He came over and said to Maya, “I guess right now, based on Colorado law, I’m technically acting sheriff. But that’s only because your grandfather and Josh are out of town at trial. I want you to know that I have faith in both of them. As far as I’m concerned, your grandfather is the sheriff and Josh is the undersheriff until I’m forced to believe differently.”
“Thanks, Doc,” Maya said.
He patted her on the back. “You hang in there. It’ll all work out.”
“I hope you’re right,” Maya said as Doc headed to his van with a wave.
How quickly things changed.This morning, I was worried about a missing person and Pops’ trial. Now this afternoon, I’m worried about Josh and the repercussions from everything Juniper has found.
Lucas and Miranda seemed to be finishing up. This crime scene wasn’t quite as big as the others. Miranda had dusted the cabin for prints, and they’d found evidence that someone had slept in the bed. There was also evidence that there were several people at the cabin—not just the person they’d tracked and the deceased man. What all this meant still wasn’t clear to Maya, other than the prosecutor, Elena, was probably the one on the run and she had figured out something with this case. But that something most likely needed Josh’s evidence to put all the pieces together.
I have to find Elena. Juniper will help me. And I will make several copies of Josh’s evidence. That might be all that saves him, and if that disappears… I don’t even want to think about it.
Lucas and Miranda came over to where Maya was waiting.
“I think we’re all done here. I’m going to clear the scene,” Lucas said.
“I can lock the gate behind everyone,” Maya said. “That way the scene is somewhat secure, at least from the average person driving by.”
“That works,” Lucas said. “Any word on the trial today?”
Maya shook her head. Another thing she wanted to forget. “No. But I don’t really have signal here. I get a bar here and there if I stand in the right place. I thought I’d go to my office for the reason we discussed and then meet you at the sheriff’s office. Hopefully by then we’ll all know more or Pops and Josh will even be back.”
Miranda gave Maya a quizzical look, but Maya didn’t say anything. She knew it was because of the cryptic reference to a “reason we discussed.” She trusted Miranda too, but she also didn’t want anything to happen to her. Right now, the fewer people who knew, the better. At least in Maya’s mind.
“We’ll meet you at the sheriff’s office and go from there. I think we should all sit down and go through the evidence…and I need to question Josh. I’ve texted him and asked him to voluntarily come to the sheriff’s office,” Lucas said.
“I understand, and I’m sure he will comply and come in to meet you. He also wants to figure out who did this,” Maya said. “I’ll see you two there.”
Maya turned around before anyone could say anything more, like how everything would be okay or maybe she didn’t know Josh as well as she thought. She wasn’t feeling good about this situation. Not at all. Not when all the evidence kept pointing toward Josh.
* * *
The drive back to Maya’s office was easy—the opposite of her day. She had opened the compartment door between the cab and Juniper’s area. The whole trip, Juniper had her head hanging through, but stared straight ahead.
“You know things aren’t right, don’t you?” Maya said to her.
Juniper gave a little lick and grunt in response. They came to the Forest Service office first. The building was brown with a tan sign out front advertising a visitors’ center. During the summer, a ranger joined Maya, and she figured he’d be back in a month or so. He helped her with the summer tourism rush as people escaped to the mountains.
Right now, the building was empty and Maya kept it locked except when she was there. Today, she intended to never turn the sign to Open. She just needed to copy the pictures and memo book. Not knowing how long it would take, Maya let Juniper out and they went inside the office. Being a working dog, Juniper didn’t mind being in her compartment in the vehicle, and with climate control, Maya never had to worry about her overheating or getting cold.
But as she carried in the envelope Josh gave her, she felt like she was holding a dark secret that someone would hunt her down to find. And maybe that really was the case. Having Juniper with her in the office made Maya feel better.
Juniper stayed right by her, sensing that Maya was on edge. Maya gave her some loving pets and thanked her for being there. Then she pulled out the memo book and started making copies. There wasn’t anything earth-shattering about the notes other than most people didn’t keep notes about homicides. Cops were an exception. You never knew when you might be called to testify. And when it came to murder, there were no statute of limitations anywhere in the United States.
Maya made four copies of the notes, putting the original in a safe she had in the office in case she needed to lock up her weapon or something else important—like evidence in murder. She kept a copy of the notes along with a set for Lucas. She didn’t know who to give the other copies to but figured it was better to have more.
Then she sat down and found a card reader in her desk. She plugged it into her computer and inserted the memory card. Her computer made some noises indicating it was both waking up and reading the files. Juniper placed her head in Maya’s lap and she continued petting the top of her head until the pictures came up.
There were a lot. Josh had been thorough.
Maya copied the files to her computer hard drive and then managed to rummage through the desk and find some old CDs. While outdated in many ways, they were better than nothing, and her computer was old enough that it still had a disc drive. For once, Maya was glad that government funds hadn’t allowed an upgrade.
Once again, she went with four copies and then placed the original memory card in her safe. She closed and locked the door on it and turned the dial. It wasn’t a large safe. If someone was really inclined to want that evidence, then a couple of big guys could take it. But now that she had copies of everything, Maya didn’t worry too much about it. Plus, she would never tell anyone where she put the evidence. Not until she knew there was a good reason to get it.
Flipping through the pictures she’d saved, Maya didn’t see anything out of the ordinary other than the obvious homicide scene. She was aware that most people didn’t have pictures like that on a memory card. Once again, only cops. There was nothing jumping out at Maya, but without seeing the photos that went into evidence, she might not be able to spot anything either.
“What is so important about these pictures?” she asked out loud.
