Page 53 of Chasing Justice

“Works for me,” Josh said.

“I know you’re a city slicker from Chicago—think you can handle sitting out in the wilderness?”

“I guess we’ll see,” Josh said with a grin. “I’ll try not to whine too much.”

“Damn straight,” Maya said. “Let’s get our gear and go.”

An hour later, Maya, Josh, and Juniper settled down onto the hillside, taking cover behind a thicket of evergreen trees. Even though the afternoon had warmed up, the shade under the trees remained cool. Maya put on her green Forest Service jacket, glad she could blend in with the woods. Josh had put on his dark blue sheriff’s windbreaker. They were a good distance away from the ranch, but the Rays were experienced hunters and ranchers. They would notice the surveillance if they weren’t careful.

Maya and Josh sat next to each other until Juniper shoved her way in between them. Maya gave Juniper a scratch on the head and Juniper gave her a lick on the hand.

“Down,” Maya said.

Juniper gave a heavy sigh and slowly lay down, one paw creeping after the other. She stared at Maya with a look that seemed to be asking if she was satisfied.

Maya pulled a spotting scope out of her backpack. “Let’s see what they’re up to.”

Josh had his binoculars and was already fixated on the ranch. “There seems to be a lot of activity, but no sign of your grandfather.”

“I can see Cody and Carson. There’s Roberta Lind, or Bobbi as she told us to call her. When did she get out?”

“About an hour after you brought her in.”

“Seriously? How?”

“I guess she had a good lawyer.”

“Go figure,” Maya said. “I wouldn’t have expected that. Maybe drug money means a good attorney on the payroll.”

Josh grunted in agreement. Maya watched as Bobbi stomped over to Carson. She put her hands on her hips and started yelling. Carson stepped toward her and slapped her hard across the face.

“What a jerk,” Josh said.

“I hate to say it, but no surprise there. Rumor always was that Carson slapped his wife around, but she just never reported it.”

Bobbi stepped back. Even through the scope Maya could tell from Bobbi’s body language that she was angry.

“Wish we could hear what they’re saying and know what caused that,” Josh said.

“No kidding. Maybe if we offer to help her and keep her safe, she’ll talk to us.”

“You never know.”

“Domestic violence is so tough. I really feel for the women in this situation because it’s a vicious cycle and so hard to leave, but maybe we can assist her in some way.”

Maya scanned around the area, but still didn’t see any sign of her grandfather. She put the scope down for a second and rubbed her eyes.

Josh, continuing to look through his binoculars, said, “Don’t worry, we’ll find him. This is just the start of our lead and we’ve only been here a few minutes. You didn’t think they would walk him out when we arrived, did you?”

“I was kind of hoping that would happen,” Maya said.

“Surveillance takes patience and a lot of time.”

“I know. I just don’t have either. I feel like Pops’s time is limited.”

“Look over there,” Josh said.

Maya knew he was avoiding her last statement. She peered through the scope at the location Josh was pointing out. A blue SUV was coming up the Ray Ranch drive. She zeroed in on the plates and saw they were red fleet plates, which in Colorado most likely meant they were rental car plates. She wrote down the number to run through the system. If she could find out which rental car company it belonged to, then she could possibly get the name of the person driving the car.