“I agree.”
“I wonder if we could find the track where she left,” Maya said. Juniper had come back and was sitting by her side, tongue hanging out. “I need to get her some water, but I also know she’s done a lot of work today. I don’t know how much more Juniper has in her.”
“What about Finn?” Josh asked. “We’re certified and he might be able to pick up a scent trail.”
Maya reached down and petted Juniper. Josh was right—Finn could do this track and Maya could back him up. There were only two problems in Maya’s mind. One was that Finn wasn’t trained to apprehend, so if they came upon criminals who wanted to harm them, they didn’t have the help of a dog biting. The bigger problem, though, was that Josh was a suspect in this case—whether he or Maya wanted to admit it or not.
“I know that right now I shouldn’t be involved,” Josh said, as if he read Maya’s mind. “But if there’s someone lost out in the woods who needs help and most likely witnessed a crime, we need to find them before the wrong people find them first. Not to mention, surviving out in the elements right now could be tough. The nights are still cold, and if you’re not prepared, it could be fatal.”
“I agree,” Maya said. “Let’s go back to where we’re parked and swap dogs. Maybe Pops will be there and we can run your plan by him. I also want to find this person before something happens. Let’s see if Juniper can help us one more time and find the track where the person left the house. Then we know where to bring Finn and start the track.”
“Works for me,” Josh said.
Juniper stood and gave Maya’s hand a lick as if the dog understood too and said she also liked the idea. Maya debated where to have Juniper start the track. She walked to the front window and peered out. The snow outside seemed like it wasn’t disturbed. They would start in the back, but she had to be careful that Juniper didn’t end up backtracking on the scent, although this was the reason they never trained a dog to do that.
“Okay, girly,” Maya said, putting Juniper’s leash back on. “Let’s see if we can go find a scent for one more track.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Going back outside, Maya peered around, debating where to ask Juniper to start her search. There was a good chance the person, if they were scared and fleeing, had run back toward a familiar area.
“Let’s return to the first house, closest to the road, and see if we can find footprints leaving the area,” Maya said.
“You and Juniper lead the way,” Josh answered as he followed Maya with Deputy Wilson right behind them.
Maya worked to make sure she didn’t step on any of the previous tracks. They took a slightly different route back to the first house. She saw the footprints that went up to a window. It appeared that someone had been looking inside.
Maya stopped and peered around. Sunlight created a shadow of some imprints in the snow going away from the houses. The footprints were spaced differently, like maybe the ones going to the house, the person was walking and the ones going away from the house, the person was running. She had worked with some tactical trackers in the military. They would know for sure if a person was running, walking and even how much they weighed or if they were carrying anything. Maya had always been fascinated by their abilities. She’d always thought a perfect scenario to find someone would be a combination of a K-9 and man tracker.
There were also more tire tracks along the street. Miranda would need to cast those if they didn’t melt. Luckily there was some shade keeping a portion of them intact.
“Let’s start over here. Wilson, will you radio and let Miranda know that she has more prints and tire tread to cast here?” she said as Juniper stayed by her side, waiting for her command. “You’re getting tired, aren’t you, girly?”
Juniper gave a little hop with her front end as if she was telling Maya she was still good to go. After Wilson radioed Miranda, Maya directed Juniper out near the footprints going away, and she picked up the trail right away. Following her dog, Maya guessed the person they were tracking had indeed been scared and fleeing from something, as Juniper took them off the road, through some thick brush and back into rugged terrain with no trails.
Maya allowed Juniper to follow the scent for a while, but she also knew her dog was wearing out. It was important to rest her for many reasons including she didn’t want her to get exhausted. A tired dog and handler might make a mistake—something that Maya never wanted to have happen again after her experience of losing her military K-9 in a tragic accident. He’d been fatigued that night too.
Slowing down, Juniper stopped and peered back at Maya, asking if they should continue.
“You’re so good. You’re such a good girl, but we’re going to stop here,” Maya said, rubbing and patting her dog on her sides and stroking her thick fur on her back.
“She did great,” Josh said.
“She did. Let’s mark this spot on a map, hike back, and get Finn. I’m guessing this person was moving at a rapid rate, and they’re probably dehydrated and tired. I want to see if we can find them.”
“Or the people pursuing them,” Josh said.
“That too,” Maya said.
“I have some flagging so we can mark our trail back to the road and find it that way,” Deputy Wilson told them.
“Perfect,” Maya said as they started the long trek back to their vehicles.
* * *
They all returned to their vehicles to switch out dogs, refill water bottles, and grab some granola bars. Maya put a blanket in Juniper’s compartment. The Mal often became a Maligator and loved to rip up the blankets. Working dogs didn’t always get pet perks like blankets. Not because their handlers didn’t love them, but because the high-drive dogs might either eat them or decide they didn’t want to work. A K-9 was a large investment for a department, and having a dog that no longer wanted to do their job would be a big loss. Maya wasn’t worried about either of these things with Juniper.
Yes, she had ripped up blankets and even her dog beds, but she had never eaten any of the pieces. And the day Juniper didn’t want to work meant there was something seriously wrong.
