by Alex Kava
Creed was used to a life where he dropped anything and everything for the sake of a dog. Or Hannah. Or Brodie. But he realized he shouldn’t expect that from others.
“I really am sorry I ruined your evening,” he told her.
“Actually you did me a favor,” she said without looking up at him. “I hate blind dates. I don’t know why I let friends talk me into them.”
A date! That was all Creed heard, and now he did feel bad.
“Don’t worry about it,” she added. “I’d do the same thing for any of my other clients.”
“But you have two other partners who cover for you.”
“Are you saying you want to hire another vet for here?”
He recognized a hint of hurt in her voice.
“No, that’s not at all what I’m saying. I’m just trying to apologize for being an inconsiderate jerk. I don’t want you to ever feel like I’m taking advantage of you.”
He could tell from her eyes that she was smiling underneath her mask.
“We’re good. Seriously, don’t worry about it,” she told him.
“Well, I owe you one.”
“Okay. Yes, you owe me one.”
Then she held up her forceps to show him the bullet.
Chapter 32
Pensacola, Florida
Jason had offered to follow Maggie from the medical examiner’s offices to her hotel on Pensacola Beach. She had been unusually quiet during the drive. She thanked him for his offer and said it wasn’t necessary.
He didn’t know the woman well, but he knew Ryder was crazy about her, despite the fact that he refused to talk about it. Maybe they were just exhausted, but still, Jason wondered if something had happened between Maggie and Ryder. Something more than finding an injured dog.
Jason drove by the Segway House and noticed one of his friend’s vehicles parked in the far corner of the lot next to a shiny, black Mercedes. Not one of the handicapped slots close to the door. He shook his head and smiled. This place had been a home to him when he got back from Afghanistan. After all the hospitals. After all the frickin’ rehab. It was one of the few places that didn’t make him feel like a freak, because so many of the other guys had it worse.
Like Benny. Both of his legs were amputated above the kneecaps. And yet the guy didn’t want to take up a handicapped parking. Instead, he parked in the far corner of the lot.
“I’ve got this down,” Benny told them. “Someone else might need it more than me.”
Though he used a motorized wheelchair, his vehicle was specially rigged with a hydraulic ramp.
The Segway House wasn’t just for veterans. It was a safe haven for teenage runaways, domestic violence victims, and other lost souls. It was one of the first places he could talk about what he’d experienced. He certainly hadn’t been able to talk to his family.
From the very beginning, they’d made it clear they didn’t want to hear about it. They wanted to pretend his arm hadn’t been amputated. That he was the same ole Jason even as they gave him their best pity looks. His mom told him it was too sad to talk about. His father hadn’t even come to the hospital. Said it was too hard to see his son all broken and in pain.
Too hard.
His mom wanted him to stay with them, but Jason knew he would suffocate from their expectations.
But at the Segway House, he met veterans in worse shape than himself. They could joke about it. Trade war stories.
It was also where he’d met Hannah Washington. Almost two years ago she offered him a job as an apprentice dog trainer. It came with a doublewide and a kennel-full of daily chores. He didn’t recognize it at the time, but what she really offered him was a lifeline.
Still, he was drowning, and he didn’t know it until Ryder handed him a second lifeline. He let Jason choose a puppy of his own to raise and train. The offer came with a catch though. Jason had to promise to stick around and not abandon the dog. From the day they met Ryder had seen and recognized what others had not. Jason’s death wish, his Option B.
Jason made his way through the lobby, waving to the receptionist who recognized him. Everyone remembered him. Mostly they remembered his black mechanical hand. Hannah’s boys called him the Terminator man or Transformer guy. They thought his prosthetic made him a superhero.
He found his friends in their regular spots around a poker table: Benny, Colfax, Doc and a new guy named Theo who was temporarily replacing their friend, Eric. As soon as Jason came into the room, Benny and Colfax called out his name like this was the local watering hole. No alcohol or smoking was allowed in the Segway House, but the atmosphere was sort of like a neighborhood pub.
Jason slipped into his regular chair that had been left empty and ready for him.
“Looks like a high-stakes game,” he nodded at the piles of plastic chips in the center of the table.
“Doc keeps upping the ante,” Benny said.
They weren’t allowed to play for money. They tallied the points for the week in a notebook. The losers chipped in and bought the winner dinner or drinks at their other hangout: Walter’s Canteen on Pensacola Beach.
Doc was the misfit. Older than the rest of them, he was what Jason had heard described as classically handsome, cleft chin and thick wavy hair. He looked and talked like a celebrity. He was an Army surgeon; whose own PTSD came from patching up guys like those around the table.
“Doc, it’s kind of late,” Jason said. “I thought your wife liked you to be home for dinner.”
“Yeah, how is your beautiful, young wife?” Colfax emphasized “young.”
Doc often complained about keeping up with his new trophy wife, even as he bragged about her. She was wife #3, and they’d all heard stories about the ex’s, and how hard Doc had to work to pay for all of them. But it was in jest. The man obviously did okay. He drove a Mercedes and dressed in clothes that even Jason recognized as designer stuff.
