Killing Trail: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery Page 16

  “The CSU vehicle will never be able to get back here,” McCoy said to Stella.

  “They’re on their way, too. Sandy, would you go back and meet them? Have them transfer their equipment into your vehicle and drive them back up here.”

  “Sure. How far are they behind you?”

  “Hard to say, maybe a half hour, maybe less.”

  “I’ll go wait now, then.” And she left.

  Stella began handing out latex gloves. “This is sort of like, what came first, the chicken or the egg? Who searches first, the CSIs or the K-9? This one is up to me, so I choose Robo. But let’s preserve this scene for the CSI unit as much as we can.” She looked at Mattie. “Do an exterior sweep first and then we’ll see if we can open it up.”

  Mattie led Robo to the car and said, “Search,” directing with her right hand. Robo pinned his ears and started sniffing, paying extra attention to wheel wells and door panels. Mattie even had him sniff what undercarriage they could reach, spending more time at the rear. Not once did Robo indicate a find.

  “Nothing,” Mattie said.

  Stella approached the car and peered into the front window on the driver’s side. “That’s handy,” she said. “Our perp left the keys.”

  She reached for the handle, and the door opened with a soft, new-car click. Mattie and the sheriff peered through windows, watching Stella as she leaned into the driver’s side and sorted through items carefully, using only her gloved fingertips.

  “Tell us what you find, please,” McCoy said.

  “She must have been a tidy girl,” Stella said. “No trash. But there is a lot of black dog hair here in the passenger seat. Looks like lip gloss here, an iPod plugged into the stereo. I’ll just open up this middle compartment so Robo can sniff inside it in a minute. Here are some CDs and, get this, a pair of binoculars.” She looked at Mattie with one eyebrow raised. “Good little detective. How long has she had this vehicle?”

  “A little over a month.”

  “I’ll open the glove box, too. Not much in here. A flashlight, car manuals, tire air gauge. Not very interesting.”

  Stella got out, peered under the driver’s seat, and then went around the car, opening all the doors. “Let me do a quick check under the seats, and then we’ll let you and Robo have it.”

  She peered under the front passenger seat. “What’s this hidden down here? Something tells me I need to take its picture before I move it.”

  With not just a small amount of excitement building, Mattie watched Stella use her cell phone to snap a photo.

  Then Stella extracted a slim volume with a flowery cover. “Oh my god!”

  “What?” McCoy asked, his tone imperative.

  Stella looked at both of them with an astonished expression. “It’s a diary.”

  This time, that burst of adrenalin hit Mattie square in the chest.

  “We’ve hit the jackpot,” McCoy said.

  “Let’s bag it,” Stella said. “We’re taking this back with us.”

  McCoy reached into the kit for an evidence bag, and Stella placed the diary inside, giving it back to McCoy to keep. Stella searched the side pockets, the back seat pockets, and under the back seats but found nothing more than an ice scraper and a can of windshield deicer. The back compartment of the vehicle held a few emergency flares. Mattie’s heart ached at the thought of Garrett Hartman equipping his daughter’s first vehicle with so many safety supplies, an obvious labor of love.

  “There’s blood here on the carpet in back,” Stella said. “The perp must’ve used her own vehicle to move her body.”

  “Christ,” Mattie muttered.

  “Scum,” Stella said, backing off from the Honda. “Okay, Mattie, your turn.”

  Mattie directed Robo into the SUV and together they completed a thorough sweep. Like during the exterior sweep, Robo didn’t hesitate, nor did he indicate the presence of narcotics.

  “This vehicle is clean,” Mattie announced, confident in Robo’s skill. “Grace never transported any drugs in it.”

  “Don’t quibble, Mattie, tell us what you really think,” Stella teased.

  Mattie gave her a half smile. “Robo’s nose knows.” She tried not to sound too smug, but she felt terribly proud of her partner.

