Page 29 of Scent of Peril

Logan didn’t look happy as he threw up his hands. “Fine. Let’s just hope this guy isn’t hiding nearby.”

“Teddy would have alerted us to that if he was.” She turned to her dog, who was looking up at her with his dark-brown eyes. “Are you ready to work?” she asked with enthusiasm. The trick with training K9s was to make every search effort a game. “Search for gold. Gold, Teddy. Search for gold!”

Her K9 lifted his head and began to test the air with his nose. Then he lowered his snout to the ground and began to cross the park. She quickly followed.

Logan and Wayne came along as well. Despite her confidence in Teddy’s ability to scent the gunman, Jess swept a cautious gaze over the area. It was disconcerting to realize the gunman had been here just a few minutes earlier.

And how was it that he’d come across them? Cody wasn’t a big city, but the town wasn’t that small either. As the fifth largest city in the state, Cody had about ten thousand residents. The fact that the gunman happened to be there in the park at the same time she’d taken Teddy for a walk couldn’t have been a coincidence.

But how had he found them? By locating one of their phones in some way?

She shivered and tried to focus on Teddy. Her K9 was trotting faster now, his nose along the ground as he headed toward a small, wooded area.

“Hold on, Jess,” Wayne called. “Stay back. I don’t want you to mess up a potential crime scene.”

She eased to a stop but didn’t take her gaze off Teddy. The dog slowed to sniff with interest near a large tree. Then he pawed at something in the snow.

“Find gold,” she said encouragingly.

Teddy sat and let out a sharp bark. Ignoring Wayne’s order to stay back, she moved forward, careful not to get too close tothe crisscrossing of boot prints in the snow. She circled around to approach from the side.

That’s when she spotted it. A shell casing embedded in the snow.

“Good boy, Teddy!” She praised her dog and reached into her pocket for the small brown stuffed moose. Each of the Sullivans had chosen a different toy to use as a reward for a job well done. She turned and tossed the moose up into the air, away from the crime scene.

Teddy nimbly darted forward to grab the toy before it hit the ground. Then he shook his head and ran around with the moose in his mouth.

“That dog is amazing,” Wayne praised. “He found the shell casing faster than we would have.”

She nodded. Logan still didn’t look happy as he surveyed the area. “So the shooter was standing here when he fired at us.” He turned to look beyond the playground area. “It’s a straight shot, but too far to be accurate with a handgun.”

“How do you know he used a handgun?” she asked.

“The sound was different from the rifle.” Logan waved a hand. “I also think that using a long gun in town like this would have attracted too much attention.”

“Logan’s right, this is definitely a nine-millimeter shell casing.” Wayne used his gloved hand to place it in an evidence bag. Then he pulled out his phone. “I don’t see any clear footprints here, but he left a path from where he entered and exited the park.”

Jess noticed the double sets of footprints Wayne had noted. The cop moved forward to take several pictures, before turning back to her. “This will help, although having an eyewitness who can describe this guy would be even better.”

“I have a possible suspect,” Logan said. “He gave me the name Craig Benton, but I’m sure that’s an alias.”

“Let’s get you two, and the dog of course, back to the station,” Wayne said. “I think it’s better if I hear this story from the beginning.”

“My brothers Chase and Shane may have already spoken to the police chief,” she said as she held out her hand for the stuffed moose. Teddy regurgitated the toy into her palm, his tail wagging as if he wanted to play the search game again.

“Well, if they did, the boss hasn’t clued the rest of us in yet,” Wayne said. “And I still need your statements for the record.”

“Of course.” She glanced at Logan, who nodded. “We’re ready.”

Wayne gave instructions to the three officers who would stay behind, then turned to head back to the squad. Logan sat up front, leaving her and Teddy to sit in the back. As she sat behind the partition, Jess realized this was the first time she’d ever been inside the back of a police car. At least she wasn’t under arrest.

Stroking Teddy’s fur, she tried to think about where they’d go once this interview was over. If her theory about the cell phone being tracked was correct, then Logan was right about the Elk Lodge being compromised.

And that meant the only way to be safe was to go completely off-grid. Maybe even to the point of leaving her family out of their plans moving forward.

Logan was relievedto head into the police station located near the center of town. The footprints leading away from the shell casing indicated the shooter had fled, but that didn’t mean the guy had gone far.

With a good set of binoculars, the gunman could have easily taken up a position in a car parked nearby, watching them the entire time.

---