The CSU team approached, each member wearing a dark blue Sagebrush Police Department windbreaker. Parker hung back, letting his dog sniff the floor, the thresholds of the closed classroom doors, the lockers.
Hey, Melody, said Rose Bigsby, a stocky woman with short blond curls and wire-rimmed glasses perched on her short nose. Report came in that you had a break-in.
Melody gestured to the open door of her office. In there.
Clay Gregson nodded to Jim and then smiled shyly at Melody as he moved past her to enter her office. The tall and lean CSU technician wasnt much on small talk, something the officers of SPD were used to. Rose, on the other hand, made up for her partners lack of conversation just fine. Rose followed him in and started the process of looking for anything that would lead them to ID the intruder.
Any idea who broke in? Parker asked as he and his dog approached. What was he looking for?
Melody frowned. I have no idea who the guy was or what he was after.
What are you doing here, Adams? Jim asked.
Captain McNeal thought itd be a good idea for Sherlock here to check out the center, Parker replied evenly. Considering.
Her defenses stirred. Considering what?
He met her gaze. His dark eyes intense, probing. The rumors of drugs being dealt out of here.
Her hackles rose like the feathers of a peacock on high alert. Shed been battling that particular thread of gossip since the center opened. She routinely searched the building and kept a close eye on the kids. She was certain there were no drugs on the premises. We have a strict no-drugs policy. Any offenders will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Parker shrugged. Then theres nothing to worry about. Sherlock shouldnt find anything. Hes got the best nose in the state, and its never wrong.
Ive got to go to the station, Jim said abruptly and headed for the exit.
Watching him hustle out the door, Melody frowned. Hed just arrived. She shrugged off her coworkers strange behavior. Even though she was fond of Jim, shed long ago decided she would never figure out the male species.
Or teenagers. Starting the youth center had been her attempt to help the kids of Sagebrush so they wouldnt end up like her nephew. At sixteen, Daniel had gotten mixed up with drugs, dealing and using, by all accounts. Hed ended up dead because of it. During a standoff with the police, hed been wounded in the leg by Captain Slade McNeal and then shot in the heart by an unknown sniper. The assassin was never caught.
Saving other teens from Daniels fate had become her mission in life.
However, that didnt mean she understood the teens or their thought processes. Thankfully, there were tons of books on the subject. If she could prevent even one teen from ending up addicted to drugs like Daniel, shed feel she succeeded.
Her gaze strayed back to the mess in her office. Rose knelt beside the lamp and dusted black powder over the surface. The flash of a camera momentarily brightened the room as Clay photographed the crime scene.
What had the intruder been looking for?
Did you get a look at the perp? Parker asked, drawing her attention.
No, he wore a ski mask.
With blacked-out eyes?
Surprise washed through her. Yes. Very freaky. How did you know?
Weve had a run-in with a guy wearing a ski mask and some kind of eyewear that blacks out the whites of his eyes. Did he take anything?
Absorbing that information, she turned her gaze once again to the box labeled with her nephews name. Would she find something missing? Did the vandalism to her office have anything to do with last months desecration of Daniels grave? A lump of anxiety lodged in her chest.
It had been five years since Daniels death. Five years of searching for answers and coming up empty. What had recently changed to make someone dig into the past? And Daniels grave?
The questions intensified the headache pounding at her temples. She didnt believe in coincidence. Daniels grave, now her office. Were the two events connected? Maybe it was time to re-question some of Daniels old buddies. Someone had to know something useful.
Her heart squeezed. Five years wasnt nearly long enough to have healed some wounds, though.
Realizing Parker was waiting for her to respond, she said, I only did a cursory look, but I didnt see anything obvious missing. Perp rifled through all my files, drawers and books. Seemed to be searching for something.
Interesting. He seemed to be thinking about something. I wonder if this was the same guy who searched the station last night.
What? She hadnt heard about that.
Someone searched the station house, concentrating mostly on the K-9 unit and Captain McNeals office.
Do you have any idea why? What were they looking for?
His expression turned cagey. We think it has something to do with the crime syndicate plaguing Sagebrush. But the station house wasnt broken into per se. The culprit came from within.
Surprised, she widened her eyes. You think a fellow officer is working for the crime syndicate?
