Stalking Ground (7 page)

A dreadful feeling began to build inside Mattie and after an hour, it reached its peak. She paused to reevaluate, knowing that Robo needed a break and some water. Her owns legs had grown tired from following him over the rugged terrain that surrounded the car. As she patted Robo to let him know he was doing his work right, she spotted two riders coming up
the logging road. They must have left their truck and trailer down below instead of risking getting stuck up here. Believing that one rider might be Cole, her mood lifted slightly, and she decided to go back to the car.

She needed to tell Brody what she was thinking, and it wouldn’t be easy news to share. She reached the car about the same time as the riders. She recognized that one of them
was
Cole. He’d been watching her, and he met her gaze. He wore a serious expression, which she knew matched hers. She wanted to tell him how glad she was to see him, but all she could do was nod. He returned the greeting the same way.

Brody stood next to the other rider whom she could see now was Garrett Hartman. She and Hartman nodded at each other, too.

“Well?” Brody said, his voice gruff and demanding.

“There’s no scent trail out here,” she told him. “I don’t think Adrienne has been in this area. At least not in the last couple of days.”

“What do you mean? Her car’s here.”

“If there was a scent trail leading away from the car, Robo would have found it. There’s no hiking trail in this area, so I don’t think she came here to go hiking. I think we need to seal this car and get prints off it.” Stating her thoughts filled her with trepidation. “I think someone else ditched the car here, Brody.”

He stared at her for a moment and then turned away to stare at the storm clouds piled high on top of each other, filling the sky. “The wind must have destroyed the scent trail. She’s got to be up here. I just know it. She might be hurt. Johnson, take the cruiser down where you can get contact with the sheriff. Have him go ahead and send the search party. We need hikers that can cover this area.”

“Johnson needs to print the car. I don’t think we should employ a search party. If Robo can’t find a trail, it means she wasn’t up here,” Mattie said.

“That dog can’t smell shit. Get going, Johnson.” Brody glared at her. “You print the damn car, Cobb.”

Johnson went to the cruiser.

She wished Cole and Mr. Hartman weren’t here to witness, but she would speak her piece. “You know what Robo is capable of.” She was referring to the day Robo found Grace Hartman’s body, and she knew that everyone present realized it.

Johnson started the cruiser’s engine and began to maneuver the car to turn it. Mattie glanced at Cole, and he nodded his agreement. Mr. Hartman’s face sagged in lines of sorrow. She looked back at Brody, reading desperation in his eyes.

“I won’t give up yet, Brody. Let me give Robo a break while I print the car, and then we’ll search this area again. Do either of you have tracking skills?” Mattie asked the riders.

“A little,” Cole said while Garrett said, “Yes, I do.”

“If you’d cover the area behind me and search for signs, maybe you’ll see something.” She knew it would be wasted effort, but she wanted to be thorough. And Brody wasn’t able to give up yet.

“I’ll print the car,” Brody growled, giving the cloud bank one more baleful glance. “I need you and Robo on the mountain. When I’m done, I’ll follow you up.”

“All right,” Mattie said. When Sheriff McCoy arrived, he would take over command. For now, she would do things Brody’s way.

Saturday

Lying on his side, Cole awakened in total darkness. Muscles that were unused to riding horseback nagged at him to move. Groaning quietly, he rolled onto his back to check the clock. The red digits said 5:47. After returning from the search for Adrienne, he’d opened his clinic to see patients, so he hadn’t made it to bed until late. He felt wide-awake now, though, and he doubted he’d be able to go back to sleep.

Hard as everyone searched, they’d found no sign of the missing woman. The volunteer mountain rescue team consisted of about fifteen folks, men and women, all skilled in hunting, tracking, and navigating the wilderness without getting lost. They’d scoured the area the best they could, although the rugged terrain might still hide a hiker who’d fallen from a cliff and been injured. Or worse yet, killed.

He understood Mattie’s theory that someone else ditched the car. He also understood what that could mean, even though the law enforcement officers had been pretty tight-lipped. There’d been no discussion in front of the volunteers. But it didn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that Adrienne might be the victim of foul play. It pained him to think of it. It had pained Garrett, too, and he’d noticed his friend’s
face become more and more grim as the afternoon toiled into evening.

He believed that the strung-out deputy in charge—the one they called Brody—might be too close to the case. He’d taken a moment, when they were far enough away from the car, to ask Mattie about Brody’s relationship with Adrienne. She’d forced out the word “boyfriend” as if she hated to give up anything, and he didn’t press her for more; she’d tell him what she could, when she could.

He admired the way Mattie handled the situation, working Robo in concentric circles, going farther out from the car each time, trying to pick up a scent trail. He’d been busy at his own task of trying to find a sign, but he’d caught glimpses of her through the trees, she and her dog moving together as if they were one. He’d never watched them work before. He respected her skill as a handler . . . and her stamina. He’d hate to guess how many miles of terrain those two covered before sundown. And thank goodness the sheriff had taken over when he arrived, or they’d probably all still be out there with flashlights, searching for someone that Cole, like Mattie, believed had never been in the area.

