Page 20 of Scent of Death

He considered that for a moment, then nodded. “I feel bad your family is footing the bill for all of this. I’ll work with my boss to reimburse your expenses.”

“Don’t worry about that.” She sipped her coffee. “You could always add a second bag of dog food as payment.”

As she’d hoped, that made him smile. “At least two bags. I want you to know how much I appreciate you and Denali finding our victims.”

“I’m glad we were able to do that.” Her expression turned somber. “Who will tell their families?”

“I should be the one to handle the notification,” Griff admitted. “Unfortunately, Josie Allen doesn’t have family. And Megan only has a brother who lives in Arizona. I don’t want to leave the state, so I’ll send the local law enforcement officials to make that notification. He can call me with questions.”

She nodded, thinking of how she’d camp out at the FBI office building in Cheyenne if anything happened to one of her siblings. “Has he been interviewed?”

“Not by me, yet. The locals spoke to him after the grocery store staff notified the police that Megan hadn’t been to work or at home. Her phone has been off since she finished her shift at the store. I need to speak with him, too, but ended up focusing on the most recent missing girl.” He shrugged, then added, “Megan’s brother Tom wasn’t here in town, and according to the police report, he didn’t know if she was seeing anyone. I figured that interview could wait until I spoke to Wendy Evers’s grandmother.”

“That makes sense.” She didn’t blame him for focusing on Wendy’s case. Every hour that passed made it less likely they’d find the young woman in time to save her.

If it wasn’t already too late. Considering how the killer had stayed in the area to come after her, she felt certain he’d either tied Wendy up in a cellar somewhere or had already killed her.

Most likely the latter.

Still, she wouldn’t give up hope. “Maybe Tom Riley will drive up from Arizona to speak to you in person.”

“That’s the goal.” He scrubbed his face with his hands. “I need to find this guy, and soon.”

She empathized with his despair and set her empty coffee mug aside. “I’m going to take a quick shower. I have a spare shirt in my backpack.” She grimaced, then added, “I’ll ask my brothers to bring a change of clothes for you too.”

“I have an extra shirt in my car, but thanks for the offer.” He flashed a lopsided smile. “I’ll use the shower when you’re finished. By then, we should be able to find a place to have breakfast.”

“Okay.” She headed to the bedroom. Denali followed and stretched out in front of the door as if to protect her.

It felt good to change into a clean shirt after sleeping in her clothes. While Griff took his turn, she fed Denali. It was early, but she had some of Anna’s homemade sweet potato dog biscuits in her pack that she could give Denali later.

“Did you call your family yet?” Griff asked when he emerged from the bedroom. He wore a clean dark-green shirt that emphasized his eyes. He looked so handsome she had to tear her gaze away.

“Ah, not yet.” She glanced at her watch; it was twenty minutes past five in the morning. “It’s early, although knowing Justin, he’s up working with the horses by now.”

“We can wait until after we’ve had breakfast.” Griff holstered his weapon. “I was thinking we should walk to the café. Leaving the car here may convince this guy we’re still in the room.”

“Fine by me.” She glanced at Denali. The shooter obviously knew her dog by sight, which could be a problem. “We’ll have to be careful. If he’s stationed somewhere close by, he might see us.”

“I know.” Griff had pulled up the map app on his phone. “There aren’t as many back roads here as there are in Cheyenne.” He stepped close so she could see his screen. “If we go this way, we may be able to get there without being seen.”

He was so close that the tantalizing scent of the hotel shampoo teased her senses. She forced herself to nod. “Sounds good.”

He smiled. Then his gaze dropped to her mouth. For long seconds, neither of them moved. Was he going to kiss her?

Then the moment passed when he stepped back. “Let’s go.”

Fighting a flash of disappointment, she shoved the rest of Denali’s things into her backpack.

This wasn’t the time or place to think about kissing Griff. Not when there was a serial killer on the loose.

Griff triedto shake off the sizzling awareness shimmering between them. Alexis was too young for him even if he was interested.

Which he wasn’t.

Yeah, and maybe if he told himself that, say, a hundred times, he’d start to believe it.

Grace had been gone for two years, and up until a few months ago, he’d thought of her almost every day.

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