“Deal you in?” Colfax asked.
“No, I can’t stay,” Jason told him. “Just stopped in to say, hey.”
“What, you got a big date or something?” Doc asked.
“Right, cause I’m such a stud.”
Benny and Colfax laughed. Doc didn’t. And Theo, who didn’t know any of them well enough, stared at his cards.
“No,” Jason added. “Have to be up early to work a scene.”
But he stayed and talked until he realized he, Benny, and Colfax were the only ones left. Theo got tired of losing. Doc got a text and had to go. They ribbed him about the young wife, but Jason thought the text might be a patient because Doc looked too serious.
Just when Jason was getting ready to leave, a woman walked into their room. Tall, blond and gorgeous and so far out of his league he had to tell himself to close his jaw and stop staring.
“Sorry, guys,” she told them. “I was just looking for someone.”
“You mean like a few good men?” Jason couldn’t believe his boldness. “You found us!”
“Cute,” she said, but with a smile that wasn’t at all condescending or even annoyed. Instead, it was...hell, it was sexy, especially the way she looked him in the eyes.
“I’m Jason,” he managed over the butterflies forming in his gut. “This is Colfax and Benny. Why don’t you join us? We’re just playing some poker.”
“I can’t. Sorry guys,” and she said it to all three of them like she genuinely appreciated the offer. “Rain check?”
“Absolutely.”
She started back out the door but turned and said, “By the way, I’m Taylor.”
And then she was gone.
The three of them stared after her until Benny broke the trance and said, “Wow.” Then to Jason he added, “Way to go. You are a stud. Who knew?”
Jason just shook his head, but he couldn’t shake the smile off his face even as he said, “She is so far out of our league.”
Chapter 33
Margaritaville Beach Hotel
Pensacola Beach, Florida
Maggie paced while sh
e listened to Gwen Patterson tell her she was being ridiculous. Gwen was her friend, mentor, nagging mother figure, and Doctor of Psychology. Mostly in that order.
“I don’t know,” Maggie said. “I’ve never seen him look at me that way before. He didn’t just look pissed off. He looked...he looked disappointed.”
“I’m sure you’ll be able to talk it out. He was worried about the dog. You were worried about him.”
Maggie stood on the balcony of her sixth-floor hotel room. The view of the Gulf was breathtaking even in the dark. It wasn’t right to complain about such trivial things instead of enjoying this view.
“I’m sure you’re right,” she finally told her friend.
“What I want to know is why are you in a hotel room?”
“Excuse me?” Maggie asked.
“Why aren’t you staying with Ryder and Hannah? I thought they had all kinds of room in that huge house.”
“It’s complicated.”
“We’ve talked about this before. You make things too complicated.”
Of course Gwen was right. Maggie could handle tracking serial killers and confronting them easier than she could handle personal relationships. After her father died, Maggie’s mother started drinking and bringing home strange men to spend the night. Some of the men thought her twelve-year-old daughter should be part of the deal.
In her mother’s defense, the woman was usually passed out when the fondling and inappropriate touching occurred. But for Maggie it had destroyed her ability to trust anyone close to her. Especially men.
“But hey,” Gwen said when Maggie took too long to respond. “I’m all for staying on the beach, ordering room service and sinking your toes in the sand. If I know you, I’m guessing you won’t even do that.”
“You don’t know that,” Maggie countered. “I’m getting ready to order some room service.”
Her cell phone beeped, letting her know she had another call coming in. She glanced at the ID.
“The medical examiner is calling me,” Maggie told her friend. “Thanks for listening. I better take this.”
“Okay, but don’t come back without sinking your toes in the sand.”
Maggie smiled. If Gwen could only see the view she was looking at right now.
“Hello, Dr. Kammerer.”
“Hey, how long did you plan to spend down here?” Vickie asked.
“Maybe through the end of the week. Why?”
“With Sheriff Norwich sidelined, we’re going to need some help. I looked you up. This stuff is your specialty.” She sounded surprised.
“I told you that,” Maggie said.
“Sure, but you didn’t mention that you’re the head of a special serial crime unit. A whole unit with digital forensics and crime lab services. This case definitely meets the requirements, and don’t tell me you have a waiting list. You’re already down here.”
“Dr. Kammerer, are you requesting my assistance?” Maggie couldn’t keep the smile from her voice.
She had spent a long, hard day with the woman, and had already decided early on that she liked her, even liked working with her. That wasn’t always the case when she worked with local coroners or medical examiners.
“Yes, I am requesting,” Vickie said. “And I just realized I’m doing a piss-poor job of it.”
Chapter 34
K9 CrimeScents
Florida Panhandle
Tuesday, June 16
Brodie worried that they might not allow her back at the crime scene. After all, she wasn’t an official anything. She was a helpful guide yesterday, and her freakishly long arms had come in handy. Today she might just be in the way. But she was anxious and excited to work along side Vickie and Maggie again.
It didn’t matter that her sleep had been filled with maggot-riddled bodies. When she woke up, she marched to her bathroom and spent a good ten minutes washing her hands. When that wasn’t enough, she stood under the showerhead welcoming the powerful stream of water even though she had taken a shower last night.