He stifled another groan as he moved his sore legs to get out of bed. Might as well get up. Even though it was Saturday, he’d rescheduled clients from yesterday and filled the morning. He showered and shaved and went downstairs at about six thirty. He was surprised to find Mrs. Gibbs in the kitchen.

“You’re up early,” he said, noticing the coffee pot was full and hot, and he headed that way to pour himself a cup. “You should feel free to sleep in on the weekends. The girls will, and I can fend for myself. They can, too, for that matter.”

“Oh, I’m an early riser, I am. And I might as well make myself useful.” She was whipping up eggs to pour in a skillet that was warming on the stove.

“I do appreciate a hot breakfast, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to be working all the time.”

“I’ll keep it in mind when I need to take a break.”

As far as he could tell, the woman possessed a deep well of energy for someone her age. He popped a couple slices of bread into the toaster. “How many pieces of toast do you want?” he asked.

“I can make me own toast, thank you.”

He started to say he didn’t mind, and then decided not. No reason to force the issue. They each needed to be able to do what they wanted in the kitchen without pushing at each other.

“I need to talk to you about Angela,” she said.

He checked her face and saw her frowning at the eggs she stirred in the skillet. This wasn’t going to be good. “All right.”

“I’m concerned about her. She was very quiet after we left Mrs. Hartman yesterday afternoon. When I asked if something was bothering her, she told me to mind me own business. Said I weren’t her mum so keep me nose to myself, or something like that.”

Ugh
. “I’ll talk to her. She should be more respectful.”

“No. No, I don’t want that. It’s her version of kicking the dog, and I can handle it myself, at least for now. But I’m worried about her. She’s been dealt a lot for a youngster to handle. Sophie told me how their mum doesn’t want to see them anymore and about losing Angela’s friend this summer.”

He bet Sophie had; he wondered what else the girl had told her new listener. Cole kept silent, thinking about what he should do.

“She’s had a hard time of it,” Mrs. Gibbs said.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean she can be disrespectful to people.”

Mrs. Gibbs gave him the look a mother gives a child who’s said the wrong thing. “It will work itself out between us. I’m just telling you this so you can think about the girl. See if there’s a way you can help her work through these things. They’re not ready to be brushed under the carpet yet.”

Cole waited while she scooped scrambled eggs onto his plate to sit beside the toast. He was glad she had some insight into the behavior of kids. Girls especially. He often felt like a bumbling first-year vet student when it came to trying to figure out his daughters, though he hoped to get better at it as fast as he could. “I’ll think about it. And I’ll work out a time to talk to her.”

“But don’t mention we had this conversation. That wouldn’t be good.”

She must think she has to spell it out for me. Well, maybe she does
. “Mum’s the word.”

He bolted his breakfast in silence, hoping to get out of there before any more troubles could be aired. Saying good-bye, he left to go to his clinic, where he usually could keep things relatively within his control.

*

Mattie woke before the alarm. She peeked at Robo from under the cover she’d drawn over her head to combat the cold of the room. In the gray light that filtered through the window, she saw him curled up on his dog bed, still asleep. Typically, he’d be up, pressing his nose against her, ready to go for his run. Not today. He’d had enough exercise yesterday to curb his energy for a while.

She nestled back under Mama T’s handmade quilt, hoping to go back to sleep. But Adrienne came into her mind, and her stomach clenched. This must be how Brody had been feeling all along. She was sure now that the woman hadn’t left town willingly, and she doubted if kidnapping was a reasonable option. No one would take the time to dump a car way up in that isolated spot if he was on the run with a kidnapped person.

She was afraid Adrienne had been killed.

Someone was covering up a crime, trying to mislead them. If she didn’t trust Robo so much, she might’ve fallen for it herself. But she knew in her heart, even after the first time around the car, that Adrienne had never been up in that forest. She also knew that she couldn’t give up before Brody was thoroughly exhausted with the search. Thank goodness Sheriff McCoy had been there to call it.

She sensed the moment Robo raised his head and then heard his nails against the hardwood floor as he got out of bed. Smiling under the cover, she heard the little squeak he made when he yawned. This time when she peeked out, his nose rested on the edge of the bed and he was watching her. As soon as she lifted her head from the pillow, he grinned and trotted toward the door, stopping to look back and inviting her to follow.
Maybe he didn’t get too much exercise yesterday
.

“Do you need to go outside?” she asked, sending him into a tizzy as he rushed through the doorway. One thing about a dog like Robo—you never needed an alarm in the morning.

Mattie pulled on a pair of sweats, shoved her feet into her warmest slippers, and grabbed a coat on her way through the living room. She let Robo out the kitchen door into the backyard and stepped outside onto the porch to watch him, the frigid air pinching her nose.
Still no snow, and the wind’s stopped
.

Last summer, a killer had tried to poison Robo. And even though the perp was in prison and the county had installed razor wire above the chain link fence around the yard, Mattie still watched her dog circle it each morning and in the afternoon when they returned from work.