  Sandy Benson’s engine growled as her SUV made its way up the steep track to the trees and then ground to a stop. “Well, I’d better go break the news that we’ve already been into their crime scene,” Stella said, as she watched the same techs who’d worked the other two scenes exit the ranger’s vehicle.

  Her brassy voice carried as she walked away toward the others. “I had the K-9 sweep the car first so we wouldn’t confuse the scent trails inside. You’ll just have to deal with it.”

  Mattie cringed at Stella’s choice of words, thinking the detective must have missed the memo on interdepartmental relationships. She followed a few paces behind McCoy as they headed back toward his Jeep.

  But the lead tech, possibly used to working with Stella, peeled away from the rest of the group and approached Mattie with a gloved hand, a baggie, and a smile. “Let me get a sample of your K-9’s hair, officer,” she said. “Can you keep him from biting my hand off?”

  *

  After returning to the station, Mattie checked in and told Rainbow she would head out next for patrol duty. Before leaving, though, she took a quick look at the duty roster, which told her that Brody had been scheduled a day off last Friday. Yet he’d already been at the crime scene when she arrived. She wondered when he’d been called and where he’d been at the time.

  Feeling unsettled, Mattie headed back outside to her patrol car, Robo at her side. Compared to the mountains, the day had turned hot down in the valley, not a cloud in the sky, a dog day of late summer. After loading Robo in the back, Mattie decided not to think about what she was going to do about her suspicion and drove toward the O’Malley trailer house. She would focus on Brody later.

  Pulling up in front, Mattie saw Sean sitting out on the front step, listlessly tossing pebbles into an upturned hubcap. His face had been washed and his sandy hair combed, though he still wore the same dirt-smudged T-shirt and shorts he’d had on the day before.

  Deciding to use Robo to try to make some inroads into a relationship with the kid, Mattie invited him out of the car and snapped on his leash. His tail waved and he looked toward Sean in a friendly way. At the academy, Robo’s trainer had explained how Robo had been socialized with children as a young dog, and he’d taken to it like a duck to water. Mattie realized how valuable that experience had been to round out Robo’s usefulness in a community setting such as Timber Creek.

  Still, Sean left his play and stepped backward, his face taking on a look of caution.

  With Robo at heel, Mattie approached him. “How are you, Sean?”

  Sparing Mattie one brief glance, Sean continued to eye Robo. “Okay.”

  “Robo, sit.” Seeing that Robo sat at heel as directed, Mattie looked back at Sean. “Robo likes kids. Would you like to pet him?”

  “I guess so.”

  Mattie stroked the top of Robo’s head gently. “First put your hand out low so he can sniff it, and then pet him on his head like this.”

  It only took about a minute for Robo to make friends. Sean took a step to move closer, smoothing the fur on Robo’s shoulders.

  “See, he likes you.”

  Sean glanced at Mattie with a half smile. “Does he like to play?”

  “Yeah, he does. He loves to play ball. You wanna come with me to the park someday to do that, if it’s okay with your mom?”

  “Sure.”

  “Let’s ask her.”

  Sean hurried into the trailer house. Within seconds, Fran stepped out on the porch carrying the baby. Mattie noticed a fresh purple bruise that hadn’t been apparent the day before over Fran’s left cheekbone. Sean came out behind her and then moved down the stairs to pet Robo again.

  Fran stood with her face turned partly away, fiddling with the baby’s cloth
ing, not meeting Mattie’s gaze. “Sean says you want to talk to me.”

  “He wants to go to the park with me someday to play ball with Robo. We wondered if you would allow it.”

  Fran’s eyes darted out to take in the boy and the dog. “We’ll see. I’ll have to talk with my husband.”

  A quick glance told Mattie that Sean’s attention seemed centered on Robo. She stepped close to Fran and said in a low voice, “You have a bruise on your face. Did your husband hit you?”

  Fran shook her head no. “I ran into a doorway last night when I got up to take care of the baby in the dark.”

  The door opened slightly, causing both Mattie and Fran to step away. Tommy O’Malley came out of the house.

