Page 45 of Scent of Peril

They continued walking in silence, darting through side streets to avoid traveling on the main routes. Now that he knew one of Ethan’s neighbors had called the police, he tried to choose their shortcuts along properties that appeared deserted.

Their circuitous route added extra time so that it was almost a full twenty minutes before they arrived back at the Lumberjack Inn. Once they were safely inside their room, he and Jessica stripped off their winter gear. Logan ran his hands through his hair, thinking once again that the hotel room seemed smaller than the tent they’d shared.

Teddy stretched out at Jess’s feet. She had pulled out her phone then met his gaze. “I think it’s safe enough to have Doug meet us here, don’t you agree?”

“Of course. I trust your family. But make sure he doesn’t drive one of the SUVs that has your ranch logo on the side.”

“Good point.” She shook her head as she entered the number. After a moment, she said, “Hey, Doug. How was Hawaii?” There was a pause as he answered. Then her voice rose in surprise. “You’re ten minutes from Cody? How did you get here so fast?” Another pause. “Yes, we’re at the Lumberjack Inn. See you soon.” She lowered the phone. “Doug will be here in a few minutes.”

“I heard.” Logan wondered if Doug had even unpacked his suitcase from his trip. “I hope Maya isn’t upset.”

“About Doug helping us? Never.” Jess shook her head. “She’s not like that. Maya would want us to find this gunman ASAP.”

He’d almost forgotten that Maya Sullivan now Bridges had worked as a cop in Cheyenne. No wonder the Sullivans took incidents like this in stride. Most women would be panicking at the idea of being targeted by a gunman.

But not Jess. She was cool under pressure.

He turned to rummage through his backpack. If they were heading back up the mountain at some point, he wanted to be sure his gear was ready to go. He pulled several items out, making sure to spread any wet clothing out near the room’s heater to dry.

The knock on their door came five minutes later. He shot over to press his eye up to the peephole to verify who was out there, before standing back to open the door.

“Hi, Logan. Jess.” Doug Bridges shook his hand. He’d first met Doug back in January when the guy had paid Logan to take evidence to the state crime lab. Doug had hired Maya to help find his kidnapped sister, and they were successful in finding Emily. Logan then worked with him a month later when Chase had needed backup. In both instances, Logan’s role had been minor, just flying from point A to point B.

This was the first time he needed Doug’s help on a personal level.

“Thanks for coming.” Jess gave her brother-in-law a quick hug. Teddy wagged his tail until Doug bent to give the K9 some attention too. “We’ve managed to get ourselves in a bit of trouble.”

“So I heard.” Doug’s tone was wry. “Care to fill me in?”

Logan decided to take the lead. “It started with me accepting a request to be flown from Cheyenne to the base of Cedar Mountain.” He went on to explain about the piece of plane he’d seen and his decision to let Jessica know. “Teddy alerted near the passenger seat of the plane, and that’s when I found the glove.”

“We believe Craig Benton, Logan’s charter client, was transporting drugs. Or components of drugs,” she clarified. “Teddy’s been trained on all of them.”

“I remember.” Doug gave an encouraging nod. “Go on.”

When he reached the part when shots were fired at them, Doug’s expression hardened. “You weren’t hit?”

“We’re fine,” Jess said. “But it was bad when he tried to shoot down our plane. Thankfully, Logan is a highly skilled pilot and managed to land without incident.”

He shouldn’t have been touched by her praise. Logan quickly finished the story, ending with Ethan Dover’s death and their theory of the overdose being set up to look accidental rather than intentional murder.

“A bit of trouble is putting it mildly,” Doug drawled. “You’re smack dab in the middle of this mess.”

“It wasn’t on purpose,” Logan protested. “But you’re right. The end result is that big red targets are etched on our backs. This Benton guy and his pals seem to think we know more than we do.”

“Although, we’re learning more by the minute,” Jessica added. “Ethan Dover was murdered for a reason. The only thing that makes sense is if he had started to snoop around about Ella’s death, which was also supposedly”—she used air quotes around the wordsupposedly—“a drug overdose.”

“Why would he bother to do that now after eight years?” Doug looked skeptical. “I would think he’d moved on with his life.”

“Not as much as you’d think,” Jess said. “He never got married or started a family.” She flushed as if realizing the same could be said about her and Logan. He knew his reasons for not dating were tangled up in his feelings for Jess. Her reasons for staying single were murky. She shrugged. “I don’t know Ethanthat well anymore, but from our brief interactions at the general store, I got the impression he was a bit of a loner.”

“Maybe Ethan learned something new recently,” Logan said. “We don’t know how long Benton and his guys have been hanging out near Cedar Mountain, but I have a feeling it hasn’t been that long.”

Doug regarded them silently for a moment. Then he let out a sigh. “The best way to figure out what is going on with this guy is to head back up there.”

“I agree, and Teddy can help by tracking the scent of drugs and/or gun powder. That should help us zero in on the correct location.” Jessica straightened. “How soon can we head out?”

“Hold on, we need other law enforcement officers to come along.” He shot Doug an exasperated look. “Come on, you can’t imagine the three of us can pull this off. What about the feds? Or DEA agents?”

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