Page 5 of Colorado K-9 Rescue

I t was late, but Evan headed back to the office rather than home.

He wouldn’t be able to sleep, and the things Mckenna said had resonated with him.

Whatever happened with this case, he’d be assigned another one.

Not that there were cases where you didn’t work tirelessly seeking a resolution, but there was always, unfortunately, another case.

For the victim of a crime, there was only their case.

He hadn’t thought about it that way before.

He was also curious about Mckenna and why one of the victims’ father had asked if her kidnapper might be the one who took his daughter.

Evan parked and went into the building. It was quiet, which was the way he liked it.

Getting to his office, Evan booted up his computer and let his thoughts about the case wander while he waited for the screen to come to life.

Finding out more about Mckenna and her kidnapper was his intent.

Maybe he was wasting time, but the victim’s father wanted to know if a guy convicted of kidnapping out on parole could be on the hunt again.

Evan sought an answer to the same question.

As of now, there were no suspects, but the jaded side of him thought that offenders often repeated their crimes.

And he was curious about Mckenna and her past. He should have let it go with her, but he couldn’t.

The screen came to life and Evan started searching for Mckenna’s case. It wasn’t hard to find on the internet. He could get the case files too, but for now he wanted to know the basics.

There were headlines about her being found alive.

A good Samaritan had seen her running down a road and stopped to help.

She’d been bleeding and dehydrated, but otherwise, considering she’d been kidnapped and was missing for three days, she wasn’t in bad shape.

He continued scrolling. The sheriff zeroed in on Toby Hanson quickly after an anonymous tip led to Mckenna’s jacket and some other belongings being found in his vehicle.

After a lengthy interrogation, Hanson had confessed.

He’d been sentenced to eleven years in prison and now he was out in eight for good behavior. There were pictures of the man being released a couple of weeks ago, walking out of prison.

Evan sat back in his chair feeling for Mckenna and the terror she must have suffered. Today was incredibly hard for her and he’d treated her callously. In fairness to him, he hadn’t known about her past, but still, like the office gossipers pointed out, he could be a little nicer.

Rubbing his eyes, Evan flipped open his memo book and readthrough the notes on the current kidnapping.

He took out a pad of notepaper and started reworking the notes.

Evan was a big believer in victimology. The more he could figure out about the victims of the crime, the easier it often was to zero in on a suspect.

Hopefully, these girls hadn’t been trafficked.

If that were the case, they might not ever be seen again.

Or if they were found, they would never be the same.

He’d tried to force out the memories of going undercover to help bust a trafficking ring, but there were things in life he couldn’t unsee. Those memories gave him both daymares and nightmares. He had to find these girls before it was too late.

Lily and Autumn . Evan preferred to call the victims by their names. It made it more personal, which was great when cases were solved, although harder when they weren’t. He scribbled down a list of questions on his notepad.

Could the suspect be someone they know? Could they have been drugged? Groomed online? Followed? Will there be a ransom? And the last question Evan circled, How were they forced or talked into complying?

Taking one person by force was tougher than television ever portrayed it.

In real life you didn’t just grab someone very easily unless that person was outnumbered or incapacitated.

Even though Evan thought of the victims as girls, they were adults.

Not small children. For two girls that would mean several suspects, or they were drugged.

Depending on what was used, it would be hard to lift them both and move limp bodies from point A to point B, but if there were drugs that would make it possible.

Evan circled the question about being drugged.

Could they have known their attacker? Was there any chance the girls did just take off somewhere even though their parents denied it?

No, Evan didn’t believe that based on the evidence.

The sheriff might run a department that was smaller, but she knew her stuff.

He had to agree, it did appear to be a kidnapping.

Back to the trafficking possibility, which meant he needed access to all their social media and their posts prior to being taken.

He couldn’t do anymore tonight. Should he even bother going home? Or should he catch some sleep on the break-room couch like he’d done other nights? Evan elected the break-room couch. Home at this moment would only seem cold and empty.

Evan stirred early the next morning and rolled off the couch.

No one had arrived yet and he needed coffee.

Starting a pot, he went to his office to see if he had a fresh shirt.

He didn’t. There were two more dirty shirts hanging on a coatrack behind his desk.

He supposed he better go home at some point.

Or take these shirts to the dry cleaners.

