Skye's Trail (2 page)

She turned to the waiting cops and parents. “The child was never here. The niece was. She went into the woods with five other people. Two came in the car with her. Three arrived in another car. The five probably left together in the other vehicle.”

The search-and-rescue dog handler scowled at Rico. “You tipped her off.”

Skye looked at Rico and raised an eyebrow in question. He shrugged. “The dogs haven’t been able to pick up a trace of Callie, either. They get a start on Brittany but lose it.”

The woman began weeping. Her husband pulled her against his shoulder. “Are you sure Callie was never here?”

“Yes. She uses Pert shampoo. Her scent doesn’t leave the car here.” The woman’s weeping grew more intense.

“Mr. Armstrong, is that the shampoo your daughter uses?” Captain Rivera asked.

“Yes. Yes. She’s got her own little bottle of it. She’s the only one who uses it.” Jon Armstrong’s voice was strained, tight with emotion.

Rivera sighed and gave the order, “Okay, Santana, get the civilian outfitted with a tracking unit and a radio. I’m considering you and Caldwell officially on duty and in charge of supervising the civilian. I expect you to keep me current on the situation out here. Is that understood?”

The detectives agreed and returned to the unmarked car with Skye. She strapped a leather sheath onto her leg, checking to make sure the knife it held was secure. She could feel the captain’s gaze burn into her back. He’d arrest her if he could do a search and find the switchblade she always carried.

“The knife is driving the captain crazy,” Rico said, standing so close that Skye could smell his aftershave and feel his body heat. She let it fill her senses, wrap around her like a warm blanket.

Skye half-smiled. “Does he want me to go in unarmed?”

Rico pulled his eyes away from the long knife. His expression was all cop. Against his will he was thinking about the last search, about the men who’d kidnapped a young brother and sister to use in their porn movies.

After the children were found the trail had gone cold…until a couple of cops from another department had stumbled on the perps. They were in a motor home parked in the desert but they weren’t alive and hadn’t been for days. They’d been knifed and left to rot.

Looking at the knife Rico wondered…and he didn’t want to. He knew what the captain thought. Everyone knew what Rivera suspected.

She’d voluntarily surrendered the knife for testing. It didn’t match the murder weapon. But she could own other knives.

Rico shook his head to clear the unwelcome speculation from his mind. He didn’t want to think she could kill like that. “You know Rivera would rather you didn’t go in at all,” he told her.

“You asked me, Rico.” Her eyes met his. “Sorry now?” It was barely a whisper, yet it slipped past his guard. His dark eyes locked to hers though she made no effort to pull him into their depths.

Rico couldn’t keep his pulse from racing. When this was over… He tried to close his mind against the fantasy, against the need. “No, I’m not sorry.”

Caldwell saw the look pass between the two of them. Her lips tightened until they almost disappeared altogether. “Ready?” Her voice came out more strident than she’d intended but it achieved its goal. The heated, unspoken exchange between Rico and Skye ended. Their gazes broke apart.

Skye positioned the camelback full of water onto her back then double-checked the medical supplies and power bars zipped into its pockets. Rico handed her the police tracking unit and radio so that she could slide them onto a belt around her waist.

He knew there was no point in suggesting that someone go with her. Even if she agreed, she’d soon lose them. On the last search she’d traveled miles by foot, run most of it, outdistanced and outlasted the team following her. “Check in at intervals. Okay?”

Already Skye could feel the pull of the hunt, the call to be
other
. “Sure.”

Rico saw the way her eyes changed, deepened into bottomless blue pools of color. It was one of the things that bothered the captain so much. Rico cursed himself. He should be spooked by her, not turned on. “Don’t use the knife unless it’s life or death,” he said.

Another half-smile but no reply. She was already hunting. Rico stepped away and Skye went to the edge of the woods, focused on the stench of tainted blood. It was so strong that she didn’t have to bend down to smell it. The dogs could have easily tracked it but they had no way to tell their handlers it was there.

