Page 32 of Colorado K-9 Rescue

M ckenna stared at her phone, willing it to give her answers, but she knew Evan wasn’t going to tell her more.

Why wasn’t he being honest? She had a right to know what was going on.

She’d defended him to Cassidy, but now she wasn’t so certain.

Had she really been swayed by his good looks and brooding personality?

Cassidy was a good judge of character, why was she doubting her?

Because I’m completely in love, that’s why. As the saying goes, love is blind.

Staring at her computer screen, she shut down the document on which she’d been working.

This kidnapper wanted her, and while it scared her, she was so tired of this.

Her life from eighteen years old on had been consumed with the kidnapping.

She wanted to catch whoever it was. If she could lure him out somehow or figure out his identity, then this case could be over.

After that, she and Evan could figure out if they were meant to be together or if it was adrenaline from the case that had made them cross a line.

What if she could figure out where she and Lily were taken?

The aspen trees with the bent trunks were so unusual.

If this really and truly was the same kidnapper, then Lily might remember the trees too.

If they could talk, they could come up with the location.

Wherever it was, it couldn’t be far from the ghost town. It had to be nearby.

Why hadn’t anyone been able to find it? How hard had they looked?

This was what irritated Mckenna with law enforcement.

They’d brought Toby in and said there was enough evidence that they didn’t need to figure out where they’d been held.

She remembered the other sheriff saying it would be nice, but the prosecutor had a strong enough case.

But if Mckenna could figure out where they were taken, then maybe the FBI and sheriff could determine for sure if it was Toby.

This needed to be over. For Autumn. For Lily.

And for Mckenna. She wanted freedom from this case.

She’d take Mocha along. He’d warn her if there was someone coming after her.

He’d done that at her house and at Evan’s.

She had more faith in Mocha protecting her than any human—especially if the human wasn’t going to share information.

She was tired of being afraid. Today she was going to face her fears so that she could move on. Sitting in her office made her feel weak and useless. That wasn’t why she’d become a victim specialist.

“Come on, Mocha,” Mckenna said. “Let’s go talk with Lily. Together we can figure out where this sick jerk held us. No more of this stupid catch and release stuff. I want our life back…with or without Evan.”

Mocha’s tail made a thumping sound as he wagged it against the floor. They stood and Mckenna attached his leash and headed out of the office. She hoped to avoid Cassidy, but she ran into her sister as they headed toward the exit.

“Where are you going?” Cassidy asked.

Be brave, Mckenna told herself. You don’t need Cassidy to protect you. You can take care of yourself.

“We’re headed to Lily’s house. I have some things I need to follow up on with her and her parents.”

Cassidy nodded and then said, “Did you hear the news?”

“What news?”

“Toby Hanson is dead. Someone shot him in the head. Got what he deserved, if you ask me.”

Mckenna was speechless. Why hadn’t Evan told her this? Why was he still concerned about her? What wasn’t he telling her? She was done with everyone protecting her. Even Evan.

“I take it Evan didn’t tell you,” Cassidy said.

“No,” Mckenna answered, trying to hide the hurt, but aware that her sister knew better. “Maybe he doesn’t know.”

“Evan’s the one who found him,” Cassidy said, wrapping Mckenna in a hug. “Sorry, I know you want to believe that he’s this special guy, but he is who he is—someone who’s difficult to work with and keeps to himself.”

“Well, thanks for letting me know,” Mckenna said. She would not cry in front of everyone in the office. And especially not with her sister right now. “I better get going.”

“Okay, call me later. Let me know that you’re good. But at least you don’t have to worry about Toby anymore.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Mckenna said, pretending she was relieved.

She and Mocha got to her vehicle and then she leaned back against the driver’s seat, holding in the tears.

She was hurt, but the tears were there more from anger.

Anger at still being the one who everyone thought was weak.

The one who was broken or damaged. But she wasn’t, anymore.

Like the bird on her side that was taking flight, so was she.

She would figure out where she and Lily were kept.

If Toby really was the one who took her, then at least she’d have the closure of figuring out where they were kept. But if, like she suspected, Toby had been framed, then maybe she could help bring a kidnapper to justice.

The sound of his phone ringing made Evan startle.

He was waiting for a deputy to arrive to watch the scene until the coroner and evidence team could come.

Even though Keith had offered to check on Rex, Evan was the one who wanted to find him.

