Page 34 of Colorado K-9 Rescue

O nce the evidence response team arrived and the coroner showed up, Evan decided to head to Toby and Rex’s house. Climbing in his car, he checked his phone. Nothing from Mckenna. Then he realized that he didn’t have service again.

Sighing, Evan put his phone down and headed toward Toby and Rex’s house. At one point his phone dinged, telling him he had a voice mail from Mckenna.

“She’s okay,” he muttered to himself, finding a spot to pull off on the shoulder of the road.

There weren’t many good areas as roads around here often had trees lining the road or a large drop-off with a guardrail and very little room.

He found an area for slow vehicles to get over and stopped.

He played the voice mail, but Mckenna must have also been in the mountains.

Her message cut in and out, sounding garbled.

He caught something about a mining camp.

There wasn’t enough cell service to get back to her, so he pulled out the satellite phone. That had better reception. Evan dialed her number and heard it ring and ring until her voice mail picked up.

“Mckenna, it’s Evan. I couldn’t understand your message.

Look, I know I haven’t filled you in and I’m sorry.

I shouldn’t have tried to protect you that way.

I don’t know what’s going on, but Toby is dead.

I’m worried that someone might be coming after you.

Go back to the office. Please. Do this for me—” Evan stopped and then added “—I’m in love with you.

I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you. Call me when you can.”

He hung up and put the car back in Drive, navigating back onto the road.

There. He’d said it. Admitted it. He was in love with her.

She was more than someone to only spend the night with.

Evan wanted to know everything about Mckenna, and that time he’d been telling the truth; he didn’t know what he’d do if anything happened to her.

If he knew where she was going, he’d try to find her right now, but his best bet was to find Rex and arrest him.

Then it wouldn’t matter where Mckenna was.

She’d be safe. He hoped there were answers at Rex and Toby’s house.

A clue, something that would give him an idea of where Rex was going.

Maybe Keith would have some ideas of where Rex would go.

His experience with probation officers was limited—most of his interactions with them happened when he needed to find an informant or a suspect. He could call their PO if nothing else was panning out. He hoped Keith could provide some direction.

Finally arriving at the property, Evan decided he’d do a quick walkthrough.

Although Evan had filed for a warrant, he told the sheriff of his plan to search the house based on exigent circumstances.

Since Rex was his top suspect and a threat to Mckenna, he had to make sure Rex wasn’t hiding and that Mckenna wasn’t being held.

Checking his phone again, he found there was at least a decent signal here. Evan dialed Mckenna, but it went to voice mail again. He called the office and asked for one of his tech guys.

“Hey, there, Knox. What’s up?” the guy asked.

“I have a favor to ask. Would you mind seeing where Mckenna’s phone is located?”

“Sure, give me just a second.”

Evan could hear typing and then the guy said, “I think her phone is here in the office.”

“Have you seen her?” Evan asked.

“No, but you know me, I’m in my room all day staring at screens. Hey, I heard you two are together now. That true?”

“Thanks for your help,” Evan said, hanging up. Was she back at the office? Then it hit him. She had a personal phone and a work phone. The tech guy had probably pinged the work phone. He called back.

“Hey, again. Now what’s up?”

“Can you find the location of Mckenna’s personal phone?”

“Why? Did you two have a quarrel?”

A quarrel? Evan glanced at his phone. Who called a disagreement a quarrel? A tech guy, that’s who. “No, it’s a work deal. I’m trying to find her. It’s for a case. No quarrels.”

“That’s going to be harder. I need a warrant for her personal phone and I’ll have to contact the carrier, so it might take a while.”

“If I can get a warrant, can you find her pretty quick?” Evan asked.

“I think it’s true. I think you two have a thing.”

Evan wanted to strangle him through the phone, but he needed to play along. “Okay, we have a thing going, but I’m also worried about her and a case we’re working together. I’ll see if I can get a quick warrant and then, can you find her?”

“I can try, but it’s going to take some time. I’ll be in touch.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it,” Evan said, hanging up before the tech guy could ask more questions that he wasn’t ready to answer yet.

At least not until he talked with Mckenna and made sure she was safe and then told her he was completely in love with her.

He hoped what she’d written in her journal was true and she still felt the same way.

Getting out of his car, Evan headed in the direction of the deputy watching the scene. He signed in on the sheet to keep track of who was at the crime scene. Then he headed inside, hoping to find some answers and not more questions.

