Hunting Hour

by Margaret Mizushima

  “I’ll ride along with you,” Stella said.

  “Deputy Brody hasn’t returned yet, and I expect the first news crew to arrive within a half hour,” McCoy said. “I need to be here for that. Do you want Deputy Johnson to go with you as backup?”

  Mattie didn’t want to wait for him to be called in. “If Stella’s right about Tilley, there’s no danger from him.”

  Stella gave her a look. “I agree there’s no danger. This is little more than a welfare check. We can handle it.”

  Chapter 25

  Mattie loaded Robo and then jumped into the driver’s seat, strapping on her seat belt while she fired up the engine. Flipping on the overhead emergency lights, she drove toward the highway. Thank goodness she knew exactly where she was going. Once she hit the highway, she quickly brought the Explorer up to ninety miles per hour. She hoped to cut the time required to get there by pouring on the speed now, since she couldn’t on the dirt roads.

  “Don’t go all cowboy on me,” Stella said.

  Mattie caught Stella’s warning look out the corner of her eye. “You know me better than that.”

  “That’s just it. I know you very well. This case is pushing all your buttons, and you’re not fooling anyone. Brody even asked me if there was something going on with you and Dr. Walker.”

  Mattie shrugged it off. “Geez. Brody?”

  “He was concerned you were letting your emotions get in the way of your judgment.”

  “He’s one to talk.”

  Stella made a sound of agreement before turning a serious face toward Mattie. “True. But I’m concerned too.”

  Mattie threw a sidelong glance at her. “I can handle this.”

  Stella pursed her lips, a furrow of worry on her brow. “You talk a good line, Mattie Cobb, but can you follow through? Innocent until proven guilty. This man deserves your respect.”

  Astonished, Mattie gave her head a slight shake. “I know that. I’ve treated him with respect, and I will. There’s no need for the lecture on police sensitivity.”

  “Brody also said that lately he’d had his first experiences of playing good cop to your bad cop instead of vice versa. Surprised the hell out of him.”

  “Bet it did him some good to try out a new role for a change. When did you and Brody have this conversation?”

  “Before he left with Heath and friends. Said as your supervisor, he needed to get my perspective and my opinion about you being on the case. It’s a fair question.”

  “Nice to be included in the discussion.”

  “I’m including you now. It’s not just this case, Mattie. I’ve been concerned about you for weeks. You’re not yourself. You look exhausted, and you’re irritable as hell. It feels like you’ve got rage simmering inside of you.”

  Not wanting to prove Stella’s point, Mattie bit off an angry retort. “Look, can we not talk about this right now? I’ve got to pay attention to my driving.”

  Stella paused long enough that Mattie darted another glance at her, finding herself squarely the focus of the detective’s probing gaze. Stella turned away and looked out the windshield. “You’re right. Later.”

  Mattie sped down the highway, slowing to turn onto the dirt road that led to Tilley’s place.

  If Robo can pick up a trail, just a trace of scent that leads somewhere, that’s all we need. Just a trace of scent.

  “Cut the overheads when we turn into his place,” Stella said.

  “I was going to.” They were about a quarter mile away, and Mattie flipped the switch that turned off the flashing lights. “I’ll shut them down now.”

  “Good.”

  Mattie turned into the drive and parked beside the yard. Tilley was nowhere to be seen.

  “I’ll go up and knock. You wait back here,” Stella said, stepping out of the Explorer. She strode up to the porch and rapped on the door. Mattie unsnapped the strap on her holster for easy access to her Glock, exited her vehicle, and stood beside it.

  The door opened an inch, and Stella spoke to the man behind it. “It’s me, Mr. Tilley. Stella LoSasso. We’ve had a report that you heard screams coming from the forest. I’m here to investigate it for you.”

  The door opened a bit more, and Gus hovered at the threshold, baseball bat in hand, his face pinched with fear. Dodger scrambled through the partially opened door and came forward with his tail wagging to greet Stella like an old friend.

  “It’s the deer,” Gus said. “They’re in trouble, I tell you. It’s terrorists. They’re coming for us.”

  “Not if we have anything to do with it. Where did you hear these screams, Gus? Where were they coming from?”

