Burning Ridge Read online

  Both York and Ed peered around Cole, their eyes drawn to the bag tied on Honey’s saddle.

  “You’re right,” York said. “We need to secure the area. We’ll go on up and take care of it.”

  “I think the sheriff would want you to stay clear of the area until he arrives,” Cole said. “And it could be dangerous.”

  “We’ve got rifles.”

  Cole saw that they did, in scabbards attached to their saddles. He crossed his arms on his saddle horn and leaned forward. “It’s possible the sheriff will want you to ride with us. But for now, I think it’s safer to stay away until we can return with a larger party.”

  Ed glanced at York, and Cole knew who held the authority.

  “Ed, you go down the trail and stop the public from coming in,” York said. “I’ll ride on up, but I won’t disturb anything in the area. While I wait, I can scout the sheep and still get on the road in decent time to head back to Denver today.”

  So this was more about keeping his schedule than anything else, but as a Parks and Wildlife officer, this man had the authority to take over if he wanted to. Cole tried one last time. “I don’t know what happened up there, but I think it’s likely that the owner of this boot didn’t die of natural causes. The boot’s charred and burned, and I didn’t see any sign of recent forest fire in the area.”

  Ed’s ruddy complexion had flushed a deeper red, apparently torn by the conflict between his superior and his veterinarian. “I reckon we’d better do as he says, Tucker.”

  After giving Ed a brief study and taking into account his discomfort, York apparently made a decision. “I’ll be all right. You go on down, Ed, and close the trail. Wait for the others and come up with them.”

  He kneed his horse and it sidled by, continuing up the trail.

  Ed reined his gelding in a tight turn. With a final glance at his supervisor, he nudged his horse and started back down the trail.

  Cole waved Angie forward. “You go next, and I’ll follow with Honey.”

  The kids still looked frightened, and he worried about them. Would they be traumatized by this experience? Would they develop a fear of riding into the high country, a place he loved more than any other on earth and wanted to share with them?

  He thought about his own reaction during their flight through the forest. By drawing his handgun, had he frightened them even more?

  Probably. But he couldn’t help it. He’d do anything to protect his children. Even so, as he descended the trail he couldn’t help but feel responsible—for the whole darn mess.

  FOUR

  Stiff and sore from the brawl at the bar, Mattie jogged slowly toward her foster mother’s house. Since Mama T’s home was only a few blocks from hers, it seemed silly to drive her car the short distance.

  Despite it being her day off, she’d risen at daybreak to take Robo for a run. He didn’t recognize opportunities to sleep in, but he did enjoy morning naps in a spot of sunshine, which is what she’d left him at home to do now.

  Later, Rainbow, the sheriff’s department dispatcher and a woman who had—against all odds—become her friend, would stop by Mattie’s home to give her a weekly yoga lesson, something she’d come to enjoy. At first, the still poses had driven her batty, but she liked the moving poses and was beginning to catch on to what it meant to feel “centered.” They planned to fix a light lunch together at Mattie’s house.

  Later still, there would be dinner at the Walker home, and she planned to go early to help the family housekeeper, Mrs. Gibbs, cook the meal. Mattie had never been handy in the kitchen, but she enjoyed conversation with Mrs. Gibbs, and she was picking up tips on how to prepare simple things.

  She arrived at Mama T’s tidy yard, its flower beds splashed with the bright reds, oranges, and yellows of spring tulips and dots of deep-purple hyacinths. Plaster-of-Paris chipmunks and squirrels scampered about in frozen poses that reminded Mattie of the game Freeze Tag that she’d once played with her brother Willie. She hadn’t thought of that in years.

  She skirted around the side of the house and let herself into the kitchen. Mama T, a stout woman with graying black hair drawn back in a bun, greeted her with a warm hug, and soon Mattie found herself seated at the table with a bright red mug of steaming coffee in front of her. Mama stood at the stove, adding seasonings to a large pot of chili con carne, its spicy aroma teasing Mattie’s taste buds.

  “Where are the kids today, Mama?” she asked, referring to the bunch currently in residence for foster care.

