Page 15 of Scent of Death (Sullivan K9 Search and Rescue #5)

A lexis felt sick to her stomach, imagining Wendy Evers being buried beneath the dirt. She forced herself to pull Denali’s pink piggy from the pack Griff carried. “Good girl, Denali! Good girl!” She tossed the piggy, then took several steps from the grave site.

They were too late. She blinked back tears. They’d done their best, Griff had followed up on the few leads they’d gotten, but that hadn’t been good enough.

And now that the killer had buried Wendy Evers here, she wasn’t sure he’d be back. Why would he?

Griff came over to stand beside her. “I’m sorry.”

She subtly swiped at her tears, then glanced up at him. “You don’t need to apologize to me. I feel bad about this too.”

“I failed Wendy Evers.” Griff’s expression reflected his regret. “We came too late.”

She hated to see him feeling so down. “Griff, if we hadn’t come up with the trail cam idea, we wouldn’t be here now.” She swallowed hard, then added, “I suspect it was too late to save Wendy anyway. The killer doesn’t strike me as the patient type.”

“No. His escalation is a sign of losing control.” Griff stared at the freshly turned dirt. “I should dig a bit to make sure the victim is Wendy. I trust Denali’s nose; someone is down there. We’re assuming Wendy, but it could be someone else.”

The possibility was horrifying. Could this guy have killed another girl so soon?

Yes, he could have. Anyone who would strangle women, bury them in the wilderness, attempt to poison her dog, and shoot at a fed could do anything.

Griff hung his head for a moment. “I can’t believe he made his way back here between the various attempts he made toward you.”

“Both of us.” She stepped closer, putting a hand on his chest. “This isn’t your fault, Griff. The killer did this, not you.”

He covered her hand with his. “I failed to find Wendy in time.”

Her heart ached for him and for Wendy’s grandmother. She moved closer, sliding her arms around his waist to hug him. “You didn’t fail. You’ve been doing everything possible to find him.”

Griff froze for a second, then hauled her close, burying his face against her hair. She held him, wishing she could say or do something to make him feel better.

“We’re going to find him,” she whispered. “At some point, he’ll make a mistake, and we’ll find him.”

She leaned back, tipping her head up to look at him. As before, his gaze clung to hers, then dropped to her mouth. A secret thrill ran through her. When he didn’t move, she went up on her tippy toes to kiss him.

The chaste kiss instantly morphed into something more. He crushed her close and deepened their kiss. Logical thought evaporated like mist. Her mind only knew Griff’s mouth on hers and his warm embrace.

Denali nudged her, breaking the moment. Griff lifted his head, and she frowned when she noticed the regret there. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“I kissed you.” Stung by his words, she stepped back and took the piggy from Denali. “But don’t worry, it was just a kiss. I don’t expect anything from you.”

“Alexis.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I care about you, but I also need to stay focused on finding this guy.”

Did that mean she was a distraction? That the awareness sizzling between them wasn’t one-sided? She forced a smile. “I understand. There’s work to be done. Let’s get those cameras mounted.”

He looked like he might say something more but then stepped back to shrug out of the backpack. As he pulled the cameras, hammer, and nails from the pack, she walked the area, searching for a good tree to use as a mounting post.

“How about here?” She motioned to a tree that overlooked two of the three gravesites. The first one she’d found was farther from the others.

“I like it.” Griff glanced around. “I need a tree stump to stand on.”

Denali followed her like a shadow as she searched for something appropriate. When she found one, it was too heavy to lift, so she rolled it toward him.

“I’ve got it.” Griff grunted as he lifted the stump. Five minutes later, he had the camera mounted to the tree. As it was tan, green, and brown camouflage in color, it blended pretty well with the tree trunk.

“I think the second camera should go up on the other side, closest to the first grave.” Alexis gestured with her hand.

Griff nodded and hauled his log step stool across the open field. Once the second camera was mounted, he headed back to the fresh grave.

“I don’t have cell service, do you?” He looked up at her from the edge of the dirt.

“No, but the sat phone should be in the pack.” She rummaged through the items, finding the phone near the bottom. She turned it on and nodded with satisfaction. “Ready to go.”

“Thanks.” He dug through the dirt with gloved hands. The grave was so fresh it was easy to sift the dirt away to expose the body. It was a young woman.

Her stomach rolled, and when Griff brushed the dirt away from the face, Alexis had to look away.

“It’s Wendy.” He sounded sad. “Looks as if she was strangled like the others.”

