Chapter 8
8
W ow. He should not have kissed Maya. The rational thought that had flashed in his brain was quickly overpowered by sheer emotion. She was sweet and melted into his arms, kissing him back with an enthusiasm that made his heart race.
Then she abruptly pulled out of his arms. The grim expression on her face was like a kick in the teeth.
He regretted taking advantage of the situation. “I’m sorry, that was inappropriate. I shouldn’t have crossed the line.” He cleared his throat, willing his heart to settle down in his chest. “It won’t happen again.”
She drew in a breath and met his gaze. “No need to apologize. It was just a kiss. No biggie.”
Ouch , he thought with a wince. He forced himself to take a step back, belatedly realizing Zion was standing near Maya’s side as if ready to pounce on him if he made a wrong move. Swallowing hard, he quickly shoved his laptop into the carrying case and reached for his coat. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Wait.” She grabbed his arm. “If you insist on going, I’ll come with you and bring Zion. But we will only work outside for twenty minutes. No longer.”
He glanced at the looming dusk outside. “Twenty minutes,” he agreed. “I don’t want to place you or Zion in danger.”
Releasing his arm, she turned toward Zion. She ran her fingers through the dog’s thick coat. “We’ll eat when we get back, okay?”
The husky wagged her tail as if understanding every word. At this point, the connection between Zion and Maya was so strong he didn’t doubt their ability to communicate on a different level than most.
Maya drew on her coat and hat. Then she grabbed Zion’s duffel.
“Do you need this?” He took the bag from her fingers. He’d snagged his laptop so he’d have the map, but he was surprised she was taking Zion’s bag.
“Better to be prepared for anything.” She shrugged and followed him toward the door. “We need to hurry. The light won’t last long.”
He nodded and held the door for her. They headed down the hall, through the lobby, and out into the frigid temps. It didn’t take long for them to head back out on the highway toward the area where he’d seen the earlier plume of smoke.
The laptop was open, and he had the map of the area up on the screen. As he searched the side of the road for the location of the abandoned Silverado, he prayed he wasn’t making another mistake. Darkness fell quickly out here, and he didn’t want to risk anything happening to Maya or Zion. Yet the ticking clock in his head wouldn’t let him rest. If they didn’t find anything within the twenty-minute time frame, they’d have to wait until morning.
And Emily will have been missing twenty-four hours by then.
“There’s where the Silverado was left behind,” he said. The snow was matted down, and there were additional tire tracks that had been left by the police cruisers. Glancing down at the map, he could see the cabin was only a few miles from here.
“I see it.” Maya kept going. “Tim Worth’s cabin is north and east from this location. We need to get to the next intersection and take that road to search for a driveway.”
He nodded, impressed with her knowledge of the area. “Sounds good.”
When they reached the intersection, she slowed her speed to turn left. “Okay, keep your eyes out for any hint of a driveway.”
The light was fading fast, but the snow helped provide some ambient light.
“There’s no sign of a road or a driveway.” Now that they were in the general location of where this cabin was supposed to be according to the map on his screen, he was assailed by doubts. “How would the kidnappers have gotten Emily to the cabin?”
“Lots of people use snow machines out here, but we’d see tracks.” She frowned and pulled over to the side of the road. “Tim’s place should be somewhere out there. We’ll head out for a quarter mile or so. Unfortunately, I don’t have any snowshoes with me.”
He gazed at the blanketed landscape. He’d seen snowshoes in stores but had never used them. “All we can do is try.”
“If the going gets too rough, we’ll have to turn back.” She held his gaze. “I mean it, Doug. It’s too cold to mess around.”
“I know. I’ll follow your lead on this.” He closed the laptop and tucked it beneath the seat, silently admitting she was the expert when it came to the region.
“Give me a few minutes to get Zion set.” She pushed out of the SUV, hit the button to raise the back hatch, then headed out into the cold wind. Since sitting there in the warmth seemed wrong, he quickly joined her.
“Are you ready to work, girl? Are you?” He noticed Maya put a note of excitement in her tone. The dog’s blue gaze was locked on her face as she placed the snow booties over Zion’s paws. Then she offered Zion a bit of water. After the dog took a lap or two, she offered the bag of Emily’s clothing. “Emily. Search! Search for Emily.”