  Mama T had lived in Timber Creek for decades, but she still spoke with a thick Spanish accent. “They went for ice cream. That new place on Main Street. I forget what it’s called.”

  “Oh yeah. I think it’s called Happy Shack or something like that.”

  “Si.” Mama T bobbed her head in agreement. “Silly name for an ice cream shop.”

  “I heard they have old fashioned video games and stuff. They want to provide an after school hangout for the kids. Timber Creek really needs something like that.”

  “The games are free today.” Mama T put down her spoon and closed the pot with a lid. “Get those kids hooked and then boom!” She threw both hands in the air. “Prices will go up!”

  Mattie chuckled. “You’re probably right about that.”

  “At least my little ones can enjoy the day today. They shook out their piggy banks for ice cream money before they left.”

  Mattie remembered back in the day. No one received allowance without working in Mama T’s house. They earned their pennies by doing chores, and with a houseful of kids, there were always plenty of those to go around.

  Mama T poured herself a cup of coffee and came to sit beside Mattie, pressing her arm with loving fingers. “So tell me. What do you hear from your brother?”

  Mattie told her about her plans to meet Willie in Vegas.

  “Las Vegas,” Mama breathed. Mattie could tell the city heralded something magical for her foster mom. Not so much for Mattie.

  “I’m not thrilled about going there, but I want to take Robo with me, and it’s a lot closer than driving clear to L.A. I’ll have to find a pet-friendly motel to stay in.”

  “When do you leave?” It was no secret how Mama T felt. The sooner Mattie and Willie could reconnect, the better.

  “I have to ask for some time off, but we’re talking about a month from now.”

  “Then sign up for the time off tomorrow. Don’t you wait, or you’ll miss out.”

  “Yes, Mama.” Mattie smiled as she lifted her mug to her lips. Some things never changed. “What have you been up to lately?”

  “Did I tell you Doreen is coming to see me?”

  “I don’t think so. Now remind me, who is Doreen?”

  “She once lived at my house, like you. Only before you came here.”

  Another foster child.

  “Now she’s all grown up.” Mama T grinned, showing the gap where she was missing a tooth. “Also like you.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever met her.”

  “You must come over when she’s here. She’ll be here on Tuesday, and I think she will stay for two days,” Mama said, holding up two fingers for emphasis.

  “I’ll try for Tuesday or Wednesday evening then.”

  Mama T beamed. “That’s real nice. Come for dinner.”

  “Thank you. I hope I can work it out.” Mattie changed the subject. “I have a new friend, Mama. She’s a kid I met in one of my antidrug classes at the high school, and her name’s Riley. She seems to be at loose ends after school. Her father works two jobs, and he isn’t home in the evenings. She stopped by my house last night and waited for me until I got home. I think she’s lonely and needs something to do after school.”

  “Where’s her mother?”

  “She died about six months ago. Riley and her dad just moved to town last month. Kind of starting over.”

  “Poor girl.”

  Mattie nodded agreement. “So I was wondering—could you use her help with the kids
a couple days a week? Maybe she could be like a mother’s helper for you.” When Mattie had lived here, Mama T had assigned a youngster to each teen, making the older ones help the younger ones get ready for school in the morning and bed at night. Though it caused resentment at times in the older group, it also helped build responsibility. “I remember you saying that your house was filled with young ones right now, and no teenagers.”

  Concern etched Mama’s brow. “I don’t have money to pay her.”

  “Oh, I would pay her. I always wish I could help you more, and this is one way I could do it. Besides, I think it would be good for her to be around you and the kids.”

  Mama T continued to frown as she thought about it.

  Mattie offered further reassurance. “I’ll stay in touch with you about her. If it’s not working out, I’ll take care of it and find something else for her to do. But she does seem like a nice kid, so I think you’d enjoy having her around.”

  “Can you bring her by the house tomorrow after school? Then we’ll see.”

  “I’ll try, Mama. If I can’t do it tomorrow, we’ll wait until Doreen leaves, so we won’t disturb your visit.”

  “But come by to meet her.”

