“You mean because of the reporter and the photos?”
He shook his head. “When she came over, I was drunk. I don’t usually drink hard liquor, but I found a bottle Bruce and I had bought to drink together and … Kenzie stayed with me.”
“I’m sure she was worried and wanted to help. Did it make a difference to have her there with you?”
“Yeah.” More than Conrad could say.
But again, he’d let his mouth start a conversation he didn’t want to finish. “Thanks. I might see you tomorrow.”
“I hope so."
He left Esri’s office, the cold wind seeming to suck his breath away.
* * *
Kenzie signedfor a shipment of dog food. She pointed to the stock room. “Can you put them over there?”
“Sure thing.” The delivery woman rolled her dolly to the back of the store.
“Thanks.” Kenzie spent the next ten minutes opening and unpacking the boxes, while Dree helped Frank, who owned the town’s only gas station and car repair place, pick dog food for his aging black Lab with a sensitive tummy. She was about to make a suggestion of her own when her Team pager went off.
SHERIFF TONING OUT ALL HRD K9 UNITS.
A search for human remains.
She left the stock room and waved to Dree, who recognized the sound of Kenzie’s pager and knew what it meant. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“No worries. I hope you find them—whoever they are.”
So did Kenzie. “Thanks.”
Kenzie hurried to the kennel, leashed Gizmo, and told Quinn she’d check in via text message. “Miss Piggy’s family will be here soon to pick her up.”
“They just called to say they’re on the way.” Quinn was on top of it, of course.
“See you later.” Kenzie stepped outside, a cold wind hitting her in the face.
To the west, gray clouds promised snow.
She hurried home, changed into warm clothing, and led Gizmo out to the truck. “Time to go to work, buddy.”
At The Cave, she found a squad car waiting for her.
Deputy Julia Marcs came out to meet her. “Good to see you’re bundled up. It’s cold out here, and this might take a while.”
Inside, Julia brought her up to date. A woman and mother of three had gone missing from her home in Boulder a few weeks back, and police believed her husband had killed her and dumped her body somewhere in the mountains west of Scarlet.
“The husband told police his wife went out shopping but never came home. Then he changed his story and said thathe’dbeen the one out shopping for a laptop when his wife had vanished and that police had twisted his words. He told police he hadn’t left Boulder that day, but his phone pinged off our cell tower that afternoon.”
So, the bastard was lying.
“West of Scarlet could be anywhere. Do you have any idea where to start?”
Julia nodded. “Detectives discovered a hiking guide to Russey Ranch in his trash. There were aspen leaves in his vehicle and stuck in the mud on his tires as well.”
Russey Ranch was a vast expanse of wilderness and one of the county’s more remote parks with only a handful of accessible roads and trails.
“It will be like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack.”
