Page 24 of Chasing Creed

“None of you are investigators.” The sheriff crossed his arms over his chest, puffing it out a bit and standing taller. Instead of being pleased with the information, he again, acted like they had purposely misled him. “Isn’t that right? Isn’t that what y’all told me?”

“We’re not,” Jason told him. “Brodie notices things. A lot of things the rest of us never see.”

“So, what are you saying? That somehow our missing man is hidden down inside this pile?” He scoffed to punctuate how ridiculous he thought that was, but it ended up sounding more like he’d choked on his words.

The man scratched at his jaw then sent his fingers up through the wet flop of hair that had stuck to his forehead. He glanced at his deputy. Finally, he turned all the way around to face Creed, his hands back on his hips. “So, when will you get to the house and the outbuildings?”

Creed stared at the man, waiting for some kind of “gotcha” humor. Was it possible he was dismissing this alert because he couldn’t imagine anything other than a dead animal inside this towering heap?

He looked down at Grace. She shuffled her front feet. Her nose twitched and poked the air. He wasn’t surprised to find she wasn’t finished. But she didn’t point toward the old farmhouse or any of the outbuildings. In fact, she was ready to go in the opposite direction, out to the open pasture.

“The dogs haven’t shown any interest in heading back to the buildings,” Creed told Sheriff Daniels, causing the man to pivot his attention to Grace then Scout.

“She looks like she still smells something.”

“But in the opposite direction.” He gave the sheriff a chance to let that sink in before he added, “We have some more work to do, but I thought you’d want to know about this hot spot.”

“Hot spot?”

“There's a high concentration of the scent we asked them to find in this area.” Creed gestured at the pile behind the sheriff.

“Right.” But now Daniels didn’t bother to acknowledge it. “Because your dogs smelled something.” He exchanged a look with Deputy Perry, one of those looks that were usually accompanied by an eyeroll.

“So, you’re not going to check this out?” Brodie asked.

“Oh sure, we’re going to dig right into an old trash pile just because your dogs smelled a dead animal.” Deputy Perry, who had said very little until now, was comfortable joining in on his boss’ skepticism.

Grace grew impatient, and Creed was tired of these two. He gestured to Jason and Brodie for them to continue. Scout was no longer tracking. His nose wasn’t wagging or poking the air like Grace’s, but he was ready to go and waiting for Jason’s command.

Without a word, they moved on. They weren’t out of earshot, and Creed could hear the two men behind them exchanging jokes.

“I can’t believe they aren’t even curious,” Brodie whispered as she glanced back, but stuck close to Creed’s shoulder.

“We let Grace find what she’s tracking, then we leave,” Creed told her and Jason.

Brodie quickened her pace with Hank, and the two of them circled ahead but off to the side, checking the tall grass and shrubs. Out here in the pasture, the fog crawled close to the ground, the moisture thick with droplets that soaked his pant legs and his dog.

Creed kept Grace from leaping forward, even as she shot him an impatient look over her shoulder. Her fur, especially around her face, was slicked back. She was breathing fast and tugged harder toward a tangled, overgrown thicket. There were clusters of orange-red berries, bright in the gray fog. He still couldn’t see what had her attention.

Jason and Scout stayed back while Brodie and Hank searched the ground. She poked ahead with the pole, keeping Hank close to her side.

“Someone was here,” Brodie said. “There’s a bunch of cigarette butts.” She was bent down to get a better look.

Then everything happened so suddenly, Creed couldn’t have stopped it if he tried.

Hank yelped, and both he and Brodie jumped away from something at their feet. Brodie tripped just as a whizzing noise rose from the tall grass. She reached for Hank and lost her balance, falling backward into the tangled bushes.

“Brodie!” Creed immediately looked for barbed wire. Was the electric fence that zapped Scout out here, too?

“Grab Hank,” she yelled.

The dog had yelped and jumped. He was at Creed’s side, getting ready to race back to check on Brodie when Creed scooped up his leash and told him, “Hank, stay. Jason?”

“I’ve got her.” Jason handed Scout’s leash to Creed as he rushed by to help Brodie.

Hank and Grace tugged in different directions while Scout sat. With Jason helping Brodie, Creed looked over at Grace. She pulled and leaned forward, her nose still twitching at the mechanical noise coming from the scrub grass. Without seeing the object, Creed saw his dog stop. Then without hesitation, she looked up at him. She was alerting to whatever was hidden in the thicket.

Jason helped untangle Brodie. Her arms and legs were wrapped within the branches of the wild overgrowth. Now, with a closer view, Creed winced at the gnarly thorns between the clusters of orange berries.