Stalking Ground (6 page)

Taking off her glove, she offered another handshake, and this time it felt warm and soft and her hand felt small in his. “That will be fine,” she said. “Thank you for coming so far to take care of Diablo.”

Cole said good-bye and climbed into the cab of his truck. Out on the racetrack, two men wrestled with a beautiful chestnut horse, its red coat glistening with sweat. It tossed its mane, reared, and struck out at the man who approached with a saddle. The guy dodged the flailing hooves, barely getting out of the way in time.

High-strung thoroughbreds. Must be hard to manage
.

Cole did a three-point turn and drove down the lane to leave the property, pulling out his cell phone, intending to call Tess to tell her he was heading back to the clinic. No signal. He placed the phone back in his pocket. He’d call her once he got down from the high country; maybe he could reach her when he hit the highway.

Wind buffeted the SUV as Mattie steered around the last curve leading into Timber Creek. After having exhausted all the potential leads on the list that Cole had given them and some additional names that Anya Yamamoto had shared, she’d decided to ditch searching by phone and drive along some of the county roads between the hot springs and Cole’s clinic. Perhaps they’d get a lucky break and she and Robo would find Adrienne’s abandoned car—if one could consider that kind of thing lucky.

Mattie’s cell phone rang as she neared the town. She glanced at the caller ID. It was Cole. She used her new vehicle’s hands-free feature to connect. “This is Mattie.”

“Hi, I’m just checking in to see how things are coming along with the search for Adrienne,” Cole said.

“Nothing solid yet.”

“So none of the people I listed could tell you anything useful?” He sounded disappointed.

“No, but thanks for helping with that. It was worth a try.”

“I’m on my way down from a stable up in the mountains. It’s looking pretty ugly up here. I’m afraid a storm is coming in.”

Mattie looked at the sky layered with gray clouds. “Yeah, it’s starting to look bad down here, too.”

A silence deepened between them, and Mattie knew they were both thinking of Adrienne and what this storm meant if she was up in the mountains somewhere, unprotected and exposed to the elements. Neither of them seemed to want to say it.

“Hey, do you want to come for dinner tomorrow night and test out Mrs. Gibbs’s cooking?” Cole asked. “It’s proving to be a winner so far. Besides, I’d like to see what you think of her.”

Why would he care about that?
She was familiar with dinner invitations to the Walker home, but she couldn’t imagine that he’d seriously be curious about her opinion of the housekeeper. “I’ll have to see where we are with the case. I don’t want to say I can come and then not be able to make it.”

“Can I tell her it’s a ‘maybe’? One more person for dinner shouldn’t be a big deal, and you can come if you’re able.”

“All right.”

She could hear the smile in his voice. “Good. I hope to see you then.”

Feeling herself relax, Mattie smiled, too. After disconnecting the call, she reached to turn on the radio. She tuned to a station out of Denver to listen to a weather forecast. She didn’t have to wait long to learn what she needed to know.

“An arctic front is moving into Colorado, bringing strong winds and the first snow of the season to Colorado’s high country. Temperatures will drop to the low thirties here in Denver, and we’ll need to batten down the hatches. Expect winds around forty miles per hour with gusts up to sixty. Our snow forecast is for six to eight inches in the mountains above ten thousand feet for tonight. But don’t be disappointed, folks, we can expect snow by tomorrow night even down here in the Mile-High City. Stay tuned for more details.”

Having heard enough, Mattie switched off the radio. At about eight thousand feet, Timber Creek would most likely receive its first snow of the season by tomorrow night. The wilderness area around them would probably get hit tonight. Even without snow, she figured the temperature would plummet in the high country today from the seasonal sixties to frigid twenties with a wind-chill factor that would sink toward zero. She shivered and turned up the heat. She hoped Adrienne was someplace where she could do the same.

Back at the station, she unloaded Robo and went inside. Rainbow took off her headset and stood up from her desk.

“Mattie! I was just about to call you. Sheriff McCoy wants to see you right away. We’ve got a hit on Adrienne’s car.”

Her heart did a double step. “Where?”

Rainbow’s face paled as she said the words. “Way up Dead Man Gulch. A logger reported it to Sandy Benson. He noticed it yesterday and got concerned when it was still there today. Especially with the storm coming, you know. So he called it in, and now you’ve got to get up there and let Robo find her.”

Mattie squeezed Rainbow’s hand as tears welled in her friend’s eyes. “Where’s the sheriff?”

“In his office.”

Mattie crossed over and tapped on the door. “Come in,” he said.

