Sheriff

by Laura Scott

  The scuff marks weren’t very clear, but the longer he peered down at them the more he was able to identify two distinct heel prints. One looked to be made by some sort of running shoe, while the other was shaped more like a cowboy boot.

  He thought of the size-eleven print found on the door leading into the Paws and Claws Veterinary Clinic. But no, it couldn’t be the same guy. This cabin was used by the Duprees, not linked to Nate and the gunman.

  But was it possible they were working together? He didn’t see how. They’d gotten to his compound later the same day as the jailbreak and Dupree had been long gone.

  Besides, he suspected Nate was small-time compared to the money and power held by Dupree. If he understood correctly, the compound hidden in Clover County was just one of many hideouts owned by the mafia family.

  And the more he thought about it, the more he was inclined to believe that finding the heel print didn’t mean much: cowboy boots were way more popular in Texas than running shoes. Still, he wanted his deputies or, better yet, the crime scene techs from the Houston FBI office to come out to take measurements. He reached for his phone and took several close-up pictures, glancing over in surprise when Julianne came up to stand beside him. He drew in her honeysuckle scent, wishing he had the right to take her into his arms once again.

  “What did you find?” she asked.

  He pulled his head out of the clouds and gestured to the floor. “It looks to me like two people were fighting, see how jumbled up these prints are? And how it’s easy to see several of the heel indentations? That’s a classic sign of a physical tussle.”

  “Yeah.” Julianne hunkered down to examine the floor more closely. Thunder came over to stand beside her, as if waiting for her to give a command. She idly scratched the dog behind his ears, her gaze narrowing. “Doesn’t that look like the cowboy boot outside the veterinary clinic?”

  He shrugged. “Y’all know that doesn’t mean much around here. Hundreds of men and women, for that matter, wear them.”

  Their gazes clashed as they both remembered the flashy red cowboy boots he’d bought for Julianne on her birthday. Mere days before Lilly’s disappearance and her subsequent accusations against Nate. Looking back, he realized it was probably the last time they’d been happy together.

  “Do you still have them?” he asked.

  To her credit she didn’t pretend she didn’t know what he was talking about. “No.”

  His chest squeezed painfully at the way she’d given away his gift.

  He opened his mouth to ask what she’d done with them, but Max and Zeke chose that moment to interrupt.

  “I’m going to get Frank, have him show us where his boat was located when he spotted these guys,” Max said. “Julianne, I want you and Zeke to broaden the search of the area, see if we can find anything else that proves Jake and the Duprees have been here recently.”

  “Jake’s shirt isn’t enough?” Julianne asked with a frown.

  Max shrugged. “Yes, but there could be other evidence, too. Something to help nail down the time frame. Since we didn’t have a chance to talk to any of the guards, we have no idea if Jake was here yesterday, a week ago or longer.”

  “Got it.” Julianne glanced down at Thunder. “We’ll sweep the perimeter.”

  Max nodded, but didn’t say anything more as he left the cabin.

  “Are you planning to have the crime scene techs from Houston come here, too?” Brody asked.

  “I’ll call them,” Zeke said as he pulled out his phone. Like Max, Zeke headed outside, leaving him and Julianne alone.

  “I’m sorry,” Brody offered. “It has to be hard not knowing where one of your team members is being held hostage.”

  She nodded, watching as Zeke walked out into the clearing. “He’s taking it hard,” she agreed. “I wonder if Max made the right move, bringing Zeke into the investigation.”

  “He’s holding it together,” Brody said with a confidence he didn’t quite feel.

  “Barely,” Julianne shot back. “But he’s here, so there’s no use worrying about it now. Come, Thunder.”

  The dog immediately accompanied her outside. Once again she took the evidence bag with Jake’s scent out. “Find, Thunder. Find!”

  Brody watched the dog go to work, sniffing around the ground, alerting at one spot near the front door of the cabin, but then widening his search area as he attempted to pick up the scent. Brody could feel his muscles growing tense as the dog moved around the wooded area without alerting.