Thats one theory. Though I cant help but wonder if the two incidents somehow connect to Captain McNeals missing dog, Rio.
Last month, K-9 Officer Jackson Worth spotted a masked man clad in black who was walking a dog matching Rios description. We also have a witness who saw someone dressed like youve described kill a man in cold blood.
A shiver of dread worked its way over Melodys flesh. She was thankful the intruder had decided to just knock her down rather than kill her.
What was he searching for? And would he be back? Maybe this break-in had nothing to do with her nephews grave. Or maybe it had everything to do with it.
She intended to find out, regardless of the danger.
* * *
At four that afternoon, Parkers captain summoned him to his office. He knocked lightly before opening the door.
Captain Slade McNeal sat at his desk. He held the file with Parkers notes from the day. So tell me what you think about this break-in at the youth center.
Only four years older than Parker, Slade had slightly salted dark hair and a square jaw. Lines of stress bracketed his blue eyes.
Stepping fully into Slades office, Parker said, The perp who broke into the youth center matches Nicki Johnsons description of the man who killed Gunther Lamont last month. The CSU techs didnt find anything useful. Not that he expected them to. So far the ski-mask guy had been very careful. No prints, no clear description identifying him.
Did Detective Zachary find anything missing?
An image of the pretty dark-haired, blue-eyed woman rose in Parkers mind. He didnt know Melody well. She kept pretty much to herself and devoted most of her free time to the Sagebrush Youth Center. A supposed alternative to the drug scene for the teens of Sagebrush.
But Parker was dubious of any place where teens with drug habits gathered. Though he appreciated the intention behind the youth center, he just wasnt convinced any place was safe from the invading poison.
Rumor had it that too many kids were partying on the center grounds.
Nothing had ever come of the internal investigation their captain had initiated. But that didnt mean it wasnt happening, which was why Parker and Sherlock had headed over to the center when the news came in that thered been a break-in. The crime syndicate overrunning Sagebrush had their hands in the drug trade and would no doubt see the youth center as a viable outlet for their product.
Painful memories of his younger brother raced unbidden to the forefront of his mind. A deep sadness welled. Followed quickly by the anger that always chased after thoughts of Ethan.
His brother had died from tainted drugs.
Forcing his own personal torment back to the dark recesses of his mind, he answered, No, nothing missing. Perp ransacked her office. She has no idea what he was looking for.
Slade narrowed his blue eyes. The code?
Parker shrugged, baffled by this turn of events. Maybe. But why her office? Shes not a part of our unit.
Assuming that the masked perpetrator and The Boss are the same person, he must be getting desperate, Slade said.
Parkers cell buzzed, and he checked the caller ID. He didnt recognize the number. Parker Adams.
You better hustle over to the youth center. Theres a drug deal going down.
Parker recognized his confidential informants gruff voice. What kind of drugs?
How should I know? The man hung up.
Parker blew out a frustrated breath. Sometimes Harry Trenton was a pain in the neck. But his intel was usually worth the stipend Parker regularly doled out to him. Which meant the youth center wasnt what it seemed. An image of the lovely Melody rose in Parkers mind. He sure hoped the pretty detective wasnt involved in dealing drugs. He didnt like the idea of arresting her. But he would in a heartbeat. Getting drugs off the street was his number-one priority.
Meeting Slades questioning gaze, Parker said, My CI claims theres a drug deal going down at the youth center.
Visible tension tightened Slades jaw. You didnt find any drugs this morning?
No. Sherlock followed a couple of false trails. Could have been trace amount brought in on a shoe. He hoped that were the case.
McNeal stroked his jaw. Check it out. If you find something concrete, let me know. Ill have to inform Captain Drexel.
The captain of the homicide division and Melodys direct boss.
Will do. Parker headed out the back door of the brick one-story building and jogged the short distance to the K-9 Training Center on the adjacent lot. Parker had dropped Sherlock off a little earlier with the training staff because, being a two-year-old beagle, the dog needed some time to run around and burn off his excess energy so hed be ready to focus when needed.
Callie Peterson, the lead trainer for the Sagebrush Special Operations K-9 Unit, greeted Parker with a smile and a wave as Parker approached the training yard.