  “I will.”

  Mattie’s cell phone beeped, signaling an incoming text. She removed it from her pocket and checked the screen. It read: Emergency Alert—Call the Sheriff’s office.

  “I have to call the office, and most likely I’ll need to go into work.” Groaning as she stood up from the table, she drained the last of her coffee, and carried the mug to the sink. “I’d better say goodbye now, but I’ll call you tomorrow about bringing Riley by.”

  “Why are you in pain today, mijita?”

  “Oh, I tangled with a guy I had to arrest last night. It’s nothing.”

  Frowning with concern, Mama T followed her to the door. “Take care now,” she said after giving Mattie a last hug. “Vaya con Dios.”

  While Mattie jogged toward home, she tapped the screen on her phone to dial into the office.

  Sam Corns, the weekend dispatcher, answered. “We’ve got a problem, Mattie.”

  “I figured.”

  “Dr. Walker found human remains up near Redstone Ridge.”

  Her stomach twisted. Cole had taken his kids with him on a trail ride up there today.

  Sam continued. “Sheriff is getting a party together to go up. He wants you and Robo in on it.”

  “All right. I can get to the office in fifteen minutes.”

  “You’ve got a half hour. Dr. Walker is arranging a string of horses to carry you all up there, and he needs that much time.”

  Again, she felt a tug of queasiness in her midsection. She wanted nothing to do with riding a horse. “Did Dr. Walker have his kids with him?”

  “He didn’t say.” Sam paused. “Oh yeah, the sheriff said Doc had to take his kids home before he loaded up more horses.”

  “I’ll be in soon.” Mattie ended the call, remembering next to call and cancel her yoga lesson with Rainbow.

  Cole’s kids were beginning to deal with the trauma of Sophie’s kidnapping last month, and now this. He’d looked forward to this trail ride all week; how quickly things could go wrong. Human remains—she hoped the kids hadn’t been exposed to them. She loved those kids as much as if they were her own, and they’d suffered their share of hardship this past year.

  She frowned as she picked up her pace.

  FIVE

  Robo’s throat squeaked, making Mattie look at him in the rearview mirror. He stood behind her on his carpeted platform and yawned, his pink tongue curling, distinct against his black muzzle.

  “You still tired?”

  He gave her a lazy tail wave and stared out the windshield.

  “Looks like you’re ready to go to work.”

  A black German shepherd with tan markings and weighing in at one hundred pounds, Robo was a credit to his breed. He’d been her partner for a year now, and Mattie couldn’t imagine being without him. Although the county had bought him for narcotics detection, he’d also proven himself worthy in patrol and search and rescue, finding people both alive and dead.

  Best of all, he’d become her trusted friend.

  She drove the few blocks to the sheriff’s station and pulled into the lot where several cars were already parked: Sheriff McCoy’s silver Jeep, Chief Deputy Ken Brody’s cruiser, and Detective Stella LoSasso’s personal car, a silver Honda. Mattie unloaded Robo and went inside to find them.

  They were in the briefing room, clustered around a plastic cooler marked BIOHAZARD that sat on one of the tables. Although the contents inside the container would be sealed, Robo was already sniffing the air in the room and he quickly homed in on the ice chest.

  “Good, we’re all here.” A large African American man with a deep voice and an unflappable manner, Sheriff McCoy was quick to take charge. “How much do you know, Deputy?”

  “Very little. Sam said that Cole Walker found human remains up at Redstone Ridge.”

  “He and his daughters went there to scout mountain sheep for a relocation project he’s doing in a few weeks. When they arrived at the burn area, their Doberman found a charred boot with the remains of a foot inside.”

  “Skeletonized?”

  “No, fresh.”

  Mattie cringed. Once again, she hoped the kids hadn’t seen it.

  McCoy gestured to the cooler on the table. “We have it on ice, ready to send to the forensic lab in Byer’s County.”

  “Did Cole find the body?”

  Stella answered. “He wanted to get his kids downhill to safety. He didn’t search for a body.”

  Mattie stared at the ice chest. “We need to take it back up there with us.”

