Page 9 of Colorado K-9 Rescue
Evan turned around and found the sheriff behind him.
“Our other victim is over here.” She nodded in the direction of a coroner’s truck and a couple of deputies watching. No one would touch the scene until the coroner gave permission.
Evan walked with her toward the scene. Her face said it all—the look they all had when they saw something they didn’t want to. A young woman, her life gone. It kept it real and motivated him to find the son of a bitch who did this. Evan shuddered as he approached the scene. Just another thing to add to the list of things he couldn’t unsee.
Time to get to work.
“If you’d like, I can check into getting some of our ERT folks out here,” Evan offered to the sheriff, referencing the FBI’s Evidence Response Team or their version of CSI.
“I’d appreciate that,” the sheriff said. “Thank you. I hope you don’t mind, I also called in the CBI.”
“No, that’s good. The more help we can get processing the scene, the quicker we might be able to figure out a suspect.”
“Agreed.”
Evan took in the still body of the young woman. The coroner carefully moved Autumn to prepare bagging up her body. Evan noticed an injury on her upper arm.
“That looks like a gunshot wound. If it went through her bone and entered her body, she might have bled out,” Evan said.
“That could be what happened. If that’s the case, then maybe we’ll get lucky and find a bullet for evidence. Hopefully, we’ll know more after the coroner examines her.”
“Who found them?”
The sheriff nodded in the direction of a couple standing near a picnic area. “They were coming up for the day to get out of the city and have a picnic. Weekday, so they figured it would be quiet. Retired couple. They said that Lily was doing CPR on Autumn and screaming for help. Once they were able to get a text out to 911, they realized Autumn was deceased, but Lily wouldn’t stop chest compressions. When the EMTs arrived, she held Autumn and wouldn’t let go. Once they convinced her that Autumn couldn’t be revived she shut down and quit talking.”
Evan nodded. There was nothing to say. He’d need to talk to the couple. Even rule them out although he highly doubted they had anything to do with the kidnapping. “I’m glad they were here to help.”
“Me too. Although I think the wife is about ready to pass out. I’ve talked to them. I have their information. Mind if I tell them they can go? They want to get home, and I don’t blame them.”
“No, I don’t mind. If you’ve talked with them and have a statement, we will follow up.”
“Okay,” Sheriff Stewart said. “I’ll go and tell them they can leave.”
Evan watched the sheriff head over to the couple, his mind shifting back to the morning and what Mckenna had told him. Her words flipped through his mind. She put out a strong facade,but underneath it all she too was still trying to move forward from what happened to her. Did she know that Lily wouldn’t want to talk because she’d been the same way? How was she doing knowing that the man who took her was now out free at the same time this case was going on? There were so many things he wanted to ask her, but he didn’t dare.
Unfortunately, he had to admit, she was going to get to say, “I told you so,” because if Lily didn’t want to talk, the best bet was to bring in Mocha and see if he could help her through the trauma. Evan knew how much dogs could help, not only from his own experience. He’d heard of crisis K-9s at mass shootings around the country and how they’d helped victims give their statements. One person was even able to say what happened only when the dogs showed up and he was able to walk with the K-9 through the scene of the crime telling the dog what had happened.
Yes, Mckenna was going to get the ultimateI told you so.
CHAPTER 8
Evan drove to his house. Coming home at two in the morning only made everything seem even more desolate. Everyone else on the street was asleep, lights off. He showered, crashed for a while in bed and rested fitfully until the alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. Smacking the off button, he rolled out of bed, drank some coffee and went for a quick run, which took him back to the shower. His closet resembled something out of theMen In Blackmovies—white shirts, boring ties and dark jackets. Not like there wasn’t a dress code in the FBI, but there was a lack of day-off clothes or go-hiking clothes or go-out-with-friends clothes. Minus jogging shorts and T-shirts, his wardrobe was all about his job.
He shut the closet door and tried to ignore the nagging feeling that there was something missing in his life even though he’d achieved his dream of becoming an agent. There must be something more to life. More than just crimes, suspects and victims.
He’d heard through the sheriff that Mckenna had done a wonderful job helping her break the awful news to Autumn’s parents. Ifwonderful was the right word. But the sheriff had mentioned that Mckenna knew what to say and how to talk to the parents. When they insisted on seeing their daughter, it was Mckenna who helped them understand that while they would need to identify Autumn’s remains, they also needed to remember her the way she was before the kidnapping and her death. Memories would make this difficult time easier.
Evan hadn’t been excited about a victim specialist helping, but he could see the benefit. Now he admitted, only to himself, that the reason he was short with her and didn’t want to see her had nothing to do with work.
Grabbing his keys and heading toward the hospital, Evan forced thoughts of Mckenna out of his mind. But as he sat at a red light, he couldn’t help thinking about the way her face lit up when she smiled. The way she looked at Mocha and the love she had for her dog. He enjoyed being around her, but he couldn’t go there. Not now. He had his sights on a promotion to assistant special agent in charge or ASAC, but his previous field office assignment had put an obstacle in his way to that advancement.
What a mess that had been. He’d agreed to work undercover, and his partner, Melissa Anderson, had helped him. They had been friends too outside of the office, but nothing more. Melissa had confided in Evan that she wasn’t into guys but didn’t want anyone to know. Not yet. He had kept her secret.
The problem was there was another agent who had the hots for his partner and the guy didn’t seem to get that she wasn’t into him for several reasons. The guy had blown Evan’s cover with the investigation to get back at Evan for his friendship with Melissa. Then he’d spread rumors about Evan and his partner sleeping together.
Evan was suspended without pay while the whole situation was investigated and he was eventually cleared. Melissa had been furious, especially since it forced her to come out about her girlfriend. She hadn’t been ready to tell everyone that she had a girlfriend. However, Evan had heard they were now married, and he was happy for his partner.
But the rumors had been harsh and the special agent in charge at that field office had sent him to Denver to try to ease the situation. Evan didn’t mind, since his dad and sisters all livedin Colorado, although they were spread out over the state. He’d decided when he arrived in Denver that he would not share much with anyone unless he had to, he would work hard, try to let the gossip die down and then put in for an ASAC position.
