Chapter 1 #2
Smoky gave a halfhearted wag of her curved tail.
Kendra grimaced and turned her attention to the road.
She didn’t care if Dominic brought his girlfriend along for the ride or not.
She was anxious to talk to him. The news of Stuart Ramsey’s confession filled her with a renewed sense of purpose.
For years, she’d suspected foul play related to the deaths of her parents.
Now they knew the truth. But they still didn’t know why.
What possible motive could there have been to kill Dominic’s father?
Hopefully, she and Dominic could piece the puzzle together before Christmas.
She hadn’t told her eight older siblings the recent revelation about the murder or her plan to meet Dominic.
For one thing, they treated her as if she was still a kid, not a twenty-five-year-old woman.
And for another, they’d take over the investigation.
Maybe she was being silly, but since they hadn’t taken her seriously six years ago, she was determined to uncover the truth herself.
She slowed her speed. If she remembered right, the motel was a mile past the sharp curve.
A pickup truck barreled around the hairpin curve, going much faster than the posted speed limit.
Thankfully, she was hugging the right side of the street and wasn’t hit.
Kendra followed the dark truck with her gaze, then sighed and shook her head.
Some people just didn’t care about how their reckless driving impacted others.
Moments later, she saw the sign for the Redwood Motel. She slowed to pull into the parking lot, then frowned when she saw a large silver truck parked off to the back of the lot. It wasn’t just the truck that drew her gaze, but the bullet hole in the rear window.
Glancing around, she didn’t see any police nearby. She wasn’t sure whether the bullet hole was made recently or whether the owner of the truck hadn’t bothered to have it fixed.
That’s when she noticed the Montana plates. Wait, this was Dominic’s truck? She pulled up beside the vehicle, shifted into park, and killed the engine. She released the back hatch for Smoky and pushed out from behind the wheel.
“Dominic? It’s Kendra. Are you out here?”
At the sound of her voice, Smoky ran over to her side. Kendra noticed there were several overlapping footprints in the snow around her feet.
“Dominic?” She scanned the area, then noticed Smoky had trotted away from her. She turned to call her K9 when the dog buried her snout in the snow, sniffing intently. Then she sat and let out a sharp bark.
Her alert! Although Kendra hadn’t told her to search, the dog had found something of interest.
“What is it, girl?” Kendra hurried over. “What did you find?”
Spying the glint of brass, she bent and picked the shell casing up with her gloved hands.
The Sullivan K9s mostly tracked people, but they were cross-trained to find gunpowder, gun oil, and shell casings.
Like this. Glancing again at the damaged truck, she wondered if the gunfire had been recent.
And if so, the shell casing was evidence that would need to get to the state crime lab.
Spinning away from the truck, she dropped the shell casing into her pocket and hurried into the motel.
Smoky loped at her side. A teenager sat behind the desk with AirPods in his ears, watching a movie on his phone.
He didn’t so much as glance up when she came inside, and she had to wave her hand in front of his screen to get his attention.
He frowned and plucked an earbud from his ear. “Yeah?”
“Did you hear gunfire?”
“No.” He gave her an annoyed look. “Why?”
She barely refrained from rolling her eyes. “I’m here to see Dominic Lakeland. Is he here?”
“Nobody has checked in for the past couple of hours.” The clerk glanced down at his phone, then back up at her. “Anything else?”
It was all she could do not to snatch the phone from his hands. “Will you please see if Dominic Lakeland has checked in at all today?”
Heaving a sigh, he turned and tapped keys on the computer. “Nope.”
“Thanks.” She turned away, her thoughts racing. Where was Dominic? The truck with the Montana plates had to be his. “Come, Smoky.”
Back outside, she approached the truck. It was empty except for an overnight case on the floor of the back seat. Seeing another bullet graze grooved into the truck’s hood, she grew more concerned. Then she noticed the footprints heading into the woods.
Rather than following the footprints, she went back to her SUV and opened the back hatch.
Filling a collapsible bowl with water, she set it down for Smoky.
While the dog drank, she shouldered her backpack.
When Smoky finished with the water, she tucked the collapsible bowl in the pack, then slammed the hatch shut.
