Page 67 of Chasing Justice

“Suspicious activity at the Baker cabin.”

“What if I told you that dispatch never received that call?”

“What do you mean?” Maya whipped around and stared at Josh.

“I’ve been doing some investigating on my own and there was never a call to dispatch. Did you hear it come through on your radio?”

“No.” Maya let out a deep breath. “I had to use the restroom. You know, too much coffee.” She left out the fact she’d had a long night of drinking too. “When I got back, Doug said the call had come in and we were going.”

“You never saw it on the computer or heard dispatch radio?”

“No, I didn’t look. Why would I doubt him?”

“Okay, so we know that he told you suspicious activity. Now you get up here and what do you see?” Josh asked.

“I saw a person. Over there.” Maya pointed to where the suspect had been standing. “They were coming around the corner using the cabin to help hide their presence. Juniper sensed them first and started growling.”

“What were they doing?”

“They were holding something in their hand. I couldn’t see what, but more importantly they were covered from head to toe. Literally. They had a hat and a handkerchief with sunglasses that covered their face. I took cover, but Doug broke protocol and didn’t. It was like he knew the person...” Maya trailed off. “He knew the person. Maybe he meant that this was his fault. Not just that he set the bombs, but that he didn’t think the person would actually detonate them.”

Josh shoved his hands in his pockets. “So why would he set the bombs in the first place? What was he trying to do? Did he seem surprised at all that this person was up here?”

“Not really. I had the adrenaline going and I was yelling at the person. The suspect pulled a knife. Doug sent Juniper to apprehend once that happened.”

“Let’s look around some more,” Josh said. “Maybe there will be something that triggers another memory.”

“The person ran away,” Maya said.

“Okay,” Josh said. He headed toward the cabin and was walking around. “Maya?”

“Yeah?” She stopped.

“Looks like there was a rainstorm up here last night.”

She stared down at her boots squishing in the mud. “It does. Why? You know how Colorado is with small thunderstorms coming through at night. Hits one area and not the other.”

“I know,” Josh said. “But there’s fresh footprints here. All the other prints from that day have been washed away, but someone has been up here looking around.”

“I’ll get Juniper,” Maya said. “We’ll track the person.”

“Glad I’m here to back you up.”

“Me too,” she said, getting out Juniper’s tracking harness. With Josh as backup, Maya could watch Juniper and her body language and not worry about the bad guy coming out and shooting her.

Unless Josh is the bad guy. Then I have a problem. It’s a risk I’ll take if it means finding Pops.

Maya opened the door to Juniper’s compartment and put on her tracking harness. When she was done, she stepped back, and a fur missile came flying out. Juniper landed and then immediately turned around and started jumping up and down.

“You’re not leaving paw prints all over my shirt again. Off,” Maya said firmly.

Juniper stopped leaping, but then she started turning circles.

“Paw prints all over your shirt? That sounds interesting,” Josh said.

“Yes, it was.”

Maya heard Josh laugh. She worked on settling Juniper down. Some dogs needed to be jazzed up to focus and work, but she could already tell Juniper was more the type that needed to calm down.