Stella got out, peered under the driver’s seat, and then went around the car, opening all the doors. “Let me do a quick check under the seats, and then we’ll let you and Robo have it.”
She peered under the front passenger seat. “What’s this hidden down here? Something tells me I need to take its picture before I move it.”
With not just a small amount of excitement building, Mattie watched Stella use her cell phone to snap a photo.
Then Stella extracted a slim volume with a flowery cover. “Oh my god!”
“What?” McCoy asked, his tone imperative.
Stella looked at both of them with an astonished expression. “It’s a diary.”
This time, that burst of adrenalin hit Mattie square in the chest.
“We’ve hit the jackpot,” McCoy said.
“Let’s bag it,” Stella said. “We’re taking this back with us.”
McCoy reached into the kit for an evidence bag, and Stella placed the diary inside, giving it back to McCoy to keep. Stella searched the side pockets, the back seat pockets, and under the back seats but found nothing more than an ice scraper and a can of windshield deicer. The back compartment of the vehicle held a few emergency flares. Mattie’s heart ached at the thought of Garrett Hartman equipping his daughter’s first vehicle with so many safety supplies, an obvious labor of love.
“There’s blood here on the carpet in back,” Stella said. “The perp must’ve used her own vehicle to move her body.”
“Christ,” Mattie muttered.
“Scum,” Stella said, backing off from the Honda. “Okay, Mattie, your turn.”
Mattie directed Robo into the SUV and together they completed a thorough sweep. Like during the exterior sweep, Robo didn’t hesitate, nor did he indicate the presence of narcotics.
“This vehicle is clean,” Mattie announced, confident in Robo’s skill. “Grace never transported any drugs in it.”
“Don’t quibble, Mattie, tell us what you really think,” Stella teased.
Mattie gave her a half smile. “Robo’s nose knows.” She tried not to sound too smug, but she felt terribly proud of her partner.
Sandy Benson’s engine growled as her SUV made its way up the steep track to the trees and then ground to a stop. “Well, I’d better go break the news that we’ve already been into their crime scene,” Stella said, as she watched the same techs who’d worked the other two scenes exit the ranger’s vehicle.
Her brassy voice carried as she walked away toward the others. “I had the K-9 sweep the car first so we wouldn’t confuse the scent trails inside. You’ll just have to deal with it.”
Mattie cringed at Stella’s choice of words, thinking the detective must have missed the memo on interdepartmental relationships. She followed a few paces behind McCoy as they headed back toward his Jeep.
But the lead tech, possibly used to working with Stella, peeled away from the rest of the group and approached Mattie with a gloved hand, a baggie, and a smile. “Let me get a sample of your K-9’s hair, officer,” she said. “Can you keep him from biting my hand off?”
After returning to the station, Mattie checked in and told Rainbow she would head out next for patrol duty. Before leaving, though, she took a quick look at the duty roster, which told her that Brody had been scheduled a day off last Friday. Yet he’d already been at the crime scene when she arrived. She wondered when he’d been called and where he’d been at the time.
Feeling unsettled, Mattie headed back outside to her patrol car, Robo at her side. Compared to the mountains, the day had turned hot down in the valley, not a cloud in the sky, a dog day of late summer. After loading Robo in the back, Mattie decided not to think about what she was going to do about her suspicion and drove toward the O’Malley trailer house. She would focus on Brody later.
Pulling up in front, Mattie saw Sean sitting out on the front step, listlessly tossing pebbles into an upturned hubcap. His face had been washed and his sandy hair combed, though he still wore the same dirt-smudged T-shirt and shorts he’d had on the day before.
Deciding to use Robo to try to make some inroads into a relationship with the kid, Mattie invited him out of the car and snapped on his leash. His tail waved and he looked toward Sean in a friendly way. At the academy, Robo’s trainer had explained how Robo had been socialized with children as a young dog, and he’d taken to it like a duck to water. Mattie realized how valuable that experience had been to round out Robo’s usefulness in a community setting such as Timber Creek.
Still, Sean left his play and stepped backward, his face taking on a look of caution.
With Robo at heel, Mattie approached him. “How are you, Sean?”
Sparing Mattie one brief glance, Sean continued to eye Robo. “Okay.”
“Robo, sit.” Seeing that Robo sat at heel as directed, Mattie looked back at Sean. “Robo likes kids. Would you like to pet him?”
“I guess so.”
Mattie stroked the top of Robo’s head gently. “First put your hand out low so he can sniff it, and then pet him on his head like this.”
It only took about a minute for Robo to make friends. Sean took a step to move closer, smoothing the fur on Robo’s shoulders.
“See, he likes you.”
Sean glanced at Mattie with a half smile. “Does he like to play?”
“Yeah, he does. He loves to play ball. You wanna come with me to the park someday to do that, if it’s okay with your mom?”
“Sure.”
“Let’s ask her.”
Sean hurried into the trailer house. Within seconds, Fran stepped out on the porch carrying the baby. Mattie noticed a fresh purple bruise that hadn’t been apparent the day before over Fran’s left cheekbone. Sean came out behind her and then moved down the stairs to pet Robo again.
Fran stood with her face turned partly away, fiddling with the baby’s clothing, not meeting Mattie’s gaze. “Sean says you want to talk to me.”
“He wants to go to the park with me someday to play ball with Robo. We wondered if you would allow it.”
Fran’s eyes darted out to take in the boy and the dog. “We’ll see. I’ll have to talk with my husband.”
A quick glance told Mattie that Sean’s attention seemed centered on Robo. She stepped close to Fran and said in a low voice, “You have a bruise on your face. Did your husband hit you?”
Fran shook her head no. “I ran into a doorway last night when I got up to take care of the baby in the dark.”
The door opened slightly, causing both Mattie and Fran to step away. Tommy O’Malley came out of the house.
He gave Mattie a smile that seemed contrived. “I see you’ve come back to see us.”
“I see you haven’t gone to work yet today.”
“Oh, we’ll be going later, me and my dad.”
“I’m glad you’ve been able to find a job. Where are you employed?”
Tommy’s smile dimmed somewhat, though he tried to fix it in place. His eyes darted off quickly to the side before coming back to focus on Mattie’s. “We’re going to go work at the mine in Rigby. It’s a drive, but I can work weekends when school starts.”
Mattie knew she’d have no trouble checking that detail. She decided there was no reason to mince words. “I’m concerned about the bruise on your mother’s face.”
Tommy narrowed his eyes and studied his mother, as if seeing the bruise for the first time.
Eyes downcast, Fran shifted the baby in her arms as if uncomfortable with her son’s attention. “I told her I ran into a door frame last night.” Finally, she lifted her eyes to meet Mattie’s, but the animosity contained within them was a surprise. “I told you I don’t need your help.”