by Laura Scott
“I never said he was totally honest,” Everett retorted. “No informant is. But he did have information that only a handful of people knew about.”
“I guess.” Helena clasped her hands together and bowed her head. He felt himself stiffen as she prayed. “Dear Lord, we thank You for this food we are about to eat. We ask that You keep us all safe in Your care, Amen.”
Everett couldn’t bring himself to meet her gaze.
They both dug into their meals without saying much. He wondered once again how they’d work the case with Christine to care for. If not for the recent brush with danger, they could take her along. There was an infant carry pack in the pink diaper bag they could use just for that purpose.
But considering the recent gunfire that had targeted him and Helena, the backpack wasn’t an option.
“I think it might be best if you stay here with Christine while I take Luna to the hotels,” Helena said. “I know that won’t sit well with you, but once I narrow the search field, it will be easier for you to take Zoe’s photo to ask who might have seen her.”
He ground his teeth together, then relaxed his jaw with an effort. “You’re right, I don’t like it. Why don’t we just find a babysitter?”
She arched a brow. “Like who?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I want the baby to be safe. If we were in Anchorage, it would be easier to find someone to watch her.”
“I don’t think we have that option in Denali,” Helena said. “But we can make some calls. In the meantime, reach out to your contact while I make a quick trip to the hotel. The more information we get, the more likely we are to find Zoe.”
She was right. He didn’t like it, but he knew it was the best plan. “Okay, fine.” He pulled out his cell phone and set it on the table. “But give me your number, and take mine down, too. I want you to call if you need anything.”
“Good idea.” Helena took out her phone. After they exchanged numbers and programmed them into their respective devices, she took a sip of her coffee. “You really think the hotels are the target?”
“Yes.” He spread his hands. “What else is there out here? Besides, the new hotel is having a grand opening in a few days. That would be the perfect opportunity for the crime ring to strike.”
“I guess.” Her gaze was troubled. “I hate thinking that Zoe might still be with those crooks. I’m hoping she left Christine with us so she could disappear for a while.”
He didn’t think that was the plan at all, but wisely held his tongue. He needed Helena to keep working with him on this, not against him. “Why don’t you start by taking Luna to the new hotel? If you don’t find Zoe’s scent there, then you can move on.”
“I can do that,” Helena agreed. Luna padded over to nudge the baby who was kicking her legs with exuberance. “Christine looks like she wants to be out of that seat.”
That gave him an idea. “Let’s drove together to the new hotel. We’ll wear our respective uniforms, to indicate we’re doing police business. I’ll stay in the car with Christine, while you and Luna head out to do your tracking thing.”
“Do you think it’s safe?” Helena asked.
“I think it’s safer for us to be together, than apart.”
After they made quick work of washing their dishes and cleaning up the kitchen, Everett headed off to shower and change into his uniform.
When he stepped into the living room, he was relieved to see that Helena was wearing hers, as well. Although, it was still a bit wrinkled from being drenched in the rain and she didn’t have her hat. He inwardly groaned when he realized he’d left it behind.
Christine was babbling happily by the time he tucked her into the back seat of Helena’s SUV.
“You drive,” Helena suggested, putting Luna in the rear. He noticed she had the red scarf in a plastic bag clipped to her belt and that Luna was wearing her familiar K-9 vest.
“Fine with me.”
The new hotel wasn’t too far. The trip took longer, though, because of the lumbering buses slowly making their way around the curvy Denali Park Road.
Everett finally pulled into the parking lot of the Denali Grand Chalet. The hotel was huge and looked like it catered to the super rich, which was interesting considering Denali was a national park. But the owner of the hotel was a billionaire who had lots of rich friends, so maybe it would work.
Anything that offered a financial boon to the State of Alaska was good for everyone who lived there. He glanced at Helena. “I’d feel better if I could back you up. I know your dog is trained to pick up scents, but that won’t help protect you against gunfire.”
“You are backing me up by being in the SUV. I’ll signal or call if anything happens.” Helena didn’t wait for his response but pushed out of the vehicle and went around to release Luna.
From the driver’s seat, he watched as she offered the scent bag to the animal before giving Luna the command to seek.
The dog lifted her nose, searching for the familiar scent. As they took off, he noticed the animal didn’t travel in a straight line. Instead, Luna zigzagged a path around the parking lot and toward the front door.
He wondered if they should have started at one of the side entrances, a more likely spot for employees to come and go. But Zoe would have had to come in through the main entrance to apply for a job, wouldn’t she?
How long did a human scent linger in an area, anyway?
He had no clue.
He divided his attention between watching Helena and Luna, and eyeing Christine in the rearview mirror. The baby was content to play with her rattle, shaking it every which way.
When he noticed Helena and Luna heading around the hotel to one of the side entrances, he put the SUV in gear and moved to a new parking space to continue watching over them.
Tracking Zoe’s scent seemed to be taking a while, which he had to assume wasn’t a good sign. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, wondering what the target was if not a new hotel that catered to the rich.