After he did his business, Robo came inside and Mattie fed him. She flipped on the radio for a weather report while she fixed her own breakfast. “This storm seems to have blown itself out, and the snow we were expecting has settled in the northern mountains of our state. The southern mountains can expect some snow activity by tonight, although not as much as previously expected. Probably about three inches above nine thousand feet. Lower elevations may have to wait until the next storm front for the first snow of the season.”

She switched off the radio and decided to get dressed and go to work early. She wouldn’t be surprised if the others did the same.

At the station, Brody and the sheriff had already parked their vehicles. Inside, she found that Rainbow hadn’t yet come on duty. She went to the staff office, grabbed her first cup of coffee, and searched for the others, Robo tagging along beside her. She found them in the briefing room where she thought they’d be.

Sheriff McCoy nodded a greeting. “Glad you came in early. We were discussing what to do next.”

Brody sat slumped, and he and the sheriff wore matching steely expressions. Mattie pulled up a chair and sat at the table. Robo sat close to her, and she placed a hand on his shoulders. “Let’s talk about our car scene,” McCoy said.

Brody stared at Adrienne’s picture on the board.

“What did you pick up when you printed the car?” she asked.

Brody looked beaten down. “The steering wheel was clean. There were no prints at all.”

“Wiped clean,” McCoy said.

“I assume so,” Brody said. “The prints on the door handles belong to me and Johnson.”

They should’ve never touched that car with bare hands
. At least their prints could easily be eliminated. Well, she guessed she might as well say it again—somebody had to. “I think someone ditched the car, and Adrienne wasn’t in it at the time.”

McCoy nodded.

“We don’t know that for a fact,” Brody was quick to say.

“No, we don’t,” Mattie said, “but let’s take a look at the evidence. Prints on the car were wiped. That indicates someone other than Adrienne drove that car up there. And Robo never once indicated picking up her scent outside the car.”

Brody stared at Mattie with tortured eyes, and this time when he spoke, his voice had lost its belligerence. “It had probably been forty-eight hours since the car was left. Forty-eight hours in that kind of wind could blow away your scent trail.”

“I’ll concede that if Adrienne walked only on the harder surface of the road, the scent trail could have deteriorated in that amount of time. But we searched the foliage up and down that road thoroughly. I think epithelials would have blown and caught in nearby plants. If she was there, Robo would have found some trace of her scent.”

Brody shook his head, avoiding her eyes. He remained unconvinced.

But McCoy seemed to share at least a little bit of her faith in her partner. “Let’s accept your theory and go with it for a minute. What does this mean?” He looked at Mattie.

“If someone else ditched that car, then it either means Adrienne used an accomplice to help her disappear or she’s been a victim of foul play. I’d bet my paycheck on the second theory.”

“And?” McCoy prompted her.

Mattie couldn’t bring herself to say “treat this like a homicide” in front of Brody, so she said, “We need to get that warrant from Judge Taylor and search Adrienne’s living quarters. We should do a thorough investigation of her life to determine who might have kidnapped or harmed her.”

The door to the briefing room opened, and Rainbow stepped in, her face blanched and anxious. “You guys? I’m sorry to interrupt, but I just took a phone tip that you need to know about right now.”

Dismayed by the look on her friend’s face, Mattie pushed her chair back from the table causing it to screech as she stood. “What is it?”

“This man on the phone said Adrienne’s up near Tucker Peak, just below the lake,” Rainbow said, walking across the room to join them.

“Who said it?” McCoy asked.

“That’s just it, he wouldn’t leave his name. I tried to get him to tell me, but he hung up on me. When he first called, he told me to listen and take notes. He gave directions to where we could find her. I wrote it down.” Rainbow reached to give her notes to the sheriff, a tremor in her fingers causing the paper to flutter.

Brody looked as if he’d found new energy. “Did he tell you her condition?”

“No.” Rainbow shook her head, eyes wide. “He wouldn’t say anything more. He acted like, well, like everything was such a secret or something.”

“We need to get up there,” Brody said. “Now.”

“Wait a minute,” McCoy said. “Are you sure this call was legit, Rainbow?”

“I think so.”

“Did anything else stand out about it?”

Rainbow paused, thinking. “He had sort of a Spanish accent.”

“Did you trace the call?” Mattie asked.

“Not yet. I came right in here.”

“Trace that call, Rainbow. See if it’s local,” McCoy said, as she hurried to follow through. “I’d like to know if this is another attempt to mislead us. It might be, but I don’t think we can discount it. What do you think?” McCoy’s eyes moved from Brody to Mattie. It was obvious what Brody thought—he looked ready to bolt out the door.

“I think someone tried to mislead us with the car. This could be a wild-goose chase, but we can’t ignore it,” Mattie said.

“Then you two get ready for a hike up that mountain to see what you can find. Make sure you pack gear to protect yourselves from the storm. It’s early, so if this is a false lead, you can get back down before nightfall. In the meantime, I’ll put the search and rescue volunteers on standby.”

“Let’s go,” Brody said, heading for the door.

Mattie stayed. “We need to get that warrant to search Adrienne’s place.”

“Yes, I’ll work on that,” McCoy said.

She gave the sheriff a short salute and turned to leave.

“Look after Brody,” he said. “And be careful up there.”