“Here, Smoky.” She crossed to the truck and wrenched open the driver’s side door. “This is Dominic.” She patted the driver’s seat. “Dominic. Are you ready to search? Huh, girl? Search Dominic!”
Smoky loved playing the search game. Her K9 pressed her nose into the seat cushion, then sniffed along the floorboard where the gas and brake pedals were located.
Shoes and socks were always good scent sources.
Then Smoky lifted her snout to the air. Whirling away from the truck, her K9 bounded toward the woods, her curly tail wagging from side to side.
Kendra slammed the truck door shut and quickened her pace to keep up.
Smoky bounded along the deep footprints in the snow, using her nose to follow Dominic’s path.
At some point, another pair of tracks crossed his, making Kendra glad she’d taken the time to provide Smoky with a scent source.
The last thing she wanted to do was follow the wrong set of footprints.
Her K9 continued following Dominic’s scent. The prints seemed to make a wide circle, leading back to the road. When they finally reached it, Smoky turned right and headed west, still following a scent trail only the dog could find.
“Search Dominic,” she called encouragingly. The malamute was at home in the wintery weather. Her K9’s thick fluffy coat kept her warm. “Search!”
Smoky trotted down the road. They walked for over a mile or so when her K9 slowed to a stop, sniffing intently at the north side of the street. Then Smoky sat and let out a sharp bark.
“Good girl!” Kendra didn’t pull the stuffed hippo from her backpack. “Good girl, Smoky. Search! Search Dominic!”
The dog stared at her for a moment, as if disappointed not to be rewarded, then jumped up to continue. Rather than continuing down the road, the dog turned to head into the woods.
Once again, Kendra saw familiar boot prints in the snow. She tried to imagine why Dominic had come this way. Had the gunman pursued him through the woods? And if so, why had that person taken shots at him in the first place?
Was this related to their parents’ murder? She couldn’t see a connection, but then again, it seemed like a strange coincidence that the recent danger wasn’t related to the past.
Troubled, she continued following Smoky through the woods.
Had Dominic been followed all the way from Billings?
Could Dominic be involved in something else?
She had not met him in person, although their last conversation had been a face-to-face video call.
Dominic was a couple of years older than she was and had short blond hair.
He was tall and thin, mentioning wryly that his nickname as a kid had been “beanpole.”
He seemed nice enough. But now that she was tracking him through the woods, she found herself wondering if she’d made a mistake coming here.
Her oldest brother, Chase, would be angry to know she’d set off to meet with a man she didn’t know.
Especially the son of a man who’d been murdered, taking their parents down with him.
Smoky sniffed at the base of a tree, then continued moving deeper into the forest. Kendra glanced at her compass, making a mental note of the coordinates. She’d need to make sure she could find her way out of there when she’d located Dominic.
Had he gotten lost? It was easy to get turned around in the forest, especially at night. Not that the hour was that late, only 5:45 in the evening.
Smoky put on a burst of speed, running toward a fallen tree. Her K9 gracefully leaped over the dead tree, landing nimbly on the other side. She lost sight of the dog but heard the sharp bark of her alert.
“What is it, girl? What did you find?” Kendra hurried forward, breathing heavily.
“You’re a pretty dog,” a low, husky voice said.
She slowed her pace, approaching with caution.
She had a handgun in her backpack; they always were armed on SAR missions, mostly due to the threat of wildlife.
But there were times when human threats were a problem too.
She should have taken the time to slip the .
38 into her coat pocket. Taking a few steps closer, she frowned when she saw a man sitting on the ground, his back up against the downed tree.
“Dominic? Dominic Lakeland?” She climbed over the horizontal tree trunk, eyeing him warily. Peering through the darkness, he appeared to be the same man she’d chatted with via the computer. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“Other than being a klutz, yeah. I’m fine.” He put a hand to his head, then pushed himself upward. Moving slowly, he turned to face her. “Hey, Kendra. Nice to meet you in person, although I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances. Oh, I meant to tell you this before, my friends call me Dom.”