Unless Zoe wasn’t working for the hotel, but some sort of contract company? Normally, hotels had their own kitchen and service staff, but maybe the owner hadn’t been able to hire enough locals to do the job.
Everett knew for certain that Zoe had worked for a catering company on one job and had also worked as a hotel maid during the anniversary gathering.
But no matter how hard he’d tried, he hadn’t been able to come up with a connection between all the thefts and one single contract company.
He caught a glimpse of Helena praising Luna. He straightened in his seat as she led the K-9 back to the SUV.
“She found Zoe’s scent near the employee entrance,” Helena said breathlessly. “That means she’s been here recently.”
“That’s excellent work, Helena.” He had to stop himself from embracing her. Instead, he focused his gaze on the large hotel. Now that they knew Zoe worked there in some sort of capacity, they could focus their attention on finding her.
And hopefully convince her to testify against the others in the criminal ring while keeping her out of danger.
SIX
Helena stared at the large hotel through the windshield of the SUV. Zoe had recently been near the employee entrance. But did that mean she actually worked for the hotel? Or that she’d escaped from it?
She had no way of knowing for sure.
“This time, it’s your turn to stay here while I go inside to see if Zoe is an employee,” Everett said, breaking into her thoughts.
“Okay, but they may not share employee information without a warrant,” she warned.
“I know, and I can probably get one, but that would mean heading back to Anchorage to take the paperwork to the judge.” He shrugged. “I can ask one of my fellow officers to do that for me, but that will still take time. In the interim, I’ll see if they’re willing to cooperate
.”
“Anything is possible.” She glanced back at Christine, who was happily gnawing on a rattle ring with plastic keys. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
Sitting in the SUV with the engine running to keep the interior cool for Christine and Luna, Helena kept a keen gaze on the people coming and going in the hotel, hoping to catch a glimpse of Zoe.
The minutes dragged by. Suddenly she saw a man step out from the employee entrance, then slink around the back of the building. Helena quickly put the SUV in gear and drove over to get a better look. But there was no sign of him.
Frustrated, she returned to her original parking spot. When Christine began to fuss, she turned in her seat and unbuckled the little girl. The baby smiled and waved her arms, gazing around with curiosity.
She held Christine up so that her feet were pressed on her legs. The baby seemed to enjoy these moments of freedom, and Helena once again found it incredible that Zoe had given birth without telling her.
Had the baby’s father been in the delivery room with her? Or had her twin been all alone? Her heart squeezed in her chest at the thought of Zoe going through something like that without any support.
When Everett returned, his expression was grim. “They wouldn’t give me the information. I showed Zoe’s picture to a few of the employees I ran across, and they all claimed they didn’t know her.”
Helena sighed softly, still bouncing Christine on her lap. “Let’s head back to the cabin, so you can get the paperwork started for a warrant, and maybe we’ll learn something from your contact, too.”
“Yeah.” Everett scowled. “I told them Zoe might be in danger, but even that didn’t make them budge.”
She held Christine with one arm and rested her other hand on Everett’s forearm. “Remember, there are privacy laws they’re being held to, and breaking them opens the hotel management to litigation.”
“I know, it’s just frustrating.” He sighed and reached for the baby. “Let’s get her into her car seat so we can head back to the cabin.”
Helena relinquished Christine but was loathe to leave the hotel where Luna had captured Zoe’s scent. It was the closest they’d come to finding her twin, even though she knew that Zoe could be long gone by now.
As if reading her mind, Everett said, “Don’t worry, we’ll be back once we get the warrant.”
“I know.” She hesitated then added, “I saw a guy come out of the employee entrance and disappear behind the building. But when I drove over there, he was gone. I’d like to see if Luna can pick up Zoe’s trail leading away from the hotel. It might give us a clue as to where she’s staying.”
Everett nodded slowly. “It’s worth a try.”
Eager to be doing something constructive to track her twin, Helena slid out of the vehicle again and freed Luna from the rear. She took Luna back over to the hotel’s employee entrance and then offered the scarf again.
“Seek, Luna. Seek Zoe!”
Luna wagged her fluffy tail and went to work, putting her nose to the ground. As before, she alerted near the doorway. Helena praised her K-9 partner, gave her a treat, then issued the command again.
“Seek Zoe.”
Eager to please, Luna sniffed along the ground. She made a crisscross pattern, widening her search zone. The K-9 alerted near a parking space roughly twenty feet from the doorway.
“Good girl!” Helena rubbed her hands over Luna’s furry coat and offered another treat. “You’re a good girl! Seek Zoe!”
Luna wagged her tail and returned to sniffing, but ended up right back at the employee entrance, alerting there once again.
“Good girl!” Helena gave her partner more positive reinforcement, but deep down, she felt dejected.
The trail ended in the parking lot.
Everett had pulled up near the parking spot, so it didn’t take her long to settle Luna in the SUV. “I take it, the trail stops here?”
