Chapter 8
8
F ollowing Chase and Rocky, Wyn’s heart swelled with hope. After seeing the K9 in action, she felt certain the dog had caught Eli’s scent. She wished they’d have spread out last night to continue searching. Then again, it wouldn’t have been easy to navigate through the area in the darkness.
Rocky abruptly slowed his pace, sniffing the air, then backtracking as if he’d lost track of the scent. Her excitement plummeted to the soles of her feet. She caught up to Chase, breathing heavily. “What do you think? Did he find, then lose Eli’s scent?”
“I’m not sure,” he admitted, glancing around. There were houses in this area that appeared nicer than the trailer park they’d left behind. “The wind is coming from the west. Could be that he caught a whiff of Eli’s scent from someplace the boy had been taken. Rocky doesn’t often make mistakes or provide false alerts.” They slowed to a walk as Rocky continued to stand sniffing the air. “I’m not sure what to do. We may have to turn back around to get the SUV. We could drive a mile or so, then have Rocky try again.”
She tried not to show her stark disappointment. She’d hoped the dog would lead them straight to her son. But she should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
Nothing about this nightmare had been simple or straightforward. She didn’t even understand why Eli had been taken.
“Whatever you think is best.” She glanced at Chase. “I don’t want to give up the search, though.”
“We won’t.” Chase frowned. “Although it seems a little strange that Rocky would have caught his sent like this.”
Her heart squeezed in her chest. “Why? Because you think they have Eli outside?”
Chase grimaced. “I’m not sure what’s going on.”
She couldn’t bear the idea of the kidnappers keeping Eli outside in the freezing cold temperatures. No way would a child last long outside in wintertime. A sudden thought occurred to her. “Eli had a runny nose.” She reached out to grab Chase’s arm. “I’m not sure how a human’s scent works, but he could have swiped his face on his coat sleeve and then brushed up against the truck.” She frowned. “Could Rocky be alerting to Eli’s scent clinging to the outside of the white truck?”
“That’s possible.” Chase glanced around at their current location. “And if that is the case, that Rocky is tracking the scent shedding off the truck, then we for sure need to turn back to get the SUV.”
It was a disappointing end to a promising trail. She swallowed hard and nodded. “Okay, that works. I pray Rocky will be able to pick up the scent again.”
“Me too,” Chase said grimly. They turned to retrace their steps back to the burned trailer. With the wind at their backs now, they made decent progress without needing to break into a run while wearing their winter gear.
When they reached the site of the fire, she noticed another SUV coming down the road toward what was left of the building. Glancing at her watch, she was surprised to see that a good forty minutes had passed. “Is that the FBI agent?”
“Yeah. See the white box truck lagging behind?” Chase gestured toward it with his gloved hand. “I’m sure that belongs to the crime scene techs.”
She continued walking toward his SUV before realizing he hadn’t kept up with her. A flash of annoyance hit hard. She wanted to get in the SUV to continue their search for Eli, not stand here chatting with the feds.
But they had promised to be interviewed. She lifted her head to the sky seeking strength.
“We’ll be back on the road soon,” Chase promised, reading her expression. “I’m sure this won’t take long.”
She wasn’t convinced about that. Yet what could she say? Rocky had lost the scent, and there was no guarantee that he’d alert again. Swallowing her protest, she turned away from the SUV to join him.
The black SUV rolled to a stop. A tall, lean man with dark hair emerged from behind the wheel. He held up his badge and ID, then quickly stuffed it back into his pocket. “You must be Chase Sullivan and Wynona Blackhorse.”
“Yes. Thanks for coming.” Chase gave him a nod.
Special Agent in Charge Griff Flannery was younger than she’d expected. Maybe her age of thirty-two or slightly younger. He didn’t come across as arrogant, though, which she took as a good sign.
After taking down their full names and phone numbers, the federal agent got down to business. “You can call me Griff; we don’t use formal titles around here. Would you mind starting at the beginning? I’ve been given part of the story from Doug, but I’d rather hear directly from the source. I feel a little like I’ve been dropped into the middle of a movie without understanding who the characters are or what’s happening.”
“My four-and-a-half-year-old son Elijah was taken from his preschool teacher’s home yesterday afternoon, sometime between four and five o’clock,” she said. “His teacher, Shana Wildbloom, was assaulted. I found her lying on the floor with a wound on the side of her temple with no sign of Eli. She mentioned a man wearing a ski mask came inside and struck her. After making sure Eli wasn’t hiding in the house, I called Chase. I also called the tribal police.” She hesitated, then pushed on without mentioning the blood relationship between Chase and her son. “The Sullivan K9 Search and Rescue Ranch is well known throughout the state, and I wanted his family’s expertise to find my son.”
