Page 51 of Scent of Death

Denali didn’t alert, and nobody came out of the trailer.

“Last one,” he said as they once again climbed back into the SUV. “If that’s not our guy, then we’ll need to go back to the list of trucks to see if there’s a way to narrow our search.” He sighed. “Maybe I should go by age. At least for starters.”

“Let’s pick up a pizza on the way back to the hotel,” Alexis suggested. “I’ll feed Denali, then we’ll examine that list of vehicles.”

“I like pizza.” He managed a grin despite his despair. “The works?”

“Of course!” She shot him an amused glance as she cranked the wheel into a turn. “I grew up with six brothers. I can handle?—”

Her voice was cut off by the crack of gunfire. The SUV jerked, and he wondered if they’d been hit. But there wasn’t any broken glass that he could see.

Alexis stomped on the gas, aiming the car toward Highway 14. He spun in his seat to see where the shot had come from.

Had someone come out of the last two properties they’d just investigated? And if so, which one?

12

When Alexis heard the gunshot and felt the SUV jerk in her hands, she feared the worst. That Denali may have been struck by a bullet puncturing the vehicle along the back crate area. She heard Griff calling 911 to report the shooting, but her attention was on the road and the rearview mirror.

Denali’s head poked up as the dog looked around curiously. A wave of relief hit hard. Her K9 appeared to be okay.

But she knew a bullet had struck the SUV.

Concentrating on getting as far away from the shooter as possible, she quickly turned left onto Highway 14, heading in the opposite direction of Greybull. She hit the gas to increase her speed, then nearly groaned as she came up fast on a slow-moving car. She barely refrained from punching the horn. They needed to get far away from here!

“Easy.” Griff put his hand on her arm.

She gripped the steering wheel so tightly that her fingers began to cramp. After what seemed like eons, the slower car turned off on a side road, clearing the way. She hit the gas, sending the SUV surging forward.

“Where are you going?” Griff asked.

Her throat felt frozen, so she simply shook her head and drove. After a few miles, and when she was sure no one had followed them, she pulled over to the side of the road. She unclenched her trembling hands and swallowed against the urge to be sick. Without a word to Griff, she opened the rear hatch, bailed from the car, and headed around to check Denali.

Then she stopped abruptly when she saw the bullet opening in the passenger door. The edges of the plastic flared out, indicating the bullet had come from the other side.

“Alexis?” Griff had slid from the car too. “What’s wrong—oh. The SUV was hit.”

Denali had jumped down and came over to greet her, tail wagging. She managed to swallow past the lump in her throat. “Yes. The SUV jerked, and I was worried the bullet may have struck Denali.” She bent to run her fingers through the dog’s fur, then she checked her legs to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. “Thankfully, she looks fine.”

“The bullet entered the passenger door on this side.” Griff opened the door to look inside. “It went all the way through both rear passenger doors.”

“If he’d hurt Denali...” She couldn’t finish.

“I know. I’m sorry.” Griff looked upset. “Did you see anyone?”

“No. One minute we were talking, the next we were being fired upon.” She sighed and eyed the damaged vehicle. “I guess I should be glad it’s not worse.”

“I wonder if one of those two houses back there belongs to the killer.” Griff stepped back to close the passenger-side door.

“Denali didn’t alert.” She straightened and went around to the back of the car. The crate area wasn’t damaged. But the near miss made her blood boil. “Maybe he followed us to that neighborhood.”

“I don’t know what to think.” Griff scowled. “I believe Denali would alert on his scent, but the shooting so close to the last two houses we checked bothers me. I don’t believe in coincidences.”

A niggle of unease had her looking at Denali. Her K9 wasn’t a tracker. She excelled at finding dead people.

“That doesn’t make sense.” She gave Denali the hand signal to jump in. Then she heard wailing sirens. “That must be the deputies.”

“Yeah.” Griff held her gaze. “We need to go back to the scene to meet with them.”

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