  “Down the road.”

  “Were you inside your house when you heard it?” Stella asked, probably trying to determine if the screams were real or figments of the man’s imagination.

  “No. No. I was at the barn. Taking care of Lucy. They hurt her eye, you know. I need to go out there and watch over her. I need to go.”

  “Are you still hearing the screams or did they stop?”

  “A deer screamed. Down there.” He waved down the road, a twitch of tension at his left eye. “Two times, maybe three. Then it stopped. It might be dead.”

  Mattie couldn’t stand it any longer. She needed to get to the bottom of this. If Tilley was using “deer” to refer to Sophie, and if he’d killed her, Mattie would . . . “I’ll go down the road and check it out,” she said. “How far away do you think the deer was?”

  “Quarter of a mile. Maybe. First I heard a noisy car speed past. Jammed the gears. The brake screeched. Then the deer screamed.” He put his hand to his face and rubbed his temple as if the memories brought pain to his head.

  The details made Mattie take notice, and she felt a slight shift in her thinking. “Did you see the vehicle?”

  “No. No. No. I was at the barn. But it made a big noise. Maybe it was truck.”

  His truck?

  She didn’t know what to think, but she had to get Robo out and see if she could find Sophie’s scent down the road. Now!

  She went to the back of her vehicle to get her dog.

  Just a trace of scent, please, just a trace that leads somewhere.

  Moving fast, she put on Robo’s search harness and strapped on her utility belt before snapping the safety strap on her holster, securing it so that she could run. She gave Robo water and started chatting him up. After a few slurps, he focused that look on her that told her he was ready.

  Stella joined her. “I’ll back you up.”

  Mattie knew the detective couldn’t keep up once she and Robo started tracking. “Stay here and guard Tilley. Don’t let him leave the house.”

  “He’s afraid to leave his house. He’s not going to interfere.” Stella called over to Tilley. “Please stay inside your home with Dodger until we come back, Mr. Tilley.”

  He called Dodger and went inside, closing the door behind him.

  Mattie didn’t have time to argue and resigned herself to doing things Stella’s way. “There’s hardly any traffic out here, but if you could keep watch and stop cars coming behind us, that would help.” Using Robo’s long leash, Mattie headed out to the road, pausing to offer Sophie’s scent article. Robo knew the drill, and he knew exactly what she wanted. He started to quarter the road even before she told him to search. She repeated her silent mantra. Just a trace of scent.

  Robo trotted ahead, black coat glistening in the afternoon sun, his nose to the ground with an occasional check in the air. He carried his tail low, his ears forward, flicking back toward her now and then. Her feet thudded against the hard-packed dirt road as she jogged, and she vaguely picked up the sound of Stella falling in behind, but her focus was solely on her dog. Watching his body language, hoping and hoping for a sign.

  She’d followed Robo about two hundred yards down the road when he darted to the right edge, sniffing furiously along the side. Mattie’s heart rate kicked up a notch. She held back and let him do his work unimpeded, not distractin
g him with unnecessary direction. He doubled back onto the road, sniffed, and then returned to the edge.

  Oh, please . . . just a trace of scent that leads somewhere!

  Robo crouched, lifting one front paw slowly and then the other as he inched his way into the ditch and then up onto the slope at the edge of the forest, nose to the ground. Stella caught up with them but held back several yards, remaining unobtrusive. Although not at all winded, Mattie’s breath came in short gasps, her eyes riveted on her dog.

  And then Robo stood at attention, turning his head so that he could look directly into her eyes. A full alert! Exhilaration flooded her and she wanted to shout. “He’s got a hit,” she murmured to Stella while holding Robo’s gaze. “We’re heading into the forest.”

  “I’ll stay as close as I can.”

  “No. Stay here. Watch Tilley.”

  Mattie went to Robo and patted his side, offering him the scent article again while she unclipped the leash from his harness. “Good boy! Search!”

  Robo sprang forward, heading upward on a steep slope, weaving around stunted pine and scrub oak to enter the forest. Mattie took off after him, scrambling up the hillside, where she could now see sign of earlier foot travel. Not footprints, but scuff marks in the soil. It was too rocky here to actually see a track, but Robo didn’t seem to be having any trouble. It was all she could do to keep sight of him.