Hearing the coffeepot chime that it was done brewing, he poured himself a cup that said “G-man.” One of his sisters had bought it for him when he’d been accepted into Quantico.

Sipping on the hot coffee and letting the caffeine hit his system, he started a to-do list for the morning.

He’d put in a request with their tech person to start getting information off the girls’ phones and social media.

Then he typed up a warrant and shot it off to a judge hoping that the judge was an early riser and overachiever too.

Was Evan an overachiever? Or did he just not have a life?

Or was he just avoiding his family and friends like his sisters all claimed?

Those were questions he didn’t want to think about.

He headed back to the break room to get his coffee when he heard the door open and close.

The jangling of dog tags told Evan who was coming in and he felt a sudden urge to go say hello and offer Mckenna a cup of coffee. What’s wrong with me?

He figured it was better if he stuck with his MO—stay at his desk working and pretend like he didn’t know anyone else was there. That would have worked in theory, except he peered up and sitting by his door was Mocha wagging his tail.

“Looking for another sandwich?” Evan asked. “I don’t have any food this morning.”

Mocha thumped his tail on the ground and then lay down, rolled over and exposed his tummy to be rubbed.

Evan glanced around and didn’t see Mckenna or anyone else.

He set his coffee down, went over to the dog and then crouched down and complied with Mocha’s request for a belly rub.

Mckenna came around the corner, catching the two of them.

“Looks like you two made up,” she said with a laugh. Then her face straightened again.

She’s still upset over our conversation last night.

Evan shrugged and tried to focus on Mocha. Mckenna smelled like a mixture of shampoo and bodywash. He liked it when she laughed rather than her serious face. Becoming aware of that only concerned him more. He really needed to get a grip.

Just get promoted and then get out of this office. You know how relationships end, from your own parents. You have no time to mess around. Look how Mom hurt Dad and all of us kids. Being a lifetime bachelor with a few flings here and there and no commitment is not a bad thing.

And yet, he found himself hoping she might stick around and talk a little bit.

“Here,” Mckenna said, holding out a brown paper bag in one hand and a cup in another. “I appreciate you giving me my cash back, but Mocha did eat your sandwich yesterday. We bought you a breakfast sandwich and coffee. I don’t know if you like lattes, but that’s what that is. Forgiven?”

“Forgiven,” Evan said, standing up straight. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”

Mckenna waved him off and gave a low whistle. Mocha jumped to his feet and went to her side.

“Look, uh,” Evan stuttered. Why couldn’t he talk to her?

You’re an FBI agent. You’ve interrogated dangerous criminals. Get your act together.

He’d been around plenty of beautiful women, and many had hoped to earn their Mrs. title with him.

But his career came first and none of his past girlfriends had stuck around with his job and hours.

Plus, after his mom left his dad, he knew there was no such thing as real love.

But he wouldn’t mind talking with Mckenna.

Learning more about her. He heard himself saying, “I’m sorry about yesterday, about asking you about your uh, experience.

If this case is tough for you, I understand.

Just let me know what you need from me.”

Mckenna tilted her head, her dark hair touching one side of her shoulder. What would it be like to touch her cheek? Run his fingers through her hair? Wrap his arms around her and then run his fingers under her shirt. Good grief, get a grip. She thinks you’re a jerk and isn’t even interested.

“Thanks. I appreciate that,” she said. “Well, I better get to work. Let me know if you need us today for anything. By the way, if you’re going to spend the night here, you should bring extra shirts. You’re a bit wrinkled this morning.”

Slightly annoyed, Evan put his hands on his hips. This was another reason he didn’t need a female in his life. But then he noticed that she had a glimmer of a grin and when she laughed again, he realized she was teasing him. “Good point.”

“I’m just giving you a hard time. I know how it is when you can’t sleep,” Mckenna said. Then her expression became more serious, “I hope you can find out more about those girls today. I’m scared for them.”

This is where you could say something nice, Knox. Instead, Evan heard himself answering, “I’m going to head back up to the sheriff’s office today and interview their friends. I’ll keep you posted.”

I’ll keep you posted? Where did that come from?

Yes, they were working together on this case, but telling someone he’d keep them posted wasn’t his style.

Evan’s phone rang and he saw it was the sheriff calling.

Answering, he turned away from Mckenna slightly, and when the sheriff filled him in, his blood went cold.

His plans for the day drastically changed.