  “Why?”

  “To use for a scent article, so Robo can find the rest of the body.”

  Her three colleagues looked at each other in silence.

  Brody cleared his throat with a harsh grunt. “Makes sense.”

  It seemed like the chief deputy was beginning to support her suggestions for how to use her dog on the job. He’d been her worst opponent when Robo was added to the department a year ago, but he’d done a complete about-face when she’d been able to show that she was up for the job.

  Stella remained skeptical. “What about contamination? This is the only evidence we have that someone died recently. We need to get its DNA into the system as soon as possible.”

  “Could we take a sample from it and send that over for DNA matching?” Mattie asked

  Stella considered it. “I suppose so.”

  “Does it smell like decomp?”

  “Oh yeah,” Brody said.

  Mattie unclipped the lid from the cooler and lifted it enough to peer inside at the evidence—a scorched boot encased in a plastic bag, lying on bags of frozen, blue gel. She glimpsed jagged bone and blackened flesh at the boot’s opening.

  Closing the lid, Mattie looked at Stella. “If Dr. Walker’s dog brought it out of the forest, it’s already been removed from any crime scene we might look for, and there’s already been uncontrolled contamination. I’ll keep the boot inside the chest, and I’ll control any sniffing that Robo does. Since it’s ripe, he won’t need to get too close.”

  Sam Corns rapped at the door and peered inside. “Dr. Walker is here.”

  “Send him in,” McCoy said, and then he looked at Mattie. “We’ll take it with us as you suggested, Deputy.”

  “I’ll take care of the DNA sample and be ready to go in fifteen minutes.” Stella took the ice chest with her as she left the room.

  Cole came through the doorway, a grim expression on his face, his eyes searching out Mattie. A warm feeling washed through her as their eyes met, even though they kept their greeting low key. Although they’d deepened their relationship over the past few weeks, they’d kept it private.

  Robo jumped up, and Mattie let him go to greet Cole.

  “I have five horses loaded in the trailer and ready to go anytime,” he said,
bending to ruffle the fur between Robo’s ears.

  A horse for everyone in the group. “I can go on foot if you need to use one as a pack animal,” Mattie offered, hoping that would be the case.

  Cole looked up from petting Robo and seemed to be studying her.

  “We’ll all go up on horseback,” McCoy said. “It’ll be faster. If we need to pack something out of the high country, you or Deputy Brody might have to come down on foot.” He went on to explain to Cole that they were taking the ice chest with them so they could use its contents as a scent article.

  Cole nodded. “I’ll strap it on behind one of your saddles. I’ve already got tarps and short-handled spades behind mine.”

  “I’ll take it,” Brody said.

  “We’ll leave in fifteen minutes,” McCoy said.

  The others filed out of the room while Mattie and Cole held back. “Did the kids see what was inside the boot?” she asked.

  Cole’s expression darkened. “Bruno brought it to Angie. Sophie didn’t see it.”

  Mattie released her breath. “Poor Angie.”

  “She’s really shaken.”

  “And you?”

  “I’ll be all right. I’m more accustomed than the kids are to dealing with flesh and bone, though it’s a sight I wish I could unsee.” As they followed the others from the room, Cole continued in a low voice. “I’ll put you on Mountaineer. He’s sure-footed and he’ll stick to the trail without you having to guide him. You’ll be okay, Mattie.”

  She glanced up and read the concern on his face. She hated to mention that she was afraid, but she was glad that he cared. “Okay. It’s just that I’m not used to riding horses, you know.”

  “You’ll be fine. Mountaineer will take care of you.” Cole pressed her forearm with a light touch of reassurance, releasing it as they passed through to the lobby. Mattie left him there to go to her office to pack the supplies she might need.

  * * *

  With Stella in the passenger seat, Mattie drove third position in their four-vehicle caravan to the trailhead. Cole led the way, finally pulling into the parking lot and drawing his trailer up alongside another rig that was already parked. A tall, beefy man, whom Mattie had known for years, got out of the cab and marched toward the sheriff’s Jeep as she pulled up beside it and parked.