Page 31 of Scent of Evil
“I would rather ride my own horse,” Ginny said with a sigh. “This saddle feels too small.”
He turned to look at her. “Do you get to ride often?”
“Just sometimes.” Ginny shrugged. “I groom the horses and clean stalls at the Lucky Charm farm, which isn’t far from our house. They have four horses, so it takes a lot to keep the stalls clean. Horses make a lot of manure.” Ginny laughed. “But I only work every other weekend because my mom is so strict and because I had to do a project for school.”
“Your mother isn’t strict, you’re only eleven,” Raine pointed out dryly. “There are laws about how many hours a kid your age can work.”
“I know that.” Ginny rolled her eyes. “But I like horses, so it’s not really work. Kinda how Stone views searching as a game. I would help out for free, but Ms. Nancy insists on paying me.” Ginny was silent for a moment, before she added, “Your horses are great, Justin. Do you have others?”
“Yep, four total.” He couldn’t help but smile. “Blaze, Timber, Scout, and Stella. I wouldn’t mind having more, but we’ve been so busy with SAR missions that we don’t have enough time to ride as it is.”
“Way cool that you have four horses.” There was a hint of envy in Ginny’s tone. When he glanced back at them, he could see the wry expression on Raine’s face. She obviously didn’t love horses as much as Ginny did. He was about to offer Ginny the chance to visit him on the Sullivan ranch when he caught himself. For one thing, Buffalo wasn’t that close to the ranch, and really, he’d prefer Ginny and Raine come for a visit.
Which wasn’t even remotely a possibility until Decker was caught and arrested. And even then, he doubted Raine would have any interest in coming for a visit, especially if it included a horseback ride.
Giving himself a mental shake, he once again scanned their surroundings. The early morning hour was still chilly, but the sun would warm them up soon.
Justin checked his coordinates frequently, unwilling to make the rookie mistake of getting lost. When they were about thirty minutes into their trip, Stone abruptly veered off the trail, darting through the brush.
He was about to call out to his dog when he heard the K9 give a sharp bark. His alert!
Pulling back on the reins, he brought Blaze to a stop and quickly dismounted. Pulling his weapon, he moved cautiously toward the brush Stone had gone through.
“What’s going on?” Ginny asked fearfully.
“Shh, it’s okay. We’re fine.” Raine’s voice was calm, but he heard the thud of her feet hitting the ground as she slid off Timber.
He wanted to wave her back, but he felt certain Stone had alerted on Decker’s scent. Had the escaped convict been there that morning? Or was Stone alerting on a scent from the previous afternoon?
As Justin pushed through the brush with as much stealth as he could manage, he prepared himself for the worst-case scenario.
That he’d find Decker hiding in there, holding a gun on his K9.
8
Ignoring Ginny’s frightened expression, Raine pulled her weapon and moved swiftly forward, determined to back Justin up. She should be the one facing off with Decker, not him. He was there to guide her in searching for the killer, not to take the escaped convict down.
Yet she had to admit that she’d allowed Justin to take the lead on this entire venture because of Stone. Now, if things went sideways, she’d have no one to blame but herself.
She braced herself for the sound of gunfire or seeing Decker’s smug face. But when she followed Justin through the brush, she relaxed when she found Justin kneeling beside his K9.
“What did he find?” She moved closer to see better.
“A boot print.” Justin had his phone out and was taking a photo of the indentation.
“And you’re sure it’s Decker’s?”
Justin arched a brow. “Yep. I trust my dog. Stone alerted, which means Decker was here.” He slowly rose from his crouch. “The problem is that I can’t tell you when Decker left the print behind. Other than it had to be after the storm, or the rain would have pounded it away.”
“That makes sense.” She frowned and glanced around. “I’m sorry to say I can’t figure out exactly where we are.”
“Good boy, Stone!” Justin praised the dog, then pulled out his compass. “I can tell you we’re about a half mile from where the wrecked ATV was left behind. So it could be that Decker hasn’t been here since then. Maybe he came this way searching for Ginny, before giving up and disappearing in the opposite direction.”
That made sense too. She appreciated Justin’s expertise. “Thanks, I guess I’m glad Decker wasn’t waiting for us.”
“Me too. I was worried he’d shoot my dog.” Justin turned to head back to where they’d left Ginny and the horses. “Although we still need to find and arrest him.”
“True.” She crossed over to look at the boot imprint, mentally gauging the size and matching it to Decker’s. Then she followed Justin back to the horses.