  Julianne’s expression didn’t change, but he sensed she was growing puzzled by her partner’s inability to latch onto Jake’s trail.

  Brody turned away to do some investigating of his own. Maybe he didn’t have the same keen sense of smell that Thunder had, but he had a good eye and better instincts. He moved in a grid-like pattern the way he’d been taught by the army. He spied a bit of paper attached to a thorny bush, but it was so small and weathered he couldn’t make out where it may have come from.

  Still, he tucked it away before continuing his search. A few yards farther and he found another clue, a long bit of string also stuck to one of the thorny bushes.

  The string was bright orange, and he thought for a moment about the prison-orange jumpsuit Nate had been wearing when he’d broken out of the prison van. Was it possible Nate had been here?

  “Julianne,” he called, leaving the orange string where it was. “Can you give Thunder Nate’s scent to follow?”

  “Why, did you find something?”

  “Maybe.” He decided not to point it out to her. He backed away from the prickly bush. “Just see if he can pick up Nate’s trail.”

  “Why not?” Julianne sounded tired. “He hasn’t found anything on Jake.”

  She took Thunder back toward the dirt road and gave him a treat. She’d done that before, Brody remembered and wondered if that was her way of signaling to the dog they were changing to a different scent.

  It didn’t take long for Thunder to head over to where the orange thread was located. At the base of the bush, Thunder alerted to Nate’s scent.

  “I can’t believe it,” Julianne said. “Both Jake and Nate were here? How is that possible?”

  Brody was having trouble believing it himself. “I don’t know, but see the orange string? It has to be from Nate’s jumpsuit.”

  “But what does that mean?” Julianne’s wide brown eyes were full of confusion. “Do you really think Nate is part of Dupree’s empire? That your case and mine are intermingled together?”

  He grimaced. “I wouldn’t have thought so—the timing doesn’t seem to work very well—but there’s no denying that Nate has been here.”

  “What do you mean the timing is off?” Julianne asked. “I disagree. I think it makes it more likely that Nate was working with Dupree. Who better to help him escape?”

  Brody still couldn’t see it. “Nate is small-time compared to the Duprees. And I don’t understand why a big crime family would bother with a guy like Nate. Especially since he has only been working his little drug-running, human trafficking operation for the past two to three years.”

  “I admit, the Duprees have been in business a lot longer than that, but I don’t think we can ignore the possibility. Let’s see if Thunder can prove he was in the cabin, too.” Julianne led Thunder over to the open area in front of the cabin’s door and once again provided Nate’s scent. “Find, Thunder. Find!”

  Thunder continued his zigzag pattern all the way to the front door of the cabin without alerting. Brody couldn’t understand it. None of this was making any sense.

  He followed Julianne and Thunder inside, but when he looked questioningly at her, she shook her head.

  Thunder went from room to room without alerting on Nate’s scent.

  “I don’t get it,” Julianne muttered
, rubbing her temples as if her head hurt. “Nate was outside, but didn’t come in here to hide?”

  “Apparently so,” Brody said. “I don’t get it, either.”

  “Nothing about this case makes sense. Thunder, heel.”

  The dog trotted over to Julianne, sitting at her side and gazing up at her in doggy adoration. Brody could relate: he figured he probably looked at her in a similar way.

  For all the good it did him.

  “Julianne! Brody!” Zeke’s shout caused them both to turn toward the cabin doorway. “Cheetah found something!”

  “What?” Julianne and Thunder rushed outside.

  Brody followed, his stomach churning when he discovered Zeke was holding up a running shoe.

  “Where?” Julianne demanded breathlessly.

  “Back this way. Find, Cheetah,” he said, holding the shoe out for his Australian shepherd to sniff. “Find!”

  Cheetah wound around trees, the rest of them following in single-file formation until the dog abruptly stopped. Zeke cautiously stepped forward, then reared back in shock.