The first buildings of the ghost town appeared as Mckenna’s vehicle reached the top of a hill, bouncing on a gravel road.

Clouds had rolled in, threatening an afternoon thunderstorm and what Mckenna called a five-inch rain—one drop every five inches.

Some of the buildings had broken windows, boards falling off and signs hanging half down.

There were some dead trees around what used to be an old church, their branches like ancient, gnarled fingers waiting to grab you.

Stepping out of the vehicle, Mckenna checked her phone, but there was no signal at all. It didn’t matter. She just wanted to find the location of the mining camp and then see if she could find the trees with the curved trunks. After that, she’d leave.

Her stubbornness kept her driving here, but the closer she came, the more she realized that this was only her reaction to all the emotions hitting her at once.

She couldn’t let it go even though she knew it should.

All that talk about moving on and being so strong was often something she said to make herself believe that.

The truth was, she still struggled, but she knew part of being strong was continuing.

She would see what she could see and then leave.

Mckenna was going to get Mocha out of the vehicle, but with the clouds and cool breeze, she decided she could open all her windows and the back hatch.

The temperature had dropped at least ten degrees, with the storms threatening to roll in.

Another reason she needed to find the trees quickly.

Mocha thumped his tail, but he was curled up on his crate bed, so she figured he was happy to stay and sleep here anyway. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, buddy.”

She pulled out her map and studied it again.

So many people had become used to using GPS on their phones, but her father had taught her how to read a map, use a compass and not rely on technology.

She was grateful for that now. Based on what she could tell, she needed to walk to the west side of the town and then down a hill to the south.

She should be getting close to the location once she navigated down the hill.

Map and water bottle in hand, Mckenna grabbed her phone too. Just in case she managed to get a signal. Plus, she felt naked without it.

Another small gust whipped up, picking up dirt in its path and shaking the dead tree by the church.

The debris hit her eyes and Mckenna had to turn her head to avoid it.

The wind died down as fast as it had started.

More clouds blew in, and the sky darkened.

If there was lightning, then she really needed to get out of here.

Lightning strikes happened often in the mountains.

As a child, she’d been knocked down by a bolt that had struck near her house.

She’d never forgotten the power and fury of Mother Nature.

Mckenna picked up her pace, almost jogging, feeling her chest tighten. Was it from anxiety? Altitude? Both. For a moment, the sun came out from behind the clouds. A shadow appeared to her side and she whipped around.

No one was there.

Then she heard it. The cry of a hawk circling and hunting. A predator stalking its prey—although a hawk didn’t play catch and release. A hawk struck hard and fast, its prey rarely knowing what hit them. Mckenna shuddered and broke into a run, ignoring the shallow breaths that plagued her.

Just find these trees, see if there’s a mining camp and then get out of here.

Finally on the edge of town, she found the hill that went down toward the creek.

There wasn’t a clear path, but there also wasn’t a lot of vegetation or trees in her way.

The hill was steep enough that she almost had to sit back on her butt and slide, but she managed to get down.

Looking back over her shoulder, she realized that had been the easy part—going back up was going to be the hard part.

Maybe she could find an easier spot to get back uphill.

She continued toward the location she’d found on the map.

It was still about a quarter mile’s hike and the terrain was rough.

Rocks jutted out and dead trees had fallen over, making her journey more difficult.

Slipping a couple of times, Mckenna scraped her knee, ripping her pants, blood trickling out.

Great. Good job. This is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done. Well, maybe not the dumbest.

Being the wild child of the family, she’d tried plenty of stupid things, but this was right up there with the best of them. The old mine and camp buildings had to be close by. Mckenna stopped and checked the map again. It had to be right over that hill.

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

She better hurry up. As the thunder died down, Mckenna had an uneasy feeling. The one she had when she was followed. As she was about to scrap her plan and run back up the hill to her vehicle and leave, the wind started again.

This time it brought a faint odor of rotten eggs with it.

She was close. The answers were so close. Just a little bit further. That was all she needed.

Forcing herself to not chicken out, Mckenna continued.

Her legs burned, and she kept gasping for air as she navigated the rough terrain.

Stopping again to catch her breath, she heard a loose rock roll down the hill until it landed in the creek with a soft plop.

Then there was another noise. Human. Cries for help.

Someone else was here.