Zion nimbly turned and lifted her nose to the wind. Maya closed the SUV, waiting for Zion to make a move. He found himself holding his breath as the K9 stood for a moment, then headed toward the woods.
Maya glanced at him as they hurried after the dog. He couldn’t tell if Zion had found Emily’s scent or not. The K9 didn’t alert, so he assumed she was still searching for his sister’s scent.
The last remnants of light disappeared less than five minutes into their walk. If not for the reflection of the moon and the stars off the snow, they’d be forced to turn back.
To his relief, Maya pushed on. Her twenty-minute deadline loomed before them, and he lifted his gaze to the sky.
Please, Lord Jesus, guide us to Emily!
The prayer didn’t ease the tension as much as he’d hoped. He couldn’t allow himself to think about what Emily might be suffering at the hands of the men who took her. He watched Zion as she darted between the trees.
They were almost at the ten-minute mark when he caught a glimpse of a cabin. “Maya?” He caught her hand, keeping his voice low. “Is that Tim Worth’s cabin?”
“Looks like it,” she whispered back. They paused near the trees as Zion moved closer. “I don’t see any smoke coming from the chimney, though.”
He didn’t either. In fact, from what he could tell, the place hadn’t been used recently. There were no footprints in the snow, no tire tracks.
Nothing.
And most importantly of all, Zion didn’t alert on Emily’s scent. After trotting around a bit, she returned to Maya’s side and looked up at her as if asking for another command. The K9 clearly wanted to find Emily too.
He battled a wave of despair.
“We need to head back to the car,” Maya said. “There’s no point in getting any closer. Zion would have told us if Emily had been here.”
He nodded and forced himself to turn away from the silent and still cabin. He should have known better than to believe Emily had been taken to a place that was so close to where the abandoned vehicle was found. She’d been taken from the Silverado and placed in another car.
And if the kidnappers were smart, they’d have driven far away from the dump spot.
Maybe even halfway across the state.
But why? That was the part of this that didn’t make any sense. Why had some drug dealer he’d put in jail have taken Emily in the first place?
He was so lost in his thoughts that the tip of his boot caught a rock and sent him sprawling face first into the snow. Feeling like a fool, he quickly pushed himself upright, trying to brush the snow from his clothes.
“Are you hurt?” Maya asked.
“No.” But the fact that he hadn’t seen the rock reinforced why searching at night wasn’t smart. “I’m fine.”
As soon as the K9 SUV came into view, Maya used the key fob to start the engine and to open the rear hatch. As usual, she focused on taking care of her dog first. Reassuring Zion that she’d been a good girl and that it would be time for dinner soon.
“I’m sorry,” he said, once they were settled in the SUV and heading back to Cody. “I shouldn’t have insisted on coming out tonight.”
She arched a brow. “Searching at night can be dangerous. But I’m glad we went. We found the cabin without difficulty and know now that Emily has never been there. We can cross that one off our list.”
“Yeah.” He couldn’t seem to find satisfaction in that. He pulled the laptop from beneath the seat. “One down and hundreds of possibilities to go.”
Maya didn’t say anything for a long moment. “It’s hard to know if tracking down rental properties is the right answer. These guys could be local. Or have ties to a local resident.” She glanced at him. “Maybe you need to focus on those parolees. Is there a way to see if they’ve rented properties here? Can you get a search warrant for that?”
“Chris Nolan hasn’t checked in, so yeah, I can probably get one for him.” His heart lightened at the possibility.
He needed to be more methodical in his investigation. The clock was ticking, and every minute that Emily was gone, his chances of finding her lessened. But he needed to stay positive.
With Maya and Zion being there, he had an edge. One that he intended to use to his advantage.
If Nolan was their perp, he’d taken Emily for a reason. The same applied to Cortez.
He stared at the lights of the small city of Cody spreading before them. Was she closer than he realized? Maybe.
He silently vowed to work all night to find her if necessary.
* * *
Maya wished she wasn’t so in tune to Doug’s emotions. He was hurting over their lack of progress in the case, and she was shocked at how badly she wanted to offer comfort.
