3
Rowan Wolff watched Thor jump down into the center of the two giant stacked tires and immediately spring out again—a black blur. He shot her a quick glance as he trotted to a pile of rotting boards and twisted rebar.
/not here not here not here/
He circled the pile, his mouth slightly open to catch more scent, and then turned his attention to a rickety shed, his ears forward and his nose leading the way.
She kept her gaze locked on her dog, reading his gait, his posture, and his ears. All informed her that Thor hadn’t found what he wanted to find.
Rowan and her dog were in the last hours of an intensive canine search and rescue training. For five years they had worked together across the country, finding dozens of missing persons—some alive, some dead—and the two of them never stopped training. There were always new situations to experience, and Thor loved to keep working. He was easily bored; Rowan was, too, and they both craved to be challenged.
This weekend’s training was on private property in southeastern Oregon. Ten acres were scattered with a variety of elements and obstacles to offer the dogs diverse experiences and to help them work on their focus. Thor had done fantastically on every practice except for struggling with the barn exercise, for which small, controlled fires had been set and extinguished. It had been smoky inside, and Thor hated working in smoke or near fire, which Rowan had learned in the past, when he’d needed to enter an old burned building on a search. He’d whined and stalled before entering. Every step had been a struggle for him, and it had taken a lot of effort for Rowan to calm him and keep him focused.
He’d done better this weekend with the burned practice barn, but Rowan knew he still needed more training.
She watched him exit the rickety shed and go under a fence. He looked back at her and paused, checking her location. Most dogs would stay on the move, trusting their handlers to catch up. But due to an old leg injury, Rowan wasn’t as quick as other handlers. Thor knew this, and no matter how much she’d trained him to keep going, he always checked on her.
“Find it!” she ordered.
Satisfied, Thor continued his search.
“He’s never going to get past checking on you, is he?” commented the trainer next to her.
“I don’t think so,” said Rowan. “He never loses focus when he does it, so I can live with that quirk.”
The trainer made a mild sound of disagreement but didn’t say more.
Rowan didn’t care. For years she’d been told to train away the habit, but since it had never interfered with Thor’s performance, she let it go. Deep down she was pleased her dog cared and watched out for her. Her leg slowed her down and wasn’t as strong as she would like, but it didn’t stop the pair of them from being damned good. They had worked with more than fifty law enforcement agencies across the country. Federal, state, county, and city. Several times they’d been hired privately when the media’s or the public’s knowledge of a missing person could cause more harm than good.
A few years ago, during a private search, they had found the missing and severely injured daughter of a huge retail chain owner. The very grateful parents had paid her a reward that—as long as she was very careful with money—essentially set her up for life. She hadn’t done it to get paid; she’d done it because someone needed her help. Search and rescue was most often volunteer work, and people did it because they had a unique skill and valued helping others. It was never done for the money—because the money usually didn’t exist. Rowan loved the job. The long hours, rotten weather, and rugged terrain only challenged them, making the two of them try harder.
At a nod from the head trainer, two other SAR handlers walked their leashed dogs through Thor’s search area. A few of the waiting dogs whined and pulled on their leashes, wanting to join the fun. Pull toys appeared as the handlers distracted their dogs from Thor’s work. The purpose was to keep Thor on task when he was surrounded by diversions. Setting two dozen squirrels loose in the area would have been the perfect test, but they settled for dogs.
One of Thor’s ears swiveled toward a whining dog, but he never broke stride and continued his sweep across the field, his nose up, searching for the scent.
Good boy.
“Nice,” said the trainer beside her.
“Takes a lot to distract him.”
Far in the distance Rowan could see the “quarry” in a yellow jacket, crouched in some tall grass. The dogs primarily searched with their noses. Vision was secondary and added when they picked up the scent. Rowan opened the gate and entered the field, watching her dog work.
Thor did a little jerk of his head, pivoted, and sped up.
He found the scent.
His tail enthusiastically wagging, he spent another minute making narrower sweeps. Abruptly he bolted, finding a visual lock on his quarry. He circled the man once and then raced back to Rowan. His gaze on hers, his hindquarters quivering with excitement, he paced before her, uttering a string of chattering doggy speak.
/found him I take you to him found him/
“Good job, Thor! Good boy!” Rowan slapped his side a few times and then waved her arm. Thor bolted back in the man’s direction with Rowan jogging behind. This time the man offered Thor a short game of tug-of-war, a reward for locating him and then bringing Rowan. She joined a moment later and helped celebrate with Thor’s favorite ball and some fetch. Positive reinforcement was key in training. If no quarry had been present, and Thor had indicated the field was empty, they would have celebrated because he’d done his job.
She snapped on his leash and was headed toward the gate when her phone vibrated. Casting a quick look around and seeing attention had turned to the next dog’s search, she pulled out the phone and smiled at the photo of Evan.
“I can only talk for minute,” she said as a greeting.
“I know you’re not to be on the phone,” said Evan. “But I had to call.” The background noise told her he was in his vehicle; his tone told her something was very wrong.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Rod McLeod was murdered. I have the case.”
Rowan briefly closed her eyes, her heart sinking. “No.” She’d met Rod a few times since she’d started dating Evan and knew how much Evan admired him. “I’m so sorry, Evan. I know what he means to you.”
Meant to you.
“I’ll head home,” Rowan said. “I can skip the final exercise. Thor has proven to be a master at nearly everything they’ve put us through.”
“You don’t need to do that.”
“I know, but I want to.”
“I probably won’t have time to see you, let alone eat or sleep for the next several days,” said Evan.
“Then you need someone to bring you food. Decent food.” She’d seen Evan live on fast food when he was wrapped up in an investigation. She wasn’t much of a cook, but she could do better than processed breakfast sandwiches. “I won’t be there until this afternoon. It’s a long drive.”
A sigh came through the phone. “I’ve missed you. I wish this wasn’t the reason you’re coming home early.” His tone changed. “Did I ever introduce you to Sophia McLeod?”
“Rod’s daughter? No. You told me about her several times. I know she has a son and that you two are close.”
“I just pulled up at her house. Someone broke in. It sounds like there was some sort of struggle there. We haven’t located her or Zack yet.”
Rowan sucked in a breath. “I hope she’s okay.”
“Me too.”
“I love you, Evan,” she said.
“Love you too.” He ended the call.
Rowan stared at her phone screen, feeling very far away from home. Who would have guessed that Evan Bolton would become the most important man in her life?
Everyone who saw the two of us together.
Her sisters and parents had known she and Evan were meant to be a couple before Rowan had. Early on, they’d seen something rare between them. Rowan had been single so long, she’d believed Thor would be the only man in her life. But Evan had quickly found an important place in her heart.
Just like Thor.
She rubbed the dog’s head and gave a gentle tug on his ears. He looked up and met her gaze, his mouth open and his tongue out with three inches of dangling drool, panting happily. True love.
Two men to love. She was a lucky woman.