“I asked my K9, Rocky, to search on Eli’s scent.” Chase picked up the story. “He alerted in Shana’s house, of course, but he also alerted near the side of the road several yards down from the scene of the crime. Shana noticed a white pickup truck parked there, but it was gone by then. From there, we spread out to continue the search. Rocky ultimately alerted here, at the trailer home.”
Everyone took a somber moment to eye the burned building.
“I should have stayed to watch over the evidence,” Chase said. “I take full responsibility for the lapse in judgment.”
Agent Flannery waved that away. “You couldn’t have known they’d come back to torch the place.”
Chase shrugged, but she knew he still blamed himself. “Anyway, Rocky alerted outside the front door at first, which gave us hope that Eli had been there. The door wasn’t locked, so we went inside. Rock alerted again in the living room near the sofa. Unfortunately, the place was empty, and it looked to me as if they may have left in a hurry.”
“What makes you say that?” Flannery asked.
“Because they left two half-filled bottles of beer behind on the kitchen table. I’m sure they belonged to the kidnappers. Until then, we didn’t know how many people were involved.” Chase shrugged. “Now we have reason to believe there are two of them. And there could be others. For all we know, these guys have been hired by someone else to do the job.”
“Yeah, Doug mentioned the beer bottles as potential evidence,” Flannery said. “And the shell casing, which you need to give me. As far as the beer bottles go, the fire wouldn’t burn hot enough to melt the glass. If we’re able to find them, we have the potential to test for DNA.”
“How long will that take?” Wyn tried not to sound impatient. “Eli’s been gone for more fifteen hours already. We need to find him today. Before it gets dark again.”
“I’ll put a rush on them,” Flannery promised. “But I can’t lie. It’s likely going to take a couple of days.”
She turned away, biting her lip to keep herself from lashing out at him. They needed to find Eli in the next few hours, not days.
She was already losing hope that the kidnappers would call with a ransom demand. The hour was going on eight o’clock. If they wanted her to go to the bank to get money, they’d have told her by now.
But they hadn’t. Which meant they wanted something other than money.
Chase handed over the shell casing Rocky had found, then crossed over to put his arm around her shoulders. Rocky came, too, bumping her with his nose. The dog made her want to smile, but her face felt frozen. As if her skin would crack if she tried to smile. Chase squeezed her gently. “Hey, don’t worry. We’re not giving up. We’ll keep doing our part.”
She gave a jerky nod. “I know. It’s just...”
“We’ll find him,” Chase said firmly. “I have faith in God and Rocky’s nose.”
“Can we leave now, then?” She turned to see Agent Flannery greeting the crime scene techs who’d emerged from the boxy white van. Rocky didn’t seem interested in meeting the newcomers. Despite his independence, she noticed the dog stood in a protective stance between them. He didn’t growl or bark, but she sensed he would if anyone made a move toward them. She almost wished she’d gotten Eli a dog. One that would have protected him from the ski-masked intruder.
“Just give me a few minutes.” Chase glanced thoughtfully at the burned house. “I’d like to know if the bottles are even in there. No point in waiting to hear on testing if there’s no evidence to process.”
That was true. She followed him to the charred opening where the front door had been. Rocky trotted with them. He didn’t alert this time, and she wondered if he was smart enough to know he’d already done that.
And that they wanted him to alert on new locations.
They stood back watching as the crime scene techs donned their white Tyvek protective gear, then gingerly made their way inside. Agent Flannery went in, too, being careful not to touch anything. The scent of charred wood and smoke was incredibly strong, and she couldn’t help but wonder if the burning smell would interfere with Rocky’s ability to scent Eli.
After a moment, someone yelled out. “I found a beer bottle!”
“Two of them,” the other said with satisfaction. “We’ve got two bottles here in what looks to be the kitchen.”
“Good work,” Griff Flannery praised. “Let’s get those items into evidence bags.” The agent turned back to face them. “Like I said, I’ll see if the lab can turn the results around as soon as possible. Same with the shell casing.”
“Thank you.” She appreciated his efforts, even if she suspected they would be too late. She glanced expectantly at Chase.
“We’re going to expand our search zone,” Chase explained to Flannery. “Rocky seemed to catch a whiff of Eli’s scent, but then lost it. With the wind coming in from the west, we’re going to drive that way for a few miles and try again.”
Griff looked at the dog. “I’d love to see him in action. But I’ll need to stay here until we’ve processed the scene. Call me if he alerts on anything specific.”
“We will,” she said quickly, reassured that the feds were taking an active role in the case.
“Take my card.” Flannery pulled it from his coat pocket. “I have your contact information, too, so we can keep in touch.”
“Thanks.” Chase tucked the card away. “That reminds me, the trailer house is owned by Julia Stone. Wynona found her on the tribal housing registry, but there’s no contact information, and we haven’t been able to find anything else that she owns. Doug has his tech buddy working on finding out more about her.”