Mckenna would be safe once Evan slapped cuffs on Rex and booked him for kidnapping and at least a double homicide.

Keith was calling and Evan hoped he had some news.

“Agent Knox,” Evan answered, pacing back and forth.

“Keith here. I checked the house. Sorry, but no one is home. No sign of Rex at all. In fact, I peered in through his bedroom window because the shade is up and I think he may have left town.”

“What makes you say that?” Evan asked.

“I can see the safe is open and there’s nothing in it. Looks like he packed all his belongings, because the bedroom closet is empty.”

“You don’t by any chance see any boots around the house, do you?” Evan asked.

“Let me look around.”

There was only the sound of Keith breathing as he looked in the windows. “I do see some boots outside the back door.”

“Any chance you can tell the brand? Size?”

“Sure, hang on a second.” Silence again and then, “Ariats. I’d say around size 9 or 10. I don’t see the size label and I don’t have gloves to handle them. But they are men’s boots.”

“Okay, thanks. I appreciate your help.”

“My pleasure. I’m heading back to my office for some appointments. If you need anything, just call.”

“Yeah. Okay.” Evan hung up. If Toby had covered for Rex, then maybe they’d had a confrontation that ended out here at the National Forest. But why out here?

Why not at home? Or maybe this had turned into a testosterone battle since both the brothers had been with Penny Gardner.

Rex might not have appreciated the “open” relationship Penny wanted—especially with his own sibling.

On a whim, he decided to dial Rex’s phone.

You never knew if someone would be dumb enough to answer a call from the FBI.

Stranger things had happened in the past. To his surprise, he heard a faint ringing.

Peering around the parking lot, he realized the sound was coming from the Jeep.

Nobody was in it—he’d already cleared the vehicle, but he hadn’t seen a cell phone.

The ringing stopped as the call switched to voice mail.

Evan grabbed gloves from his bu-car and then jogged over to the Jeep.

He dialed Rex’s number again and pulled on the gloves.

Would he get lucky and find the car open?

Luck was on his side as the driver’s-side door was unlocked.

Evan carefully peered around. He didn’t want to disturb much so that the evidence team could do their job, but he finally found the phone between the seat and console.

Now Evan was puzzled. There was no sign of Rex in the area, but he’d have the sheriff send more deputies so they could search a larger area.

Maybe Rex was out here somewhere. Maybe this was turning into a murder-suicide.

Or Rex had taken off like Keith thought and left his phone behind to stay off the grid.

A headache was starting to form, and Evan went back to his vehicle to get water and ibuprofen.

His phone rang again. “Hello, Sheriff. I was getting ready to call you.”

“What about?”

“You first,” Evan said.

“My deputy who went by Penny Gardner’s place found her dead. Single gunshot wound to the head, just like Toby. We found the bullet. It’s a .45 like Toby and Autumn. We’ll send it to ballistics to see if it’s a match.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“I wish I was,” she said. “I’ll get our crime scene team out there to start processing things. Guess the coroner is going to be busy today.”

“You can say that again.”

“So why were you calling?”

Evan gripped his phone. “I tried calling Rex’s phone.”

“Good idea.”

“I heard it ringing,” Evan told her. “In the vehicle. I found it. I don’t know the code, but I’ll bag it for evidence and maybe our tech guys can crack it.

Long shot getting into these phones, but you never know.

I thought that we needed more deputies to come and help look for Rex in this area, but if Penny is dead, then I don’t know where we need to be looking. Everywhere, I guess.”

“I’ll see if I can call in extra deputies. Some of the younger ones will love the overtime and they still think cases like this are fun.”

“I remember those days,” Evan said with a laugh.

“You’re not that old. Neither am I.”

“I guess this job can make you jaded pretty quick. Thanks for your help, Sheriff. I’ll keep working leads on my end and keep you posted.”

“Over and out,” she said.

As Evan put his phone back in the belt clip, he had to wonder, did Rex kill Toby and then go kill Penny? Was he trying to cover up all the loose ends? There was still a couple and one of them was Mckenna. He had to make sure she was okay.

Evan dialed her number and heard it ringing, but she didn’t pick up. “Hey, there, it’s me. Evan. Call me, okay?”

Hanging up, he sent her a text as worry started to build. Maybe she was in a meeting or something. Evan called Cassidy, but it went to her voicemail too. He tried the office next and asked if Mckenna was there. His heart sank when he heard that she’d left.

And no one seemed to know where she’d gone.