jenna and Alyse laid down on the blanket, and Jenna looked around. “Wow Shanaea,” she said. “The boat hasn’t looked this good since Boris was here.”
Shanaea grinned and said. “Yeah I know. I did a lot of reorganizing.”
“Two bachelors were hard on it huh?” Jenna said with a smile.
Shanaea laughed. “Yeah, it definitely needed a female’s touch. Apparently Tycha wasn’t much of a housekeeper either.”
At the mention of Tycha’s name both dogs fell silent.
“…who’s Tycha?” Alyse asked.
“She’s the dog I told you about.” Jenna said. “…the one who used to live here. She was killed not too long ago.”
“…what happened?” Alyse asked.
“She and her mate Tim were walking in the woods.” Shanaea said. “…she was shot… I guess someone thought she was a wolf.”
“…at least that’s what Tim says happened…” Jenna said.
“What do you mean by that?” Alyse asked.
Shanaea sighed. “A few of us don’t think that’s what happened. You see… a few days before that Blaize investigated what was first reported to be a murder, but turned out to be a case of attempted murder…. The victim in this case was a dog named Trina who lives in town. Time and Tycha both went missing for a day or so, and then Tim came back with this story that a hunter shot Tycha and she died, which we all believed until about three days later Tim moved out of the boat and into Trina’s home.”
“…sounds like a love triangle collapsing to me.” Alyse said.
Jenna nodded. “That’s what we think too.” I mean, I don’t think that Tim killed Tycha because he was and still is pretty torn up about it, but I think that Tim might have been seeing Trina on the side, Tycha tried to kill Trina and fled, then Tim went after her and somehow Tycha was killed.”
“…sounds like a sound theory to me.” Alyse said.
“…but here’s the confusing part.” Shanaea said. “Blaize is involved in it too.”
A confused look came over Alyse’s face. “…Blaize?” She asked. “…the keeper of the law? …how?”
Jenna sighed. “Well… he investigated Trina’s assault, and went to track Tycha. He came back with Tim, interviewed Trina and a week later dropped the case.”
“…what?” Alyse asked. “Trina should have been able to tell him who attacked her right?”
Jenna nodded. “…you’d think so.”
It was quiet for a moment before Jenna spoke again, changing the subject. “So Shanaea, where’s Tiembe?”
Shanaea smiled. “He left for
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