Chapter Twenty-Four
The next morning was cloudy with a light breeze. Maya watched the dogs play in the yard, although she didn’t want them burning too much energy. They might need to work again. She yawned and took another sip of coffee, tired from the previous night, but feeling a bit guilty thinking that.
Somewhere out in the woods there was a person missing, and if she was still alive, then the last thing she probably cared about was coffee.
Maya whistled to the dogs to come. She wanted to get them fed and eat herself so that they could get back out and help with the search.
Both dogs started to come and then stopped, noses pointed up and hackles raised.
They barked and lunged toward the fence.
Maya didn’t worry about Finn jumping out, but Juniper could easily scale the enclosure.
She trudged through the snow, peered over the fence to see what had the dogs so excited.
Reporters.
They were now camped across the street. Why were they here at their house?
Did they know that Josh was a suspect? Although Lucas hadn’t officially questioned him yet.
Or did they just see Maya’s and Josh’s vehicles and decide to see if they could get a statement from them?
Now she was annoyed, but they weren’t on their property, so there was nothing she could do.
Maya and Josh had stayed at the SAR operation tent the previous night until Pops had kicked them out, telling them to go home and get rest. She had reminded Pops that he too needed rest because his trial started today.
Josh was still asleep, and she had decided to leave him be.
When they’d finally left the crime scene, he had mentioned he wanted to go catch up with Bianca.
Maya thought that was a good idea and took the dogs home.
By the time he got home, she was sacked out asleep, barely waking up when he came to bed.
After getting the dogs their breakfast, Maya picked up her phone and dialed the number for the search-and-rescue team leader, Ryan. He answered quickly.
Maya identified herself and then asked, “What’s the status this morning?”
“I have my teams out searching,” Ryan answered. “I think we were close to finding her last night. One of my dog teams realized the track took them toward some recreational cabins near the falls. They went there and found a body.”
“What?” Maya said.
“Yes, we of course notified Lucas and the CBI team. They’ve been working all night long.”
“But the body wasn’t our missing person?”
“No, not unless the missing person is male and has gang tats all over his face and arms.”
Maya paused. This was getting weirder by the moment. “No. I don’t think so.”
“That’s all I know, because our teams do search and rescue, not murder scenes.”
“What made you think it was a homicide?” Maya asked.
“The giant slash, probably from a knife, across the guy’s throat. He most likely bled out in minutes. The medic on the team checked him, but there was no pulse and he was cold. So, they cleared away to try to preserve the scene and waited for more investigators to arrive.”
Maya rubbed her forehead with her free hand, trying to keep a headache from coming on. “Okay, thanks for the update.”
“You’re welcome.”
They hung up and Maya stared at the kitchen wall like it would give her answers. She was getting ready to call Lucas next when Josh came out.
“Sorry I overslept,” he said, pouring himself some coffee. “I’ll drink this, get showered and dressed, and we can get going.” Noticing that Maya wasn’t responding and was staring straight ahead, he asked her, “Are you okay?”
Maya turned and looked at him. “No. I just talked with the leader of the SAR team, Ryan, and he told me their team found a male, deceased, knife wound to the throat, and the guy had gang tats all over him.”
Josh almost spat out his coffee. “Another homicide? And how does Ryan know what gang tats look like?”
“I’m not certain. I think he was a deputy at some point. Maybe that’s how. But what I want to know is why is there a dead guy with gang tats at some recreational cabins?”
“Good point.”
“I’m going to call Lucas and find out more while you shower. The dogs are fed and I need to get dressed. And there’s also reporters camped across the street.”
“What?” Josh went to the front window and peered out. “Why are they here?”
“I don’t know for sure, but what if they have some inside source on the first homicide? If they know it’s Amber, it wouldn’t take much to connect us to her.”
Josh came over and pulled Maya into his arms. She hugged him back, leaning into him and placing her cheek against his chest. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we’ll figure it out, okay?”
“All right,” Maya said, fighting back her frustration.
Why was this happening to them and how could Josh stay so calm?
She hadn’t craved a drink for a while, but right now, she felt the impulse kick in.
