“No. We’re good as long as we’re outside the tape. There’s some good imprints inside where we marked off. Unless this wind destroys them.”
“Okay. I’ll go get Juniper.” Maya walked to her vehicle and Juniper, seeing her coming, started barking and howling. She shook her head. If only everyone had this much excitement for their jobs. She found the Kevlar vest that was also a tracking harness so that Juniper had more protection just in case they found the killers and not the person who had fled the scene. A little bit of wind whooshed through again, but died down. It was like Mother Nature was toying with them.
After getting all of Juniper’s equipment on, Maya stepped back and let the fur missile fly. Juniper landed and shook, hair flying everywhere as more wind came up. Some of the hair blew back onto Maya, which she didn’t mind. She considered it another sign of spring.
“Okay, let’s go,” she said. Juniper pranced beside her. Every now and then she leaped up in joy. “You are ready to work, aren’t you? Just don’t get so excited that you lose concentration.”
As if she understood, Juniper sat and tilted her head. But she could only sit still for so long. Juniper stood and started circling around Maya. “You need a drink before you go? It’s dry right now. Even with the snow on the ground.”
Maya pulled out her portable water bowl from her duty belt and filled it, letting Juniper take a few slurps. Not only did the water keep her hydrated, but it would also help the Mal smell better. A wet nose was a good nose. Putting the water bowl away, Maya nodded at Lucas and they headed back to the area where he’d mentioned.
Deciding that Juniper could do this track off leash, Maya unpinned the long tracking lead. They were nowhere near roads. Only wilderness. Other than the cabins, you’d have to hike for miles before you found anything civilized. Maya saw the stomped-down grass that Lucas had mentioned. She’d start Juniper there unless her dog picked up a stronger scent she wanted to follow. Maya always trusted her dog.
She cast Juniper out in the direction of the grass, telling her to “seek” and “go find ’em.” Juniper put her nose to the ground and immediately showed signs of being in odor.
“She’s got a scent,” Maya said to Lucas, who was waiting behind her. “Now we just have to try to keep up with her.”
Lucas was muttering something about crazy Malinoises as Juniper took off, nose down and tail up. She locked on to the odor and Maya came behind her realizing that whoever left this trail was probably running scared—like the other track they’d done. The scent trail went all over the place, zigzagging back and forth.
A couple of times Juniper stopped and air scented until she caught the track again and took off. Maya didn’t mind her stopping because it gave her a chance to catch her breath. Lucas kept up with them. Then they’d resume. Sometimes, Juniper would get way out ahead and realize that Maya wasn’t near her. The dog would wait and, once Maya was closer, go back to her work.
“You two have become an amazing team,” Lucas said.
“Thanks,” Maya said over her shoulder. She was proud of the partnership they’d created. She trusted Juniper with her life and knew her dog trusted her as well.
“There’re some broken branches on this crazy path Juniper is taking us on. And based on some of the trampled grass and prints through the snow, someone was running hard,” Lucas said.
“Probably scared,” Maya said. “If you had a gang member after you, losing them in the forest would be your best bet.”
But then that person would have to find their way back out. That’s the tough part. And the part where people fail.
Maya didn’t want to say it out loud, but there was a good chance that this person who had been on the run wouldn’t be found alive. Although whoever it was had made it this far. She continued following Juniper, whose tail was still straight up in the air, like a flag. She couldn’t see Juniper’s head because the dog had it down in the long brown grass.
They came up to a stream, and at first Maya thought Juniper was going to jump in, but the dog took another turn and started following the bank. Maya called her dog to wait and stopped her, giving her some water, which also gave all of them a chance to catch their breath. As they took a quick break, the wind started again.
“Oh man, come on, Mother Nature,” Maya said. “You need to cooperate.”
Lucas laughed. “If you can control the weather, I’ll be impressed, Tree Cop.”
“No, but let’s keep going before it gets worse.” Maya gave Juniper another drink of water and then sent her back out. Immediately picking the scent back up, Juniper put her nose to the ground and they continued following the creek. It didn’t take long for the wind to come up and Maya could see Juniper struggle with locating the odor. As it died down, the Mal managed to find it again.
After the same thing happened a couple times, Maya called Juniper off. The Mal came over to her, tongue hanging and tail wagging. “You did great, girly.”
Maya praised and petted her dog. She was proud of Juniper’s work.
“I think we need to call this track,” Maya told Lucas. “But at least we know that the person followed this stream. I know where it connects into the river, and honestly, if the person follows this, they could walk their way out of the national forest and to the road heading out of town. It would take them a couple days, but I’m beginning to think this person is tough. They might make it.”
“I’ll have to figure out how fast a person could go on foot and see if we can figure out an area for the SAR team to go,” Lucas said. “And of course, try to keep an eye on the road just in case this person makes it there. I wish I knew if this was a victim or a suspect.”
“I think it’s our victim, but of course, we don’t know anything for sure. But the way that track started and how it was all over the place makes me think that it really was someone running scared.”
“I agree,” Lucas said.
Another gust of wind came through the trees. Several of them creaked and the larger trees swayed. Thinking back to the previous summer when she’d experienced a widow-maker—a dead branch that hadn’t come down yet—Maya didn’t want a repeat of that experience.
“I don’t like it here. These big trees could blow over or branches could come down. Let’s get out of here,” Maya said.
“Agreed,” Lucas said.
