My son-in-law told me that my dog had died. He came to my house with an urn and a bandaged hand, saying that the dog had attacked him and that he had no choice. He said it was for my own safety. I trusted him.
Three days later, I woke up at two in the morning and noticed something moving in my yard. It was the dog, alive, digging like crazy in the memorial garden my son-in-law had made for my late husband. He had been infatuated with that location for weeks. I went outside. The dog looked at me once, then started digging as if his life depended on it. So, I knelt down and helped him.
When we touched metal and I opened the box, I knew why my son-in-law had lied. Why my spouse gave me this puppy before he died. Why my daughter had been avoiding me. And why I just had one night to figure out what to do about it. This is my story, and my name is Diane.
I had no idea that my life was about to change in ways I couldn’t have imagined when I buried my husband. James was his name. We were two lawyers who had been married for forty years and thought we could make a difference in the world. He died from cancer. The pancreas. I was holding his hand when he died at home, in our bedroom.
There were a lot of sorrowful, careful eyes at the funeral. Lauren, my daughter, came in late and sat in the back pew. She was thirty-eight, but I still saw the little girl who used to color in my office while I worked on cases. She was too slender and wore a long-sleeved black dress even though it was June. Derek, her husband, sat next to her with his hand on her knee in a way that seemed improper, tight, and dominating. I attempted to get Lauren’s attention, but she kept looking down. Derek kept looking at his phone.
After the service, Walt Morrison, who had been James’s buddy since high school, pulled me aside. Walt was a huge guy, and although he was a retired cop, he still looked tough. “Hey, Diane,” he began softly, “I need to talk to you in private.”
He took me to his pickup in the parking lot. “James wanted me to do something for him before he died.” “Make sure you got something,” he said as he opened the back door. There was a giant German Shepherd dog inside, maybe 90 pounds, sitting quietly and watching us with dark, smart eyes.
Walt said, “This is Bear.” “James wanted you to have him.”
I looked at the dog, then at Walt. “Is that a dog? James got me a dog?”
“He wanted you to have a friend. Someone to be with you. “Someone to keep you safe.”
“Walt, I don’t know if I can take care of a dog right now.”
Walt said, “He’s special.” “Well-trained.” James was extremely clear about this. He wanted you to have Bear. Please believe James on this. “Believe me.”
I was too sad to fight. Bear sat in the passenger seat on the way home and looked out the window like he always does. Walt brought in supplies to the house and showed me the basics.
“How did James even find him?” “Why?” I asked.
“I helped him,” Walt responded, not being clear. “Found a good dog that needed a place to live. James saw him a few times before he grew too sick. He believed you two would make a terrific couple.
Derek brought groceries the next day. Since he married Lauren, he has been calling me “Mom.” I didn’t enjoy it. He came in, put the bags on the counter, and then he noticed Bear. He came to a stop. He added, “That’s a big dog,” and his voice got tense.
“Bear is his name.” James set it up for me to have him.
“Set up?” Derek’s gaze stayed on the dog. “That seems like a lot for you to deal with at your age. “Are you sure you can handle him?”
My back went straight. “Hey Derek, I’m sixty-seven, not ninety.” I can take care of a dog.
“I’m just saying that it’s a lot of work.” I’m happy to help if you need it. Or we could look for him another…”
Bear had gotten up and walked over to them. He stood next to me and stared at Derek.
I said, “James wanted me to have him.” “I’m keeping him.”
Lauren called that night. It sounded like she was reading from a script when she spoke. “Derek said you got a dog.” A shepherd from Germany? Is he okay? Those dogs can be hard to predict.
“Lauren, he looks very calm.” “Well-trained.”
“I just worry about you living alone with a big dog.”
“Lauren, I’m okay. Bear is okay.” Everything is fine.”
“Okay,” she answered, not believing it. “I need to go.” “Derek’s home.” She hung up before I could say anything else. I had that old knot in my stomach, the one I’d had concerning Lauren for the past few years. Something wasn’t right.
A few weeks later, Derek came over with plans for a garden to remember James. It was a nice, kind thing to do. He put sketches on the patio table of raised beds, a stone path, a bench, and places for James’s favorite roses. He started the next Monday, coming early with cedar boards and dirt. He said he dug deep to drain the water. The holes were deeper than my knees. Bear always watched him from the rear entrance.
“Can you keep the dog inside?” Derek requested the next day. “He’s making me nervous.”
I kept Bear inside, but the dog sat at the window and watched Derek go around. One day, Lauren came over for lunch. She donned a long-sleeved blouse even though it was 85 degrees outside. From the kitchen, I saw her go outside to say hi to Derek. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she froze up. She winced when he held her hand too tightly. Lauren’s smile appeared fake when they came in. She kept looking at her phone during lunch. Derek walked in to get some water and put his hand on the back of her neck. She leaped. “Easy, baby. It’s just me.
