Page 38 of Colorado K-9 Rescue

F looring the bu-car, Evan cursed the winding road with the switchbacks that forced him to slow down as he drove to Lily’s house. He would accelerate on the straightaways. After what seemed like an eternity, he arrived at the entrance to Lily’s house.

Cassidy’s vehicle was already parked there, and she wasn’t in it. She must be inside. Evan leaped out of his car and up the steps where the door opened for him. Brenda, Lily’s mother, invited him in.

“Agent Knox,” she said. “The other agent is in the living room with Lily.”

“Thanks,” he said. “Were you here when Mckenna was?”

“No, I was out grocery shopping. When Mckenna called I thought it would be great for her to come by and check on Lily so that she didn’t have to be alone.”

“Okay,” Evan said, heading into the living room where Cassidy was already seated. Lily was holding a pillow against her chest and appeared worried.

“You’re not in any trouble,” Cassidy was saying to her. “We just need some information. Okay?”

Lily nodded and clutched her pillow tighter.

“When Mckenna came here today, what did she want?” Cassidy asked.

“She wanted to see if we had similar memories.”

“Similar memories?” Cassidy asked.

“Yes, she thought we’d been taken by the same person,” Lily answered.

Evan could tell Cassidy was trying to wrap her head around that thought. Mckenna had told him that her older sister doubted her feeling that Toby was innocent. He spoke before Cassidy could question the idea. “What specifically did she ask you?”

Lily glanced back and forth and said, “We talked about the bad smell and dancing trees.”

Evan didn’t know what to make of dancing trees. He’d start with one thing at a time. “I remember you talking about the smell before. Mckenna too.”

“Yeah, like rotten eggs. Mckenna said it could be from a mine that was near where we were kept. From fool’s gold or something like that.”

Evan thought about the ghost town Mckenna had mentioned.

He hadn’t made it there yet himself, with everything else going on.

A sheriff’s deputy had gone there and wasn’t able to find signs of anyone being kept in any of the old buildings, but Evan didn’t know if the deputy had searched the whole area.

Evan had googled pictures of the town. There were no obvious mining areas in the pictures, but like so many Colorado ghost towns, it had been built during the gold rush.

If the mine was nearby, but no longer in any kind of use, trees and shrubs may have overgrown the area or any surrounding buildings.

That might be why the previous sheriff couldn’t find where Mckenna was held.

“Tell me about the dancing trees,” Evan said.

“Well, they’re not really dancing, you know, but they look cool because the trunks are all curved in the same direction. Mckenna and I both thought they seemed like they were dancing.”

“I’ve seen pictures of trees like that. Aspen trees,” Cassidy said.

“They were aspens,” Lily said. “We both thought maybe we were seeing things because we were drugged.”

The ghost town had to be the key. If there was an old mine in the area, then maybe that was where Mckenna had been held.

And maybe where she had gone looking for answers.

It was Evan’s best lead. Should he go out there himself?

See if a deputy could go? It was Mckenna.

For any other case, he might send a deputy, but this was different.

Mckenna was different. She’d changed his life in ways he hadn’t expected. He couldn’t imagine a life without her.

“What else did she ask you?” Evan said. The more information the better. Cassidy was watching him but allowing him to take the lead now in the questioning.

“That was it,” Lily said, then whispered, “Is Mckenna going to be okay?”

“She’ll be fine,” Evan said, making yet another promise that he didn’t know if he could keep. By the looks on their faces, Cassidy and Lily knew he was only saying Mckenna would be fine to make everyone feel better. “Thanks for your time.”

Cassidy and Evan stood and thanked Lily’s parents and then headed out the front door.

Cassidy was about to say something when Evan’s phone rang.

With hope, he pulled it out, wanting the caller ID to say “Mckenna” but instead it was a sheriff’s office in Wyoming.

One of the ones he’d sent memos to in case they’d had similar kidnappings.

He answered the phone.

“Is this Agent Knox?” a man asked.

“It is.”

“Son, this is Sheriff Alan Lewis of Fremont County. You asked about kidnappings fitting a certain MO?”

“Yes.” Evan gripped the phone. “Do you have cases like the one I sent you?”

“We do, as a matter of fact. Some of them include missing Indigenous women. We’ve helped with two of the cases, although the Bureau of Indian Affairs has worked on most of those. I could give you my contact there.”

Evan had never worked with the BIA, but he welcomed anyone who had information. “That would be great. Thank you.”

He wrote down the contact’s information and then on a whim asked, “Do you know a man by the name of Rex Hanson?”

“Nope, doesn’t ring a bell.”

“What about a probation officer named Keith Warren?” Evan asked.

“Oh, yeah, I know Keith. Good guy. He came here about seven years ago to take a course and have a little vacation. We connected then. I think he just accepted an opening up here in the probation office. In fact, one of the cases I was talking about happened around one of the times Keith was in town. He offered to help us search for the girl. Volunteered a lot of time and stayed an extra week. He said he hated the way Indigenous women went missing without anyone helping.”

“Did he?” Evan asked.

“He did.”

“Did you find the girl?”

“We did, but unfortunately, it was too late,” the sheriff said. “Same for the other girl. They were both found deceased and shot. The bullet was a .45, and based on what you entered in the system, I think we have a match.”

“That would be a huge break in this case. Will you send me the information on the ballistics?”

“I’d be happy to.”

“I’m curious, was Keith ever with anyone?” Evan asked, thinking about Rex being a partner in the crimes.

“Not that I knew of. Seemed like kind of a loner. Nice guy. Liked to go fishing. He said it was relaxing and he liked doing catch and release since he was staying at a hotel. Can’t cook a fish over a campfire there.”

“No, you can’t do that,” Evan answered, his stomach dropping at the mention of catch and release. “Thank you, sir, for your time. I appreciate it.”

“You want me to send the files?”

“Yes, please do.”

The sheriff paused. “Son, I’ve been in law enforcement my whole life. This isn’t my first rodeo. Keith Warren murdered those girls, didn’t he? Or at least you’re suspecting it.”

“That’s right. I think he did a similar thing here, only this time he screwed up.”

The sheriff muttered some choice words about how people never were who they seemed.

“If you see him in your area, for any reason,” Evan said, “arrest him right away. There’s going to be a warrant out for him soon.”

“You got it. I still can’t believe this. Can’t trust anyone.”

“No, you can’t. I’ll let you know if we get him in custody.” Evan hung up the phone. Cassidy was over by her vehicle, leaning up against it. Evan filled her in about Keith and the area up in Wyoming near the Wind River Reservation.

“I can’t believe it,” Cassidy said. “I didn’t know him well when he did live around here, but now that I think about it, he was a loner then too.”

“I’ll let the sheriff know,” Evan said. “I’m going to find this ghost town. Maybe Mckenna is there.”

“Be careful. Get a deputy to go with you for backup,” Cassidy said. “I’ll get a memo out to all field offices in Colorado, Wyoming and maybe Utah and New Mexico too. Who knows where Keith could be.”

“Thank you,” Evan said. “I’ll take someone with me and search the area surrounding the ghost town. I’ll let you know if we find anything.”

They started getting in their vehicles and then Cassidy stopped and said, “Hey, Knox.”

“What?” Evan asked.

“You’re not so bad after all. I can see what my sister sees in you.”