Alpha Tracker
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Cindi Myers
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Chapter One
If Roslyn Kern had been the superstitious type, she might have taken the ominous clouds of smoke gathering in the distance beyond Jasper, Idaho, as a bad omen. But she wasn’t superstitious, she reminded herself, only nervous and uncertain what the outcome of this visit to Jasper might be. She didn’t want to be here, but part of being an adult meant doing things that scared you. She had been doing a lot of that lately.
“Next!” The young woman behind the counter at Millard’s Diner summoned her forward. The diner at the corner of Main and Second was busy with both table and counter service on this Friday before the Fourth of July, but everyone around Roslyn seemed in a good mood. “What can I get you?” the clerk asked.
Roslyn looked longingly at the latte the previous customer was carrying away, then ordered an herbal tea. “Would you like a blueberry muffin to go with that?” the woman asked. “They’re fresh out of the oven.”
Roslyn’s stomach rumbled. “Yes, please,” she said.
The clerk rang up her sale and accepted Roslyn’s debit card. “Are you here for the holiday weekend?” the clerk asked as they waited for the card machine to process the charge.
“Yes,” Roslyn said. “Do you think the fire is going to head this way?” The smell of smoke lingered in the air, though maybe Roslyn was more sensitive to the odor than most.
“I know it looks close, but the fire is a long way away,” the woman said. She returned Roslyn’s card. “There’s a ridge between us and the blaze, though if the wind shifts...” She shrugged. “The firefighters are keeping an eye on things. I’m not too worried.”
Roslyn nodded and moved on to accept her muffin and tea from another server. She spotted a small table against the side wall and headed for it. She had arrived in town late last night from Chicago and hadn’t had much time to formulate a plan. She needed to find Dillon, but wasn’t certain where to begin. Should she start with the police? She shook her head. No, not unless there was no other way. The first time she saw him, she wanted a situation that was more private.
She tore a piece from the muffin and popped it into her mouth, savoring the sweet cake surrounding a single juicy berry. She would have to stop in again tomorrow for another muffin. It almost made the tea bearable. She gazed out the window at the town of Jasper. She had visited the Chamber of Commerce website before she planned her trip, but the photos there of broad streets framed by Western-style buildings with wooden false fronts and Victorian brickwork hadn’t captured the flavor of the bustling town. The sidewalks were filled with people, most of whom appeared to be vacationers enjoying the sunny July day in spite of the distant smoke clouds. Barrels of pink and white and purple petunias dotted the sidewalks, and hanging baskets of red verbena and blue lobelia hung from every light post. Red, white and blue bunting draped storefronts and a banner over the street welcomed everyone to the annual Independence Day celebration.
A flyer in the bed-and-breakfast where she was staying had advertised a dance, a parade, a rodeo and fireworks as part of the weekend’s festivities. Roslyn wondered if she would be in any mood to celebrate once she had accomplished what she had come here to do.
She realized she was searching the crowd for Dillon’s handsome face. Her heart beat a little faster at the idea that he might be close by. She had such a clear picture of him in her mind—tall, broad-shouldered, with olive skin, sculpted cheekbones and close-cropped brown hair. He had captivated her from the moment they rode a lift chair together at the nearby Brundage Mountain Resort. He had been so easy to talk to and they had ended up skiing the rest of the day together, having dinner together, then going back to her hotel room.
They had spent the whole weekend in a magical bubble. She had come to the ski resort in McCall feeling broken and fragile, only a few weeks past a humiliating public breakup with her fiancé and the loss of a job she had loved. Thanks to a wonderful two days and nights with Dillon, she’d left feeling stronger than she had in weeks. He had been just what she needed during an awful time in her life. Saying goodbye to him had been hard, but the short time she’d spent with him had given her the strength she needed to go back to Chicago and clean up the mess she had left behind. She would always be grateful to him for that.
She had delayed coming here to find him because she wanted to keep that beautiful memory unspoiled, but life had a way of interfering with the best of plans. She needed to talk to him, and she couldn’t put it off much longer. Jasper was a small town, so she had thought finding him wouldn’t be that difficult. But now that she was here, she wasn’t so sure. Maybe if she sat here long enough, he would walk through the café door, and give her that smile that warmed her clear to her toes, his hazel green eyes sparking with delight. She turned toward the doorway, almost expecting to see him there. Instead, she was startled to see another familiar face.
“Roslyn? Oh my gosh—what are you doing here?” Cheri Benton, one of Roslyn’s best friends, rushed forward to greet her, followed by her boyfriend, Buck, and another couple.
“Amber and Wes, this is Roslyn,” Cheri made the introductions.
Roslyn stood and shook hands with everyone. “We’re staying in McCall for the weekend and came over here to hike,” Cheri explained. “Kind of a last-minute trip to get out of the city, you know?”
