“That poor woman has been out here for three weeks. It looks like a bear or cat got to her, but I think we found everything that was left of her body.”
Conrad took Kenzie’s free hand, gave it a squeeze.
Herrera spotted him, grinned. “Nice of you to show up, Conrad.”
“I thought I’d time it for when most of the work was already done.” Conrad walked over to the others and crawled beneath the litter to clip on the ATV tire that would enable them to roll it down the trail.
“We could use your help getting the litter down.” Taylor took one of the litter’s handles. “The trail has some steep spots.”
“You got it.”
He, Ahearn, Taylor, O’Brien, Nicole, and Herrera rolled the litter back toward the parking lot in silence, Kenzie following with Gizmo, the awfulness of the situation weighing on all of them. Tonight, a family that had feared the worst for three long weeks was about to have those fears realized.
Conrad hoped the bastard who’d done this rotted in hell.
They’d been hiking for about ten minutes when Kenzie dashed off the trail and threw up in the bushes.
The Team came to a halt, waiting for her.
“You guys got this?” Conrad asked.
Taylor nodded.
Conrad left them and walked over to Kenzie, who was still bent double, her hand resting against a ponderosa pine. He rubbed her back.
“I don’t want you to see this.”
“Hey, I owe you, remember?”
She handed him Gizmo’s leash. “Give me just a second.”
He gave her space, leading Gizmo back to the litter, where the others still waited.
“Is she going to be okay?” Nicole asked.
Conrad took hold of the litter again. “She’s a bit shaken.”
Creed watched her, a worried frown on his face. “I don’t blame her. That was some rough shit.”
Kenzie rejoined them, took Gizmo’s leash from Conrad. “Thanks.”
They started down the trail again.
Hawke was waiting with an ambulance at the parking lot to make the DBT—dead body transfer. Without a word, he and Brandon Silver, his B-shift captain, lifted the body bag onto a gurney, slid it into the ambulance, and started the long drive to the medical examiner’s lab.
Ahearn turned to the group. “I don’t think we need to debrief this one. Great work, everyone. Well done, Kenzie and Gizmo.”
Kenzie glanced around. “Where’s Gabby? You didn’t leave her in your vehicle.”
“Hell, no! Megs is babysitting.”
Kenzie gaped at him. “Megs?Babysitting?”
That made everyone laugh, breaking some of the tension.
While the others made plans to meet at Knockers, Conrad walked with Kenzie to her truck. “Because of you two, she’ll get justice now.”
“I’m not sure there is any justice.” Kenzie opened the topper and lowered the tailgate for Gizmo, who jumped up and plopped down in his crate. “Those kids will never see their mother again. For the rest of their lives, they’ll have to live knowing their father killed her and left her body to be eaten by animals.”