I tried again after he departed. “Lauren, you can tell me if something is wrong.”
Her voice got sharp. “Everything is fine!” “Why do so many people continually ask me that?” She left soon after. “
It took him three weeks to finish the garden. It was lovely. I stood in the garden with Bear after Derek left. The dog sniffed around the new raised beds, moving his nose through the air at the far corner. Then he proceeded to dig in the dirt.
“Bear, no!”” I grabbed him by the collar and yanked him away.
It became a habit. Bear would go right to that corner and dig, or he would sit and look at the dirt for hours. Derek saw it on one of his visits. “What is he doing?””
“I don’t know.” He can’t stop looking at that area.
“Stop him.”
There was a change in Derek’s face. That dog is too much for you. You should find him a new home.
My back got stiff. “James wanted me to have him.”
“James didn’t know the dog would tear down his memorial!”“
“Derek, I’m not going to get rid of Bear.”
His hands were in fists, and he glared at me. He finally turned around and left. He stopped over more often, always checking on Bear and the garden. The dog’s conduct got harsher and more focused. Derek showed up one afternoon without warning. Bear had made a big hole in the distant corner. Derek’s face had turned white.
“Things are out of control,” he replied, his voice cracking. “That dog is ruining everything I made!””
“I’ll fix it.”
“That’s not the point!” You can’t make him do what you want!”
“Derek,” I answered firmly, “I said no.”
A week later, I went to my friend Carol’s place for the day. Derek was aware of my schedule. His truck was already in my driveway when I got there around five. He was seated on my doorstep, and his face was pallid.
“Derek, what are you doing here?”“
He said, “I need to tell you something.” “About Bear.” I gazed beyond him. There was no one at the front window, where Bear typically waited.
“Where’s Bear?””
Derek raised his left hand. Blood was leaking through the white gauze that covered it. “He hit me. While you were at Carol’s this morning. I came over to water the garden, and he immediately went for it. “Without warning.”
I dropped my purse off my shoulder. “Bear wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“Look at my hand!” He bit me really hard. “I had to go to urgent care.”
“Where is he? Where is Bear?”
Derek finally looked me in the eye. “I brought him to the vet. The vet stated you can’t trust a dog so aggressive. He could have killed me. He might come after you next.
“What did you do?””
His jaw got tighter. “I had him killed.” I had to choose for your own safety. This afternoon, they burned him.
The world turned. I held onto the railing on the porch. “You killed my dog.”
“I kept you safe.”
“You didn’t have the right!” That was James’ dog! The final thing he gave me!”
He went to his truck and took a little, basic metal urn out of the passenger seat. He came back and offered it to him. “These are his ashes.” “I’m sorry it had to happen this way, but it was the right thing to do.”
I looked at the urn. I didn’t take it. Derek put it on the railing of the porch. “I know you’re upset,” he remarked as he backed up to his truck. “But in time, you’ll see I was looking out for you.”
The phone rang. Lauren. “Mom, Derek told me what happened.” “I’m so sorry.” Her voice sounded odd and flat.
“Derek killed my dog.”
“He was looking out for you.” The dog bit him.
“Bear would never attack anyone for no reason.”
“You don’t know that!” Derek was trying to do the right thing! Why can’t you see that?”
“I can tell that you’re defending him no matter what he does!””
“I’m backing my hubby! That’s what wives do!”
“Lauren, pay attention to what you say. You sound scared. What has he done to you?”
Silence. Then, a door closes in the background. Her voice sank to a whisper. “I have to go.” The call went dead.
I couldn’t sleep the second night without Bear. Around two in the morning, I heard a sound from the backyard—scraping, rhythmic, like something digging. I went to the rear door and glanced out. Something moved near the memorial garden, huge and four-legged. It halted and twisted its head.
My breath caught. It was Bear. Alive, genuine, standing in my garden coated in dirt.
I went across the yard and got to my knees beside him. He was breathing and warm. His fur was dirty and maybe even bloody. His paws were sore. “Oh my god, you’re alive.” He licked my hand once and then went back to digging, as if he were running out of time. I got close to him and started digging with my hands.
We dug together till I felt something hard with my fingers. Iron. I dug up more dirt and found the corner of a military green box that was waterproof. Bear stopped digging, sat back, and looked at me, waiting.
I pulled the box out. It was a lot of weight. I was shaking as I opened the lid and flipped the latches. There were six vacuum-sealed bags of white powder inside. Drugs. It had to be drugs.
Everything clicked into place. Derek’s garden, the deep digging, the maintenance visits, Bear’s obsessive focus on this exact spot, Derek’s panic, the fake euthanasia. Derek had buried drugs in my backyard, in James’s memorial garden.
