Page 41 of Fire Harbor

“Because no one reported her missing until an hour ago,” Eastlyn explained. “The only reason we know she didn’t come home last night is that her sister Jill went in to wake her up for some study group she had scheduled and found her bed hadn’t been slept in.”

“We should organize a search, put up missing person posters, send out city-wide text messages,” Lake suggested, reaching for her phone as she texted the update to Linus.

As the churchgoers exchanged worried glances and whispered speculations, a sudden thought hit Lake. She remembered several conversations she’d had recently with Geniece. Could it be that simple?

Inching up to the cop, she whispered, “I think I might know something.”

Eastlyn narrowed her eyes in Lake’s direction. “Don’t keep it to yourself.”

Lake grabbed the cop’s arm, veering Eastlyn to the side out of earshot of the others. In a soft voice, so no one else could hear, she muttered, “Geniece has been dating her boss, Durke Pedasco, for the past several weeks. She wanted to keep it a secret from Jill. Do you think she might’ve gone home with Durke, and that’s why she wasn’t at her place?”

Eastlyn rolled her eyes and took out her phone. “Durke’s an old friend of mine from Bakersfield and old enough to know better than to zero in on one of his employees.”

“Geniece gave me the impression that she was sort of smitten with Durke.”

“That’s no excuse on Durke’s part. I’ll make this call and be right back,” Eastlyn said, walking down the middle aisle between the pews with the phone to her ear and out the double doors.

Ten minutes later, when Eastlyn came back inside, she waved her arms. “False alarm, folks. Geniece Darrow has been located. Fortunately, she’s safe and headed home to her sister’s place as we speak. If you’re here for the potluck meeting after church service, don’t worry, it will start on time as scheduled.”

“Thank you,” Lake whispered to Eastlyn.

“No, thank you. Help from the public is always our best source of solving a crime. In this case, we located Geniece before her disappearance went out on the comm.”

“That reminds me, I need to text Linus and tell him everything’s okay.”

After standing around for an hour, Linus regretted his decision. He realized that trudging through the wetlands and muddy ground wouldn’t have been his first choice for spending his Sunday morning. If he were honest, lounging in bed with Lake until noon would top that list every time.

But at least it wasn’t pouring rain.

Today, the sun beat down. The birds circled overhead when they weren’t nesting in the ground cover or chirping their little heads off. The high tides from the rain had receded, leaving behind piles of seaweed and dead fish that had washed ashore and sand flies flitting from one pile to the other.

Linus wiped the sweat from his brow before glancing at all the faces. In addition to Brent, Colt, and Theo, the sheriff’s department had a forensic unit on standby just in case they uncovered more evidence. A positive ID had been made on the skull and the partial ribcage Linus had discovered. Both belonged to Gabby Moreland. The coroner determined that the rib bones had deep nicks, indicating Gabby had died of at least four stab wounds to her chest area with one jab to the heart that ended her life.

Arms crossed over his chest, Linus stood back and watched Terra Search & Recovery do the dirty work. Beckett Callahan, with his Golden Retriever Brodie, kept to the trail—if you could call it that—the path Linus had taken on Friday.

Next to Linus stood Birk Callahan, who held onto the leash of another superstar search dog named Journey, a two-year-old female German Shepherd Alaskan Husky mix that had made headlines two months earlier for sniffing out a wanted fugitive dubbed the Highland Park Killer, a nasty piece of work who had professed to strangling nine women in the upscale part of Dallas County known as Highland Park, Texas. He had escaped from custody and fled to California before Journey had tracked him down through the Santa Cruz Mountains for the U.S. Marshals.

“Shouldn’t I be down there with them?” Linus asked Birk. “I could point out exactly where that gnarly willow tree is located and pinpoint the exact spot where I found the gold chain?”

“Not necessary,” the former Navy Seal returned. “You gave Beck enough info already to pick up where you left off. We agreed that Brodie goes in first and does his thing, sniffing out anything the victim might’ve left behind or for human remains. When Brodie tires out, Journey stands ready to take up the slack. Too many dogs in this terrain—the water, the muck, and the marsh—won’t accomplish much if we can’t zero in on a particular spot that could be a dumping ground.”

Linus shifted his weight from one foot to the other, feeling frustration and impatience. He hated being sidelined, especially when it meant being resigned to spectator. The fact that other bones might still be out there somewhere only fueled his determination to uncover the truth behind what had happened to the teenager.

He glanced over at Theo Woodsong. “Thanks for responding so fast last night.”

“No problem. Saturday nights always keep us hopping. You know the drill. But since our department is stretched too thin, last night was a doozy. We’ve been working overtime since you discovered Gabby’s remains. Then we woke up this morning to hear that Geniece had gone missing. It’s been a stressful four days. Now this. The good news is we’re celebrating how we just scored our brand-new digitalized fingerprint machine that connects us to other police departments nationwide. We’re pumped.”

Linus nodded. “Hey, I hear ya. I know how I felt when we finally got portable EKG monitors that worked.”

“Exactly. Did your funding come from a certain anonymous donor? Brent won’t tell anyone who it is.”

“Honestly, I never asked where the money came from. I just enjoy the fruits of having new equipment in the field like a working defibrillator.”

Next to him, Journey let out a soft whine. Her ears perked up as the dog watched Brodie in action. The well-trained Golden Retriever splashed through the murky waters, nose to the ground, following a scent only he could detect.

Linus couldn’t help but admire the dedication and skill these dogs possessed. They were truly a remarkable tool in search and rescue.

As Brodie circled a particularly dense thicket of brush, his tail wagging furiously, Birk called out, “I think he’s got something!”

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