He was halfway across the room when she opened the door. Excitement had replaced his typically unflappable expression. “We found Adrienne’s car.”

“Rainbow told me.”

“We’ve caught a break. The car isn’t parked at a trailhead. It’s at a pull-off on a logging trail up Dead Man Gulch. This is a rugged area, not a typical place for people to hike. In fact, it’s not near any groomed trails.”

“I wonder what she was doing there.”

“I’m not sure, but we need you and Robo to head up there. Here are the directions to get to the site and the GPS setting.” He handed her a handwritten list. “Is it clear enough?”

She read the note. “Yes, sir. How about Brody? Is he coming with me?”

“He and Deputy Johnson are already on their way.”

A pet peeve niggled at her. She hoped they wouldn’t disturb any scent trails. She’d call him on the way and tell him to stay inside his own vehicle until she could get there. “How far ahead of me are they?”

“Hard to say. They were already near that area when Benson called.”

It might be too late; they were probably out of cell phone range. “I’ll be on my way, then.”

“And Mattie . . .”

Mattie turned back toward him, surprised that he’d used her given name. He was always so formal.

“Don’t take any chances out there,” he said. “We’ve got severe storm warnings forecasted for the high country, and temperatures will fall tonight. Make sure you get down off that mountain in time. Take your winter gear.”

“It’s already in the car,” she said, thinking of Adrienne. “We may need riders on horseback for a rescue mission.”

“Cole Walker has volunteered to help organize that. I’ll give him a heads-up, let him know there’s that possibility.”

“With this storm coming, I think we’d better send a couple riders up to the area now to wait at the scene. Then if we find her and need help with evacuation, we won’t waste any time.”

McCoy paused, thinking it over. “I hate to activate volunteers unnecessarily, but I agree with you on this one. I’ll make the call.”

“Thank you.” Mattie left his office, Robo at her side.

Holding out a paper bag, Rainbow intercepted Mattie as she started past the dispatcher’s desk. “Here’s a sandwich and some fruit for you to eat for lunch on your way up, and there’s a bottle of water in there, too.” Mattie could see the distress in her face. “Take care of yourself out there. I don’t want you to get lost, too.”

She took the bag. “Thanks. I keep supplies in the car, so don’t worry. We’ll do our best to bring her back, Rainbow.”

Mattie hurried to the Explorer, reloaded Robo, and settled into her own seat. She plugged the GPS coordinates into her system and then pulled out of the parking lot. She tried to call Brody’s cell phone but was disappointed when it went to voice mail.

Gravel spattered against the bottom of her SUV as she drove fast on the county road. A cloud bank loomed over the jagged northwestern horizon, gray and ominous. For the most part, she headed into the wind. Although she didn’t feel hungry, she reached into the paper bag on the seat beside her to grab the sandwich. If Robo found a scent trail that led into the wilderness, her body would need fuel to keep up with him.

The first thirty minutes of the journey weren’t too hard. But the road grew narrow and pitted as she climbed toward the gulch, leaving behind pinion and juniper to go up into a forest of towering ponderosa and lodgepole pine. It reminded her of the day Robo found Grace Hartman, and she hoped today wouldn’t end in the same kind of tragedy.

She’d thought Robo’s discovery of a body was nothing short of miraculous; he’d never been trained in cadaver work. But a phone call to his trainer Jim Madsen had cleared up the mystery. He’d said, “Hell, Deputy, that must be the smartest
dog on the planet you’ve got there. We tested him once on cadaver work before we decided to train him for narcotics detection. The way I figure it, the damn dog must’ve remembered what to do.”

It didn’t surprise Mattie; she already knew her dog was a genius.

The GPS guided her onto a little-used road deformed by signs of washout. Steep walls of timber defined the sides of Dead Man Gulch as the road followed a narrow stream upward. Groves of aspen provided color ranging from yellow to gold to orange, their leaves quivering in the wind that plucked them from limbs and sent them skittering along the roadbed. Her outdoor temperature gauge said forty-four degrees, then forty-two. The nighttime plummet had begun.

Robo stood behind her in his compartment, watching out the windshield.

“We’re going to work,” she told him. He pricked his ears, licking his lips in anticipation.

She found the next turn and swung onto a small logging road. It wouldn’t be far now, and she felt anxiety mingle with the sandwich she’d consumed. The narrow road grew steep and even more rugged. Remembering that Adrienne drove a compact sedan, Mattie wondered why she would drive all the way in here. It could be done—Brody’s cruiser was also up ahead—but why would she want to expose her car to the possibility of damage? She could’ve parked down below and hiked up this way if she was interested in exercise and scenery.

