After what seemed like forever, the red reflection of taillights winked in the beam of her headlights. Soon she caught sight of the silver Pathfinder she’d seen in town, bearing the license plate she now had memorized, parked by the side of the trail. She pulled in behind it. Robo popped up in back, yawning, having awoken when the movement ceased.
“Let’s take a look,” Brody said, opening his door.
The volunteer had reported that no one appeared to be in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle, and she and Brody didn’t know how far away the men might be. Maybe they hiked from the vehicle to camp somewhere.
“Is a permit needed to camp here?” she asked.
“Nah. It’s legal to camp in this area.”
Cold air washed over her as she left the warmth of the Explorer. She thought the temperature must be in the midthirties at this altitude, and it seemed an unlikely time for camping up this high.
She and Brody walked around the vehicle, noting the B. F. Goodrich stamp on the tires. TKO. Using their flashlights, they squatted behind the rear tires to inspect the tread. Mattie pulled out her cell phone to compare the photo she’d taken of the tire tracks. “Looks like a match to me.”
“Close enough. Gives us a reason to question ’em.”
“When we find them.” Her breath lingered in the air as she spoke.
She shone her flashlight around the area, taking in the dense forest of pine and spruce that surrounded them, along with boulders and half-melted snowdrifts. They’d parked on a ridge, and there was a sheer drop-off to her left where she could see the tops of aspen and spindly pine.
She strode to the back of the Explorer and opened the door to Robo’s compartment. She took a few minutes to prepare him and then asked him to search for Sophie.
He swept the area, alternating nose to the ground and to the air. She directed him to focus on the exterior of the Pathfinder, and he sniffed everything she asked, but not once did he indicate a find. Her hopes plummeted.
Brody straightened, scanning the ground with his flashlight. “We’ll never be able to track them in the dark. Let’s hunker down inside your car while we wait for sunrise. They won’t come back here tonight, but we’ll keep an eye open just in case. I can take first watch.”
“Robo can track them in the dark.”
“Maybe so, but this terrain is rugged, and there’s no trail. I’m not excited about breaking an ankle out here while we stumble around.”
“What if they took Sophie Walker? We’ve got to find her!”
“Use common sense. We can’t help her if one of us gets hurt. And Robo didn’t find her scent anywhere.”
“What if they carried her?” Mattie checked her service weapon, making sure it was loaded and ready. “I’m going.”
She turned and led Robo back toward the driver’s side of the Pathfinder, where he could pick up the driver’s scent on the ground. As she started the chatter to rev up her dog, she could hear Brody cursing behind her.
“Here, Robo. Scent this,” she said, combined with a gesture toward the ground by the Pathfinder.
Mattie ignored Brody while Robo sniffed toward the ledge, circled around to the back of the vehicle, and then headed to the ledge again. She could picture Merton Heath exiting the Pathfinder, going to the overlook to scout out a way to go down, and then going to the back of his vehicle to get something.
Sophie?
Her heart quickened as Robo went to the drop-off and disappeared over the edge. She hurried over and shone her light down the steep slope. Aspen, spindly evergreen, and scrub oak clung to the downslope where Robo slid, heading to the bottom. Brody drew up beside her, his Colt AR-15 slung over his shoulder.
“He’s on it. And so am I.” Grabbing onto the branch of a pine, she took the first step, sinking ankle deep into the loamy soil before sliding a couple feet. She wavered, trying to maintain her balance while still holding the flashlight.
“I’ll be behind you,” Brody said. “Wait for me at the bottom.”
She glanced at the moon and decided to try to navigate by its light. Putting her flashlight back into the loop on her utility belt, she freed up both hands to hang onto the vegetation. Gradually her eyes adjusted and she could make out Robo’s shadow ahead of her, weaving downhill.
Following him, she half-slid while sharp rocks cracked her shins and ankles. Shifting her grip from pine to scrub to thorny current bushes, she made her way down slowly, a little bit at a time, until she’d descended about fifty feet. There, Robo stood waiting for her, waving his tail. He turned to leave when she reached him.