  At the top of the verge, Robo paused, waiting for her to catch up, and then he took off, nose up with an occasional check against the ground.

  The scent must be fresh! Please, please let Sophie be alive.

  Dead branches crackled beneath her feet and live ones whipped her face as she ran, trying to keep Robo in sight. Heart pounding, not so much from exertion but from fear of the unknown, Mattie tried to catch her breath, find her stride. But lack of sleep and poor nutrition took its toll, and she felt like she was slogging through a nightmare, pushing herself, trying to keep up, not wanting to call Robo back but not wanting to lose sight of him.

  He paused where the pine thinned, looking back over his shoulder as she caught up. “Good boy,” she said, puffing hard. “Search.”

  Robo moved forward through a grove of aspen, their new leaves glistening like bright-green spades, shivering in the breeze. A branch behind her snapped, and Mattie whirled. Had Stella tried to follow her? Was it Gus Tilley? Someone else?

  The pine closed around her, too dense to see anything. When she turned back around, she realized she’d lost sight of Robo. Fear gripped her, making her gasp. Sprinting toward the aspen grove, she entered, slowing to part the foliage around the slender white tree trunks slashed with gray. Brush slapped her legs, and twigs snapped as she pushed through.

  After checking her back, she focused ahead and spied an opening through the trees where she could barely make out the remains of one of the land grant’s original log cabins, tumbled down and abandoned. A black shadow that could only be Robo streaked into the clearing and dodged around the side of the old building, disappearing around the back.

  He barked, not his usual mode of operation. Mattie sprinted around the cabin, searching for him, following his bark. A large raised mound covered with dried leaves and dead branches stood in her way.

  A gravesite? Her heart pounded so hard, it almost exploded. Too big. What is it?

  Robo barked again. Skirting the dirt mound, she found him, scratching and digging at a wooden door that led into it. An old root cellar. He was struggling to get in, but the door had been secured by a jerry-rigged system of logs and boulders wedged up against it.

  She fell in beside him and started pulling away the barrier. “Sophie!” she shouted. “Are you in there?”

  Silence.

  “Sophie, it’s Mattie. And Robo.”

  “Mattie!”

  The word sounded more like a scream, but it was Sophie’s voice.

  She’s alive!

  Mattie shoved the last of the boulders off to the side. A splinter bit into her palm as she yanked open the door. Robo rushed inside, into the small, dark space. Mattie bent forward, ducking her head to avoid the low doorframe.

  It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She heard a chain rattle and Sophie’s sobs. The earthy scent of the root cellar was tainted with the odor of urine and feces. She stumbled inside, gradually able to make out the shape of a cot against one wall. And on it, Sophie with her arms wrapped around Robo.

  Mattie sank onto the cot beside Sophie, taking her into her arms. Sophie transferred her embrace from Robo to her, scraping her neck with the links of a chain attached to her wrist. Sobbing, the child clung to her, and Mattie felt she couldn’t hold the little girl tight enough.

  With chilling flashes of scent and sound, memories from her childhood exploded into her consciousness. Locked in her small bedroom. Pain. Terror. She tried to push them away as sobs wrenched her chest and tore from her throat. She stroked Sophie’s tangled hair, hanging on and rocking while she held her. Robo licked their faces.

  Feeling the heat radiate from Sophie’s small body, Mattie fought to regain control. She brushed the child’s hair from her face and pressed her lips to her forehead. “Sophie, are you all right, sweetheart?”

  “I’m . . . sick,” she said between sobs.

  “It’s okay,” Mattie murmured, holding her close. “We’ve got you now. Here, let me see how we can get you out of here.”

  Continuing to clasp Sophie against her, Mattie dashed the tears from her eyes and took stock of her surroundings. Earthen walls, a couple of canvas camp chairs, a small portable table with a lantern and . . . board games? A small battery-powered heater glowed in one corner, taking some of the chill off the small space. There was a bucket with a plastic trash bag liner in another corner, the source of the stench. The cot they were sitting on resembled an army cot, iron framed with a thin mattress. A stout dog chain locked around Sophie’s wrist anchored her to an old wooden shelf built into the opposite wall. The shelves held bottles of water, cans of soda, bags of various snack foods, and on the bottom shelf, two backpacks. One Sophie’s. And the other?