Alexis toed the satellite phone. “Make the call. We’ll have to stick around here until the crime scene techs show up.”

Griff removed his gloves and reached for the phone. She scanned their surroundings but didn’t see anything alarming.

Denali would alert her if the guy was close. Although earlier, she hadn’t done that because the wind had been coming in from the opposite direction.

That made her wonder if the killer was a wildlife hunter. Maybe he knew all about keeping the wind in his face to avoid being scented by game animals.

She turned to face the wind. Then she decided she should use Denali to make sure this guy hadn’t stayed nearby. She knelt beside her K9. “Search, Denali. Search bad guy!”

Denali’s tail wagged, and she turned to lower her nose to the ground. Her K9 trotted toward the newly dug grave. Alexis decided to let her alert there again, before asking her to search again.

Rewards kept the K9 excited about the search game.

“Good girl!” She tossed the pink piggy up into the air. “Good girl, Denali.”

“Didn’t she already alert here?” Griff asked.

“Yes, but now she’s tracking the killer’s scent verses searching for napoo.

” After a few minutes of playtime, Alexis extended her arm.

“Hand.” When Denali regurgitated the piggy into her palm, she paused to pull a water bottle and the collapsible bowl from the pack.

Denali lapped the water, then gazed up at her expectantly. “Search! Search bad guy.”

If the killer was nearby, Denali would find him. Griff made several phone calls as she followed Denali. The terrain was rough in some places, but she gamely kept up with her K9. Denali leaped over a fallen log, then stopped and sniffed along the base. She sat and barked.

“He was here, huh, girl?” She praised her dog but didn’t offer the piggy yet. The fallen log overlooked the most recent gravesite, but there wasn’t a direct line of sight to the other two.

Had the killer sat here to rest after burying Wendy Evers?

She took a moment to examine the ground. The earth was hard packed due to lack of rain and revealed nothing that would help identify him.

“Search! Search bad guy!”

Denali eagerly went back to work. Rays of sunlight beat down on them. Rivulets of sweat rolled down her face and her back.

After several minutes, Denali stopped near an open area, sniffed, then alerted.

Alexis frowned, as this was a different location from before. She crossed over to see what Denali had found.

At first, she didn’t notice anything, but then she saw them. A partial tire print in the dirt. Lowering to a crouch, she examined the marks more closely. She realized they were similar to tracks left by an ATV.

The Sullivans had several four-wheeler ATVs, along with snow machines and horses. Depending on the time of the year and the location of the search, they’d used various methods of travel.

She slowly rose and rewarded Denali for the find. It made sense that the killer had transported the bodies via an all-terrain vehicle. It was something they should have considered sooner. Carrying a dead body all the way into the woods wasn’t practical.

“Here, Denali. Hand.” She waited for Denali to lope back to give her the piggy. Then she quickly headed back to where Griff remained at the gravesite with Denali at her heels.

She didn’t really think the tire track would help find their killer, but it was a piece of the puzzle.

They needed all the help they could get.

Griff finished his calls, feeling more frustrated than ever. The crime scene techs and local law enforcement officials were on their way. That was fine. Then his boss informed him that the FBI profiler’s flight had been delayed. She wouldn’t be in Wyoming until late evening.

Meanwhile, this brutal killer was searching for another victim. Or worse, coming up with a new plan to grab Alexis.

“Griff!” Alexis ran toward him. “I found a tire track in the woods.”

“Tire track?” Realization dawned. “A four-wheeler?”

“Yes. Come with me. It’s not much of one, but it looks similar to the ATVs we use for search and rescue missions.”

He took a moment to shove the sat phone into the backpack, then stood. Settling the pack on his shoulders, he crossed to her. “Show me.”

She nodded. Denali led the way, as if knowing their destination. He hadn’t paid much attention to Alexis and Denali combing the area. Ignoring the twinge in his knee, he quickened his pace to catch up.

“Here.” Alexis knelt beside the track.

He used his phone to take pictures. “This makes me think he has a place in Greybull or somewhere close by.”

“I was thinking about that too.” Alexis frowned. “We’ve been focused on Greybull because that’s where Wendy went missing. But the town of Shell isn’t that far. It’s way smaller, but not having a large population may work to his advantage.”

He gave her an admiring look. “That’s a good point. There are probably other small towns that are barely a dot on the map as well. However, that doesn’t explain his taking victims from Jackson and Casper.”