Smolder (Steel Brothers Saga 22)

“Agreed.” Dale removes his Rockies cap and scratches the top of his head. “We’ll get somebody to run fingerprints and DNA. But not Hardy.”

“Got it,” I agree. “We’ll get our own people on this.”

“In the meantime,” Donny says, “what else do we do here?”

“I don’t think there’s anything else to do here,” I say, “but we’d better go to those other GPS coordinates before someone moves all the evidence from there as well.”

“How do you think they know we were here?” Donny asks.

“Probably something as simple as footprints,” I say.

“But there’s no mud, just solid ground. No prints. Except where I stepped in the dog shit that first time.” Then his eyebrows fly up. “Dog shit! That’s it!”

“What are you thinking, Don?” Dale asks.

“Whoever was here has a dog. I know that doesn’t mean a lot. Lots of people have dogs. But whoever comes here brings a dog. Maybe two dogs.”

“Or a couple of strays just hang out here,” Dale says.

“No,” I say. “Remember what we found last time? Dog shit inside the barn. If strays came here to seek shelter, they wouldn’t be shitting in the barn.”

“Exactly,” Donny says.

“So they have a dog or dogs,” Dale says. “How does that help us?”

I widen my eyes. “Oh my God.”

“You see what I’m saying?” Donny smiles.

“Yeah. This is a clue. They use canines.”

“They could just be bringing pets around.” From Dale.

“Really? I doubt it,” I say. “These dogs are trained. Otherwise they wouldn’t bring them. Dogs would just get in the way. Especially around decaying bodies. They’d be going crazy.”

“Okay, I see your point,” Dale says. “But how exactly does this help us?”

“They’re probably trained guard dogs,” I say. “We may be able to trace these people that way.”

Dale cocks his head. “Would guard dogs shit inside a barn?”

“Why wouldn’t they?” I ask. “They don’t live here. It’s just like outside in here, ground and all.”

“I think guard dogs have to be registered in most states,” Donny says. “Except that whoever these people are, they aren’t exactly law-abiding citizens.”

“No,” I say, “but they had to have their dogs trained somewhere. It’s a long shot, but we might be able to trace them that way.”

“Okay…” Dale puts his baseball cap back on his head. “The idea has merit, but still it’s going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“I agree,” I say. “But that’s all we’ve got, Dale. That, some old bones, and plastic red fingernails. What do you think is the most easily traced?”

“Dogs,” Dale finally relents.

“I can look into it. Put Callie on it,” Donny says. “We’ve got the databases at the office.”

“Perfect,” I say. “I know it’s not much, but what else can we do?”

“We can get out to those other coordinates as soon as possible,” Dale says.

“Problem is, we all have other things to do,” I say. “We all have jobs. Jobs that don’t wait.”

“What about tomorrow?” Dale says. “Sunday.”

“The winery may be closed on Sunday, but the beef ranch isn’t, Dale,” I say.

“The winery never closes. I always have to be watching fermentation. But if you can’t make it tomorrow, maybe Donny and I can.”

“Tomorrow won’t work for me,” Donny says. “Sorry.”

Dale sighs. “All right. You’ve convinced me. We need some recovery time after today. In the meantime, we’ve done everything we can here for now.”

I nod. Recovery time. Now my cousin is talking sense.

I need to get home. I need to shower this disgusting filth off my body.

And then I need to call Rory.

I should’ve called her before now, but I was giving her space.

Tonight? I need to see her. I’m not exactly sure why, but she is the one person I want to see right now after all of this.

“Let’s take one more look around the perimeter,” Dale says. “Then let’s get the fuck out of here.”

We climb down carefully, and I eye the hole we’ve left in the ceiling. “They’re going to know we were here now.”

“They already know we were here, Brock,” Donny says. “These are not amateurs. The fingernails may have been plants. The bones too. But the dogs? They’re using dogs for a reason, and it’s not to throw us off track.”

“I agree,” I say. “The dogs are our best bet for now.”

“Callie and I will get on that first thing Monday,” Don says.

I nod.

The mention of Callie makes me think of Rory once more.

Damn.

I should’ve taken her into my bed.

Yeah, I wanted to try something new. Not do the patented Rake-a-teer system.

Right now, though, I need to fuck.

And I only want to fuck one person.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Rory

I’m standing on the sidewalk in front of Doc Sheraton’s home when my nerves strike. My feet don’t want to move.

“You okay?” Callie asks.

“Yeah.”

“What happened to the I’m damned sure I want to do this?”

I clear my throat. “I’m good. Good. Just for a moment, I saw myself spread-eagled and naked coming across everyone’s Twitter feed.”