Page 21 of Scent of Death (Sullivan K9 Search and Rescue #5)

A lexis tried not to feel disappointed that Denali hadn’t alerted.

Obviously, there were still five more trucks to check.

Yet thinking of what Griff had said about the truck possibly being registered to someone else gave her pause.

“What if this guy isn’t living here? If he’s driving a car registered to a parent or older sibling, maybe he keeps the truck someplace else. ”

Griff nodded slowly. “You have a point. You may want to get into the SUV, while I check the garage.”

She frowned, but then realized he may need a quick escape if anyone saw him peering through windows. “Okay. Come, Denali.” Using her key fob, she opened the back hatch.

As she settled behind the wheel, she watched as Griff moved around to the side of the garage not attached to the house. She started the engine and eased forward to see better.

There was a window along the side wall. Griff was over six feet tall, but he had to stretch out to look inside. Then he turned away and jogged toward her. A moment later, he slid into the passenger seat.

“The truck is inside, so I think we can safely cross this one off our list.” He clipped his seat belt. “Good thinking on your part, Alexis. I’m glad we checked.”

She hoped he didn’t notice her blush. “Me too. What’s the next destination?”

Griff consulted his phone. “Ah, we’re going to head to 5 th Avenue. The addresses are confusing. Main Street is really 6 th Street. But then there’s a 6 th Avenue too.”

“I’m sure most people here don’t bother to use street names; they find places via landmarks.” She glanced at him. “In a town this size, everyone knows everyone else, including where they live.”

He nodded, still looking down at his phone. The hour was close to five in the evening, which should work to their advantage. Those working day jobs would be home by now.

She turned onto 5 th Avenue. “Which house?”

“Ah, the white one near the end of the road.”

The white house had a white Ram truck sitting in the driveway. The front door of the house was open, leaving only a screen door to keep the bugs out. She parked the SUV and turned to Griff. “They’re home.”

“I see that.” He sat for a moment, then sighed. “Okay, here’s the plan. I’ll walk up to the front door to talk to them. While I do that, you take Denali around the truck.”

“Okay.” She killed the engine and opened the back hatch. “You’ll know if Denali alerts.”

He nodded and slid out of the passenger side. He waited a moment for her to get Denali hyped up about the search, then strode to the front door.

“Search! Search bad guy!” She kept her voice low so it couldn’t be heard by the occupants inside.

Denali lowered her head and sniffed the ground in front of the driveway. Alexis alternated between watching Griff as he spoke to an older man who came to the door and her K9 who eagerly searched for the scent. Denali didn’t alert, and after a few minutes, Griff turned from the door and joined her.

“Four more to go,” he murmured.

“Do they have a son?” she asked, opening the rear hatch.

“Nope, unless they were lying.” Griff glanced back at the house. “I didn’t hear Denali alert, though. I only said there was a missing girl and that I was talking to the neighbors in the area.”

She understood he didn’t want to say too much. Once they were seated, she started the car. “Where to?”

“This next one is located on 10 th Avenue north. Looks like it’s a couple blocks behind the grocery store.”

She remembered seeing the store, it wasn’t far from the Attwell Restaurant.

She headed back to what the town considered Main Street and headed north.

So far, their plan wasn’t helping as much as she’d hoped.

There was still plenty of summer daylight left, but what would they do if Denali didn’t alert on any of these places?

Move to another town? She didn’t like the idea of leaving the place where Maureen had been abducted.

The poor teen must have been scared to death. She tried not to imagine the horror the girl was going through.

“If none of these trucks work out, we need to reconsider our strategy.” She shot Griff a quick glance in time to see him frown.

“Come on, Griff. You know as well as I do that Maureen doesn’t have much time.

We can’t drive to every city on the list. We’ll need to do something else to draw the killer out of hiding. ”

Griff remained silent, but she could tell he wasn’t happy. She slowed to turn onto 10 th Avenue.

“Even if we wanted to set up a sting operation, we can’t make that happen yet tonight,” he finally said. “And I’m not on board with that plan anyway. Now that the killer has Maureen, he may not be interested in you.”

She disagreed with that assessment, but at that moment, his phone rang.

“Flannery,” he answered curtly. Then in a whisper, he added, “Green house on the left.”