“Robo, wait.”
Stones cracked together in a rockslide as Brody came down, farther off to her left. “Are you all right?” she asked, shining her flashlight toward where she’d last heard him cursing.
He limped up to her. “Yeah, let’s go.”
Sweeping the area with her light, it appeared they were in a meadow, and Robo took the lead, nose down on a trail indicated by smashed grass. Within twenty minutes, they reached a beaver pond, surrounded by evergreens that sheltered a campsite. In the dim moonlight, she could barely see the two orange tents set up beside a fire pit that held smoldering embers.
She extended her hand to stop Brody. “Robo, wait,” she whispered. And to Brody: “They’re here.”
Brody unslung his rifle and gripped it in two hands while Mattie unsnapped the flap on her holster.
“How do you want to do this?” she asked.
Brody scanned the area and then pointed. “I’ll use those trees for cover and wake them. You stay off to the side behind that boulder and cover me if they come out shooting. Otherwise, we’ll go into camp and talk.”
“Got it. Robo, heel.”
Staying low, Mattie crept the last one hundred yards toward her position, keeping an eye on the tents as she went. Off to her right, Brody made it to the pine trees at the edge of the campsite and disappeared into their shadows. When she reached the boulder, she slipped behind it, making sure Robo was secure and well covered.
“Hello,” Brody shouted. “Merton Heath. Timber Creek County Sheriff’s Department. We want to talk to you.”
Murmuring came from inside one of the tents, which billowed with movement. Then came the sound of the flap being unzipped.
“Who are you?” someone called from the tent.
“Chief Deputy Ken Brody, Timber Creek County Sheriff’s. We need to talk. Come out nice and slow with your hands where I can see them.”
More murmuring. “I need to put on my shoes.”
After a pause, a man crawled out of the tent and stood, hands raised slightly, and another man followed. In the moonlight, it appeared both wore jeans and flannel shirts. Without blinking, Mattie watched the men’s hands.
“You men in the other tent. I need you to come out too,” Brody called.
Now would be the time for them to make a move. Mattie’s senses sharpened and time suspended while she waited. The second tent showed movement, and after several long seconds, the flap unzipped and two men came out. All four men that she’d seen in town were now accounted for.
Brody stepped from behind the trees, holding his rifle in front of him but down low. “Which one of you is Merton Heath?”
“That would be me,” the first man said, raising one of his hands a bit higher.
“Do you have any weapons with you?”
“No guns. A couple filet knives for the fish. What’s this about?”
Mattie stepped out from behind the boulder, bringing Robo with her. All eyes looked at her and then went back to Brody.
“This is Deputy Cobb. We’ve been looking for you so we can talk. We’re coming in. Don’t make any sudden moves.”
While Mattie edged closer, Brody crossed the distance to enter the camp, keeping about twenty feet between him and the men. Robo hovered at her heel, alert and on guard.
“Mr. Heath, would you build up that fire to give us some light?” Brody used the broadside of his rifle to gesture towar
d the woodpile.
Keeping his hands in sight, Heath threw a couple logs on the smoldering fire. They crackled and snapped as they caught fire and flared. Brody nodded toward the others. “You men, gather round where I can see you.”
Firelight revealed basic features. Two blond and clean shaven, and two dark and bearded. Mattie glanced at their faces, but her primary focus remained on their hands.
“I need your names,” Brody said.
“This is Jace Gardner,” Heath said, waving a hand toward the other dark-haired man who came from his same tent. “These two guys are Frank and Ted Robbins.” These were the two who had blond hair and lighter-colored eyes.
“Brothers?” Brody asked.
“Cousins,” the one named Frank said.
“What brings you guys out here?”
“Fishing,” Heath said, gesturing toward poles leaning against the trunk of a towering lodge pole pine.
“Kind of cold for a fishing trip.”