“You made such a big deal about how much you enjoyed your visit to the area this winter that we wanted to check it out,” added Buck.
“It’s a last-minute trip for me, too.” Roslyn latched on to this convenient explanation for her presence here. “I had some time free, so I figured, why not?”
“Yeah, you’d better relax while you can, right?”
“Where are you planning to hike?” Roslyn asked, anxious to steer the conversation away from herself. Not that Cheri and Buck weren’t good friends, but they didn’t know everything about her life, and she didn’t want them to know the real reason she was in Jasper. Not yet.
“There’s a trailhead not far from here that leads up into the mountains,” Buck said. “The Williams Gap Trail. There’s supposed to be a lot of wildflowers this time of year.”
“You should come with us,” Cheri said. “You’re up for it, right?”
“Of course,” Roslyn said. She had hiking boots and a water bottle in her car. “If you’re not going too far.”
“Not far at all,” Cheri said. “You should definitely come.”
“Come on,” Buck agreed. “It will give us a chance to catch up.”
It had only been a couple of weeks since Roslyn had been to Cheri and Buck’s apartment for dinner, but she appreciated his warm invitation. “I would like to come with you,” she said.
“Great,” Cheri said. “We’ll grab some coffees to go and head out. You can ride with us.”
While they waited for coffee, Roslyn gathered her belongings. The hike wouldn’t take long—not more than a couple of hours. Maybe in that time she could come up with a plan for finding and approaching Dillon. What she had to say to him would be a shock. He probably wouldn’t like it. She needed the extra time to prepare herself for what would probably be another rejection. It wouldn’t be the first time a man had turned his back on her. She straightened her spine and smoothed her loose tunic. She shouldn’t anticipate trouble. Whatever happened with Dillon, she would deal with it. She’d been getting very good at looking after herself lately—the one good thing that had come out of the disaster she had made of her life so far.
SERGEANT DILLON DIAZ guided his pickup into one of the last open parking slots in front of Daniels Canine Academy. Even from here he could see half a dozen people moving among the kennels and around the main building that housed the dog training facility. Why all the activity on a Friday morning of a holiday weekend?
He opened the truck door. “Come on, Bentley,” he called.
Bentley, a four-year-old black-and-white Australian shepherd, leaped to the ground and danced a circle around Dillon, tongue hanging out in an excited doggy grin. “You know where you are, don’t you, boy?” Dillon asked, and bent to pat the dog’s side. Bentley had spent many hours training at the academy for his work as a search and rescue canine. “We’re just stopping in to say hello today.”
Bentley trotted beside Dillon up the gravel path toward the DCA office, ears pricked to take in the excited barking of dogs and the murmur of human voices that filled the air. Dillon pushed open the door to the office and administrator Barbara Macy looked up. A pleasant, middle-aged woman with long brown hair, Barbara kept everything at DCA running smoothly. Her frown transformed into a smile as she recognized him. “Hey, Dillon,” she called. “And hello, Bentley.”
Bentley wagged his plumed tail and trotted toward the desk. “What’s all the commotion?” Dillon asked, closing the door behind him.
“We’re prepping kennels to take in dogs from people who might have to evacuate for the fire,” Barbara said. “We got word this morning that there are some neighborhoods on the periphery of the national forest that authorities would like to clear out just in case the wind shifts suddenly. What can I do for you?”
“I was hoping to speak with Emma,” he said. “But it’s not urgent. I can come back another time.”
Barbara stood. “Let me get her. I know she’ll want to see you.” She disappeared through a door at the back of the office.
The door to the outside opened and Piper Lambert, Emma’s chief assistant in training the dogs, bustled in. She wore her long red hair in a braid trailing down her back, and a harried expression on her face. “Has anyone seen the extra folding kennels? They’re supposed to be in the barn but we can’t find them.” She looked around the room, frowning, until her gaze came to rest on Dillon. “Hello, Dillon. What are you doing here? And where is everybody else?”
“Barbara went to fetch Emma. I stopped by with a question for her, but I didn’t expect you to be so busy.”
“It’s a bit chaotic this morning, but nothing new about that,” Piper said. “Any news about the fire? I’ve been too busy to keep up.”
Dillon pulled out his phone and checked the latest fire report. The InciWeb site, which tracked wildfires on public lands, listed the blaze as the Gem Creek fire. “InciWeb says the fire grew overnight to just under ten thousand acres, but it’s still well west of Jasper, confined to national forest land.”
“That’s still too close for comfort to some of those neighborhoods to the north,” Piper said. “I expect we’ll be getting a lot of evacuees.”
“Probably.” People around here had learned to be cautious and prepare for the worst, even while putting faith in wildland firefighting crews to keep the flames away from houses and towns.