That unexpected kiss had knocked her off balance. So much so that she’d instinctively kissed him back. It had been so long since she’d been held in a man’s arms. She’d foolishly let her attraction to him cloud her senses.
She’d been touched and irked by his apology. It was nice to know he wasn’t the type of guy to take advantage of being alone with a woman, but he didn’t have to look so appalled by his kissing her either.
Brief as it was, she’d enjoyed their kiss. And deep down, she would have loved nothing more than to kiss him again.
Whatever. She gave herself a mental shake. Slowing the SUV, she turned into the parking lot of the Elk Lodge. As she pulled into the same parking spot she’d used earlier, she thought again about who’d attacked her. A former criminal?
Blaine?
Someone Blaine had paid?
The more she thought about it, the last possibility nagged at her. She couldn’t remember if Blaine had friends in Cody, but she made a note to scour his social media to find out.
“Maya?” She belatedly realized she still had the car running.
“I’m fine.” Killing the engine, she opened the back hatch and pushed out of the car. “Let’s go.”
Doug had the laptop case over his shoulder and grabbed the duffel containing Zion’s supplies before she could. “Come, Zion,” she said, stepping back to close the hatch.
Zion glanced up at her as they headed inside. Maya knew her K9 liked the search game and was bothered when she couldn’t find her quarry. “Tomorrow,” she said. “We’ll play again tomorrow.”
Doug unlocked the door, then abruptly stopped. “Get back,” he said harshly.
“What’s wrong?” She reached for her firearm and glanced up and down the hallway. There was nobody hanging around. “Has someone been here?”
“Oh yeah. The room has been trashed,” he said grimly.
Her mouth dropped open in surprise. “You’re kidding.”
“No. Thankfully, I had my laptop, but they searched my suitcase and generally made a mess of the place.” He stepped back so she could see inside.
The place was trashed. No broken items, but the covers had been yanked off the beds, and the contents of his suitcase were strewn on the floor. She’d seen many places that had been searched, and this was exactly what had transpired here. “I don’t understand,” she said, half to herself. “What were they looking for?”
“No clue.” Doug nodded toward the lobby. “I want to talk to that desk clerk. Then we need to find a new place to stay.”
Her thoughts whirled as she followed Doug to the front desk. He held his badge up for the clerk. “I’m a federal agent,” he said. “Someone has searched our room and my suitcase. You gave someone our key, and I want to know who did this.”
The clerk’s eyes widened. “I, uh, don’t know what you mean...”
“Don’t lie to me,” Doug barked. “The door isn’t broken. You gave the key to someone. Who?”
“Okay, okay!” The clerk looked scared to death. “I know I’m not supposed to give out room keys, but this guy claimed he was Maya Sullivan’s brother from the Sullivan ranch and had come to surprise her!”
“Did he give his name?” Maya asked.
“I, uh, don’t remember. Charlie? No, Chuck?”
A cold chill snaked down her spine. “Chase? Did he say his name was Chase?”
“Yeah, that’s it.” The clerk appeared relieved. “Chase Sullivan. His name matched yours, and he looked harmless, so...”
Doug glowered at him. “Where’s your manager? I don’t care if this guy claimed to be the pope himself, you shouldn’t have given him a key to Maya’s room!”
“My manager isn’t here,” the clerk said. And by the way he didn’t bother to glance behind him, Maya was pretty sure he was telling the truth. “But please don’t talk to him. I don’t want to get fired.”
“You should be fired,” Doug said with exasperation. “Think about what you’ve done! If Maya had been inside alone, he may have killed her!”
“I’m sorry.” The clerk ducked as if expecting Doug to take a swing at him. “I was talking to my girlfriend...”
“Leave him,” Maya said, tugging on Doug’s arm. “We need to get out of here in case the perp comes back.”
Doug grimaced and stepped back. “Fine. I’ll grab my suitcase. But I will talk to the manager about this.” He turned his attention to the trembling clerk. “And you’ll reverse the credit card charge for the room. Now!”
The clerk looked a bit sick as he turned his attention to the computer. Maya waited for him to show her the folio proving her card had been refunded for the room charge while Doug retrieved his luggage.
“You were wrong to give out my room key to a stranger,” she said softly. “Agent Bridges is right. That man could have attacked and killed me. Don’t ever do that again.”
