Page 9 of JoyRide

“No.”

“I asked him his name,” said Jan, “but he didn’t tell me.”

“Hey, Jeff,” said Travis, “Did the little guy who came to eat cereal with you tell you his name?”

Jeff nodded and his parents both seemed surprised. “Dillon.”

“His name is Dillon. Thanks, Jeff. Nice job.”

“I didn’t hear him say that” said Jan. “Sorry, Sheriff, I didn’t know.”

“No problem. He probably told Tammy by now. She’s good with kids.”

“How are you going to find where he came from, Sheriff Frost?”

“The dogs will find his parents. The boy’s scent will be on the parents—at least it should be. I’ll try that first and see what we get.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks. I’ll go see what Tammy found out.”

“She looks young to be a deputy.”

“Yep, she’s young, but she’s smart and she’s a dandy shooter.”

Travis went back to the squad, slid into the front seat, and twisted around to see Tammy and the boy. “Hey, guys. How’s it going here? How you doing, Dillon?”

“I’m good. Tammy gave me water and a bite of her chocolate bar.”

“She’s good at sharing. Are you?”

“Yep. Pretty good.”

“We’re going to play a game, Dillon.”

“What’s it called?”

“It’s called the shoe game.”

“I don’t know how to play it.”

“This is how we do it. You take off your shoes and give them to me and I borrow them for a couple of minutes. Then I bring them back and if you put them on the right feet, then you get a prize.”

“What do I win?”

“Can’t tell you yet. It’s a surprise. You playing or not?”

“Yeah, I’ll play.” He whipped his sneakers off and handed them over the console to Travis.

“Be right back.”

Travis ran back to the campsite where Ted and Harlan were working. “Ted, keep going on the statements. Tammy is in the squad with the boy. Harlan, you, and me are on the dogs.” Travis held up the boy’s shoes.

Ted nodded.

Travis gave me one of the shoes and I gave it to Max to sniff and carry around for a couple of minutes. He did the same with Sarge. As soon as the dogs alerted we were off and running.

Travis tossed the shoes in the window of the squad at Tammy as we ran by.

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