“We needed to get out of Denver for some fresh air,” Heath said. His eyes were dark, and Mattie thought they were probably brown. She moved a bit closer so she could see more clearly.
“What do you want from us?” Gardner asked.
“How long have you been here?”
“We got up here Wednesday afternoon late. Set up camp right before dusk.”
It had been around noon on Wednesday when Mattie spotted the group in town. It was possible they could’ve made it here before sundown.
“When did you drive here from Denver?”
“Wednesday morning. Had lunch in Timber Creek and then came up here,” Heath said.
“How about Tuesday? Where were you then?”
Heath glanced at Gardner before replying. “In Denver.”
“All of you?”
“Yes, we came down together.”
“Do you have someone who can vouch for where you were on Tuesday afternoon?” Brody asked.
Again Heath looked at Gardner. “Let me think,” he said as if buying time. “Why do you ask?”
Brody stared at Heath for a beat. “So where were you, Mr. Heath?”
Heath frowned. “I took off work to get ready for our trip.”
“Can anyone vouch for that?”
Heath looked at Gardner. “My friend here. We were together.”
Gardner nodded.
“How about you other two men?” Brody asked, looking at the Robbins cousins.
Frank shrugged. “I’m a student. Community college. I was at the library Tuesday afternoon.”
“Can someone confirm that?”
“Probably not.”
Brody looked at Ted. “You?”
“Just hanging out, getting ready for the trip.”
Her impatience growing, Mattie grew tired of the exchange. No one had a verifiable alibi, and they all were acting guilty as hell. One or all of these men could have killed Candace and kidnapped Sophie.
“So none of you can give me specifics or prove where you were?”
Heath shoved his hands into his pockets.
Mattie’s adrenaline surged, and Robo stiffened into protection mode. She pulled her Glock from its holster.
Brody raised his rifle. “Hands!”
Eyes opening wide, Heath raised his hands again, palms empty. “Geez,” he muttered. “Chill.”
“I told you,” Brody said. “Keep your hands where I can see them.”
“What’s got you on edge, man? Why are you grilling us? We’ve got rights, you know,” Gardner said, the firelight revealing a scowl on his face.
“We had an incident in Timber Creek Tuesday afternoon,” Brody said. “A young girl died.”
Heath’s gaze jumped to Gardner and then to each of the others in the group. When he looked back at Brody, he seemed to have worked things out. “And your K-9 officer spotted my Pathfinder in town on Wednesday, and one thing led to another. You’re up here looking for me.”
His response confirmed that Mattie hadn’t imagined their furtive reaction on Wednesday. They’d spotted her the same time she spotted them. They probably even discussed it as they drove out of town.
Brody gave him a nod of acknowledgment. “Do you know anything about the girl’s death?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Well, yesterday, another young girl went missing,” Brody said.
“Jesus,” Gardner muttered under his breath, shuffling his feet, eyes downcast. He looked up and locked eyes with Mattie for a long moment before his slid away and he resumed his study of the ground.
“We had nothing to do with that either. We were in Denver on Tuesday and we left Timber Creek Wednesday after lunch.” Heath looked at Mattie. “We drove out of town soon after you saw us.”
Finally, Mattie could break her silence. “We need to find that missing girl. If you had nothing to do with her disappearance, you’ll let me and my dog search your tents. Can I have your permission?”
Heath looked at the others. The Robbins cousins held out their hands, palms up, as if to say they had no choice.
“They have no right to search our things,” Gardner said.
Frowning, Heath looked at him. “We have nothing to hide.”
Gardner shook his head. “Even still.”
Brody was frowning too. “Either you have this child or you don’t. It’s easy enough to prove you’re innocent. Will you let us take a look inside your tents?”
Heath looked at Gardner as if in appeal for him to give permission.
“We don’t have your missing child here,” Frank Robbins said. “Go ahead and search our tent.”
Gardner gave him the stink-eye.
Ted Robbins murmured his consent as well.
“Searching our tent is all right by me,” Heath said.