“I—wont.” The clerk agreed, his voice subdued. “I just never expected...”
“I know. But crime is everywhere, even here in Cody, Wyoming.” She stepped back from the desk as Doug finally returned with his suitcase. “Be thankful no one was hurt by your actions.”
The clerk nodded as they turned and headed back outside.
“I can’t believe he did that,” Doug muttered as he tossed his suitcase and computer bag into the back seat. Then he brought Zion’s duffel around to the back.
“I know.” She couldn’t blame Doug for being angry. Yet she also knew that people out here tended to take situations at face value. If the perp had spoken with confidence, she could almost see why the clerk had been sucked into the ruse. “I don’t think he’ll make that mistake again.”
“He’d better not.” Doug waited for her to get Zion settled before opening the door to the passenger seat. Once they were back on the road, he said, “It would be one thing if the perp had pulled a gun, forcing the issue of getting a key. But claiming to be your brother and be handed a key? What is that?”
She headed down Main Street, heading toward the Frontier Hotel. It wasn’t as nice as the Elk Lodge, but it would do for now. Her headache intensified, sending her thoughts back to the attack outside the hotel. “I wonder if the man who attacked me is the same guy who pretended to be Chase.”
He turned to stare at her. “That’s an interesting theory. Maybe he noticed the SUV was gone and used the opportunity to get into the room. But what on earth was he looking for? What did he hope to find?”
“I’m not sure.” None of it made any sense. “But obviously, he knew my Sullivan SUV was there and must have figured I had a room there. The Sullivan SUV is likely why he’d used my brother’s name to get the key.”
The ruse had worked.
Doug was silent for a long moment. “What did he hope to find? It wasn’t as if he stayed inside the room, waiting for you so he could strike again.”
“That’s true.” She wasn’t sure what to think about this latest twist. “Although he did look through your suitcase. Maybe seeing the male clothing was enough to convince him to bug out of there.”
“I hope so.” Doug scowled darkly. “He should be running scared. Only the worst kind of coward strikes out at a woman from behind. I’d like nothing more than to get my hands on him.”
While she appreciated his protective nature, she didn’t really want Doug to be placed in the position of having to fight off her attacker. Zion either. She glanced at her K9 through the rearview mirror. Zion’s eyes were closed, and she envied the dog’s ability to fall asleep on a dime.
She turned her attention to the road. “That’s the Great Frontier Hotel up ahead.”
“I remember it from this morning,” Doug said with a nod. “It’ll work.”
It seemed like days ago, rather than just this morning that they’d searched each of the hotels for Emily’s scent. She thought about how Zion had alerted at the Wild Bill Motel. What if the kidnappers had taken Emily to another rental in town? They’d taken the bed linens with them. Maybe they were smart enough to know they’d search the hotels and went with one of John Pickard’s rental properties instead.
Yet Cody was still a small enough town that someone may notice a woman being held against her will.
Nothing good came from second-guessing every decision they’d made. She pulled into the parking lot of the Great Frontier with a sigh. She was hungry, tired, and her head hurt.
Doug seemed lost in his thoughts too. She left him to his luggage as she went around to get her dog. Zion’s head popped up, instantly awake.
“Out,” she said. The dog jumped down from the compartment. She grabbed the duffel, then shut the back.
When they entered the lobby of the Frontier, she recognized the woman behind the counter as one of Justin’s classmates. It took her a minute to place the name. “Hi, Skylar,” she said. “I didn’t realize you worked here.”
“Yeah, well, I had to come back to Cody to help care for my mom,” Skylar said. “You need a room?”
“Yes, please.” When she reached for her credit card, Doug stopped her.
“I’ll take care of it,” he said. “Do you have connecting rooms? Or a two-bedroom suite?”
Skylar’s gaze bounced from her to Doug, then back again. “Yes, we have a two-bedroom suite available,” she finally said.
“We’ll take it.” Doug passed his credit card across the counter. “And I’m trusting you to keep Maya’s presence here a secret. She was attacked outside the Elk Lodge just a few hours ago. Do not give our suite number out to anyone, understand? Not even to any of Maya’s family members.”
“I would never do that,” Skylar protested, seeming shocked at the idea. “We don’t share our guest names with anyone.”
