Page 12 of K-9 Guardians

There was no answer from inside, and his heart rate notched higher.

“Let me help.” Scarlett pulled a blade from one of her cargo pant pockets and slit the seal down the center. The Dobermans sniffed at the crack between the doors before she pulled at the handle. The doors parted with a frigid burst of air from inside. “Pretty sure these are supposed to be locked.”

Warning flared in King’s gut. He took to one side, Scarlett doing the same. “Go.”

She stepped over the threshold, and the K9s followed close on her heels.

Swinging around the door, King swept his attention over a ghost town of chairs and tables. Dark walls and flooring made it hard to see without overhead lighting as they moved section by section. Blinds had been drawn to keep outsiders from looking in, but the edges lit up with bright sunlight that reflected off stacks of glasses.

He nodded toward a swinging door at the back of the building. “The kitchen.”

“Right behind you,” she said.

King took the lead. No matter what waited on the other side, he wanted to be the first through the door. Wanted Julien to see his father hadn’t given up on him. Hinges protested as he shoved into the back room. Clean stainless steel glimmered as King hit the light switch to the right.

The K9s jogged ahead, spreading out. Before meeting in front of the oversize freezer doors.

“They’ve got something.” Scarlett lowered her weapon but didn’t move to put it away. Sidestepping to the freezer’s handle, she glanced back at King. Silently waiting for his go-ahead.

He gave it.

She wrenched the door back, exposing what waited for them inside.

King held his breath as he moved into the too-small space but kept his distance so as not to disturb the blood patterns arcing across the floor and walls. Fresh. Recent. He lowered his weapon. “Adam was here.”

Chapter Five

DNA didn’t lie.

And right now it was telling them that Adam Dunkeld had suffered for a very long time before his killer or killers put him out of his misery.

Albuquerque PD’s forensic unit moved in a chaotic dance. It’d taken less than an hour to confirm the blood’s owner against the federal agent’s file, and the entire DEA was on alert. A flash burst from the tech photographing every square inch of the refrigerator.

Scarlett wouldn’t need to study these resulting photos. She couldn’t unsee the patterns the blood spatter had made across the tile every time she closed her eyes. Couldn’t help but wonder if routinely torturing people in the restaurant’s fridge was what led to the county shutting the place down in the first place.

“I take it this is your first crime scene.” King penetrated her peripheral vision as she watched the team move almost like a hive mind. Each knowing what to do and under orders to get it done.

The muscles down her back urged her to stand straighter, to be more prepared for the shot of heat darting through her. To be good enough to even stand next to an agent like King. “How can you tell?”

“You still have a little bit of throw-up on your vest.” He nodded to her right shoulder, handing over a bottled water soaked in condensation. Sympathy softened the cut of his jaw and the lines around his eyes.

Scarlett took the bottle faster than she’d ever drawn her sidearm and chugged. Liquid leaked at the corners of her mouth as she attempted to wash the sick taste from her mouth, but there was no point.

“You’re going to want to slow down.” He settled into the worn cushioning of the other side of the booth, a thick wood table dividing them. “The faster you drink, the faster it comes up. Believe me.”

“From experience?” she asked.

“Back when I was a rookie agent with the DEA, Sangre por Sangre was just getting its legs. They came in fast and hard by trying to knock out their competition. First time I set foot in a crime scene, the prosecutor assigned to the case had to convince the judge I wasn’t a member of the cartel.” His mouth hiked into a half smile that had the ability to freeze time if Scarlett allowed herself such small pleasures in life. “I left so much of my DNA all over that scene, the techs refused to work with me for a year. Any time Adam and I came up on a scene that required a crime scene unit, he had to be the one to put in the request or the techs would give us the runaround.”

There was no way a knowledgeable, committed, responsible agent like King would ever contaminate or compromise a scene like that. “You’re just trying to make me feel better.”

“I’m really not.” He took a slug of his own water. “Adam got the entire incident on video. Lucky for me, I get to experience that moment all over again every team Christmas party.” The smile drained slowly, as though he just realized he wouldn’t have to go through the embarrassment this year. “He was a good agent. A good friend. Deserved a hell of a lot better than I gave him.”

She studied the pattern the photographer followed as he circled closer to the single chair with every compression of the shutter button. King was losing everyone he ever cared about. Methodically. “How long were you and Adam partnered together?”

“Since the beginning. We came up together. Recommended each other for promotions, knew each other better than anyone else. Right down to our allergies.” He stared across the solid wood bar, through the propped-open kitchen door and into the refrigerator at the back. “I had Sunday dinner at his house every week with his wife and his kids, and I paid for lunch whenever we were out in the field. We’d spend hours driving across the state working cases in absolute silence. He was the kind of person who was fine not trying to fill every second with conversation but always knew when I needed a distraction. The fact people can do this kind of thing to each other never sat right with me, and Adam always knew what to say to make it a little more tolerable. Even right now, I’m expecting him to walk through those doors and make me feel better. We had a good thing going.”

Her heart leaped at the opportunity to be that person for him. A replacement for his partner who could inject a small amount of good in the middle of so much bad. But being that source had nearly gotten her killed in the past. Her need to make up for all the terrible things she’d done would put her right back where she didn’t want to be. And she’d worked too hard to take a step back now. “I’m sorry.”

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