Page 49 of Scent of Death

He surprised her by pulling her close. “You and Denali are amazing,” he whispered against her hair.

Her pulse skittered. It was hard to think when she was in his arms. “You said that already.”

“I can’t say it enough.” He tightened his hold before releasing her. “I feel blessed to be working with you.”

Then, without warning, he abruptly hauled her into his arms again and kissed her.

She melted against him, kissing him back, barely noticing a large truck pass them and pull into the driveway of the green house. Not until Griff broke off their kiss to whisper, “Can you see the driver? He’s behind me.”

She belatedly realized he’d kissed her as a distraction. Willing her erratic pulse to settle, she peered over his shoulder in time to see an older man slide out from the truck. “Yes. He’s too old to be our guy. But we can still check him out.”

Griff stepped back from their embrace and turned casually to see for himself. “You’re right about that. Give me a minute to talk to him.”

She turned to Denali. “Search! Search bad guy!”

Her K9 sniffed the area but didn’t alert. When Griff came back toward her, his resigned expression indicated he’d struck out. “Time to move on to the next truck.”

She nodded and opened the back for Denali. She shouldn’t have been hurt that he’d kissed her to make it look as if they weren’t staking out the house.

But deep down, she wished Griff had kissed her for real.

Griff knewhe shouldn’t have kissed Alexis again. Her unique scent was imprinted in his mind, and he wanted nothing more than to kiss her again.

Especially since she’d kissed him back, sending his pulse skyrocketing. He’d even forgotten about the truck until it turned into the driveway.

Should he apologize? He glanced over, noting she didn’t look upset or angry. Still, women were good at hiding their feelings.

At least, that’s how Grace had been.

He momentarily looked up at the sky. If heaven was real, Grace was up there now finally at peace. Somehow, he knew Grace wouldn’t mind that he’d kissed Alexis. She’d been clear from the moment they’d learned her diagnosis that she’d wanted him to move on after she was gone.

He was the one who’d resisted doing so.

“What’s the next address?” Alexis asked, interrupting his thoughts. He focused on the case before them with an effort.

The moment to apologize had passed, so he let it go. He looked down at his phone. “The next address is 8thand Railroad Street.”

“That’s behind the Attwell Restaurant.” Alexis drove there without hesitation. “I bet that’s our house. There’s a white Ram truck in the driveway.”

“That’s the one.” He thought the car looked as if it had been recently washed. To remove blood stains? Maybe.

But Denali didn’t alert, and all too soon they were back in the SUV.

“Two more properties to go.” He consulted the map app on his phone. “Let’s head to the one on Rimrock Road.”

“Okay. I’ll have to go back to Highway 14 to get there,” Alexis said. “That’s the best route to cross the river.”

He nodded, scanning the traffic around them. Their search so far was disheartening, especially considering the fact that Cheri Artez’s contribution hadn’t provided any useful information. In his opinion, her analysis of their unknown subject wasn’t worth the price of the airfare.

Not a good use of the taxpayer dollars, but he had bigger issues to worry about. They’d checked four trucks without success. And time was running out.

He needed something to go on, and soon.

They rode in silence for a few minutes. Griff straightened in his seat when he noticed the houses on the other side of the river were spaced farther apart. Something that would work in the killer’s favor.

If their perp had killed the girls at his home. Griff frowned, thinking that through. Had this guy brought Josie Allen and Morgan Riley all the way across the state to kill them here?

Or had he strangled the girls in the back of his Ram truck and simply transported their bodies here?

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