  He gave Mattie a smile that seemed contrived. “I see you’ve come back to see us.”

  “I see you haven’t gone to work yet today.”

  “Oh, we’ll be going later, me and my dad.”

  “I’m glad you’ve been able to find a job. Where are you employed?”

  Tommy’s smile dimmed somewhat, though he tried to fix it in place. His eyes darted off quickly to the side before coming back to focus on Mattie’s. “We’re going to go work at the mine in Rigby. It’s a drive, but I can work weekends when school starts.”

  Mattie knew she’d have no trouble checking that detail. She decided there was no reason to mince words. “I’m concerned about the bruise on your mother’s face.”

  Tommy narrowed his eyes and studied his mother, as if seeing the bruise for the first time.

  Eyes downcast, Fran shifted the baby in her arms as if uncomfortable with her son’s attention. “I told her I ran into a door frame last night.” Finally, she lifted her eyes to meet Mattie’s, but the animosity contained within them was a surprise. “I told you I don’t need your help.”

  “Someone from Child and Family Services will be stopping by today. You can at least get some help with groceries until your paychecks start rolling in.” Mattie tried to maintain eye contact with Fran, but the woman avoided her gaze. “If you need help with domestic violence, your caseworker can arrange that for you as well.”

  Neither of the two O’Malleys responded. Tommy stared at Mattie, but his face was expressionless, and she couldn’t get a read on him. Fran avoided her gaze, turning away as if she couldn’t wait to go back inside the trailer.

  Mattie asked, “Where’s Mr. O’Malley, Fran?”

  She stopped and looked back at Mattie. “He’s at the school, taking down an old shed for the principal.”

  “I have some questions for Tommy. We can do this now, or I can take him into the station and call his father to join us.” She hoped Fran would choose the first option.

  Tommy shoved his hands in his pockets and adopted a smirk. “What do you want to know?”

  Fran made no verbal protest, so Mattie decided to go for it. “How old are you, Tommy?”

  “Seventeen.”

  “Do you have your driver’s license?” She already knew he did but wanted to give him some questions that were easy for him to answer to get started.

  “Yeah.”

  “I imagine you’ve had a way to earn your spending money this summer—you know, money for going to the movies, going out to eat with your friends.”

  Tommy removed his hands from his pockets and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yep.”

  “Hey, Tommy, help me out here . . . don’t make me ask how, just tell me.”

  He shrugged. “I pick up odd jobs here and there. Me and my dad do handyman work around town.”

  “Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” She paused, knowing that getting an answer to her next question might be harder. “I hear you smoke weed out at the park now and then, Tommy. Any truth to the rumor?”

  She observed both Tommy and Fran closely. Fran kept her eyes on the ground, but Tommy didn’t glance at his mother. He stared at Mattie and the smirk returned to his face.

  “Who told you that?”

  “I don’t reveal my sources.”

  Tommy sent a look toward Sean, but the child didn’t notice. He was focused on Robo, who was up on all fours, using his nose to nudge Sean’s hands while his tail wagged his whole body. They both wore big grins.

  “No, Tommy, it wasn’t your little brother. I don’t use little kids to gain information about their older siblings. I’m just trying to help out you and your family here. I tell you what, let’s not worry about whether that’s true or not. I withdraw the question. And you know what? I’ll give you a pass on any weed that you might’ve smoked before. I can’t make promises if I catch you with it in the future, though, because I’m sure you know that it’s still illegal in this state for someone your age to smoke it or have it in your possession. But I’m not interested in that right now.”

  She’d regained Tommy’s attention, and he stared at her, hands in pockets, apparently waiting to see what else she had for him.

  “I’m interested in knowing where kids get the stuff.”

  Tommy snorted. “From their parents, big brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles, you name it.”

  “Do you get it from your parents?” She looked at Fran.

  “We don’t have money for such things,” she said.

  Mattie nodded at her, acknowledging her reply and not doubting its truth.

  The smirk was back. “I don’t get it from anyone. I don’t smoke it, remember?”

