From Down Here Chapter 13
The lights are all still out in Tim's house when the scent of the bad man wakes up Kojo. He knows he has to do something to let Tim and Lucy know, but he doesn't know what. He's supposed to bark for a bomb, but he doesn't smell a bomb. He starts to growl but doesn't know if they can hear it in the bedroom, From what he's noticed so far, they sometimes don't hear things through the door. And it's closed so he can't go in. He doesn't smell the mating scent, so they won't be mad if he tries to get them now. He decides to scratch as hard as he can on the bedroom door and keep growling.
Kojo expected Lucy to open the door. She usually opens it first to start the coffee. But Tim comes. He comes very fast. "Is he here, Kojo? Is the man who left the package here?" Kojo runs to the door and keeps growling. Tim looks through what he and Lucy call a peephole. "I don't see him." Kojo rubs his nose against the door and keeps growling. Tim reaches down to stroke his flank. "It's all right. I'll go out to get a look. You stay here with Lucy and let her know if you smell him anywhere else."
Tim goes back into the bedroom and comes out holding what Kojo knows is a gun. Lucy comes out with him and bends down to pet Kojo's head. "Good boy. Good dog."
Holding his gun, Tim looks out the peephole again before opening the door and going outside.
Lucy goes to the bedroom and comes back with her gun. She gets down on the floor and strokes Kojo. "Bark if you smell the bad man coming to us, OK?" Kojo presses his nose against her leg. "I'll take that as a yes. But let's be quiet now while Tim is looking for him."
Kojo doesn't bark or growl but sits next to Lucy, moving his head to catch a scent as well as he can. The scent is moving! It had been coming from the door Lucy is watching, but now it's coming from the one that leads to the yard where Kojo is allowed to play. Growling again, Kojo runs to where the scent is strongest. Holding her gun up, Lucy follows him. She looks out a window in the door and then flips a switch right next to it. Bright light fills the backyard and Lucy opens the door. Kojo can see the bad man near the fence.
Lucy runs into the yard and points her gun at the bad man. "Hold it right there."
The bad man looks up at Lucy like Tim looked once when he found Kojo's poop on the rug. "You can't bring in a bomber but what? The lady cop is gonna shoot me for trespassing? How's that gonna look in the paper, huh?"
"I wouldn't be shooting you for trespassing. I'd be shooting you for threatening a police officer, actually for threatening two police officers. And your little package caused a massive waste of police resources."
"I didn't leave you any package," the man says.
Lucy looks down at Kojo. "Was it him? Did he leave the package?"
Kojo barks as loudly as he can then bares his teeth at the bad man.
Tim comes to stand by Lucy. He still has his gun and points it at the bad man too. "You don't like cops, fine. A lot of people don't like cops. But I can't let you invade my home. And I can't let you piss off my dog."
"Or maybe you couldn't stop him," Lucy suggests. "Maybe Kojo was just protecting us."
"You have a point," Tim agrees. "Guy comes on the property in the dark, a guy Kojo's heard threaten me, he'd just be doing what a good dog should do." Tim takes a step toward the bad man. "How about that, huh? I don't have to shoot you. I can just let Kojo do what he's been wanting to do ever since he smelled your stink."
The man throws out his arms. "Don't you sic your dog on me! I'll sue you. I'll sue the police. I'll sue the whole damn city."
Tim shrugs. "When he gets through, you won't be in a condition to sue anyone."
Kojo growls and bares his teeth again.
The man puts his paws up. "OK, I give in! Arrest me for trespassing. Anything you want. Just keep that dog away from me."
"Down on your knees, hands behind your head," Tim says. "Officer Chen, have you got cuffs?"
Lucy takes something shiny from her pocket. "Right here." She puts what looks to Kojo like collars on the man's arms above his paws. "You're under arrest."
Lucy is making coffee when Kojo smells a lot of other scents. Genny is coming with the little ones and the puppy. Tail wagging, he runs to the door. Lucy looks through the peephole and opens it.
Genny comes in first with a mad face. The little ones come behind her with the littlest one holding the puppy. His face is wet. "You need to take the puppy back," Genny says.
"Why?" Lucy says, looking almost as unhappy as the littlest one. "You only had her for one night. What did she do that was so bad?"
"What she did was go all over my laundry room," Genny looks sounding madder.
Tim comes out of the bedroom. "What's going on out here?"
"The puppy peed and pooped on the floor," Tyler says.
Tim has a mad face too. "Did you put down newspapers for her?"
"We didn't have any," Tyler says.
"We get the digital edition," Genny tells Tim. Kojo doesn't know what she means, but it doesn't sound good.
"It's my fault," Lucy says. "I should have gotten puppy pads when I got the puppy milk, but I didn't think about it."
Tim moves closer to Lucy. "It's not your fault. You were coming here and I get a real newspaper. We didn't know that jerk would leave a package and you'd all end up at Genny's."
The littlest one holds the puppy tight. "Mom, can we get puppy pads and try again? It's not the puppy's fault she didn't know what to do."
"Babies wear diapers," Tyler says. "The puppy is just a baby. She didn't know she wasn't supposed to go on the floor."
"We don't have time to get puppy pads. You guys need to go to school and I have to go to work," Genny says. "And you guys don't know how to housebreak a puppy. Neither do I. She needs to stay here. And she has Kojo to keep her company. She'll be happier here."
"But I want her!" the littler one says, starting to cry.
"I want her too," Tyler says.
"How about this?" Tim says. "The puppy can stay here with Kojo until she's housebroken. Then if she's happy with the boys, they can take her."
The littlest one makes noises with his nose. "Can we do that, Mom? Can we have the puppy after she's housebroken?"
"We'll see," Genny says. "You boys will still have to show me you can take care of her."
Still holding the puppy, the littlest one starts to jump up and down. "We can do that, can't we Tyler?"
"We can do it," Tyler says.
Genny looks down at the little ones. "If you show me you can do it, you can keep her. But put the puppy down now. We have to go."
The littlest one puts the puppy down next to Kojo. "We'll be back, puppy."
After Genny and the boys leave, Lucy turns to Tim. "You softie. You said you wanted her to go to the shelter."
"So I rethought it," Tim says. "We can have someone look in on her during the day. Maybe we can pay Tamara to do it. And Gray's daughter is home for the summer. She might do it. And it will be good for the boys to learn some responsibility."
"Of course, that's why you're doing it," Lucy says, wrapping her arms around Tim.
Kojo barks. He wants Tim to make breakfast.