Deirdre O’Dare

When a cop and a newly released convict cross paths, few cons can expect anything positive. Struggling toward a home he knows no longer exists, Ike Hernandez meets a cop who seems different. He isn’t sure he can believe the kindness, but he wants to learn to trust again and regain his lost self-respect.<br><br>Perry Parker became a law enforcement officer to help people. He learned there wasn’t much he could do, but now and then he found someone he could help. Would the lost man with the little dog that he picked up one stormy night be one of them?<br><br>Pursuing tales about a new drug dealer, Perry starts to doubt the man he’s befriended, but something inside him still feels Ike is a decent person. When the real dealers take advantage of the convict’s past, Perry, his unofficial canine partner, and the little stray Ike adopted save the day. Can a cop, a con, and two dogs make an unorthodox family?

A Cop and a Con

The sky was brightening for dawn before Perry finally got home. There had been a break-in on a remote ranch, almost over to Sierra County. A stove-up old cowboy who was a kind of watchman at the ranch had been badly beaten. Despite that, he was able to give a good description of the two thugs who’d attacked him as well as a general list of what they’d stolen. They must have missed his cell phone. When he came to an hour after they’d left, he was able to use it to call for help.


Chapter 15