It was difficult to explain. She didn’t mind getting dirty and sweaty, but she knew her obsession with washing—especially her hands—was a side effect from days, weeks, months of sleeping in her own filth. She was glad no one questioned her. Except for Isaac and Thomas. But that was only because they didn’t want their mom making them wash their hands as much as Brodie washed hers.
At breakfast, Hannah told them Sherriff Norwich’s condition remained unchanged. She was responsive and being monitored.
“Was it a heart attack?” Jason asked.
“Yes, it was, and she has you to thank for knowing what to do.”
“Nice to know the hand works,” he said flexing the black mechanical fingers.
Both Isaac and Thomas threw up their arms and shouted, “Transformer Guy!”
Jason smiled at them then caught Brodie’s eyes and did an eyeroll that the boys couldn’t see.
“Maggie and Vickie are coming back here. They’re going to take Brodie’s trail back in,” Hannah told them. “Sheriff department’s men are coming up Coldwater Creek.”
“They using the launch site Ryder found?” Jason asked.
Hannah nodded.
“Where is Ryder?” Brodie craned her neck to look out the kitchen window. Usually he and Jason came in together after kennel chores. She realized he must not be with Maggie if she was coming with Vickie. Their romantic dinner must have gotten cancelled completely.
“He and Grace spent the night in the clinic,” Hannah said.
“Is Grace okay?”
“Oh sure she is. A bit worn out. Which by the way, Jason, Ryder said you and Scout will need to continue the search. He might join y’all later.”
Then Hannah told Brodie about the dog Ryder and Maggie had found. How Dr. Avelyn had performed surgery last night to remove a bullet. Brodie listened quietly. She knew Hannah was making it not as scary because of Isaac and Thomas being there at the table, though both boys listened intently. Brodie would ask for details later. She wondered whether it was the same man who killed those people in the forest.
There was a time when Brodie wouldn’t have a problem with shooting a dog. She wondered if that was still true. Once upon a time, Iris Malone had sent a big, frightening hound after her when Brodie tried to run away. The dog clamped its huge jaw around her ankle. It felt like his teeth sank all the way down to the bone. The scar was an ugly reminder. But Jason had helped her get over her fear of dogs.
She looked up now and found him watching her.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded. Everybody was always asking her if she was okay. It was annoying. But she liked when Jason asked. She liked it a lot.
He glanced at his phone that he had left beside his plate. Then he pointed to her plate.
“Finish up. Maggie and the medical examiner are almost here. We need to be ready to go.”
“Really?” She slipped. And it was too late to hide it. She could feel the surprise register on her face before she could hold it back.
Jason simply put his head down and pretended to concentrate on forking up another piece of pancake and sausage, but Brodie saw the uptick of a smile at the corner on his mouth before he took a bite.
Chapter 35
Blackwater River State Forest
Brodie watched Vickie assessing the crime scene, turning until she made a full circle. The big tarps held in place but were now sunken in the middle with pools of water, twigs and leaves. Fallen branches had blocked their path in a couple of places, but here in the clearing the puddles appeared to be the only nuisance.
And the mosquitoes...and flies. Even Hannah’s magic concoction might not meet the challenge.
“Could it be any more humid?” Vickie said, and today Brodie recognized her deadpan humor. Or sarcasm. Okay, she still didn’t understand the difference, but she enjoyed when Vickie did it.
A pile of old clothes was where Vickie wanted to start this morning. The medical examiner had already told the
m what she wanted to collect. She’d asked Jason and Scout to search the portion of the woods directly behind this victim.
She kept calling the abandoned clothes a victim, but even as Brodie helped lift up the tarp, she couldn’t see anything more than a limp, dirty shirt that was once striped and canvas pants.
Vickie pulled out a white sheet from her backpack. As she unfolded it, she handed two corners to Brodie, gesturing for them to stretch it out and lay it alongside the mess.
“I would love to scoop her up and put her into a body bag, so I could peel her apart on one of my tables. But that might not happen so easily, ladies.”
“What makes you think it’s a her?” Brodie wanted to know. She thought the clothes were too dirty to tell.
“Good question. Maggie, get a couple of evidence bags ready. I don’t want some of the smaller pieces to go to the sheet. Just the big, messy stuff.”
Vickie squatted down. She tugged her latex gloves up high over her wristwatch. She brushed her fingertips across the top until they could see the fabric. Faded red, yellow and blue stripes on gray. Or probably white, not gray.
Not satisfied with her fingertips, she reached over to her backpack’s outer pocket and removed a brush. Then she started running the bristles carefully over the rest of the clothes. Within minutes Brodie could see the outline taking form. Sleeves down by the sides, pant legs straight out.
For a minute Brodie thought it looked exactly like someone would display an outfit on the bed to see if the pieces went together. She remembered her mother doing the same thing years ago.
Then the realization hit her.
This was just like the man they’d found yesterday, the one who looked like he had simply gone to sleep in the grass.
Knowing that didn’t make it any less shocking when the medical examiner started peeling apart the top of the shirt.