Page 10 of Scent of Death (Sullivan K9 Search and Rescue #5)

“Ah, not yet.” She glanced at her watch; it was twenty minutes past five in the morning. “It’s early, although knowing Justin, he’s up working with the horses by now.”

“We can wait until after we’ve had breakfast.” Griff holstered his weapon. “I was thinking we should walk to the café. Leaving the car here may convince this guy we’re still in the room.”

“Fine by me.” She glanced at Denali. The shooter obviously knew her dog by sight, which could be a problem. “We’ll have to be careful. If he’s stationed somewhere close by, he might see us.”

“I know.” Griff had pulled up the map app on his phone. “There aren’t as many back roads here as there are in Cheyenne.” He stepped close so she could see his screen. “If we go this way, we may be able to get there without being seen.”

He was so close that the tantalizing scent of the hotel shampoo teased her senses. She forced herself to nod. “Sounds good.”

He smiled. Then his gaze dropped to her mouth. For long seconds, neither of them moved. Was he going to kiss her?

Then the moment passed when he stepped back. “Let’s go.”

Fighting a flash of disappointment, she shoved the rest of Denali’s things into her backpack.

This wasn’t the time or place to think about kissing Griff. Not when there was a serial killer on the loose.

Griff tried to shake off the sizzling awareness shimmering between them. Alexis was too young for him even if he was interested.

Which he wasn’t.

Yeah, and maybe if he told himself that, say, a hundred times, he’d start to believe it.

Grace had been gone for two years, and up until a few months ago, he’d thought of her almost every day.

Now Alexis dominated his thoughts.

Not good. He needed to stay focused on finding this killer.

He opened the door and peered into the hallway. Seeing nothing, he stepped back and held the door for Alexis and Denali. She shrugged into her backpack and crossed over to join him. “We’ll use the exit on the opposite side of the hallway. Not the one we used earlier.”

She nodded in understanding and led the way. Griff followed her and Denali as they headed outside. Even in July, the mornings could be cool, but today seemed to be an exception. A warm breeze washed over them as they took a circuitous route away from the hotel.

He kept a sharp eye out for his suspect, but the hour was early enough that there weren’t many people up and around. It wouldn’t take long for the tourists to flock to the streets.

“Hold on.” He snagged Alexis’s arm when an SUV pulled out of a gas station parking lot.

The driver’s side window was down, and he briefly wondered if Denali would pick up the driver’s scent.

The white car sped past them without seeming to notice or care that they were there.

He relaxed and let her go. “Sorry. I guess I’m a little on edge. ”

“With good reason.” She managed a wan smile. “Let’s hope he’s far away by now.”

Griff had no intention of banking on that.

Not when this guy was clearly becoming obsessed with Alexis.

He hoped to convince her siblings to take her back to the ranch.

He knew she didn’t want to place her family in danger, but she would be much safer there with people around, not to mention nine dogs.

Ten , he silently amended as they turned down a side street to cut through a parking lot.

There was the new puppy, Bear, who was growing like crazy.

Alexis would never move, yet another reason he needed to ignore his attraction to her. Despite covering the entire state, he had to live in Cheyenne where the federal office building was located.

“Hey, the Corner Café is open,” Alexis said, interrupting his thoughts. “I could sure use more coffee.”

He wouldn’t mind coffee and food. “Hopefully, they won’t mind Denali.”

“They won’t. We’ve been here before.” She sounded certain, so he didn’t argue.

They were on the opposite end of the city from Della’s Diner, but the menu was much the same.

As the first customers, they had their pick of seats.

Alexis chose a booth in the corner. He took the side where he could keep an eye on the door.

Alexis sat across from him. Denali crawled under the table and stretched out at her feet.

“Coffee?” A middle-aged woman with brassy-blond hair came over with two mugs and a full pot. Her name tag read Louise.

“Yes, please,” he and Alexis said in unison.

Louise laughed, poured their coffee, and tapped the plastic menus. “Let me know when you’re ready to order.”

Griff took the menu, already knowing he’d have his usual. He noticed Alexis didn’t bother to check it out. “You know what you’d like?”

“Yes.” She flushed. “I love their veggie omelet. I’ll call my family as soon as we order.”

Louise returned and refilled their coffee mugs before pulling out her pad. He asked for two eggs over easy with toast, bacon, and hash browns. Alexis ordered the veggie omelet with fruit.

Sipping his coffee, he listened as she made the call.

“Hi, Anna, it’s Alexis. Is Joel or Justin around?

I’m fine, just need a favor.” She waited silently for a moment, then, “Hey, Joel. Everything is fine.” She rolled her eyes.

“The shooter did show up at the hotel early this morning, so I need you and Justin or whoever is around to bring two SUVs. We’ll use one here; you can ride the other one back home. ”

He could tell by her relieved expression her siblings were going along with the plan.

“Great, thanks. We’re at the Corner Café on the west side of town. Thanks, Joel.” She lowered the phone. “They’ll hit the road ASAP.”

“Good.” He knew the Sullivan K9 ranch was about forty-five minutes away. He’d never been there but had looked it up online. Their website was nothing fancy. Most of their business came through local law enforcement agencies and word of mouth.

He admired their dedication to serving the community.

When their breakfasts arrived, he glanced at Alexis, knowing she’d want to say grace.

She surprised him by reaching across the table to grasp his hand. Her warm fingers curled around his, making it difficult to think straight.

