Page 15 of One Step Too Far

“Daisy is a fully trained SAR dog,” Luciana informs me as she produces a long, brightly colored squeak toy for her ecstatic charge. “She’s skilled in live, cadaver, and water searches. Our team specializes in disaster recovery, meaning we don’t know what we’ll discover on-site—could be living people, could be deceased, could be both. Our canines need to be able to identify all. Even dogs prefer happy endings, however—too many cadaver recoveries in a row make them depressed. Given Daisy’s next week will be about human remains, we’ll need to take turns letting Daisy ‘find’ us to keep her morale up. Bob was so taken with the idea he volunteered to be her first target.”

“She’s certainly very excited,” I observe as Daisy tosses her squeak toy in the air and catches it again.

“She has a natural drive to find. You can’t train a dog without it.”

Bob goes down on his knees to scratch the yellow Lab’s entire body. She huffs in pleasure. “Who is the best dog? You are the best dog. Yes, you are. Yes, yes, yes!”

I’ve never seen such a huge man reduced to baby talk, but I like it. After my very sobering conversation with Nemeth, this room is a happy place to be.

“I thought search dogs normally barked to signal they’d found something,” I say to Luciana.

“Many do. It’s a trainer’s prerogative. I’m not a fan of the barking myself; I think that can be scary for the missing person. Can you imagine being a lost child in the woods or someone buried under rubble, and having a strange dog suddenly appear and bay at you? I teach my dogs to sit as an alert system. Daisy added the raised paw. She has a flair for the dramatic.”

Daisy wags her tail again. She is clearly quite pleased with herself. Given my last animal roommate liked to rake her claws across my ankles and leave trails of disemboweled mice across the floor, Daisy seems particularly charming.

“I’m starving,” I state now. “I was thinking of one last, ginormous hot meal before a week of freeze-dried rations. Any takers?”

“I can always eat!” Bob climbs to his feet.

“How much food do you have to carry with you to last seven days?” I ask him in wonder.

“Not as much as I’d like.” He pats his rounded belly mournfully. At six foot seven, Bob more closely resembles Paul Bunyan than, say, wiry superhikers such as Nemeth and Martin, but he’s clearly fit, not to mention that one of his legs is about as tall as my entire body. I have no problem envisioning him powering through the mountains. He probably clears small forests in a single bound.

“I wouldn’t mind a hot meal,” Luciana agrees. “Let me feed Daisy first.”

“Um, one other question. Any chance I could crash on your floor tonight?” The room has two double beds, but I don’t want to sound presumptuous. “Seems silly to shell out motel money for a matter of hours.”

Luciana isn’t fooled. “I take it going from town to town solving other people’s problems doesn’t pay so well?”

“Let’s just say being rewarded with a squeak toy would be a step up.”

“Maybe Daisy will share hers.”

The dog trots back over to me. I obligingly scratch her ears as Luciana starts fiddling with travel bowls and pre-portioned bags of kibble.

“Keep doing that, and she’ll sleep in your bed tonight,” Luciana tells me.

“Does she prefer the right side or the left?”

“More like the middle. Welcome to the life of a spoiled work dog. But, sure, you can bunk here for the night.”

“Daisy can sleep with me,” Bob offers excitedly. “Just don’t tell my husband.”

Upon seeing my startled expression, Bob shrugs affably and explains: “His name is Rob. Rob and Bob. Seriously, could we be more confusing? But soul mates are soul mates.”

“Is he a Bigfoot hunter, too?”

“Worse. A neurosurgeon. All science all the time. What was I thinking?”

“That Rob would let you one day get a yellow Lab like Daisy?” I venture.

“Yes! I’m going to tell him. When I get home, time for a new member of the family.”

“Does Bigfoot like dogs?”

“I like to think Sasquatches are friendly toward everyone, being high on the evolutionary food chain.”

“Herbivores or carnivores?”

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