Clearly outnumbered, Gardner caved, though he didn’t look happy about it. “Go ahead. You won’t find what you’re looking for.”
Mattie led Robo to the tent the Robbins cousins had occupied, unzipped the flap, and peered in, looking for anything that could be of danger to her dog. Sharp objects like unsheathed knives, fishhooks, or needles. Instead, she saw rumpled sleeping bags, backpacks tossed toward the back of the tent, and clothing scattered all over. No Sophie.
After refreshing Robo’s memory with the scent article, she directed him into the tent. It didn’t take him long to search the small area, and he came right back to her. No hits. She backed out of the tent, zipped it closed, and led Robo to the second tent. Inside, she saw pretty much the same thing, although their stuff was better organized, the sleeping bags straightened, clothing tucked away in backpacks.
Robo zeroed in on one of the backpacks, touched it with his nose, and sat.
Her heart skipped a beat. Was this Sophie’s backpack?
After sizing it up in her flashlight’s beam, she decided it was too big. It probably wasn’t Sophie’s. But had Robo hit on her scent? Or drugs?
Mattie crawled inside on her knees. After pulling a pair of latex gloves from her pocket, she picked up the pack and took it with her outside the tent. As she approached the group at the campfire, she held it up for Brody to see. “He gave me a hit on this.”
Brody arched one brow and looked at Heath. “Who does this backpack belong to?”
Heath threw a glance of apology at his tent-mate. “It’s not mine, man.”
“Is it yours, Mr. Gardner?”
Gardner shrugged. “What if it is?”
Brody looked back at Mattie. “Is it her scent?”
“Either that or drugs.”
Against the background of general declarations of innocence from the men and their denials of having done anything wrong, Brody appeared to be pondering the situation. Finally, he spoke. “Okay, I want to treat you guys fairly, so I’m going to let you know that you have the right to remain silent.” And with that, he went on to give the entire group the Miranda warning from memory, ending with: “Do you understand your rights? Can we talk about this and clear things up?”
At t
his point, Mattie knew that Brody wanted anything these guys said to be able to be used as future evidence, so she prepared to listen carefully.
“Mr. Gardner, in addition to search and rescue, our dog is trained to sniff out drugs. There must be meth or something like that in this backpack.”
“There’s no meth in there!”
“Then what is it?”
Gardner looked around at the others as if for help, but there was none forthcoming. “There’s nothing in there but a little bit of weed.”
Brody stared at him.
Heath spoke up. “It’s legal to have personal use marijuana in Colorado.”
Brody turned his piercing gaze toward Heath. “You can have two ounces and smoke it in the privacy of your own home, but it’s illegal to possess or transport it inside the boundary of the national forest. Which is where we happen to be standing right now.”
Heath’s bit of defiance wilted. “You’re screwed,” he muttered to Gardner.
Brody scanned the group. “My priority here is our missing child. Will you guys take a little ride with us back to the sheriff’s office, where we can sort these things out?”
“Oh, come on, man,” Ted Robbins said, whining. “You can’t arrest us for this.”
“You’re not under arrest. But I need you to work with me. I’ve got to be convinced that you had nothing to do with our missing child so I can move on to someone else.”
“The pot isn’t ours, sir,” Frank said, waving a hand between him and his cousin.
“We didn’t even smoke it. He did,” Ted said, evidently having no qualms about pointing a finger at his friend.
“At the very least, you’re a witness. We’ll take you in and sort this out.” Brody turned to Mattie. “We have a unique situation here. While you were searching the tents, I learned that all of these guys are registered sex offenders, except for Ted.”
The words fanned the anxiety she’d felt for Sophie since reading Merton Heath’s case file. She looked at Frank, who seemed to be willing to cooperate. “How come you’re all here together?”
Frank looked her directly in the eye. “The three of us met in a halfway house in Denver. All of us were convicted of basically the same crime, sex with a minor, but for all of us, the relationship was consensual. We just had the bad judgment of picking girlfriends younger than us. Girls whose parents were out to get us.”
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