“I’ll follow up with Doug soon,” Flannery promised. “It’ll be interesting if she even realizes her property has been destroyed by a fire.”
“Agree,” Chase said. It was all Wyn could do not to grab Chase’s arm to yank him away. She wanted to get back out on the road to find Eli.
Griff Flannery gave them a nod. “Keep in touch.” He turned back toward what was left of the trailer house. Chase finally headed toward the SUV.
Five minutes later, they were back on the road. But Wyn still couldn’t relax. They couldn’t wait for the DNA. That would take too long.
No, they needed more. She prayed with all her heart that Rocky would alert again on Eli’s scent.
* * *
Tension radiated off Wynona in tangible waves. Even Rocky seemed to notice, his face pressed against the screen of his crate.
Telling her to relax would be useless, so Chase focused on picturing the map of this portion of the city in his mind. There were open fields to the north, but he vaguely remembered there was another residential area not too far away.
Eyeing the odometer, he figured they’d go two miles before trying Rocky’s nose again. He wasn’t sure this plan of his would work, but he couldn’t come up with anything better. He considered calling Doug for an update, then realized he was being ridiculous. If his tech experts had found something, Doug would let him know.
“Is this far enough?” Wyn asked.
He glanced at the odometer. “Another half mile, then I’ll pull over.”
She twisted in her seat to look at Rocky. “I really hope he alerts on Eli’s scent. If he’s somehow following the truck, it could be miles from here by now.”
He understood her frustration. He was about to remind her that the only reason they’d turned around to head back to the trailer in the first place was because Rocky had lost the scent trail. But he held his tongue, knowing that pointing out the obvious wouldn’t help her feel any better.
In truth, he wasn’t happy about the delay either. He’d hoped the kidnappers wouldn’t take their son too far. They could have come this way last night but hadn’t. At the time, he’d blamed the darkness.
Now he was second-guessing himself all over again.
A moment later, he spotted an open area between two houses that looked like a good place to pull over. He parked along the side of the road, making sure the trailer cleared the driveway behind them.
“This looks like a good place to resume our search.” Wyn was clearly trying to stay positive.
He managed a smile. “I hope so.” He hit the latch to release Rocky from the back. “Let’s go to work.”
Thankfully, Rocky was always eager to play the search game. He offered the scent bag, but Rocky gave him what seemed to be an exasperated look, as if to say, Yeah, I got it .
“Are you ready to go?” His K9 didn’t need much encouragement. “Search! Search for Eli!”
Just like earlier, Rocky lifted his nose to the air and sniffed for a long moment. Chase checked the area, confirming the wind was still coming across a western direction. The jagged peaks of the Teton mountain range pierced the sky.
Rocky quickly began to trot in his zigzag pattern, sniffing along the ground at times, then lifting his nose to the air. The dog didn’t take off like a rocket the way he had earlier, but meandered along as if determined to pick up the scent.
Wyn kept pace beside him. The way she kept glancing over at him made him think she wanted to say something.
“What is it?” he finally asked.
“It doesn’t look to me like he’s following a specific scent,” she said, nodding at the Elkhound. “How long do we let him search like this before calling a halt and moving on another few miles?”
He gestured toward his K9. “It’s best to let Rocky take the lead. I don’t think we should give up too soon. If he gets tired, he’ll let me know. That would be a good time to stop for a break anyway.”
“Oh, okay.” She looked disappointed.
They kept going for almost a full mile before Rocky abruptly lifted his head and quickened his pace. His K9’s response caused a jolt of adrenaline to surge through him. He sprinted after his dog, hoping Wyn would keep up.
She did.
Rocky continued following the invisible path before him. At one point, the dog turned to go around a house, then continued cutting through another person’s yard. Being winter, there weren’t people working outside to object to their presence. Still, he wondered if one of them would put a call in to the tribal police. Or worse, come after them with a gun.
Rocky made another abrupt turn, heading south. For a moment, Chase worried his dog had gotten distracted again. He was about to call him back to refresh his focus on the scent when Rocky made another turn to head west.
Beside him, Wyn’s breath became loud and labored. She was in good shape, but they weren’t exactly dressed for outdoor running. Breathing in the cold air felt like inhaling razors into his lungs.
“Do you want me to take a break?” he asked.
“No! Keep—going.” Her voice hitched. “If I can’t—make it, keep—going!”
He found himself slowing his pace so as not to leave her behind. “We’re in this together, Wyn.”
“Just—find—Eli!”
He figured it was okay to fall behind a bit, as long as Rocky was within sight. But when Rocky disappeared behind a hill, he had little choice but to do as she asked. Putting on a burst of speed, he closed the gap.
He was getting tired now, too, but pushed himself to keep going. While his K9 hadn’t alerted at all, Rocky still seemed to be anxious to get to a specific location.