Taking a deep breath, she worked to remind herself that she was sober and was staying that way.
A drink wouldn’t fix anything. The feeling started to subside.
Josh kissed her on the head and went to shower. Maya picked up her phone and called Lucas. It rang a couple times before he answered.
“Hey, Tree Cop,” he said, using his favorite term to tease Maya.
Normally she would give him a hard time back, but she could hear the exhaustion in his voice. “You work through the night?”
“You know it.”
“Are you going to get a break soon?” Maya asked.
“I am. Miranda and I will go to her house and catch a few hours of sleep and then we’ll get back to work.”
“Probably not the weekend you had in mind,” Maya said.
“Not really.”
“I heard there’s another body. What can you tell me?” There was silence on the other end. “Lucas?”
“Yeah, Tree Cop, I’m here… Look, here’s the thing. We already have an ID on this body. He had a driver’s license on him, and we ran it in the system. He’s a known gang member. The Dark Angels from Chicago.”
Maya took a deep breath and let it out, thinking about how there was yet another connection to Josh’s hometown. “Chicago? I’ll admit, I’m not totally up on Chicago gangs.”
“Yeah, I’m not either, although in Denver there’s always some sort of gang activity.
We found evidence that someone had broken into one of the cabins and was sleeping there.
It appears that several people showed up and this person managed to get away.
The shoe imprints of the person who ran away are small.
They match the imprints at the first homicide. I think they belong to our witness.”
“Any word from Doc yet on the identification of the remains?” Maya asked.
“No, but it’s 0700 Monday morning, 0800 Central time. He probably won’t get them for a while.”
Maya took a sip of coffee and then closed her eyes, trying to stay in the moment like Dr. Meyers had taught her. She worked to keep her anxiety in check. “I can bring Juniper and come help.”
“I don’t know, Maya. With this gang member from Chicago, I think we need to be careful with your involvement in the case.”
“True, but until Doc gets an ID on our first victim, we don’t know if this has anything to do with Josh. I get having him stay away from the case, but I can still help. For now. The moment we find out for sure our homicide victim is Amber, I’m out too.”
“You promise?” Lucas asked.
“Cross my heart,” Maya said.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before. You’re the most stubborn person I know, but that’s why I love you like a sister. Okay, bring Juniper and join us. When we find out the victim’s identity, we’ll go from there. But, Maya…”
“What?”
“At some point I might need to talk to Josh. You know, on more of an official basis. I’m just letting you know. As a friend.”
“Okay…” Maya hesitated. “Do you know why reporters would be camped out by our house? Is there anything more you’re not telling me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you have a leak? Did someone tell them that the homicide victim could be Amber?”
“Not that I know of,” Lucas said.
Maya could hear tension in his voice. She’d known him a long time and trusted him, but she also knew that didn’t mean he wouldn’t arrest Josh if he thought he needed to.
“Look, I don’t know why the reporters are out there,” Lucas said.
“As far as I know no one leaked anything. Josh is a person of interest that I want to talk to, but I’m also letting you help with this investigation, so that should tell you that I don’t have tunnel vision. I’ll see you in a little bit, okay?”
“Okay, thanks, Lucas. See you soon,” Maya said, hanging up, as she heard a knock at the door.
Both dogs, Juniper in the lead, rushed to the door, barking. Maya always figured anyone who ever broke into their house would be sorry when they met the Maligator. Finn might just lick someone to death. Peering out the long window next to the door, Maya saw Pops standing there.
“Hey, Pops,” she said, opening the door. The dogs crowded around him, tails wagging. “Come on in.”
“Thanks. I won’t be long. I wanted to stop by and see you on my way to the courthouse. Why do you have reporters camped out over there?”
“No idea,” Maya answered even though she had her suspicions. Right now, denial was the best way for her to deal with them.
Pops leaned over and petted each dog. They both loved him and took turns leaning against his legs, begging for more attention. Maya gave a little whistle and the command for each of them to go lie on their beds.
Finn, happy to have had some love and still a little tired from his track the day before, went over and curled up.
