“Don’t, Jordan. This isn’t your fault.” They should have done more. Assuming Jenny had simply run away to start over somewhere new had been the wrong approach. She swallowed against a lump of guilt. “I used Bear to search for her after we learned she was still missing several weeks after her initial disappearance, but we never found anything helpful.”
“I wonder if Jenny had been staying in another city for all this time,” Jordan said darkly. “That she was only brought back here to be buried.”
“That’s one possibility.” She struggled to smile reassuringly. “As you know, I’m participating on the new task force. I must head to Denver soon for our first meeting. Now that there’s a link to another missing girl who is also pregnant, I’ve been asked to take over your sister’s case.”
“I’m relieved to hear it.” Jordan’s blue eyes hardened. “I only wish you could have been assigned to Jenny’s case back when she first went missing.”
“We’re going to find the answers you deserve.” She ached for his loss, but rehashing what could have been done eight months ago wasn’t helpful. “I promise to keep you in the loop.”
“Thank you.” Jordan’s angry expression softened. “I trust you and Bear to uncover the truth.”
His confidence in her abilities was unnerving, and she hoped she wouldn’t let him or the other members of the task force down. She’d often wondered if she’d be half the cop her mother was. She and her mother had been close, especially since her father had died when she was a baby. It bothered her to know her mother’s killer was still at large ten years later.
“I need to get back to the ranch.” Jordan started to turn away, then swung back to her. “Take my phone number.”
“Of course.” She entered the number as he recited it for her. Then she called him. “Now you have mine, too.”
“Appreciate that.” He gave her a nod then left. She watched him leave, then turned back to the closest cubicle. She spent a few minutes to run a report on all her arrests over the past five years, then took the paperwork with her as she headed back outside with Bear.
The trip to Denver took a little longer than usual, mostly due to the amount of traffic and the seemingly never-ending road construction. Still, Autumn arrived early enough to stop at a café for lunch.
She took a moment to pray for God’s strength and wisdom as she worked her home invasion case. Peters wouldn’t know those she arrested as well as she did. She needed to catch the perp who’d broken in and opened fire, and she felt that looking into her past arrests was the best place to start. Every cop made enemies, and while most were all talk and no action, she couldn’t afford to ignore the revenge angle. She scrolled through the list of names she’d pulled at the office.
Only two names stood out to her as possibilities, and both men fit the size profile of the person she’d glimpsed running from the house. One was a guy named Denny Oswald who’d assaulted a woman at a park. He’d leered at Autumn and made statements about coming to find her when he was free. The other was a Tomas Showalter, who she’d arrested for armed robbery of a drugstore. He’d also threatened to retaliate against her. Most thugs who made threats rarely followed through with them.
Still, they both bore looking into, and she was glad to have a place to start.
The Denver Federal Office building was impressive. Autumn gave Bear some time outside to do his thing before heading in. When she offered her police badge and ID, she and Bear were waved around the metal detectors and told to head up to the third-floor office.
Several people were already gathered there. Each had their K-9 beside them, and she was amazed at all the different breeds of dogs. She took a seat and told Bear to lie down beside her. Two more K-9 officers entered the room and finally a tall man with dark brown hair strode in and called the meeting to order.
He smiled grimly. “Good afternoon, thanks everyone for coming. I’m FBI Supervisory Special Agent Emmett Dane. We don’t stand on ceremony here, so please call me Emmett. This is my K-9, Gemma. She specializes in snow and water rescue.”
Gemma was a large brown-and-white Newfoundland. Autumn wasn’t familiar with the breed but imagined Gemma was a strong swimmer.
“For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to do the introductions,” Emmett said. He gestured to a man with blond hair sitting to his right. “This is Officer River Jameson from the town of Ridge. His K-9 is a yellow Lab named Frankie, who specializes in search and rescue.” River nodded at the group. “Next, we have Colorado Springs PD officer Maren Anderson and her Doberman pinscher K-9, Haven, who is trained in suspect apprehension and narcotics detection.”
Maren was pretty, with her long honey-brown hair, but her blue gaze was serious as she acknowledged the group.
“Oak River PD officer Eli Blackwood brings his K-9, a Belgian Malinois named Wrangler, to the table. Eli and Wrangler are highly trained in suspect apprehension and have faced many dangerous situations.”
Eli had long reddish hair and a beard, and he nodded somberly at the murmur of greetings.
“Next, we have Canyon Creek Police officer Autumn Riley and her K-9, a bloodhound named Bear who is talented in suspect tracking and cross-trained in cadaver detection.”
Autumn smiled and nodded at the group.
“Autumn has firsthand knowledge of one of the dead teenagers, which we’ll get into a bit later,” Emmett said. The FBI agent’s gaze turned to the man seated beside her, who was tall with dark eyes and tousled brown hair. “Trevor Slate is a Lavender PD officer, and his K-9 is a springer spaniel named Lark, who specializes in arson detection.” Emmett quickly moved on. “Seated next to him is Bison Valley Police Officer Lizzie Reynolds, and her K-9 is a golden retriever named Reena, who specializes in tracking.”
Autumn nodded at Lizzie. They were the two blondes in the group and both had tracking K-9s.
Emmett then gestured at a redheaded woman with hazel eyes. “Next, we have Detective Melody Rust and her K-9 is a chocolate Lab named Dusty specializing in bomb detection. Lastly, I’d like to introduce Dodger Andrews He’s not a K-9 officer but he’s been invited to sit in on this meeting.” Emmett’s gaze moved to the older gentleman with dark eyes and silver hair sitting among them, before he glanced around the room. “Dodger has been supportive of our K-9 program, donating to our training center. Now, you might be asking yourselves why we have such a wide variety of K-9 specialties and the truth is, we’re not entirely sure what we’re dealing with, so we wanted to be prepared for anything.”
There was a long pause as the group absorbed that dire message.
“The overview of the case is as follows,” Emmett said. “We now have three teenage victims who went missing while pregnant and were found deceased, all killed shortly after giving birth to their babies.” Emmett nodded at her. “Autumn’s K-9, Bear, found Jennifer Clarke last night and we have reason to believe she may have been either the second or third victim.”
Not the first as she’d thought. All eyes shifted to her before returning to Emmett.