Mattie glanced at the clock. Twelve thirty. They were still on Daylight Savings Time, so the sun would set around six thirty. Twilight might last for another hour if they were lucky. Brody’s silver and blue cruiser appeared between the trees. She’d reached the right spot.

As she pulled up behind Brody’s cruiser, she could see Adrienne’s charcoal-colored Escape. And it looked like Brody and Johnson had already been all over it. The front doors and hatch back were open. Johnson stepped back from where he’d been searching inside the back compartment and straightened his long, lean form to full height to wave at her. In his bulky winter jacket and cap with earflaps, the rookie looked like a kid. A kid who happened to be six foot two.

Mattie gave him a frown instead of a wave. She might not be able to reprimand Chief Deputy Brody for sullying her scent trails, but she could let the rook know he’d done wrong. Since the pullout could hold only the two vehicles that were in it, she parked on the road, set her emergency brake, and exited the SUV, taking her heavy coat with her. Arctic air hit her broadside, chilling her body immediately. She pulled on her coat while she walked to join her fellow deputies.

“I hope you haven’t disturbed a scent trail,” she said to Johnson by way of greeting.

Brody exited the back seat of the car. His head was uncovered, his coat unzipped, and his face haunted and hollow. “We’ve got to get a move on this, Cobb. We’re running out of time.”

“Not a time to skip protocol, Chief,” she said. “Did you find anything useful in there?”

“Nothing. It’s clean. No blood stains in front or back.”

His reply spoke volumes about what he feared most. “How about her cell phone?”

“No. There’s nothing in here except the car’s documents and manuals in the glove box and her music and a few personal items in the console. Her jacket’s in the back seat.”

“Great. Leave that right where it is and don’t touch it. I’ll use it for a scent article.” She turned to go back to her Explorer.

Robo was watching for her out the side window of his compartment, and he bounced on his front feet when she approached. Mattie grinned at him, his excitement contagious. She opened up the door and he bailed out, prancing beside her, eyes locked onto hers.

“Do you want to go to work?” She began the patter she used to rev him up, and he almost levitated in his happiness. After giving him some water to moisten his mucus membranes and increase his scenting ability, she put on his blue nylon tracking harness and matching work collar. He stood at attention, allowing her to adjust his equipment. When Robo finished getting dressed for work, he settled into his responsibilities immediately. It happened that way every time. He watched her while she put on her own equipment, a utility belt filled with her supplies.

Robo walked beside her as they approached, while Brody and Johnson stood at the rear of the car, giving her space to work on the driver’s side. She put Adrienne’s lightweight jacket into a plastic bag and lowered it so Robo could sniff. He thrust his nose into the bag, getting full value for his effort.

“Search,” she told him.

He quartered the area near the car, nose to the ground, head moving back and forth. He searched for several minutes, covering the area of the pullout, the road next to the car, and up and down the roadside for about thirty feet in each direction. He came back to sniff the area more thoroughly, as if double-checking his work. He trotted to the open door on the driver’s side, touched the seat with his mouth, and then sat and looked up at Mattie.

“What’s wrong with him?” Brody asked.

Brody could be a butthead at times, and she was used to biting her tongue to keep the peace. But she wouldn’t let him
criticize her partner. “There’s nothing wrong with him. He’s telling me that he’s picking up her scent on the driver’s seat.”

“Well, what the fuck? Why isn’t he showing us the direction she went from here?”

Mattie felt her patience slip. “It might be because you two tromped around and jacked up the scent trail. Give us a minute.”

She stroked Robo’s head, smoothing the fur between his ears and telling him he was a good boy. She snapped the leash onto his tracking harness and led him about fifteen feet away from the car, checking wind direction as she went. The area was somewhat sheltered by the surrounding forest and a rock face positioned toward the northwest, but gusts continuously stirred the air from both the west and north as if the rock face split and funneled them.

This trail would probably be forty-eight hours old by now and torn up by the wind. Her only hope would be that epithelial cells left by Adrienne would remain trapped in the forest undergrowth beyond the road. Of one thing she was certain: if a scent trail existed out here, Robo would find it.

She led her dog into the forest and started working upwind, quartering back and forth, offering him the scent article, although she knew he probably didn’t need it. Adrienne’s scent would be locked in Robo’s memory for the rest of his life. When he didn’t identify a trail on the upwind side of the car, they started searching downwind.