Page 27 of Scent of Peril

He hesitated, then scrolled through his recent calls to find the number. He pressed the button on the screen and shouldn’t have been surprised to hear the mechanical voice informing him the number was no longer in service. He frowned and lowered his phone. “Must have been a burner.”

“Yeah. And if he got rid of the burner, then it’s not likely he kept your number. I guess that’s one problem we don’t have to worry about.” She held out her hand. “Let me charge it up for you.”

He gave it to her and tried not to imagine Craig Benton having the resources to track his phone. If the guy was still in the mountains, he wouldn’t be concerned.

But someone had taken shots at him at his home in Greybull. And there was plenty of cell service in town.

Teddy lumbered to his feet, stretched for a long leisurely moment, then gazed up at Jessica. She nodded as if understanding the K9’s unspoken request. “Do you want to go outside?”

At the wordoutside, the dog trotted toward the door, then glanced back at her, his dark-brown eyes expectant. Jess laughed and reached for her coat.

“Okay, I hear you, Teddy.”

“Hang on, I’ll come with you.” He grabbed his jacket.

She arched a brow. “Pretty sure I can handle it.”

“Yeah, I know.” He patted his pocket to make sure he still had the room key. “But a wise woman once told me it was better to stick together.”

She chuckled and reached for the door handle. “Gosh, she sounds super smart.”

“More like a smart aleck.” He followed her down the hall toward the door at the end of the hall that led directly outside. Chase was the smart one to ask for a room on the ground floor. It was something he wouldn’t have considered. Then again, he hadn’t had a dog since he was a kid. His mother hadn’t been interested in having a pet, and since she worked long hours, he understood the real reason behind her refusal to consider getting a dog was because she couldn’t handle the additional stress.

Life as a single mother had been hard enough.

Jess stepped outside, the bright sunlight washing over her. He stood back, watching her with the dog. There was a park located across the street from the hotel. She headed that way with Teddy to find an area that would have grass if it wasn’t for the recent snowfall. As it was, the sun was melting the snow leaving patches of grass poking through. That was spring in Wyoming for you. The weather changed on a dime. Either fromgood to bad, like the unexpected snowstorm late yesterday or from bad to good, like the sunshine today.

“Get busy, Teddy.” She waved a hand. “Get busy!”

He had to smile when the dog sniffed, lifted his leg to pee, then sniffed again and made a complete circle before getting down to the task at hand. “I bet Rocky doesn’t go to the bathroom on command.”

“You’d win that bet.” She shook her head and dug in her coat pocket for a baggie. She crossed over to clean up after her dog. “It’s never dull watching Chase and Rocky battle for the upper hand.”

He scanned their surroundings, reassured that the people of Cody, Wyoming, were busy with their usual routines. He didn’t see anything suspicious, but then again, there were more people milling about than usual. The mild weather tended to bring people out in droves. Soon he’d be inundated with tourist requests.

It would be nice to have his plane repaired before then.

Teddy suddenly lifted his head and pricked his ears forward. Then he growled low in his throat.

“What is it?” Jess glanced around nervously. “What’s wrong, Teddy?”

The dog abruptly darted deeper into the park, barking furiously now. It took Logan a minute to realize Teddy must have scented the gunman.

“Teddy, heel!” Jess’s tone was frantic. And he knew she was worried the gunman would shoot and kill her dog. “Teddy!”

The dog continued to bark but abruptly stopped near some playground equipment.

As he and Jess caught up to Teddy, a crack of gunfire rang out. Not a rifle this time, he noted. A handgun.

“Jess! Down!” He threw himself toward her, hoping to cover her with his body. She had bent over her K9 to protect him too.He mentally braced himself for another round of gunfire and for the impact of a bullet.

How had the gunman found them there?

7

Curling her body over Teddy’s, Jessica’s heart thundered in her chest. Teddy had caught the scent of the gunman!

Chaos erupted around them. She lifted her head, hoping to see the gunman, but all she saw were people running around, screaming in fear and panic.

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