Page 62 of Chasing Justice

“Doesn’t Juniper get one?” Josh asked, grinning.

“You want to make her sick? Juniper gets dog food. We get burgers.”

“I can’t promise that I won’t sneak her a small bite.”

Maya put her hands on her hips. “You do that, and I’ll send her home with you tonight. You saw what she does to couches.”

“I kind of like my couch. No sneaking the dog a burger. Got it.”

Fifteen minutes later, a waitress brought over their dinners to go. She gave Josh a sly smile as she set the bags on the counter. Maya shook her head and said, “I’ll meet you outside.”

“Okay, I’ll finish paying.”

“I’m sure you will,” Maya said, catching a confused look on Josh’s face. Was he that oblivious to the way women threw themselves at him? Of course, was she any better?

They walked back to their vehicles and headed to Maya’s office down the road. After arriving there, Maya let Juniper out to run around for a minute. Josh carried their dinner inside.

She and Juniper followed. “Did you get her phone number?” Maya asked.

“Who?” Josh said.

“The gal who brought our food. She liked you.”

“I didn’t even notice,” Josh said.

She realized he was serious by the confusion on his face. “Guys. So oblivious, aren’t they, Juniper?”

Juniper wagged her tail, then sat down by Josh and started begging.

“You have to lay down,” Maya told her, pointing to the dog bed on the floor. Juniper flattened her ears and gave Maya a disappointed look. She slunk over and lay down, back facing them.

“That’s pathetic,” Josh said.

Maya studied her dog. She was already figuring out Juniper’s personality traits, including when she sulked. But when she worked, Juniper was on. Doug had told Maya tracking was Juniper’s favorite part of working.

An idea began to form. “I was thinking—maybe we take her back to the spot she lost the track when we were looking for Pops and try again.”

Josh set down his burger. “I thought about that too, but I think we’re better off going through some current investigation files that involved your grandfather. We need to figure out who would want to harm him. I also have search and rescue out working just in case he simply fell off Velvet and is walking around with a head injury. They have a couple volunteer dogs working too.”

“So, nothing yet?” Maya asked.

“Not yet, but I’ve told the deputies out with them to notify me if they find anything. I promise I’ll keep you in the loop.”

“Thanks for doing that.”

“Sure,” Josh said, taking another bite of his burger. “You going to eat or just stare at your food?”

“I can’t eat knowing that my grandfather is out there somewhere. I know he could have fallen off, but I feel like something more happened to him. And if it happened near the Ray Ranch, then what if my grandfather’s kidnapping and Doug’s death are related? Pops was investigating the drug trafficking from information Doug gave him and someone wanted to make sure he didn’t continue.”

“If you don’t eat, you won’t have any energy to keep looking. Take ten minutes and eat something. Then we can hash out if the drug lab and your grandfather’s disappearance are related.”

Maya sighed. She knew Josh was right, but it still felt wrong. She took a small bite and thought about her deployment where if you had the chance to go to the chow hall, you took it. You never knew when a mission was going to take you out all day and night, and then you’d be stuck with MREs, otherwise known as Meals Rarely Edible.

“What are you thinking about?” Josh asked.

“Nothing.” She set her burger down. “Okay, MREs.”

“You’re thinking about military food?”