Page 53 of Hostile Witness

Guilt swarmed her thoughts.I am a terrible dog mom.Flynn deserved better. Why hadn’t she just left school and run home anyway? She should’ve hired a dog walker so he could get out and do his midday business. Maybe Mike and Casey would let him stay at their office during the long days? She’d ask. He deserved extra time at the dog park or Harlan’s farm this weekend. Definitely. Yeah, she’d do that and give him an extra bone.

Bolting from the car with the keys jangling in her hand, she ran to the front door.He’s such a good boy.I can never let this happen again.She shoved the wrong key into the lock and jimmied it out.C’mon.

Tia flung the door open, tossed her school tote onto the kitchen counter, and wheeled around. “I promise I’ll never letthis happen again.”Wait. He always greeted her at the front door. Where was he?

“Flynn? Flynn?” She raced into the living room and came to an abrupt halt.

Her hands flew to her face. “Oh my goodness.” He was stuck in the old doggie door. The back two-thirds of his body were in the room, while his head and upper torso faced the screened porch. She could barely hear his muffled whine.

Tia fell to her knees behind him and stroked his coat. “You poor thing, I’m so sorry. Let me help you out of there.” But her hand didn’t fit in the opening where he was stuck. The dog door accommodated an animal of twenty pounds or less, not a sixty-five pound muscular beast. His hind feet were sliding all over the tile, and he was getting nowhere.

The door hinges creaked, and with a crack, the frame began pulling away from the wall.No, oh no.Flynn was still stuck, and his every movement pulled another nail free.

Racing into the kitchen, Tia grabbed her phone from the tote and tapped Ethan’s number. She set the phone on a nearby bookshelf and braced the doorframe with her hands and body weight.

“Hey, you, what’s up?”

“Ethan, I need help,” she yelled. “Flynn’s got himself stuck in the dog door, and the doorframe is pulling away from the wall. I’m holding it up.”

“What? How’d he get in there? No, never mind. I’m on my way.”

Tia heard him running with the sound of honking horns and engines in the background.

“Hurry. Every time Flynn moves, the door sways.” Her arm muscles already burned from holding the frame. The sound of a siren blasted, and the line went dead. He must’ve disconnected the call. Tia kicked off a sneaker and stroked Flynn’s fur with hersock-clad foot. “You hear that, buddy? Your daddy’s using his lights and siren for you.”

How in the world had he gotten himself caught in the dog door?She’d kept it locked ever since a stray tabby had sauntered into her kitchen like he owned the place six months ago and scared the bejesus out of her. This didn’t make sense. Flynn had never paid any attention to the dog door before today. Maybe that stray cat or a squirrel had somehow gotten onto her screened porch? Even so, Flynn was disciplined... he’d never take off after an animal without a command.

Maybe the tabby had come in the house and Flynn had gotten stuck chasing it out? Or he had desperately needed to whiz and tried to get outside? Lord knew he hadn’t peed in the house since she’d known him. And he’d only woken her from sleep so he could relieve himself once.

Ethan had warned her that the door wasn’t secure, and she’d avoided using it. Damn supply-chain issues. She’d ordered the new custom door almost four months ago. When the contractor who would install it had stopped by two days ago, he’d taken measurements for the decorative wood molding she’d asked for, but the actual installation was still a week away.

None of this mattered right now. As long as Flynn wasn’t hurtagain, she’d count her blessings and slide the huge antique hutch against the frame until the new door arrived.

The front door opened, and Ethan barreled in with another guy. “Tia, this is Mac.”

She craned her neck. “Hey, thanks for coming.”

Mac immediately took over holding the door and frame in place. “I got this. You two figure out how you’re going to get the dog out of there.”

Tia stepped back, shaking her arms. Her hands were almost numb. She gave Mac the once-over. He was slightly taller than Ethan but with a slimmer build and the deepest, most seriousbrown eyes she’d ever seen. The guys were already engrossed in the project at hand, murmuring to one another with grunts and nods. “I’ll head to the screened porch where Flynn can see me.”

Ethan nodded. “Good idea. He needs you. Take your phone so we’re not yelling through the door.”

She dashed around the house to the porch.You poor dog. He had one paw on the floor, and the other was stuck with his torso in the dog door. He had to be exhausted, standing on one paw like that. Why in the heck had he done this to himself? She got on her knees in front of his face and soothed him with soft words and loving strokes. Her phone rang.Ethan.

“T, I’m sending you a link to a YouTube video of some guys helping a large dog back out of one of these contraptions. There’s no way Flynn’s gonna fit the rest of his body through the opening. We have to help him back out. Give the video a look, and let me know what you think?”

Tia continued to pet Flynn’s face and tapped the video.Omigod.The dog in the video was really fat and stuck like a hog in the opening. She turned her phone sideways and watched the video again, noting where the emergency workers had placed their hands. She took a deep breath. “Yeah, we can do this. Watch the clip again, Ethan. First, we need to free up the paw that’s stuck next to his body, and we’ve got to be careful that the harness doesn’t get hung up.”

She set the phone down next to her and held Flynn’s face in her hands. Searching for any kind of gap to free his paw, Tia tried sliding a couple of fingers in several places and found nothing. She couldn’t even get her index finger in there. “See if you have a gap where you can slide a finger in and free his left paw, Ethan. But be gentle.”

“Okay.”

He must have found an entry point, because Flynn whined. Tia stroked his face and praised him. “You’re so brave, Flynn, just so brave.”

“I found his paw. His back end is squirming, so I know he’s uncomfortable. I’m lifting his paw with my finger now and tugging toward me. I really can’t tell where his harness is. You’ll have to watch him.”

Flynn started whining in earnest but stopped seconds later.