Page 48 of Scent of Death

“Because Denali has latched onto the scent of the killer, so we’ve been using Denali’s nose to eliminate suspect vehicles.” This time, he couldn’t hide his frustration. Unless Cheri wasn’t astute enough to notice.

There was a long pause. “That’s an interesting approach.”

Alexis arched a brow at Griff. The profiler didn’t sound impressed.

He shrugged as if to say he couldn’t care less. “Cheri Artez, meet Alexis Sullivan. Alexis, Cheri is a profiler with the FBI. I know you’ve had some time to look at the file while you were flying here. Any thoughts that we can use to help find this guy?”

“I did look at the file,” Cheri said. “I believe we’re dealing with a young white male in his early twenties, possibly up to thirties, although personally, I peg him as being on the younger side of that spectrum.”

Now it was Griff who rolled his eyes, but he simply responded, “Go on.”

“His victims are all young, and the fact that they work in the service industry tells me that he meets them through their employment.”

Griff held her gaze, shaking his head in disappointment as if clearly hoping for more. “That may be how he identified his first three victims, but the fourth and most recent one was taken from a local campground.”

“A fourth victim already?” Cheri sounded surprised.

“Yep, taken late last night, although we didn’t learn about it until midday today.” Griff frowned. “There must be something else triggering him, right? Don’t these serials usually have mommy issues or some other type of physical or emotional abuse in their past that they’re trying to take out on their victims?”

“Abuse as a child is very common,” Cheri agreed. “And I’m sure there is a triggering event, but whatever it is, it’s not obvious. Maybe a scent of some sort? We should ask the families of the victims what type of perfume their loved one liked to wear. Maybe it’s something that smelled like his mother.”

“We can check that,” Griff said. “In the meantime, we’re searching the area here hoping to find him before he kills his fourth victim.”

“He’s escalating,” Cheri said, her tone thoughtful. “The time between victims is shrinking dramatically.”

Alexis sighed. This woman might be helpful in some cases, but so far the profiler hadn’t told them anything they didn’t already know or suspect for themselves. Except maybe a specific scent drawing him in.

“Yeah, that concerns me too.” Griff’s restraint was admirable, as she could see the annoyance etched on his features. “The most recent victim is Maureen Kaufman, and she’s only seventeen, making her his youngest victim yet. I think she was more of a crime of opportunity, compared to the first few victims who, as you said, were likely taken because he ran into them while they were working.”

“Seventeen,” Cheri echoed. “That’s terrible.”

“Yeah. He’s taken two victims from Greybull, although Maureen is technically from Cheyenne. Still, the two most recent girls were taken within a few miles of each other, which makes us believe he lives in the area. Or at least knows the town well enough to navigate the city without drawing undue attention.”

“Interesting. This could be a sign he’s losing control,” Cheri murmured.

“I know. That’s why I asked you to drive here to Greybull.” Griff stared out the window for a moment. “My gut is telling me he’s nearby. We’re following up on some other leads that may help us pinpoint his location.”

“I understand. I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Cheri said.

“Sounds good. I have to go, but we’ll chat later.” Without saying anything more, Griff punched the end-call button. He scowled and rubbed his hands over the stubble on his cheeks. “I knew she’d be useless.”

“Maybe she’ll be more help once she gets here.” Alexis tried to be diplomatic. “If she has time to examine the victims more closely, she might find a connection between them that we’ve missed. The scent idea was a good one. We can certainly ask Maureen’s parents what perfume she wore.”

“Yeah. I’ll text her parents.” His thumbs flew across the phone screen, then he pocketed the phone. “We’ll see if Cheri has anything else to add.” He turned to look at the green clapboard house. “No sign of the truck. Let’s see if Denali alerts anywhere along the driveway before I peer into the garage.”

She opened the back hatch, then slid out of the car to meet Denali. “Are you ready to search?” She offered the K9 water, since she hadn’t done that recently. After taking a quick drink, Denali looked up at her with steady brown eyes, clearly anticipating the job at hand. “Search bad guy!”

Her K9 went to work. But as before, Denali didn’t alert anywhere on the driveway or near the garage or the front door. She called the dog back to the SUV as Griff went up to the garage to look inside. Personally, she wasn’t sure the garage door even worked.

After a minute, he shook his head. “Nothing in the garage, so we may want to keep this guy on the list until we know for sure who lives here. Maybe the homeowner is a parent and drives something other than the truck. I guess we move on to the next one.”

She nodded, glancing at her dog. “I agree. I feel bad, though. It’s hard to keep asking Denali to search without being able to reward her. When we work disaster sites, she pretty much always finds something.” She bent to scratch the dog behind the ears. “You know you’re good at your job, right?”

Denali wagged her tail.

Griff sighed and glanced around. “I wish she would alert. I’m starting to wonder if we’re on the wrong track. Time is ticking by, and Maureen is still missing. I really thought the Ram truck would be our best lead.”

He looked so dejected, and she knew Maureen’s fate weighed heavily on his shoulders. She slipped her arm around his waist to give him a quick hug. “The truck is a good lead. I’m sure it will pan out.”

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