Page 55 of Scent of Fear

“Who’s he?” Alexis asked.

“An older guy who came to our attention yesterday when we noticed him hauling a trailer that we believe housed a couple of four-wheelers. Bryce didn’t alert on Marvin’s scent, so we didn’t think too much of it. But I took a picture of his truck license plate and reported him to the local police. That’s how we learned his name was Ward Engler. When I saw him in the town of Greybull, I thought I’d try again with Bryce, only the guy took off out the back door, leaving half his lunch behind.”

“How did you get his address?” Alexis asked.

“That doesn’t matter,” Shane said. “But take the information down so you have it, too, okay?”

“Give it to me,” Alexis agreed.

He gave her the address. “I know you’re still at least an hour or so away, but we’re going to find a place to park and head in on foot. Keep in mind, Bryce didn’t alert initially, so I don’t think Marvin Tolliver was ever in his car. This could turn out to be nothing, but we won’t know until we check it out.”

“Maybe you should wait for police backup,” Alexis said, her voice tinged with worry. “What if this guy is armed and tries to take you and Libby out of the picture?”

“I’m armed, too, so I’m not that worried about one old guy. Besides, the police are tied up at the deadly crash scene, remember?” Shane’s expression turned impatient. “We don’t even know if this guy is involved. Maybe he’s scared of dogs. Or maybe he took money to move the four-wheelers and that’s the extent of things. If we don’t find anything at his place, we’ll look for a place to meet up with you and Joel.”

“Okay.” Alexis let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t like it but will wait to hear from you.”

“Thanks. One of us will be in touch.” He ended the call.

“One of us?” Libby echoed with a frown. “You’re not leaving me behind.”

He drove in silence for a long moment. The gap between their current location and their destination, Engler’s home, shrank with every mile. “I don’t know what to tell you, other than I don’t think we can just walk up to the front door to ask if your grandfather is there.”

“Of course not.” She tried not to roll her eyes. “You said you’d find a place to park so that we can go in on foot.”

“Yeah. Speaking of which, zoom in on that map. See what’s around the property if you can.” He gestured to the computer screen.

“Give me a minute to pull it up on the computer.” She was more comfortable working off the laptop. Her car didn’t have a fancy built-in computer screen like this. After a minute of examining the area, she grimaced. “Looks to me like the house is surrounded by woods on three sides, the only exception being the front, which as you pointed out isn’t an option.” She looked at the highway, the location of the Engler driveway, and then back at the map. “Okay, so we get off Highway 14 and take Eagle’s Way Road, which leads to the property. You’ll need to drive past the house for about a half mile. Looks like there’s a cleared spot off the road there that we can use as a starting point.”

Shane nodded and slowed the SUV as they approached Eagle’s Way Road. She found herself holding her breath as he turned left and continued north. She searched their surroundings as the moving dot on the screen indicated they were approaching their target. She caught a glimpse of a dark-green house about fifty yards off the road before Shane passed it. He kept his speed steady for the next half mile, then he stopped and pulled off the road.

“I didn’t see any cars in the driveway,” she said as he shifted into park.

“I didn’t either, but there’s a huge pole barn.” He shrugged. “Needs room for that trailer, the four-wheelers, and whatever other toys he’s got stashed away.”

Libby didn’t want to admit how unnerving it was to be so close to the place. As Shane stared out the windshield, she wondered if he was having second thoughts. “I’ll go,” she offered.

“No.” He shot her a frustrated look. “That’s not happening.”

Had he decided to wait for his siblings to get there? “Please, Shane, I really need to find my grandfather. Whatever he did in the past, he doesn’t deserve what the kidnappers are putting him through now.”

“I never said he deserved this,” Shane said with a frown. “If you want to know the truth, I’m trying to decide if I should take Bryce with me.”

A wave of relief hit hard when she realized he hadn’t changed his mind about moving forward with the plan. “Why wouldn’t you?”

“He’s trained to bark when he alerts.” Shane shrugged. “I can give him the command to stay silent, but that doesn’t mean he won’t get excited if he picks up the scent.” He drummed his fingers along the top of the steering wheel. “I don’t know. It may be better if I head out alone to see if anyone is even there.”

She wasn’t sure she liked that idea. “I’d rather you take Bryce with you. He’s so well trained, I can’t imagine he’ll bark if you tell him not to.”

A hint of a smile quirked the corner of Shane’s mouth. “Okay, I’ll take him.” He pushed open his driver’s side door. “Let’s gear up.”

Gear up? She wasn’t sure what he meant, but she pushed out of the car to join him. He let Bryce out, then rummaged in the space beneath the crate area. She peered over his shoulder, amazed to see there were all kinds of things stuffed in what appeared to be a relatively shallow storage area.

“Here, this is for you.” He held out a vest. It was heavier than she’d expected, making her realize it was made of Kevlar.

“You think we’ll need these?” It was her turn to have second thoughts.

“Better to be safe than sorry.” He helped her fit the Velcro straps over her torso, tugging them snug. Then he donned his vest. Lastly, he bent to attach Bryce’s K9 heavy bulletproof vest.

---