And James had known. That’s why he’d given me Bear, a dog who could find what was hidden. I looked at Bear. He was swaying, exhausted. “You walked back,” I whispered. “However far he took you, you walked back to finish this.” I pulled out my phone and dialed Walt.
“Diane? It’s two-thirty in the morning.”
“Bear is alive,” I said. “He came back. Walt, I found drugs. Derek hid narcotics in James’s memorial garden.”
A pause. Then Walt’s voice, loud and distinct. “Don’t touch anything. I’m on my way. Fifteen minutes.”
Walt emerged in fifteen minutes, moving quicker than I’d seen him in years. He got down on one knee near to the box. “Cocaine,” he murmured, his face steely. “Professional packaging. Two, maybe three kilos.” He examined Bear, finding scratches and defensive wounds. “Bear bit him fighting for his life. Derek tried to kill him, but Bear got away. This dog walked back to fulfill a mission.”
We headed inside. “Why here?” I asked.
Walt’s jaw constricted. “Because we’ve been watching him for months. His property, his business, everything. James came to me around six months before he died. He thought Derek was up to something illegal, but he couldn’t prove it. That’s why he came to me. Derek must have figured it out and grown scared. He wanted a clean place to put his stuff for a while. “Your house was perfect.”
“He used James. Used my sadness.
“The garden was planned. A lovely thing to do. Who would challenge him about digging in your yard?”
“But Bear found it.”
Walt nodded. “Bear is a retired police dog who was trained to find drugs. James was aware. He made sure you have a method to find evidence and be safe.
Walt called some people. He said, “They’re going to take action on this,” when he hung up. “But we can’t just dig up the drugs and take him into custody. We have to catch him getting them.
“So, what should we do?”
“We make him feel hopeless. Make him do it. You tell him that a landscaping company would arrive on Monday morning to dig up the whole garden. He’ll have to get the medicines out before they get there.
Then Walt took an envelope out of his pocket. “James gave me this before he died.” Made me pledge to give it to you if Derek ever exposed his true self.
James’s handwriting was shakier than usual. It said, “My dearest Diane, if you’re reading this, then Derek has done something to show what I thought.” I’m sorry I didn’t have enough time. I’ve been keeping an eye on him, his lifestyle, his money, and how Lauren changed. I told Walt everything. Bear is more than simply a friend. He used to be a K-9. Bear will uncover the proof if Derek is what I assume he is. Believe in Walt. Keep Lauren safe. She can’t get out. I love you.
I grieved then for the husband who had protected me even after he died.
Walt brought Bear to the vet. The police kept an eye on things. I asked Derek and Lauren around for supper. I casually told them that the landscaping company would be coming on Monday to dig up the whole garden. Derek’s face turned pale. He kept saying, “You should cancel.” “It’s too quick.”
“I won’t feel bad about it.” I already put down a deposit.
Lauren was observing him with a pale face. Later, she asked in a low voice, “Why did you do that? Tell him about the garden?”
“Why would that make him mad?””
“I don’t know,” she responded, shaking her hands. “But it did.”
The hardest thing was waiting. The next night, I sat in my dark bedroom and watched the backyard. A car drove along the street without any lights at 2:47. Derek. Wearing black and carrying a spade and a duffel bag. He hurried directly to the memorial garden and started digging like crazy. He took the box out, opened it, and put the packages in the duffel bag.
It was then that the floodlights turned on.
“Police! Let go of the bag!”
There were officers from all over. Derek stopped moving for a second, then went to the back fence. Walt came out of the side yard with Bear just as he was about to leave. Walt yelled a command in German and let go of the leash. Bear ran away quickly. He jumped up, grabbed Derek’s leg with his teeth, and pulled him down. He kept Derek pinned to the ground with a skilled apprehension hold until the police put him in handcuffs.
“That can’t be!”” Derek yelled, looking at Bear in complete fear. “You need to leave!””
I contacted Lauren the next day. When she got there, I told her everything. She fell against me and cried. After that, she rolled up her sleeves. Bruises that are healing at varying rates. “He said he’d kill me if I ever left, and then he’d come after you and Dad.”
Derek got a twenty-five-year term in federal prison. Fifteen years without parole. It was done.
The memorial garden was in full flower six months later. I took down what Derek had made and started over with James’s favorite flowers. Lauren was getting her life back by residing in her own apartment. Walt came by a lot with donuts and bad jokes. Bear, who was getting older and slower, lay in the sun at our feet.
James once told me that love isn’t just what you do when you’re there; it’s what you make to last after you’re gone. He made this: the warning to the police, the dog that would uncover the proof, and the friend who kept his word. Safety that lasted after death. I got my kid back. I have a hero right in front of me. I have a life that is worth living. And I have love that will never die.