  “No!” His voice was a hoarse whisper.

  Julianne peered around his shoulder, went pale and gripped Zeke’s arm. Brody pushed past the two of them to see for himself.

  He let out his breath in a low hiss. Half buried in the ground were the remains of a badly decomposing body.

  NINE

  “Don’t, Zeke.” Julianne tightened her grip on her colleague’s arm. “It’s not Jake. Think about it, this body has obviously been here awhile.”

  “But...” Zeke shook his head, unable to finish the thought.

  “Come on, let’s get back to the cabin.” She tugged his arm, dragging him away from the body. She was only slightly aware of Brody being on the phone with Max, providing an update to their situation.

  Zeke didn’t resist, following her as if in a daze. She knew he still believed the body belonged to his older half brother, but she wasn’t convinced. Still, she intended to use Thunder to prove him wrong.

  “I have to find her,” Zeke mumbled.

  “Who?” Julianne asked, confused.

  Zeke stumbled into the clearing. “Jake’s girlfriend.”

  Julianne froze, then came around to stand in front of Zeke. “What are you talking about? To our knowledge Jake didn’t have a girlfriend.”

  Zeke dragged a hand over his face then grimaced. “Several months ago, before Jake was kidnapped he confided in me,” Zeke said in a dull voice. “He told me that he was seeing a woman and she’d gotten pregnant.”

  Julianne sucked in a harsh breath. “Pregnant?” she repeated, wondering if she hadn’t heard him correctly. “Who is she? Is she still pregnant or did she have the baby? Is it a boy or a girl?”

  Zeke held up a hand. “Jake refused to tell me her name, although he did say she had the baby, a little boy.”

  Jake had a son? “How long ago?”

  Zeke shrugged. “I’m not sure. Jake mentioned the boy was about to celebrate his first birthday, but that was shortly before he disappeared. He didn’t like to talk about it, he seemed upset.”

  “Upset?” Julianne frowned. “Why?”

  “I have no idea,” Zeke admitted. “To be honest I wasn’t very happy to hear about it, myself. Jake should have known better than to put a woman in that position.” Zeke’s gaze darkened and he let out a heavy sigh. “Our dear old dad wasn’t the best example of what a father should be.”

  Julianne tried to wrap her mind around this latest bit of news. “Jake must have given you some indication as to who she is or where she lives.”

  Zeke drew a deep breath. “He mentioned she lives in Montana, not far from headquarters. But if that’s really Jake back there—I have to find her.”

  “Yeah, okay, I get what you’re saying, but first of all, we don’t even have an ID on the dead body. I don’t believe it’s Jake, and you can’t act until we know for sure. In the meantime, you absolutely have to tell Max about Jake’s son.”

  Zeke’s head snapped up, his gaze clashing with hers. “Tell Max?” He clearly wasn’t happy about that suggestion.

  “If the Duprees find out Jake has a child they’ll use that information against him, forcing him to talk. That’s what this whole kidnapping thing is about, right? It’s not about a ransom demand or anything else for monetary gain. It’s about getting Jake to tell them what the FBI knows about the Duprees. Or worse, as a bargaining chip to convince us to release Reginald Dupree.”

  Zeke’s mouth thinned. “Yeah, I can see your point. I don’t think Jake would ever give up the location of his child, but we can’t take any chances. I’ll let Max know.”

  “You can trust him to keep the information confidential, Zeke,” she assured him. “Max is a good boss. He won’t get in your face about this.”

  “I know.” He managed a crooked smile. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it.” Julianne brushed away his gratitude. Then she frowned. “Hey, what size shoe does Jake wear?”

  Zeke glanced down at his own feet, then back up at her. “Same as me, size twelve.”

  “The shoe Cheetah found was smaller than that.” She looked around, finding the shoe where Cheetah had dropped it. Without picking it up, she turned it over with the toe of her shoe so that it was sitting flat on the ground. “Put your foot next to it.”