She nodded and pulled to a stop near the green clapboard house.

It looked to be in worse repair than the other properties they’d visited, although she knew better than to make assumptions about the killer based on the outward appearance of the home.

The truck wasn’t in the driveway, so she put the SUV in park and waited for Griff to finish his call.

“You’ve landed? Great. I’m in Greybull, so you’ll need to rent a car.”

It took her a moment to realize he was speaking to the FBI profiler who had flown in from DC.

“I know. The state is rural, and there’s a long distance between towns.

That’s one of the factors that’s been making it difficult to find this guy.

He’s picked his victims from different cities.

I’m wondering if he’s a truck driver of some sort, making deliveries to local businesses.

” Griff’s tone was mild, but she sensed his frustration.

“Any additional information you can provide would be great.”

He listened for a minute, then glanced at Alexis. “Yes, I’d like a briefing now, if that works for you. Hang on a minute, I’m working with a K9 team, so I’m going to put you on speaker.”

“A K9 team from the bureau?” a female voice with a distinct East Coast accent asked.

“No, a local K9 team,” Griff explained. “Alexis and her K9, Denali, found the remains of the first two missing girls, Josie and Megan. Her dog is trained to find cadavers and happened to find them while Alexis was hiking in the mountains.”

She appreciated his attempt to avoid discussing her personal life. The FBI profiler didn’t need to know she’d been out searching for the remains of her parents.

“I can see how that helped,” Cheri said. “But why are you still working with them?”

“Because Denali has latched onto the scent of the killer, so we’ve been using Denali’s nose to eliminate suspect vehicles.” This time, he couldn’t hide his frustration. Unless Cheri wasn’t astute enough to notice.

There was a long pause. “That’s an interesting approach.”

Alexis arched a brow at Griff. The profiler didn’t sound impressed.

He shrugged as if to say he couldn’t care less. “Cheri Artez, meet Alexis Sullivan. Alexis, Cheri is a profiler with the FBI. I know you’ve had some time to look at the file while you were flying here. Any thoughts that we can use to help find this guy?”

“I did look at the file,” Cheri said. “I believe we’re dealing with a young white male in his early twenties, possibly up to thirties, although personally, I peg him as being on the younger side of that spectrum.”

Now it was Griff who rolled his eyes, but he simply responded, “Go on.”

“His victims are all young, and the fact that they work in the service industry tells me that he meets them through their employment.”

Griff held her gaze, shaking his head in disappointment as if clearly hoping for more. “That may be how he identified his first three victims, but the fourth and most recent one was taken from a local campground.”

“A fourth victim already?” Cheri sounded surprised.

“Yep, taken late last night, although we didn’t learn about it until midday today.

” Griff frowned. “There must be something else triggering him, right? Don’t these serials usually have mommy issues or some other type of physical or emotional abuse in their past that they’re trying to take out on their victims? ”

“Abuse as a child is very common,” Cheri agreed.

“And I’m sure there is a triggering event, but whatever it is, it’s not obvious.

Maybe a scent of some sort? We should ask the families of the victims what type of perfume their loved one liked to wear.

Maybe it’s something that smelled like his mother. ”

“We can check that,” Griff said. “In the meantime, we’re searching the area here hoping to find him before he kills his fourth victim.”

“He’s escalating,” Cheri said, her tone thoughtful. “The time between victims is shrinking dramatically.”

Alexis sighed. This woman might be helpful in some cases, but so far the profiler hadn’t told them anything they didn’t already know or suspect for themselves. Except maybe a specific scent drawing him in.

“Yeah, that concerns me too.” Griff’s restraint was admirable, as she could see the annoyance etched on his features.

“The most recent victim is Maureen Kaufman, and she’s only seventeen, making her his youngest victim yet.

I think she was more of a crime of opportunity, compared to the first few victims who, as you said, were likely taken because he ran into them while they were working. ”

“Seventeen,” Cheri echoed. “That’s terrible.”

“Yeah. He’s taken two victims from Greybull, although Maureen is technically from Cheyenne.

Still, the two most recent girls were taken within a few miles of each other, which makes us believe he lives in the area.

Or at least knows the town well enough to navigate the city without drawing undue attention. ”

“Interesting. This could be a sign he’s losing control,” Cheri murmured.