Page 11 of In Cold Blood (High Peaks Murder, Mystery and Crime Thrillers #1)

It was a known fact that incidents in a community often didn’t find their way into the local press.

Even in the sleepiest of towns in America, police departments kept some things back.

One, because of ongoing investigations, two because they felt the public didn’t need to know, but mostly it was because they didn’t want to scare people away.

Give the town a bad name. It wasn’t uncommon to find organized gangs seeping into suburban neighborhoods, rubbing shoulders with the locals and folks being none the wiser.

Criminals were getting smarter every year, flying under the radar and coming up with new ways to circumvent the strong arm of the law.

Still, if he’d been involved in several large drug busts, that certainly could have attracted a lot of unwanted attention. “What about Axel?”

A genuine smile appeared at his name. “Yeah. Luke was pumped to get that dog. The first K-9 in the county. The only one in the county to be exact. A dual-purpose K-9 trained for patrol and narcotics. Luke said they wouldn’t have found half of what they had without him.”

“And yet whoever ambushed Luke didn’t kill the dog.”

“Kind of hard. Axel wasn’t with him that night.”

“What?”

“Axel was ill. I mean, Axel went with Luke all the time but when he had to go to court, training, or deal with some administrative duties he would often leave him here at the house. Then there were times when Axel strained a leg or wasn’t feeling well.

But that was pretty rare. No, he had come down with a serious case of food poisoning.

At least that’s what the vet said. Throwing up and all.

” She glanced off toward a dog bowl on the ground in the mud room.

“I’m not sure Axel would have helped Luke anyway, as he wasn’t using the Tahoe that night.

And, according to the police report, Luke never managed to pull his firearm. Those bastards had to have planned it.”

“Those? So they think there was more than one?”

“Possibly.” She nodded then took a sip of her coffee. “Something to do with the distance and spray of gunfire.”

He mulled over what she’d told him. “You said he didn’t have his vehicle?”

“It was in for repairs. The Tahoe was the only one with a dog cage in the rear. He used one of the pool cars that night. One that didn’t have a dashboard camera.”

“How often did that occur? ”

“Hardly ever.”

“And do you know what was wrong with the Tahoe?”

“No idea. You’d have to ask the sheriff.”

Noah took a deep breath. “Were you familiar with the route that Luke would take to and from work?”

“He was a county deputy, Noah. It varied from shift to shift depending on where his last call was. I know in some counties they head back to the station but not here. They are done when they roll into the driveway.”

“So, there was nothing about that night that struck you as odd except that he didn’t have Axel and wasn’t using his assigned vehicle.”

“No. He phoned me as he always did. He would have gotten in late that night. I assumed that it would be no different than the nights before. I was awakened in the early hours of the morning by Sheriff Roberts who notified me in person.” Her eyes welled up as that memory came back to her.

Noah reached for a box of tissues and slid them across to her.

Kerri took a handful and wiped her eyes, sniffing.

“You know, when you marry a police officer you sign up for the fact that there may come a day when they don’t come home.

I knew that. But nothing prepares you for it.

Sometimes I wish the general public knew the true cost. It’s not only the officers that pay but the families too.

” She looked around. “The house feels so empty without him.”

Was it coincidental that Axel wasn’t with him? That he was using a different vehicle and one without a dashboard camera? And whatever he encountered out there, it couldn’t have given him cause for alarm as he never called it in.

“Who found Luke?”

“What?”

“Who phoned it in?”

“A passerby. Some woman. They never got a name. She was gone by the time first responders arrived. Roberts says they’re trying to track her down but with the remoteness of the area and no CCTV, it could be anyone. I think they’ll be hard-pressed to locate her. I’m sure dispatch has the recording.”

He’d want to hear that, and see the full report and speak to those who were first on scene.

He also wanted to know where his last call was, as that would give him some indication of whether or not he was within the vicinity of where his body was found — or whether he had gone out of his way, and if he had, why?

“I hate to ask this, Kerri, but was everything okay between you two?”

She raised her eyebrows and scoffed. “They asked me the same thing, Noah. Of course, things were fine. You know we bumped heads from time to time but what married couple who’s been together for as long as us hasn’t?