Juniper slunk a few steps, glanced back at Maya, and then sighed and went and sat on her bed.
Maya knew Juniper had slept well last night, saw her in uniform, and didn’t want to lie on her bed. She wanted to get to work.
“I’m glad you stopped by before you headed into the valley,” Maya said. “What time does court start?”
“Oh nine hundred for me.”
Maya nodded. “You need some coffee? Josh is in the shower, but he’ll be out soon.”
“No, I’m good, thanks.”
“I can tell you want to talk to me about something,” Maya said. “What is it?”
Pops chuckled. “You could always read me well.”
“And vice versa.” Her concern grew as Pops stared at the floor and didn’t say much at first. They were a lot alike, so she didn’t say anything and waited.
Josh came out, dressed and ready to go. He saw Pops and said hello.
Grabbing his cup of coffee, he leaned against the counter and waited for Pops to speak as well.
Maya loved this about Josh. Somehow, he instinctively knew when Maya and Pops needed their space.
She wanted to ask Josh about the Dark Angels gang in Chicago but didn’t want to get into it with Pops heading for court.
“Well, so, you probably know that I’ve pretty much handed this investigation over to Lucas and the CBI,” Pops said, breaking the silence.
“I heard,” Maya said. She knew there was more he wanted to say. He didn’t stop by without a good reason.
“Yep. I think he’ll do a real good job.”
Josh glanced at Maya and tilted his head slightly as if asking what was going on. Maya gave a quick shrug and turned her attention back to Pops.
“Are you nervous,” she asked.
“About Lucas? No. Not at all.”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant are you nervous about the trial?” Maya said.
Pops nodded and then stared at Maya. “I am. Look, Maya, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I have a favor to ask.”
“What’s that?” she asked. “I’ll do anything I can.”
“Don’t come today. Or tomorrow. I don’t want you to see me on trial.”
“What? But, Pops, I was going to come this afternoon to support you,” Maya said.
“I understand, but I will be sitting in the same chair where you see defendants. The people we’ve arrested, found evidence against to build a case and who we view as guilty. And hell, I am guilty. In fact, I’ve talked to Spencer about possible plea deals, but he didn’t think any of them were fair.”
Maya was shocked to hear that Pops was even considering taking a plea.
They had all debated, Josh included, if what Pops did was wrong.
Another officer had admitted to Pops that he was involved with a militia trafficking drugs in the national forest. But Pops hadn’t taken the action he should have.
Instead, he gave Doug a chance to turn himself in because he was Maya’s best friend and like a son to Pops.
But before Doug could make things right, a big disaster occurred, which led to his death.
Maya understood the charges, but she also knew that sometimes their jobs weren’t black and white and hard decisions were made.
“Spencer said the prosecutor was trying to get promoted to judge or something like that and wanted to use me as an example of cracking down on corrupt law enforcement,” Pops continued. “Spencer assures me that I’ll get past this. I’m trusting your father, Josh.”
“He knows what he’s doing,” Josh said. “I’m glad he’s licensed to practice here in Colorado as well as Illinois so he can help you.”
“Me too.”
Maya didn’t know what to say, but she also wanted to honor Pops’ wishes. “I won’t come then. But if you change your mind, I’m a phone call or a text away.”
“Thanks, Maya Bear,” Pops said, using his pet name for her. “I’m going to head out.”
“I’ll be there in a little bit,” Josh said. “I’m testifying in another case, so I figured I’d say hi to my dad and sit in on your trial for a little bit. Then get back up here to be the acting sheriff.”
“Sounds good,” Pops said.
Maya wanted to argue a little bit, since Pops was willing to let Josh sit in but didn’t want her to.
On the other hand, she knew it would be difficult to see him like that.
And based on the slow tearing sound coming from the living room as Juniper made dainty holes in her bed, her latest way of ripping things up, her dog needed to work. “Keep me posted, you two, okay?”
“We will,” Pops said, coming over and hugging her. “I’ll see you later tonight. When court is done, I’m coming back up.”
“Okay, Pops. Love you.”
“Love you too. I’ll see you both later. Stay safe.”
“Always,” Maya said.