Miles passed. Hours passed. She was not aware of either. Her sole focus remained on the stench of tainted blood. Somewhere along the way the scent of healthy female faded, became so faint that it almost disappeared. But not completely.

Occasionally the radio came to life, startling her. The intervals became more frequent as the night wore on.

Midnight came and went.

Her adrenaline began to surge. Had she been an animal she might have lifted her face to the sky and howled. She was close. Instinct told her she was close now.

The woods opened to a clearing. Here she sensed death. Felt it. Smelled it.

It was not the obvious smell of a carcass left in the open.

But more the lingering presence of a life violently taken.

She halted in the clearing. Absorbed her surroundings.

There was a partially erased circle traced in the ground. Tainted blood had been sprinkled along the edges of it. Death had come here. In this circle.

The scent trail led out of the circle, across the clearing, to a pile of rocks in a shallow ravine. The animals had helped themselves to what they could dig out. Part of an arm protruded from a pile of rocks, its skin shredded. An upper leg bone glistened, stripped clean of meat.

Skye didn’t need to uncover the face to know it was the niece. Her scent lingered over the body like a disenfranchised spirit.

The radio crackled. This time it was Caldwell. “Anything to report?”

“I found the niece. She’s dead.”

“Do not touch the body!” Caldwell barked through the radio. “Do not contaminate the scene!” In the darkness Skye shook her head, almost laughing out loud. She’d be glad when this was over, when Caldwell could disappear back into the sea of police blue.

A second later Rico’s voice flowed out of the radio. “What’s the situation there?”

“I’m in a shallow ravine. The niece is buried under rock. One arm and part of a thigh have been exposed by animals. Actual scene of death took place in a clearing approximately forty yards behind me.”

“Stand by while I contact the captain.”

Skye knelt next to the body and examined the wrist more closely. The tear there was too smooth to be from an animal and there was very little blood on the ground. She let her senses flare out, flow backward with information. Most of the blood was missing from the body.

The hairs on the back of her neck moved away from her skin. She stood and walked to the clearing, looked at the broken circle, smelled the stench of tainted blood, and knew that whatever had transpired here, it was dark and evil. Something to be avoided.

A coyote song erupted in the distance. Joyous, excited. There was prey nearby, it sang. The hunt was on. The kill was near. Other voices joined the song, filling the night air with their excited cadence.

Skye drank it in, allowed it to flow through her then stilled as thoughts of the missing five year old filled her. Intuition or uncanny ability, it didn’t matter which, she knew with certainty that the coyotes had found Callie. And that the little girl was still alive.

Once again the radio came to life. Rico said, “A team is on its way. We’ve got your coordinates. Stay put. We’ll come in as soon as they get here.”

Skye lifted the radio to her mouth. “Can you hear the coyotes?”

“Jesus, yes, it’s giving me the creeps.”

“They’ve found the little girl. I’m going to cut across land and follow the sound.”

“No. Stay put. That’s an order.” This from Caldwell.

Skye grimaced. “I’ll leave the tracking device on a tree near the body, in case you need the signal to find it.”

“Stay put!” If Caldwell could have come through the radio and physically restrained Skye, she would have.

Skye ignored her. “Rico, are you there?”

“I’m here.”

“I’ll keep the radio. But it’ll be off. I’ll call you when I can. I can’t risk the coyotes hearing it before I get close.”

She could hear his sigh. Knew he wouldn’t argue with her. This was why he’d contacted her and asked her to come to the site. This was why he’d risked pissing off his friend and captain.

“Do you think she’s still alive?” he asked.

“At this moment. Yes.”

Another song went up in the distance. More excited. More urgent.

“I’ll be in touch.” Skye turned off the radio before either of the cops could respond. She secured the tracking unit to a tree then let the sound of the coyotes fill her again, let herself sink more deeply into their world. There was little time left now, not if the child was to stay alive.