  Candace.

  Sophie had settled and lay inert in Mattie’s lap, slumped against her chest. “I got away this morning, but he caught me on the road. He was so mad.”

  Anger flared in her chest as Mattie examined the abrasions the chain had made on Sophie’s narrow wrist. “Do you know who the guy is, Sophie?”

  “No. He kept his face covered.”

  No matter what, she would find a way to catch this guy, starting with the closest suspect, Gus Tilley. Tipping up the child’s face, she studied it, trying to assess the degree of damage inflicted on this small girl. “Did he hurt you, Sophie?”

  Sophie squeezed her eyes shut as tears flowed down her wet cheeks. “He killed Candace.”

  “Did he tell you that?”

  She nodded, her face tight. “He said it was an accident, but he killed her.” Her eyes popped open and she straightened, fear giving her new energy. “He might come back. We’ve got to get out of here.”

  The thought of Gus Tilley within mere yards of this lair gave Mattie the chills. He could slip away from Stella and imprison all of them. She gave Sophie a quick squeeze and helped her move off her lap onto the cot, pushing Robo over to make room.

  She had to put on a brave front for Sophie. “Robo will warn us if he comes back, but let’s hurry and get you free.”

  She studied the padlock at Sophie’s wrist. Grasping the steel lock, she knew it wouldn’t give. “Does the man leave the key here?”

  “It’s in his pocket.”

  The heavy-gauge dog chain looked like it might be something she could cut. Taking the Leatherman that Cole had given her last Christmas from a pocket on her utility belt, she extended the plier tool. She opened the plier wide and clasped the wire cutter at the joint on a link below the lock. Her hand wasn’t big enough to get a solid grip, so she used both hands, straining to snap the link.

  While she s
truggled, the walls of the root cellar seemed to shrink closer, prompting a wave of claustrophobia so strong she wanted to scream. Breaking into a sweat, Mattie fought back, holding the feeling at bay and getting up on her knees to brace one hand on her leg while she bore down on the plier with the other.

  “Can you cut it, Mattie?” Sophie’s breath hitched as she strained alongside her, trying to help.

  Mattie sat back on her heels, her hands throbbing. “It’s too thick.” She scanned the chain links, looking for a flaw, until her eyes traveled to where it was anchored around the post on the shelf. Rising to cross over to it, she tucked the plier tool back inside the Leatherman and extended the knife.

  “I’ll cut you loose,” she said, beginning to hack at the narrow post. The wood was old enough that it splintered away beneath her blade.

  Sophie got up from the cot and moved to the doorway of the cellar, taking Robo with her. “We’ll watch out for that creep.”

  Mattie marveled at her resilience. “Okay, but you shout if you see him and then get back on the cot to stay out of the way. Robo can take him down.”

  Hacking with all her strength, and ignoring the hammer of her heartbeat at the base of her throat, she continued to whittle the post until it was thin enough that she could grip the chain and rip it loose. The shelf tipped at a crazy angle when the post broke but had enough additional support that it didn’t come tumbling down. Flooded with relief, she gathered the chain in loops as she hurried toward Robo and Sophie at the door.

  “Wait!” Sophie scurried over to the cot, threw the blankets back, and grabbed a small stuffed toy that looked like a Husky. Clasping the gray dog with white markings against her chest, she said, “Let’s go.”

  “Can you walk, sweetheart?” Mattie said, guiding the child out into the sunshine, holding onto the looped chain.

  “Heck yeah,” Sophie said. “I can run.”

  After leaving the dank cellar, Mattie felt like she could breathe again. She looked down at the spunky girl and trailed her finger along her cheek, dirt smudged and clammy with fever. Sophie’s freckles stood out like copper flakes against the pallor of her skin. “Running won’t be necessary. Let’s get into the cover of those trees, and I’ll see if I’ve got a cell phone signal.”