“Dear Lord Jesus, we thank You for this food we are blessed to eat. We ask for You to continue keeping Wendy Evers safe in Your care. And please guide us to the man who seeks to do harm. Amen.”

“Amen.” He forced himself to release her hand. “Thanks, Alexis.”

“Of course.” She reached for her fork.

He dove into his meal. The hash browns were crispy, just the way he liked them. Under the table, Denali brushed against his legs as she switched positions.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said, about kids from school who could do something like this.

” She lifted her blue eyes to his. “There was a kid named Brent Wilson who was arrested for sexual assault.” She shrugged.

“From what I heard, the charges were dropped to sexual misconduct, and he didn’t do much if any time in jail. ”

That intrigued him. “Brent Wilson? He’s from Cody?”

“Yes. I hate to accuse him unfairly but thought you should know.”

He glanced at his watch. Still too early to contact the lab in Cheyenne, but if there were fingerprints on the shell casings, this could be the break they needed. “That’s great, Alexis. Keep throwing names out there. I won’t accuse anyone without proof, so don’t let that hold you back.”

She sighed. “There are too many names to do that.”

“Not if you focus on those kids who were loners, those considered unpopular by teenage standards.” His pulse had kicked up with anticipation. “Anything could help, Alexis.”

She ate in silence for several minutes, her expression thoughtful. “I don’t know. Let me think about it.”

They dawdled over breakfast, waiting for her brothers to arrive. A few more customers came in. Thankfully, it was early enough that he didn’t feel too guilty over hogging a table.

When Alexis’s phone rang, she quickly answered. “Hey, Joel. Really?” She frowned, looking at her watch. “That’s fast. What did you do, speed here?” Another pause, then, “Okay, great. See you both soon.”

“I can’t believe they got here so quickly.”

“I know. Joel and Justin have gotten their share of speeding tickets when they were younger. Chase threatened to take their licenses away if they didn’t shape up.” She smiled. “The state patrol doesn’t bother to pull anyone over unless they’re doing more than fifteen miles over the posted limit.”

He sat back as Louise brought more coffee. “We have two more joining us, and I suspect they’ll want to eat too.”

“Great.” Louise brightened. “Let me know when they’re ready.”

As if on cue, two men entered the café, a dog on either side of them.

Joel and Justin were identical twins, but there were enough differences that he’d learned to tell them apart.

Joel was slightly shorter and bulkier around the shoulders.

Justin was lean and wore his brown hair short compared to Joel, who wore his long enough to brush against the back of his collar. They shared Alexis’s blue eyes.

In addition to Joel’s black lab, Royal, Justin was accompanied by a yellow lab named Stone.

He’d learned the Sullivan family had chosen a national park theme when it came to picking names for their dogs.

When they arrived at the table, he and Alexis scooted over to make room.

Without being told, both dogs crawled underneath to join Denali.

The animals were clearly familiar with the routine.

“Smells great!” Justin plucked a menu from the rack behind the condiments. “I’m all in on the farmer’s omelet.”

“I need coffee,” Joel muttered. “Breakfast too,” he added when Alexis arched a brow. “We were up early. Logan and Jess left at first light to get the evidence to the lab in Cheyenne.”

Griff nodded. “Thanks. That means a lot.”

“With Joel’s help, we got through the morning chores faster than usual,” Justin added.

Louise returned with coffee for the twins. Then she took their orders.

“Fill us in on what happened,” Joel said when she’d left. “I don’t like the idea of this guy finding you at the hotel.”

Griff provided a quick rundown on the early morning events. “The only explanation I have is that he recognized my SUV. If not for Denali’s barking, we wouldn’t have known he was out there.”

“He fired twice at Griff, then escaped,” Alexis said. “Denali followed his scent to a dead-end road.”

“Denali did that?” Joel glanced beneath the table where the dogs were all tangled together. “Good girl.”

“I’m concerned this guy has focused his attention on Alexis,” Griff said. Joel turned to look at his sister.

“Did you tell Griff about your ex-boyfriends?” Joel frowned as if searching his memory. “Ricky Travers and Oliver Sacks? One of them could be involved.”

“No. A lousy cheating boyfriend does not equate to being a serial killer.” Alexis scowled. “I don’t think this guy is someone that was close to me. A guy from school, maybe. But not a former boyfriend.”

Griff tended to agree, although he filed the two names away for later. It wouldn’t hurt to run a deep-dive background check on them. Along with Brent Wilson. After Louise brought the twins their breakfast, he asked, “Does anyone else come to mind?”

The twins looked at each other and shrugged. “You can try Brent Wilson,” Joel said. “Rumor has it he liked to get handsy with the girls. One slugged him for his efforts.”

“I didn’t slug him.” Alexis scowled. “I shoved him against the locker, kicked him in the groin, and told him if he touched me again, I’d make him pay.”

Griff narrowed his gaze. “You left out the part where you were the sexual assault victim.”

“Not me,” she quickly denied. “Although maybe I should have reported him. He assaulted a girl named Maria Gomez.”

“Maria claimed he grabbed her breasts and shoved himself up against her,” Justin added. “I don’t blame her for filing charges. Not that it did much good.”

“It sort of did,” Joel argued. “Brent was kicked out of school.”

The more he heard about this Brent Wilson, the more he liked him as a suspect. The sooner he got the results from the lab on the shell casings, the better.