After cresting the hill, he frowned. Where had Rocky gone? He kept moving west, hoping that was the correct direction. Two minutes later, he spotted the Elkhound near the corner of a house.
He caught up to Rocky who didn’t alert. The dog moved back and forth across the snow-covered ground, then stopped and lifted his nose to the air. His heart sank, and he hoped the K9 hadn’t lost the scent again.
Glancing back over his shoulder, Chase could see Wyn was cresting the hill. She hadn’t fallen too far behind. Deciding his dog needed a break, he called, “Heel. Rocky, heel!”
Rocky ignored him for a long moment, then trotted back to his side. The dog stared up at him, as if saying he wanted to keep going. Looking down at his smartwatch, Chase could see they’d gone almost two miles.
Maybe he should have driven farther down the road before letting Rocky out to find the trail. If they pressed forward, it would take that much longer to get back to the SUV.
“Keep going,” Wyn called, her voice stronger now.
He shook his head. “No. We need to return to the SUV.” At her crestfallen expression, he added, “Wyn, we’ve covered two miles. It’s going to take us thirty minutes or more to get back.”
“Maybe we should have used the snow machines.” She sighed, then bent at the waist, bracing her hands on her thighs, taking long deep breaths. “I can’t believe we’ve followed Rocky for two miles.”
He nodded, willing his pulse to settle. “That’s how it is sometimes. The dog doesn’t get as tired as we do.” He shrugged. “Maybe we should use the snowmobiles. Either way, it’s time to head back.”
Before they could turn around, Rocky lifted his head and broke into another run. He was tempted to call the dog back when the K9 veered around a clump of bushes.
Muttering under his breath, he glanced at Wyn. “Stay here for a minute. I’ll see what caught his attention.”
“Nope.” Her cheeks were flushed. “I’m sticking close.”
He broke into a slow jog, following Rocky’s path. Again, when he rounded the cluster of brush, there was no sign of the dog.
“Where is he?” Wyn asked.
“Who knows? That dog has a mind of his own.” He slowed to a stop, listening intently. When he didn’t hear an alert, he continued walking. “Don’t worry, Rock will eventually come back to find us.”
“He has way more energy than I do,” she grumbled. “I can’t believe your entire family does search and rescue missions like this.”
“Can’t lie, it’s much easier in the warmer weather, that’s for sure.” He frowned and scanned the ground for Rocky’s tracks. “This way.” He turned to head north.
“I really hope this isn’t some sort of wild-goose chase,” Wyn said wearily.
He couldn’t deny he was getting concerned about that possibility as well. Rocky’s behavior this morning wasn’t that unusual. The K9 could be extremely stubborn when he was on the hunt. Yet Chase was also keenly aware that his dog hadn’t alerted on a specific location. He prayed Rocky wasn’t on the wrong path.
They cut through another yard, then followed the dog’s tracks to the north. He had his compass but still felt a bit turned around. Good thing his SUV could be located via his phone.
They walked in silence for another five minutes without seeing any sign of Rocky. Chase was getting more annoyed by the minute. Where was the K9?
Then he heard a sharp bark.
Wyn’s hand grabbed his arm. “Is that an alert?”
“Maybe. Let’s hurry.” He pushed himself back into a run, following Rocky’s faint tracks in the hard-packed snow. They turned south again, then rounded another cluster of trees.
Beyond that was a house. The sun wasn’t high in the sky, but the reflection bounced off the snow, making it hard to see.
“There!” Wyn cried out, pointing to their left. They had almost gone too far. “He’s over by the driveway!”
Not the front door? Chase wondered why the scent would be stronger there along the driveway rather than at the entrance to the residence. Yet there was no denying Rocky was sitting and staring at him intently.
He hurried forward. “What is it, Rocky? What did you find?”
Rocky remained still as a statue, giving him that intense stare as if Chase should figure out what was going on in the dog’s mind. He stopped next to his K9 and examined the ground.
There were at least two sets of footprints in the snow. And there were tire tracks as well. He wasn’t an expert, but they appeared to be the same make and model as the ones they’d discovered outside the trailer house.
“Here?” Wyn asked hoarsely. “Eli was here?”
“I think so.” He was about to tell Rocky to search again, thinking this wasn’t the only spot that Eli had been, when he caught a glimpse of something in the ground. He hadn’t noticed it earlier because Rocky was practically sitting on top of it.
“Rocky, heel.”
For once, Rocky didn’t ignore him. The dog rose to his four feet and backed away from the alert location. His K9 didn’t go as far as to come sit at his side in the heel position, but Chase quickly decided to let that lapse go. He and the dog could fight over the position of being the alpha later.
He took two steps forward, then slowly lowered to a crouch.
Now he could see the item buried in the snow more clearly. It was a small square building block.
His breath caught in his throat. It was an exact match to those scattered across the floor at Shana’s house.