Chapter Twenty-Eight
Maya unlocked the gate, but closed it again after driving through. She didn’t want some tourist out exploring to drive in and mess up the crime scene. She left it unlocked so Lucas, Doc, and whoever else needed to could get in.
She parked near the cabin with tape around it.
Near the back door there was a figure under a white sheet.
Another victim. More and more criminals were moving into the national forests, but so far, Maya had never dealt with any kind of gang war like a city cop might.
There had been a local militia. Same kind of mentality, but different too.
Gangs were usually into more criminal activity and militias were usually more motivated by political ideology.
Although the militia Maya had dealt with definitely crossed over into criminal activity when they decided to make and distribute drugs.
She supposed in some ways it all blended together.
She was certain that somewhere there was an exact definition for court cases.
A person was standing outside the yellow tape.
Maya recognized her as one of the SAR team members who was also on the sheriff’s posse.
They were short-staffed and Maya was glad the gal could stand in and help.
That way the other deputies could get some rest before coming back and working again. Sometimes the job was grueling.
Juniper stretched in the back and gave a yip. She was ready to go to work. Maya opened the door between her cab and Juniper’s compartment as they waited for Lucas. A gust blew through the area.
“Please don’t get windy,” Maya muttered to herself. That would only make working Juniper more difficult. Spring in Colorado was often windy and Maya knew that would hinder her ability to use Juniper. Hopefully it would die down today and cooperate.
Juniper suddenly let out an excited yip followed by several barks. Lucas had pulled in and the Mal recognized him.
“Let me talk to him and then we’ll go to work, girly. If it doesn’t get windy.”
Another bark came from Juniper followed by some whines. Maya opened her door and greeted Lucas again and waved at the person guarding the scene, who waved back.
“Where do you want to start?” Maya asked. “Juniper is ready to go.”
“I can hear her,” Lucas said with a smile. “Let’s stay outside the tape but go to the west side. I saw the most shoe imprints there and some grass pushed down from someone running through there.”
“Do we need to avoid any of the imprints for Miranda?” Maya asked.
“No. We’re good as long as we’re outside the tape. There’s some good imprints inside where we marked off. Unless this wind destroys them.”
“Okay. I’ll go get Juniper.” Maya walked to her vehicle and Juniper, seeing her coming, started barking and howling.
She shook her head. If only everyone had this much excitement for their jobs.
She found the Kevlar vest that was also a tracking harness so that Juniper had more protection just in case they found the killers and not the person who had fled the scene.
A little bit of wind whooshed through again, but died down.
It was like Mother Nature was toying with them.
After getting all of Juniper’s equipment on, Maya stepped back and let the fur missile fly. Juniper landed and shook, hair flying everywhere as more wind came up. Some of the hair blew back onto Maya, which she didn’t mind. She considered it another sign of spring.
“Okay, let’s go,” she said. Juniper pranced beside her. Every now and then she leaped up in joy. “You are ready to work, aren’t you? Just don’t get so excited that you lose concentration.”
As if she understood, Juniper sat and tilted her head. But she could only sit still for so long. Juniper stood and started circling around Maya. “You need a drink before you go? It’s dry right now. Even with the snow on the ground.”
Maya pulled out her portable water bowl from her duty belt and filled it, letting Juniper take a few slurps.
Not only did the water keep her hydrated, but it would also help the Mal smell better.
A wet nose was a good nose. Putting the water bowl away, Maya nodded at Lucas and they headed back to the area where he’d mentioned.
Deciding that Juniper could do this track off leash, Maya unpinned the long tracking lead.
They were nowhere near roads. Only wilderness.
Other than the cabins, you’d have to hike for miles before you found anything civilized.
Maya saw the stomped-down grass that Lucas had mentioned.
She’d start Juniper there unless her dog picked up a stronger scent she wanted to follow. Maya always trusted her dog.
She cast Juniper out in the direction of the grass, telling her to “seek” and “go find ’em.” Juniper put her nose to the ground and immediately showed signs of being in odor.
“She’s got a scent,” Maya said to Lucas, who was waiting behind her. “Now we just have to try to keep up with her.”
Lucas was muttering something about crazy Malinoises as Juniper took off, nose down and tail up.
She locked on to the odor and Maya came behind her realizing that whoever left this trail was probably running scared—like the other track they’d done.
The scent trail went all over the place, zigzagging back and forth.
A couple of times Juniper stopped and air scented until she caught the track again and took off.