The door at the back of the room opened and Barbara returned, followed by Emma Daniels, whose light brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. The founder of Daniels Canine Academy, Emma had established a reputation as one of the finest dog trainers in the West, as well as a generous and giving member of the community. “Hello, Bentley.” In typical fashion, Emma greeted the dog first, then looked up to smile at Dillon. “Hello, stranger. What brings you here?”
Piper had already turned to ask Barbara about the missing kennels. The two of them left to check the storage shed where Barbara thought they had been moved, leaving Emma and Dillon alone. “I didn’t mean to interrupt when you’re so busy,” Dillon said.
“When are we not busy?” Emma asked. “What can I do for you?”
“I wanted to see if you knew anything about wilderness tracking training for Bentley,” Dillon said. “He’s been great for search and rescue work, but I was thinking the wilderness training would be useful in some of the places we have to search.”
Emma nodded. “Those courses focus on the kind of rough country we have here.” She walked over to a filing cabinet and opened a drawer. “I’m sure I have some information here somewhere.”
“Don’t bother with it now,” Dillon said. “I can get the information later. Barbara told me you’re going to be taking in evacuees.”
“We’re part of the county’s emergency management plan,” she said. “The fairgrounds over in McCall take horses and other livestock. We try to take as many dogs as possible, to free up the animal shelter in town for cats and birds and other small animals. There isn’t enough room in the evacuation centers for people and their pets, so people need to know there’s a safe place for their animals. Otherwise, some of them would simply refuse to evacuate.”
“What happens if the fire heads this way?” Dillon asked.
“We have a plan for that, too.” She gestured behind her. “We’ve got a whole row of trailers back there we can use to transport kennels with dogs, and even more volunteers to help load and drive. But we’re hoping it doesn’t come to that. I hear the state is sending in a slurry bomber and another team of hotshots to battle the blaze.”
The door to the office opened and William, one of the at-risk teens Emma had hired to work for her, stepped in. Dillon had lost count of the young people Emma had helped over the years. She had a knack for seeing past the full-sleeve tattoos, ear gauges and bad attitudes to the individuals who needed a safe place in the world. “Emma, do you want Atlas and Ridger together, or Atlas and Tassie?” William asked.
“Put Tassie in with Atlas—he’ll do better with a female,” Emma said. “Put Ridger in with Petra. Those two get along. Did you and Hugh get those portable kennels out of storage?”
“Yes, ma’am. Hugh and Kyle are setting them up now.”
“Great. Thank you.”
William nodded and ducked out of the office once more.
Emma turned back to Dillon. “Are you on duty this afternoon?”
He shook his head. “I’m off today. I’m working the rest of the weekend, though.”
“Then I’ll probably see you again. My understanding is the police department has agreed to help with evacuations. Be sure and reassure people that they can trust me with their dogs.”
“I’ll let them know their pets couldn’t be in better hands.”
“Check back next week and I’ll have some information for you about the wilderness training.” She looked down at Bentley, who had been sitting at her feet, blue eyes fixed on her. Emma smiled and pulled a treat from her pocket. “Good boy,” she said and handed it to him.
Man and dog left the office. Dillon wondered if he should call the police department and ask if the chief wanted him to report for a shift. He shook his head. If he was needed, someone would call. And with the town full of tourists and the smoke from the fire having everyone on edge, he would be plenty busy the rest of the holiday weekend. He should enjoy his time off while he could. Maybe he’d take Bentley for a hike.
Or he could spend part of the day online, searching for the elusive Rosie Kenley. As many times as he told himself he needed to forget about the woman he had spent all of two nights—and two amazing days—with five months ago, he couldn’t shake this desire—this need—to find her. Rosie and he had had a wonderful time together—an amazing time. He had been sure when they parted that they would see each other again, but she had simply vanished. Months of searching hadn’t turned up anything so far, but nobody was anonymous these days. He just had to find the right place to look.
And what was he going to do when he found her? Her failure to try to get in touch with him for five months was a pretty clear indication she wasn’t interested in seeing him again. The thought stung. He had been sure she had felt the same strong connection between them that had stunned him, but then she had simply disappeared.
There was also the big chance that Rosie had something to hide. As a cop, he had had plenty of experience trying to track down missing persons, but so far she had eluded him. She had said she was single—recently split from someone. But maybe she and her former boyfriend had gotten back together. Maybe she was even married now, with a new name. That would explain some of his difficulty locating her.
He started the truck and looked over his shoulder at Bentley, whose harness was fastened securely in the back seat. “I don’t like unanswered questions,” he said. The dog pricked his ears, focused intently on Dillon.
Dillon faced forward again, checked the backing camera and pulled out of the parking spot. A need to solve puzzles made him a good cop, but it also made it impossible for him to let things go. He had unfinished business with Rosie Kenley, and he wouldn’t rest easy until it was settled.
