Page 29 of Chasing Creed

“This guy is one of the reasons I prefer dogs.”

Now, she smiled, and it almost kept him from clenching his jaw. Almost.

“We found something else. I haven’t told them about it. Yet. Grace alerted to a drone.”

With her back to the men, she raised her eyebrows, but kept her voice even when she said, “That’s interesting.”

So, she already suspected, too. Something was off.

“When he called you, did he mention all the blood inside the vehicle?”

“He told me Kyle may have been injured. He made it sound like an accident. I understand the vehicle barreled through the woods and pastures.” And now her facial expression did not match her calm words. “How much blood?”

“Enough to guess it wasn’t an accident. It’s splattered all over the back seat. The roof. The floor. Looks to me like a crime scene. They haven’t called forensics yet.”

Her lips pressed together. “I’m the visiting sheriff. I have to be careful who I call in. What I recommend.”

“And yet, I think he’s waiting for you to make those decisions. I think he’s been waiting for you to take over.”

She took a deep breath then said, “Okay.” The next part she said louder now. “I think maybe I should take a look.” She turned to Daniels and Perry, and she called out, “Mr. Creed’s going to take me to that garbage pile, just to get a look.”

“We’ll give you a head start and meet you there.”

“That sounds good.”

He put Grace’s vest and leash back on. She was anxious to go. So was Norwich. Creed could tell she wanted to get out of earshot of the sheriff and his deputy.

19

Creed held branches back for Norwich, leading the way to what he’d hoped was a possible cut-through route. This was his fourth pass through the woods, and now he realized there probably wasn’t such a thing as an easier way. In fact, maybe he’d gone too far, getting deeper into the woods than necessary.

A musty, damp air closed in around them. The dense undergrowth of deadfall, leaves, pine needles, and prickly vines caught and dragged his steps. At one point, Creed picked up Grace and tucked her under his arm while he pulled back sharp twigs, making sure they didn’t slap back at Norwich. Lately, he caught himself being overprotective with her. If she noticed, she didn’t say anything.

Last summer she’d had a heart attack during one of their searches in the forest. Never mind that she was lean, strong and even in better shape now, he still watched out for her every time they worked in the field together. He liked the woman. She was probably about the same age as his mother, but he couldn’t imagine the two women in the same room together or having anything in common.

“All these old vehicles,” Norwich gestured to the heaps of metal wedged in-between the tree trunks. Long trails of moss and kudzu devoured some of them, so that only pieces of glass, a hubcap or headlight, could be seen. “It’s like a graveyard.”

“The fog has a lot to do with it. Makes this whole landscape a bit creepy.” He wiped damp hair back off his forehead. The constant drip made it feel like rain. The skittering of birds or squirrels above set off a random downpour from the canopy of leaves. It had gotten even darker as the afternoon slipped away. He was beginning to question his navigation skills. Had the fog thrown him too far off course?

“How’d they even get them out here?”

She was still distracted and fixated on the vehicles.

“There’s no path,” she said. “They’re all jammed in almost as if the trees have grown up around them.”

“The place has been abandoned for decades.” Creed gave her the explanation Daniels had given him more than once. “There’s a clearing. It shouldn’t be much farther.” He hoped that was true.

A glance over his shoulder, and he was relieved that he didn’t see any sign of the sheriff or his deputy following behind.

As soon as they stepped out from the woods and into the pasture, Norwich asked, “So what the hell is going on?”

“From what I know about blood splatter and congealed blood, I’d guess whatever happened was a few days ago. Hard to tell with this humidity.”

“But you haven’t found any bodies?”

“No. We found a sock inside the vehicle, and I did wipe off the steering wheel. Those are the scents we asked Scout and Grace to follow. Both dogs followed parallel paths. They took us to this huge debris pile that’s about ten to twelve feet tall. Smells like decomp. Brodie pointed out that it’s been disturbed in the last few days. Possibly added to.”

“Was there anything inside?”