“What happened?” She shrugged out of the backpack and found the stuffed hippo. She tossed it into the air for Smoky, who leaped joyously up to grab it. Her dog loved that goofy hippo, and the K9 proceeded to prance around with the toy in her mouth.
“I slipped and hit my head on the tree trunk.” He looked embarrassed as he palpated the back of his head.
“I don’t think the skin is broken. Thankfully, I have a hard head.
I was sitting here getting ready to head back to the motel when your dog leaped down beside me.
I recognized Smoky from our screen meeting. ”
“I meant what happened that you’re way out here?
” Kendra tipped her head to the side, regarding him thoughtfully.
Seeing him on the computer screen hadn’t prepared her for just how tall he was.
Easily six and a half feet, maybe more. Taller than any of her six older brothers, which was saying something.
“I went to the motel and found your bullet-ridden truck. I checked with the kid behind the desk, he was watching some movie on his phone with earbuds in, but he said you hadn’t checked in.
I sent Smoky out to follow your scent trail.
You’re fortunate she was able to find you. ”
“I know you mentioned your K9s are trained in search and rescue, but seeing her in action is amazing.” He grimaced.
“Sorry to cause trouble. When the bullets started flying, I headed into the woods. When the gunman followed, I decided to double back to the road to avoid leaving footprints in the snow. I feared that was making it too easy for him to find me.”
“Okay, but why is someone shooting at you in the first place?” She gave him a stern look. “What’s going on?”
“How should I know?” He frowned. “I was heading into the motel when I saw movement. Suddenly gunfire rings out, forcing me to duck and run for cover. I’m not a criminal, if that’s what you’re asking. I assume this is related to our parents in some way.”
Kendra hesitated, wondering how much she should trust him.
Just because they’d texted and emailed and even met on a computer call didn’t mean she knew Dom on a personal level.
Granted, she was the one who’d reached out to him the moment she’d realized his father, Gary Lakeland, was the pilot of the charter plane her parents were in when it crashed six years ago.
Then he’d called her with the news of Stuart Ramsey’s confession. From there, they’d agreed to this meeting.
“If you’re in some kind of trouble, Dom, you may as well tell me. I have family members in law enforcement, and I’m sure they could work something out to help you.”
“Me? I didn’t do anything other than drive down here to talk to you.” Annoyance flashed in his eyes. “You’re the one who suggested I stay at the Redwood Motel, remember? You’re the one who wanted to meet in person to dig into why Stuart Ramsey had been paid to kill my father.”
She sighed. He was right. She had been the one to recommend Greybull, the Redwood Motel, and meeting in person to dig into the six-year-old crime.
Her last SAR mission involving a lost woman had been in Greybull just a few days earlier, so it seemed appropriate to meet there. “Were you followed from Billings?”
“Not that I noticed.” He sighed. “I helped a young mother with two small kids get her SUV out of a snowbank about ten miles outside of Billings. I think I’d have noticed if someone had pulled over and waited for me to hit the road again to follow me here.”
A nice gesture on his part. Helping a young mother of two kids made her feel a little better about him. Yet the gunfire at the motel was unnerving. So much so that she knew they couldn’t stay there moving forward.
With a sigh, she turned to Smoky. “Here, girl. Hand.”
Her K9 trotted forward and dropped the stuffed hippo into the palm of her hand.
“Good girl.” She tucked it away, then turned to Dominic. “Let’s get out of here.”
“I’m in agreement with that plan.” He brushed the snow from his clothes, then carefully stepped over the fallen log. She did the same, giving Smoky the hand signal to come. He glanced at her as they retraced their steps. “Thanks for coming out to find me.”
“That’s what we do.” She waved a gloved hand at their surroundings. “I’ve done searches like this dozens of times over the past few years.”
Dom hunched his shoulders. “I feel like an idiot that you had to find me. I don’t suppose you saw anyone hanging around the motel? Anyone who might be the shooter?”
She thought about the dark truck that had careened around the hairpin curve in the road, nearly striking her SUV. Was the man driving the truck the same gunman who’d tracked Dominic through the woods?
And if so, why? Why would anyone want Dominic dead six years after his father’s murder?