  Lucky for her that this kid was so easy to read. “How about the hard stuff . . . meth, cocaine. What do you know about that?”

  He shut down. “I don’t know anything.”

  “Who deals it?”

  “Don’t know.”

  “Who uses it?”

  “Not my crowd.”

  “Do you know who transports it through town?”

  “You’re shittin’ me again. How would I know that?”

  Mattie let the silence stretch out between them. Tommy bobbed back and forth on his feet a couple times and then broke it. “You ought to ask that big cop what he knows.”

  A tingle flitted along her neck. “What big cop?”

  “That guy that’s all pumped up, looks like he uses roids, huge shoulders.”

  “Deputy Brody?”

  “Yeah, he’s the one.”

  “Why him?”

  “Saw him hanging out with Chadron and his dogs at the park this summer.”

  They hadn’t released any information to the public about Mike using the dogs as mules. “Why would that make you say he might know something about who transports drugs through town?”

  Tommy went very still, looking as if he realized he’d said too much.

  Mattie waited, but this time he didn’t break. “Tell me why I should talk to Deputy Brody.”

  “Well, he knew Mike, and Mike’s dead. That’s all.”

  “But what does that have to do with transporting drugs?”

  “I don’t know. You’re getting this all twisted up. I’m just saying.” Tommy paused while his eyes jumped around the yard, looking at anything but Mattie. “He’s always at the school, hanging out with kids.”

  “Did you ever see him with Grace?”

  “Yeah—probably. I’ve seen him there a lot.”

  “Patrol is his job. Why would you think he’s there for something different?”

  “Don’t believe me. I don’t care. You cops always cover for each other.”

  Mattie could see him shutting down. “Not true. If there’s something specific you know about Deputy Brody, you need to tell me.”

  “Shit.” Tommy toed the ground. “I got nothin’ more to say.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Don’t tell him I said anything.”

  “Like I said before, I don’t reveal my sources.” Mattie searched him for signs of fear, but what she saw was mostly belligerence. “Are you afraid for your safety?”

  Tommy laughed. “Of course not. That’s all I got to say.”

  Mattie studied him for a few seconds. He fo
lded his arms across his chest again and stared back. She could tell he was withholding something, but whatever it was, she wouldn’t be able to drag it out of him right now.

  “Well, Tommy, if you remember anything else, you have my card. Give me a call if you think of something or if you need my help. You too, Fran. Is there anything you need me to know before I leave? Anything I can help with?”

  “No,” Fran said. She still refused to meet Mattie’s gaze.

  “Call me if you change your mind. Thank you both for your time.”

  Mattie headed toward the cruiser, purposefully luring Sean along with her, using Robo as bait. Fran went inside the trailer, but Tommy stayed on the porch, watching.

  “You can help me load Robo in the car,” Mattie told Sean. Once they had Robo secured in his area, she wrote her cell phone number on the back of one of her cards and slipped it into Sean’s grubby hand. “You call me if you’re afraid or if you need any help. Okay?”

  Looking up at her with a face that seemed more open and trusting than when she’d first arrived, Sean nodded. He tucked the card into his shorts pocket.

  In her rearview mirror, Mattie saw Sean standing at the edge of the street watching her drive away. He looked like a thin little waif, lonely and vulnerable. Suddenly, his head turned toward the house as if something drew his attention. Then, head downcast and shoulders rounded, he slowly walked back toward the trailer.

  Mattie wished she had reason to take him away from the home and keep him safe with her. And what was she going to do about Brody?

  Chapter 20

  Mattie drove to the school. A quick check at the back proved that Fran had indeed told the truth: O’Malley appeared hard at work, loading debris from an old shed into his battered truck. She spent the last hours of her shift driving around town, checking the local hot spots, and pondering what she was going to do with her suspicions about Brody. Checking local hot spots turned out to be easy since the streets and hangouts looked pretty much dead. No one was at the park today, all was peaceful on Main and at the Pizza Palace, and Clucken House was still closed.