“Yeah, well, some people aren’t smart enough to follow that rule,” he grumbled. “But thank you.”
“Of course.” Skylar worked the keyboard, swiped Doug’s credit card, then passed two room keys over to them. “The suite is on the first floor, room 1102.”
“Thank you.” Maya managed a smile. “Take care.”
Doug led the way down the hall to their suite. He keyed the room and opened the door. “It’s nice,” he said, holding the door so she could ease past him.
“I didn’t realize you preferred a suite,” she said, setting Zion’s duffel on the sofa.
“It doesn’t matter to me, but you deserve privacy,” Doug said. “And I don’t want to bother you if I’m up late working.”
She nodded, realizing he was just being nice. And trying to reinforce that he wasn’t about to jump her bones the minute the lights were out. Not that Zion would allow such a thing. She turned to her dog who was sniffing the room with interest.
“I need to take care of Zion,” she said. “You should check out the room service menu.”
He nodded and went over to investigate their options. She unpacked Zion’s dog dishes, filled one bowl with water, then added two scoops of their preferred dog food to the other. Zion’s eyes watched her intently, but she didn’t move. She sat tall and straight waiting for Maya to give the signal.
“Go,” she said, using a hand gesture to point to the dish. “Go eat.”
Zion didn’t need to be told twice. She trotted to the food dishes and began to eat. Zion didn’t eat as fast as Trevor’s red fox English lab Archie. That dog scarfed so fast they’d had to feed him using a special grooved bowl.
“They have sandwiches and pizza,” Doug said. “You decide.”
Her chicken sandwich seemed hours away. “Let’s go with the pizza,” she said. At Doug’s smile, she realized that’s what he’d wanted to. “I prefer no onions or anchovies.”
“Sounds good to me.” Doug lifted the phone to place the order. She dropped onto the edge of the sofa. Her headache was making itself known, and she wished she had over-the-counter painkillers to dull the pain.
“Maya, why don’t you stretch out to get some sleep?” Doug suggested. “The pizza won’t be here for thirty minutes. Long enough for a quick nap.”
She opened her eyes to find him standing over her. So close she could have kissed him again. But she didn’t. “Thanks, but I need to take care of Zion.” She pushed herself to her feet. “Look at how she’s sitting by the door. That’s her way of telling me she needs to get busy.”
“I’ll come with you,” Doug said as she pulled on her coat.
“No need. Last time, I didn’t have Zion. Nobody is going to attack me with her at my side. Besides, I have my gun, and I won’t be caught off guard again.” She waved a hand at his laptop case. “The best way to find Emily is to figure out who took her in the first place.”
Doug hesitated, glanced at Zion, then reluctantly nodded. “Okay.”
She pocketed one of the room keys, then opened the door. “Come, Zion.”
Zion trotted down the hall retracing their earlier path. The dog knew just where the main doors were located and stood with her nose pressed against the glass as if saying hurry up.
Maya wasn’t really worried about her safety, but she pulled her gun from her pocket just in case. She walked with Zion around the corner of the building, finding an area that her dog could use to get busy.
Scanning the area, she narrowed her gaze when she saw someone walking away from the hotel. The guy’s shoulders were hunched, making her think he didn’t want to be seen. Or recognized.
“Hey! Mister!” She barely took three steps when the guy glanced over his shoulder in her direction. She caught a glimpse of a pale face before he broke into a run.
Oh no, not this time, she thought. “Zion! Get him!” She bolted after the pedestrian, with Zion close at her side. Then her K9 put on a burst of speed, closing the gap.
The perp abruptly veered across the road, jumped into a pickup truck, and started the engine. “Zion, heel!” she sharply commanded as the truck abruptly pulled away from the curb. Zion thankfully spun and returned to Maya’s side before the driver could try to run the dog over.
She only caught the first two numbers from the license plate, the prefix being 11, which designated the car as being registered in Park County where Cody was located. The rest of the identifying letters had been covered in snow, not seemingly on purpose the way the mud had been used on the Silverado. But effective all the same.
As she watched the truck’s taillights disappear in the darkness, she suddenly wondered if her stalker was somehow related to Doug’s missing sister.
And if so, how?