Our disagreements were petty. It was usually pet peeves.

Household stuff. Nothing that we didn’t resolve immediately or before we slept.

Luke wasn’t one for holding grudges and neither am I. ”

“Sorry, I had to ask.”

She looked away, shaking her head.

He didn’t doubt Kerri. She was a straightforward woman.

As grounded as any person he had known. Loyal.

At times to her own fault. It was because of Luke that he’d asked.

Appearances could be deceiving. Whereas to one partner everything might look fine, to the other, it could be like their world was falling apart.

Had his brother been faithful to her or had he strayed and kept things to himself?

The cabin, he thought.

Noah fished into his pocket and clutched the key Alicia Michaels had given him.

Since Luke looked identical to Noah, and Alicia had a key to a cabin that belonged to him, a cabin Kerri didn’t know about — it didn’t take any stretch of the imagination to deduce what could have happened between Luke and Alicia.

It wouldn’t have been the first time Alicia had been at the center of an almost failed relationship.

His thoughts went back to his ex, Lena, and the year after he got out of the military.

If there was ever a time that their relationship should have failed before it had taken off, it was then.

Their engagement meant very little. They were early into it.

Long tours overseas meant he was away from Lena for a long time and when he returned, she’d told him that she’d seen someone.

She said she’d been lonely. Unsure. And was having cold feet about getting married.

If he was honest, so was he at that point.

Yet for different reasons. After what he’d witnessed in the Middle East, Noah had found solace at the bottom of a bottle.

After a few arguments and a crippling case of PTSD, all of which led to multiple trips to the bar, that’s when it nearly went sideways.

Back then Alicia was bartending. Conversation flowed.

Humor lifted his spirit and before he knew it, he too found himself in the arms of someone else.

Looking back, Noah wasn’t sure if he did it to get back at Lena or whether it was the connection, the way Alicia made him feel.

Either way, it didn’t help the situation.

Upon telling Lena, she had a different reaction than what he’d expected.

After a huge argument, she returned a few days later wanting to talk.

They should have called off the engagement right then.

Neither of them was ready to get married.

They were too young. Too na?ve. Yet what should have pulled them apart, did the opposite.

She doubled down. Wanted to make a go of it.

Foolishly, Noah agreed. He stopped going to the bar.

He didn’t show up the night he was meant to see Alicia, and within a month they had left High Peaks and moved south .

Moving didn’t resolve the underlying problems, it only exasperated them.

Many years later, Lena moved out and returned to the county, taking the kids with her. At least when that decision was made, it wasn’t because of someone else and they both agreed it was for the best. She’d been gone two years.

Again, Noah squeezed the key in his pocket.

Without knowing why Alicia was in possession of it, he was reluctant to tell Kerri about the cabin at that exact moment.

She was dealing with enough questions and grief surrounding Luke’s death as it was.

He figured he’d wait a day or two, speak with Alicia, and check out the cabin.

Perhaps there was a good reason behind it.

Noah shifted the conversation to the kids, hoping to lift her mood.

Right then, headlights washed over the house and the rumble of an engine caught Kerri’s attention. “Oh, that’s Axel.” She got up and set her mug in the sink. “They said they would drop him off.”

“You’re keeping him?”

She gave him a confused look as she passed him.

“We haven’t decided yet. We have a kennel here.

The problem was Luke was the only one in the Sheriff’s Office that was trained to work with Axel.

I mean, he responds to us, but… well, look, it depends on the Sheriff’s Office.

With Luke gone, the K-9 unit doesn’t exist so to speak unless they train someone else and they’re not sure they will.

Sheriff Roberts felt that it might be a good time to retire Axel as he’s six years old now.

They say he only has a few good years left in him as a K-9.

” She shook her head. “Besides us, Luke is all that dog has ever known. They were like two peas in a pod.”

She made her way to the side door and flipped on the night light outside. Noah got up and stood in the doorway of the mud room. It was filled with the kids’ shoes, boots, and some of Luke’s belongings. A couple of his police-issued jackets were hanging up on a hook beside the outdoor wear.