Sherlocks in kennel one, she called out as she worked with Justice, a good-looking bloodhound, and his handler, Austin Black.
Hey, Parker, Austin called out.
Parker lifted his hand acknowledging his friend and fellow team member.
Continued training for all the dogs of the K-9 unit was mandatory and necessary to keep the dogs and their handlers fresh and working well together. Justice was an integral part of the unit, his specialty search and rescue. Thanks to Austin and Justice, seven-year-old Brady Billows had been found unscathed after two thugs working for The Boss nabbed the boy because hed been a witness to the assault on Captain McNeals father and Rios kidnapping.
Now if they could only find the captains beloved dog. Even a twenty-five-thousand-dollar reward offered by the captains good friend, Dante Frears, hadnt yielded any results. Everyone was working hard to bring Rio home.
Going to the kennel door, Parker grabbed the nylon leash from the nearby hook. Sherlocks short legs kicked up dirt as he jumped at the door clearly wanting to be set free.
Settle down, boy, Parker said softly as he opened the dog-run door.
Instantly, Sherlock sat, his tail thumping the ground, his big brown eyes staring at Parker.
Love for the little beagle filled Parker as he clipped on the leash and led the dog toward his vehicle. Come on, boy, weve got work to do.
With his lights flashing, Parker drove the few blocks to the youth center with Sherlock inside his special crate mounted in the back passenger area of the SUV. Parker glanced in the rearview mirror at Sherlock. Affection rushed to the surface. The dog was the closest thing to family Parker had in Sagebrush. His parents had moved to San Antonio not long after his kid brothers death.
The sharp pain of loss stabbed at him. Parkers life plan had changed that day. He vowed to keep the streets drug free. A tall order for just one person, but Parker figured for every drug dealer he put behind bars, more kids would have a chance to live.
Hed gone on to the local college, but instead of majoring in business as hed planned, hed majored in criminal justice. As soon as hed graduated, he joined the police academy, setting his sights on becoming a narcotics detective. When hed been offered the job to work with the K-9 unit, he jumped at the chance. Sherlock was the best drug-sniffing beagle in the whole state of Texas.
They both proudly wore the Sagebrush Police Department emblem.
Parker brought the official K-9 unit vehicle to a halt at the curb, climbed out and opened the back door for Sherlock. The beagle jumped out. Immediately, his nose went to the ground, sniffing for a trail to follow. Reining in the leash, Parker walked toward the front of the Sagebrush Youth Center.
A squeaking sound drew Parkers attention. An old man, dressed in ragged clothing, pushed a shopping cart full of his possessions down the sidewalk. Their gazes met. Surreptitiously, Harry, the confidential informant whod called Parker, pointed one gnarled finger toward the rear of the building.
Without acknowledging the old man, Parker veered Sherlock away from the front steps and hurried toward the back of the building where a wire fence, erected to keep in stray balls from the basketball hoops, dug into the cement of an old parking lot. Voices echoed off the sides of the center.
Look, you dont scare me.
Parker recognized Melodys voice. The words were spoken evenly enough but a faint tremor of fear underscored them.
You should be scared, lady. Youre all alone. We can do whatever we want with you.
The pretty detective was in trouble.
TWO
Parker quickened his pace, anxious to help his co-worker before anything bad happened.
Tell me what you know about Daniel, Melody insisted. Why was his grave desecrated? What was he into before he died?
This didnt sound like a drug deal. Parker rounded the corner. A rough-looking character brandishing a knife had Melody backed up against the brick wall.
His stomach muscles tightened. Concern spread through his chest.
Two other equally seedy-looking thugs stood nearby leering at her. Melodys hands were up in a placating way, but she seemed far from cowed. In fact, she looked downright impressive in her tailored pantsuit, crisp white blouse and black boots. Her dark hair was gathered up at the nape of her neck by a gold clip. Truth was, hed never seen her appear more collected.
She stared at her assailant with hard blue eyes and pressed her questions. Was Daniel dealing drugs? You were his friend back then, so you have to know something. What was he doing in the woods the night he died?
Im not telling you nothing, the knife-wielding guy said. To emphasize his point, he stepped closer and pressed the knife to her throat. Melody didnt flinch.