Maya didn’t mind her stopping because it gave her a chance to catch her breath.
Lucas kept up with them. Then they’d resume.
Sometimes, Juniper would get way out ahead and realize that Maya wasn’t near her.
The dog would wait and, once Maya was closer, go back to her work.
“You two have become an amazing team,” Lucas said.
“Thanks,” Maya said over her shoulder. She was proud of the partnership they’d created. She trusted Juniper with her life and knew her dog trusted her as well.
“There’re some broken branches on this crazy path Juniper is taking us on. And based on some of the trampled grass and prints through the snow, someone was running hard,” Lucas said.
“Probably scared,” Maya said. “If you had a gang member after you, losing them in the forest would be your best bet.”
But then that person would have to find their way back out. That’s the tough part. And the part where people fail.
Maya didn’t want to say it out loud, but there was a good chance that this person who had been on the run wouldn’t be found alive.
Although whoever it was had made it this far.
She continued following Juniper, whose tail was still straight up in the air, like a flag.
She couldn’t see Juniper’s head because the dog had it down in the long brown grass.
They came up to a stream, and at first Maya thought Juniper was going to jump in, but the dog took another turn and started following the bank.
Maya called her dog to wait and stopped her, giving her some water, which also gave all of them a chance to catch their breath.
As they took a quick break, the wind started again.
“Oh man, come on, Mother Nature,” Maya said. “You need to cooperate.”
Lucas laughed. “If you can control the weather, I’ll be impressed, Tree Cop.”
“No, but let’s keep going before it gets worse.
” Maya gave Juniper another drink of water and then sent her back out.
Immediately picking the scent back up, Juniper put her nose to the ground and they continued following the creek.
It didn’t take long for the wind to come up and Maya could see Juniper struggle with locating the odor.
As it died down, the Mal managed to find it again.
After the same thing happened a couple times, Maya called Juniper off. The Mal came over to her, tongue hanging and tail wagging. “You did great, girly.”
Maya praised and petted her dog. She was proud of Juniper’s work.
“I think we need to call this track,” Maya told Lucas.
“But at least we know that the person followed this stream. I know where it connects into the river, and honestly, if the person follows this, they could walk their way out of the national forest and to the road heading out of town. It would take them a couple days, but I’m beginning to think this person is tough. They might make it.”
“I’ll have to figure out how fast a person could go on foot and see if we can figure out an area for the SAR team to go,” Lucas said. “And of course, try to keep an eye on the road just in case this person makes it there. I wish I knew if this was a victim or a suspect.”
“I think it’s our victim, but of course, we don’t know anything for sure. But the way that track started and how it was all over the place makes me think that it really was someone running scared.”
“I agree,” Lucas said.
Another gust of wind came through the trees. Several of them creaked and the larger trees swayed. Thinking back to the previous summer when she’d experienced a widow-maker—a dead branch that hadn’t come down yet—Maya didn’t want a repeat of that experience.
“I don’t like it here. These big trees could blow over or branches could come down. Let’s get out of here,” Maya said.
“Agreed,” Lucas said.
Patting Juniper, Maya left her off leash.
The Mal would stick with them, and on the way back, who knew if there would be something that her nose might pick up—even with the wind.
While the wind made a track difficult, it could also blow in another scent.
The hard part for the dog was pinpointing that scent when the wind whipped around.
They were making their way through the thick forest, almost back to the cabins, when another gust blew through.
Juniper put her nose up in the air as it twitched.
Maya could tell she’d caught some sort of odor.
Then Juniper trotted off. Maya and Lucas sped up to keep up with her.
The Mal still managed to lose them, but when Maya came around a grove of trees with the cabins in sight, she saw Juniper lying down, staring straight ahead into a grassy area.
“What did you find?” Maya asked. The wind had probably blown the scent away from Juniper when they started.
Lying down was Juniper’s alert that she’d found evidence.
Sitting was her alert for finding narcotics.
Maya had taught her that when they had teamed up, and she was proud of her dog for quickly figuring out the different indications.
Lucas had come up beside Maya and they approached Juniper together.
“Let me go see what there is, reward her, and then I’ll take her away,” Maya said. “That way you can do what you need to do.”
“Works for me,” Lucas said, stopping and waiting.
Maya headed over to where Juniper was, already praising her. She saw a glint of sunlight from whatever Juniper had found. It was something metal. Coming closer, Maya realized it was a knife. A good-size one too. Then she gasped.
It was Josh’s knife. And it had blood all over it.