  Zeke did, the toe of his shoe extending a good inch and more beyond the running shoe. “It’s not Jake’s?”

  Julianne shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she admitted slowly. “And I can’t imagine it’s Clark’s, either. I’m not an expert, but I believe the body has been there for at least ten days, maybe longer. The ME will be able to tell us for sure.”

  Zeke looked hopeful. “You’re right, it must be someone else. But who?”

  She shook her head, battling a wave of helplessness. “I don’t know, but we need to find out as soon as possible.”

  “The ME is on his way, along with a couple of my deputies,” Brody informed them, sliding his phone into his pocket. “And there’s Max and our witness now.”

  Julianne hadn’t even noticed that Max and Frank had been down by the riverbank and were now hurrying toward them.

  “Show me,” Max said in a curt tone. “Frank, you stay here.”

  Julianne led the way through the trees to the location of the body. The wind shifted and the smell was suddenly rancid, forcing her to breathe through her mouth.

  “Unbelievable,” Max said in a low tone. “Who do you think it is?”

  Julianne filled him in on the shoe Cheetah found. “A better question is who it’s not. I don’t believe the body is Jake or Clark.”

  Brody joined them. “It could be someone from Nate’s drug/prostitute business,” he said. “Maybe someone who tried to get away.”

  “But finding the orange string and the fact that Thunder alerted on Nate’s scent indicates he was here after the jailbreak, not before,” she argued.

  “Doesn’t mean that someone working for him didn’t dump a body here,” Brody countered.

  He was right, but she was frustrated to have so many holes in their theory, along with too many pieces to the puzzle that didn’t fit.

  “We won’t know this person’s identity anytime soon,” Max said. “I doubt there will be usable fingerprints or any other convenient way to identify the body, which leaves dental records. And to do that, we need to have some idea who this person is. Unfortunately, we can’t search and match dental records in ViCAP.”

  ViCAP was the acronym for Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, the FBI’s largest criminal database. There was a gold mine of information in there, a myriad of details related to criminals and their patterns or modi operandi. But unless their victim also happened to be a criminal, they were stuck investiga
ting the old-fashioned way.

  Painfully unearthing one clue at a time.

  * * *

  Brody couldn’t get the image of the dead body out of his head. He felt certain the victim was linked to Nate Otwell’s crimes, despite the fact that it could just as easily be connected to the Duprees.

  “Julianne, see if Thunder can pick up Jake’s scent out here,” Max instructed. “I know the running shoe isn’t the right size, but I’d like to be sure.”

  “Okay, but understand that the level of decomposition will make picking up Jake’s scent more difficult,” Julianne pointed out.

  Max nodded. “I know, but there could be other bits of clothing scattered around as well.”

  Brody watched as Julianne took Thunder back toward the cabin. She re-established Jake’s scent, then pointed toward the wooded area. “Find.”

  Thunder went to work and no one spoke, not even Frank, as the dog checked out the area. After twenty minutes, he alerted on Jake’s scent down by the river, but not on anything near or around the area containing the dead body.

  “Okay, then,” Max said. “It appears Jake was here and was likely escorted to the river and taken away via a boat of some sort.”

  Brody glanced at Max. “I can have my deputies question the folks living along the river, see if they’ve noticed anything unusual.”

  Max lifted a brow. “Do you have any deputies to spare?”

  Good point. “It will take some time,” he acknowledged. “First we’ll have to work this crime scene, see if we can prove the victim was killed here, or if this is a dump site. After that...” His voice trailed off. It would take several hours to clear the area. The questioning would have to wait until tomorrow.

  “We could ask the Houston team to work this site,” Julianne spoke up.

  Max hesitated. “I’ve already called in several favors to the SAC in Houston. Not sure how many more I want to pile on,” he admitted. “Especially when we don’t know that this body is linked to our investigation and the Duprees. In fact, it seems more likely that it isn’t.”