“Yeah.” She grimaced. “I guess the only good news about that is that we know someone in the crime ring has a vehicle of some sort. The driver must have dropped her off and picked her up, parking in this spot.” She waved her hand at the area where Luna had alerted. “But that also means we are no closer to finding where she’s staying now.”
“It’s more than we knew before,” Everett pointed out. “And plays into my idea of this hotel being the next target.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything.
Everett circled the parking lot and pulled back onto the highway, still laden with several large tour buses.
Her K-9 partner had an incredible nose for tracking scents, so really all they knew for certain was that Zoe had been there within the past couple of days. Luna could track scents in the rain, but considering the massive thunderstorm they’d experienced, Helena still felt certain that Zoe had been at the hotel recently.
Had her twin gone into hiding after dropping off Christine at Everett’s cabin? The way Luna had lost the scent near the highway made her doubt that theory. Someone had picked Zoe up at the side of the road.
Friend or foe? Could her sister have found someone willing to help her? The way Helena had been attacked and later, how a gunman had sneaked up on her at Everett’s cabin, made that seem unlikely.
No, the more she thought about it, the more likely it was that Zoe was still in danger. Maybe even from Christine’s father.
She sent up a quick prayer to ask God to keep Zoe safe in His care.
* * *
Everett felt waves of tension radiating from Helena and knew she was stressing about her twin.
As much as he still believed Zoe was guilty of grand theft, he was beginning to see how she might have been forced into cooperating with the guy in charge of the criminal ring.
Especially if that same guy was Christine’s father.
In his humble opinion, Zoe should have turned herself in. Yet, having a baby, especially if the guy in charge really was Christine’s father, may have made that difficult.
Although, now that the baby was safe, shouldn’t Zoe be able to find a way to escape?
Or did the woman intend on sticking with her man, regardless of the crimes they’d committed? It was possible that Zoe intended to continue in her life of crime.
He didn’t dare voice his thoughts out loud, knowing Helena would immediately reject the idea. But it was something he needed to consider.
After getting off the park road, which again took much longer than it should have thanks to the slow-moving tour buses, he made several turns and backtracked to be sure they hadn’t been followed. When he finally deemed it safe, Everett returned to the cabin.
He carried Christine and her infant seat inside, while Helena took care of Luna. As they entered the cabin, he couldn’t help but notice the domesticated scene.
A casual observer seeing them together would assume they were a family, complete with a pet dog that looked more like a wolf.
Only they weren’t. He’d lost his family and could never replace them.
Never.
After making a quick sweep of the place, to make sure nothing had been disturbed, he set Christine in the center of the room, in a spot where she could see everything going on around her. He pulled out his phone and contacted one of the officers in Anchorage that he trusted implicitly to get what he needed done.
“Trent? I need a favor.”
His fellow officer groaned. “Let me guess, you need a search warrant.”
Everett couldn’t help but smile. “Yep.”
“You know, I’m a good cop,” Trent argued. “Doing paperwork isn’t my only skill. Maybe if you took the time to write up your own requests, you’d get better at it.”
“Never said you weren’t a good cop,” Everett said in a soothing tone. “And you know very well that normally I wouldn’t mind doing my own scut work. However, I happen to be in Denali at the mome
nt and could use your help with this one.”
“Denali?” Trent sighed loudly. “Okay, fine. Give me the details.”
He quickly filled the other officer in on everything he’d gleaned so far.
“That’s all you have?” Trent asked when he had finished. “It’s pretty thin, Everett. A dog tracking Zoe Maddox’s scent outside the employee entrance of the Denali Grand Chalet, and a petty criminal informant providing eyewitness testimony of her handing off expensive jewelry to a man in a baseball cap? Not sure that’s enough to convince a judge that she works for the hotel.”
“It should be enough,” Everett shot back. “Seriously, how else am I supposed to crack this crime ring open?”
“Do you have any other intel that puts her at the hotel?” Trent asked.
“No.” He glanced at Christine, who was babbling at Luna sitting protectively beside her. “I can put Zoe in Denali without the dog detecting her scent, but not at that specific hotel.” Even that was a bit of a stretch as he couldn’t say with one-hundred-percent certainty that Zoe had dropped off Christine. Sure, Luna was a highly trained K-9 with a great track record, but he knew judges often wanted more.
Besides, as much as he wanted that warrant, he had no desire to have to explain about Christine.
At least, not yet.
“I’ll do my best, but no promises,” Trent said in a grudging tone.
“I appreciate that, thanks.” Everett disconnected from the call before the other man could continue to argue.
“Sounds like that warrant isn’t a slam dunk,” Helena observed.
“It’s not.” He stared down at his phone. “I’ll contact my informant to see if he can shed any more light on the new hotel being the next target.”
Having memorized Norbert’s number and hoping the guy hadn’t gotten himself a new disposable phone, he quickly made the call. Norbert didn’t answer, so he left a message asking him to get in touch with him ASAP.
