Detection Mission. Margaret Daley
was housed. Lorna Danfield, the secretary for the K-9 Unit, sat at her desk near Captain Slade McNeal’s office.
When Lee covered the distance to her, Kip planted himself right next to her chair and waited for her to acknowledge him. She finished a call then turned to lavish attention on Kip. He loved it and always liked spending time with her.
“Is the captain in his office?” Lee asked while his partner enjoyed Lorna’s pampering.
“Yes, he’s expecting you. I’ll take care of Kip while you go inside.”
He started to leave, rotated back and said, “Thanks for the suggestion about renovating Molly’s third floor for our Jane Doe. I mean for Heidi.”
“She remembered her name?”
“No, but she has a locket with that name in it so that’s what she’s decided to call herself.”
“That poor dear. I’ll have to pay her a visit once she settles in at Molly’s.”
“I haven’t asked her to move in yet. I will today after work. She may have other plans.”
“Where’s the young lady going to go? She doesn’t know who she is or know anyone.” Kip bumped Lorna’s hand, and she scratched behind his ears.
“True, but she might not appreciate a stranger coming in and planning her life.”
“Or she’ll appreciate it because she doesn’t know what her options are right now.” The secretary nodded at Lee. Go see the captain. I hear you’re gonna have a busy couple of days.”
“Yeah, a thousand-acre wooded area will take some time to cover properly. With the discovery of Ned Adams’s body, Captain thinks there could be others out there. With all that has happened lately connected to the Lost Woods, it could very likely be a burial ground for those others like Pauly Keevers and a couple of low-level criminals like Adams.”
“If any dog can find a dead body, it’ll be Kip.”
He winked. “You’re just partial, but I agree with you.”
Lee knocked on his captain’s door then stuck his head into the office. “You wanted to see me?”
“Yes, I know you heard Pauly Keevers is missing. No one has seen him in the last three days. Normally with someone like Keevers I wouldn’t be overly concerned. He’s been known to go off drinking and disappear for days. I hope that’s the case here.”
“But you don’t think it is?”
Slade shook his head. “I wanted to emphasize how important it is we find Pauly. The chatter in the criminal community is that he was killed for talking to the police. Now no one is talking. With Adams’s body found in the Lost Woods, people are wondering who else is out there. Adams wasn’t a snitch but he worked for Charles Ritter.”
“The lawyer who was arrested for being involved in the murder of Eva Billows’s parents?”
“That very one. I’m sending Austin and Justice with you to search the woods. Austin has something of Pauly’s that he’ll give Justice to track him while you look for any other buried bodies. Austin has already checked Pauly’s hangouts in town yesterday afternoon. As I said, no one has seen the man in several days. Justice had his scent leaving Pauly’s apartment but lost it at the street.”
“Maybe he got into a car.”
“Pauly doesn’t own one so it was someone else’s. Where did they go? We owe Pauly. He gave us our first big lead about what’s going on with Rio’s kidnapping and my dad’s beating.”
“Just so you know, I’m asking our Jane Doe—who will be going by Heidi—to stay at Molly’s boarding house. That way I can keep an eye on her and maybe help her remember what happened to her.” He exhaled slowly. “It could be connected to this case. She was there that day Brady was found. What did she see? We still think there’s another guy out there involved in the kidnapping.”
“Good thinking. Let me know if she agrees.” The captain picked up his pen and scribbled something on the paper in front of him.
“I’m asking a couple of guys from the unit to help me fix up Molly’s third floor for Heidi over the next few nights. You’re invited. Six tonight. I’ll supply the pizzas.”
“I’ll be there. Give me something else to think about other than this case, my missing dog and my dad still in a coma. At least Heidi came out of hers. Maybe that means Dad will soon.”
When he left the captain’s office, he peered at Kip and knew how he’d feel if anything happened to his dog. They were partners. He’d feel the loss. At least Slade had Rio’s sire to fill in the gap. But that still wasn’t the same.
* * *
Using the grid pattern, Lee followed Kip, on a long leash, in the Lost Woods. So far, nothing. Austin and his bloodhound Justice hadn’t found anything, either. He paused for a few seconds to get his bearings and scanned the tall trees that shaded the forest floor as if it were late afternoon. Up ahead a ray of sunlight streamed through the foliage as though pinpointing one spot.
His cell rang. He pulled it off his belt and answered, “Calloway here.”
“I found a wrecked car on the outskirts of the woods on the north side by the highway,” Austin said, then gave him the coordinates.
“I’m not far. I’ll be right there.” Lee hung up and noted his position on his GPS, then set out in a jog toward the area.
Ten minutes later, he arrived at the dark green Buick sedan, which was partially covered by branches and greenery. The front end was smashed. One tire was shredded as though there had been a blowout. The air bag in the driver’s seat had gone off, lying limp now, a fine white powder all over the place. From the small ditch it was halfway lodged in, the car sat at a thirty-degree angle.
“Someone tried to hide it.” Detective Austin Black came around from the other side.
“That’s what it looks like to me. Have you called in the license number?”
“Yeah. It’s registered to a William Peterson from San Antonio. Where is he? Was it a stolen car? Captain is sending out a couple of crime-scene techs to process it, maybe they’ll be able to pull some fingerprints. Then we can tow it to the police impound.” Austin hesitated. “He wants us to continue our search. Do you think this was one of the kidnappers’s cars? That this Peterson is involved in the crime syndicate?”
Or was this how Heidi ended up in the woods that day? “Maybe, but if so, why would he leave it here in light of what went down in the woods a couple of weeks ago? It could have just been abandoned by Peterson. It looks pretty damaged, and it’s an old car. He might have decided to walk away from it.” As he said that to Austin, Lee kept picturing Heidi pushing open the driver’s door that was still ajar, then stumbling out. Disoriented. Hurting from the wreck. That would explain her injuries. “Maybe our mystery woman is connected to this car.” But why would she attempt to hide it?
“That thought already occurred to me, and the captain is looking into it.”
“If she’s tied to this car and Peterson, I’d love to be able to tell Heidi some good news,” Lee said. “At least give her a name and some facts about her life. Maybe be able to contact family and friends.”
“She’s going by Heidi?”
Lee nodded at his teammate. “Yeah, she didn’t want to use Jane Doe.”
“I don’t blame her. So she hasn’t remembered anything?”
“No. Do you see any evidence in the car?” Lee approached the vehicle, careful not to disturb any footprints. But with the dense leafage on the ground, he didn’t see any.
“Not from the passenger’s side.”
Lee peered inside from the open driver’s door and spied a cloth