Search And Rescue

Opal sighed. “I know what you mean. How were we to know those other two fellas were victims, too? How’d that Carrie person choose ’em in the first place?”

“Because they reminded her of me,” he said quietly. “I told you she killed Melanie out of jealousy. After that, she apparently fixated on a rookie officer who had light-colored hair like mine. When Mike Riverton didn’t ask her for a date to the Police Dance two years ago she made his death look like an accident by pushing him down stairs. The following year, Brian Miller ignored her too and ended up dying in a fire when his house went up in flames.”

“You never told me all that before.”

Ryder nodded. “We held back details about the case and Carrie’s motive to keep from causing a panic. Besides, Veronica Earnshaw didn’t fit the victim profile.”

Staring at him earnestly, the older woman said, “No, but Carrie might have thought you were interested in her.”

“We can’t rule it out,” Ryder told her. “That’s a big reason why I don’t dare show favoritism to any woman. Not until Carrie’s caught and jailed.”

“Meaning, no dating.” Opal turned to gaze fondly at Lily. “That’s too bad.”

“It’s more than just dating. It’s what goes on at work, too. If Carrie even imagines I’m spending too much time with another woman, that woman will be in danger.” Like Sophie has been.

He shivered, then pulled himself together and banished destructive thoughts as he called out to his daughter. “Time to go, Lily. If we don’t get there before the Cactus Café closes, we’ll have to buy our ice cream at the mini mart.”

She proceeded to tell each cat goodbye before getting to her feet. “They want to go, too, Daddy.”

“Miss Opal doesn’t want them outside,” he countered.

“’Cause of the snakes, huh?”

“Right. And traffic and coyotes and all kinds of dangers. They were raised inside. This is what they know.”

“But you could protect them, Daddy. You can do anything,” Lily said, gazing up at him in adoration.

“I wish I could.” Ryder was thinking back to the night he’d been too caught up in his job to pick up his wife from town. That was the night Melanie had been ambushed.

In Ryder’s mind, no matter who had actually shot and killed her, part of the blame belonged to him. He’d be atoning for the rest of his life.

Grasping Lily’s hand and holding tight he led her to the door, then paused to peer out into the yard. Nobody, Carrie Dunleavy included, was ever going to take someone he loved from him again. Not while he still had breath in his body.

And after that? He set his jaw. He knew he should trust God in all things, even the life of his darling Lily, but he kept remembering Melanie. They had believed together that the Lord had blessed their marriage, so why had He allowed her to be taken?

An overwhelming sense of doom enveloped him. He scooped his daughter into his arms, held her tight and jogged to the patrol car. This must be the way Sophie had felt when she’d imagined a menace besides the snakes, he concluded. Instinct for self-preservation had kicked in and she’d reacted to it on a basic level.

One thing was clear. Some gut feelings were God-given and had better be heeded. To ignore them was not only foolish, it was akin to laughing in the face of his heavenly Father.

“Forgive me, Lord,” Ryder whispered as he fastened Lily in the backseat. A scripture verse popped into his head. “Lord, I believe. Help Thou my unbelief.”

No lightning bolts shot down from heaven. No angels sang. But Ryder was calmer, stronger, more self-assured as he circled to the driver’s side of the car. The Desert Valley police were going to catch whoever had been threatening Sophie, whether it turned out to be Carrie or not. As chief, he would see to it.

Only one thing took priority. The innocent little girl in the backseat. She always would.

* * *

Nervous despite her dog and reloaded pistol, Sophie had trouble sleeping. It didn’t help that Phoenix hogged the bed. She shoved him over and threw back the covers as soon as the sun began to peek over the top of the red rock horizon. Morning was usually one of her favorite times in the desert, with fresh, cooler air and pristine silence.

Today, however, she had enthusiastic company. Phoenix spun in circles at her feet and raced from the room as soon as her bare feet touched the floor. “Okay, okay. I’m coming.”

Not knowing how well he was trained, she figured it would be smart to slip some clothes on and let him out quickly. Boots didn’t exactly go with cargo shorts but she wasn’t letting her dog set foot in the backyard until she was sure there were no live snakes left.

She snapped a leash on his collar, tucked her gun into one of the pockets on the shorts and opened the back door. Except for remnants of last night’s carnage, the place looked deserted. Sophie hesitated. There was no guarantee that her front yard was clear, either, but at least it wasn’t messy, so she opted to reverse direction and lead Phoenix out that way instead of turning him loose inside the fenced area.

While he sniffed and wandered, unconcerned and therefore safe, Sophie checked the ground around the sides of her house. During her nocturnal unrest she’d reasoned that she’d been imagining hidden menaces so it was a shock to come upon wadded-up gum wrappers in the very place where she’d thought she’d sensed danger lurking.

“Oh, my...”

Her reaction was strong enough to cause the dog to take up a defensive position with his side pressed to her leg and hackles raised.

She laid a comforting hand on his head. “Good boy. I think we’re all right now but I’m going to call this in.”

Backing off, she led Phoenix away in order to keep from contaminating possible clues. As soon as she started to dial 911 she thought better of it. The last thing she needed was to cause a full-blown police response when the clues might mean nothing, and she sure didn’t want to phone James Harrison and ask for his bloodhound when he was romantically involved with Canyon County Gazette reporter Madison Coles who would be likely to want to put her in the news. Sophie then thought about summoning Whitney but she was a single mother with a baby to take care of and it was barely dawn.

“Face it,” Sophie muttered, disgusted with herself. “You aren’t fooling anybody. You want to call Ryder.”

He also had a child, but Lily was old enough to bring along if he chose. Besides, it would be advantageous to introduce Phoenix to Lily on neutral ground.

“Right. I need to be sure the dog likes kids,” Sophie told herself, immediately recognizing the excuse for what it was. Lame. However, that was not enough to keep her from calling him at home.

Instead of making small talk, Sophie began with, “I found some clues—chewing gum papers and foil—next to my house. I’m pretty sure they weren’t there before.”

“I take it this is Sophie.”

“Of course it is. I told you I was being watched. Suppose there’s DNA on the gum wrappers? I didn’t stop to see if there was any old gum lying around. I didn’t touch a thing and I kept the dog back, too.”

“Good for you.”

“Look, do you want me to call somebody else? I don’t particularly want a bunch of red lights and sirens charging over here again, not after the uproar last night. Which reminds me. Didn’t you say you’d come check the yard this morning? How is that any different than coming by now?”

“Well, for one thing Lily wouldn’t be with me later.”

Sophie suddenly saw his concerns. “You’re afraid to bring her here?”

He huffed. “I’m afraid to let her out of my sight, period.”

“I understand. Now that I think about it, I know I’ve noticed that brand of gum at either the police station or training center. I just can’t place exactly where. I could pick up the evidence and keep it clean but it wouldn’t be admissible in court since I’m no longer an officer of the law.”

Ryder yawned. “What are you asking me to do?”

“Come and get it.”

“I have minions for that.”

Sophie could tell he was chuckling and was not amused. “I was trying to keep from making a big fuss about it and getting everybody all riled up. You want to keep the good citizens of Desert Valley calm, don’t you?”

“Yes.” Another yawn. “Okay. Leave your evidence alone and keep the dog from getting into it. I’ll get dressed and be there as soon as I can.”