Page 38 of Scent of Fear

And as she stared out at the open land, she found herself wondering if her grandfather had buried it somewhere on the ten acres of land surrounding them.

* * *

The cellar was a bust.Not that he’d really expected to find a hidden doorway or anything obvious. Still, he had to assume the bad guy had come down here for a reason.

He slapped his hands on his jeans to get rid of the dirt and dust. He had told Bryce to guard the top of the cellar doorway. As he turned to climb out of the cellar, Bryce jumped to his feet, looking expectant.

His dog was happier when he was working. Shane closed the cellar door with a loud thud, then took a moment to give Bryce some attention.

“Are you a good boy? Huh?” He ran his fingers over the shepherd’s soft pelt. “Don’t worry, we’ll be back at it soon.”

Bryce wagged his tail, glancing over when Libby stepped out of the cabin. From the dejected expression in her eyes, he figured her search had been unsuccessful too.

“I don’t suppose Bryce can search for buried treasure.”

He arched a brow. “No, sorry. The only buried items our dogs tend to find are bullets, shell casings, or in the case of Alexis’s dog, Denali, the remains of dead people.” He hesitated. “You don’t want me to have Alexis and Denali search the property, do you?”

“No.” She pursed her lips as she scanned the area. “I don’t think there’s a dead body out here. That wouldn’t be a reason to kidnap my grandfather. But I’m starting to think my grandfather buried something of value on his land.” She sighed. “It’s strange, though, since I know he doesn’t spend much money. So why on earth would someone want to find whatever it is that he’s hidden?”

“That’s a good question.” He didn’t know Marvin Tolliver very well. But based on the stark yet neat cabin, the older man certainly wasn’t living beyond his means.

“I don’t know where to go from here.” Libby frowned. “I want to keep searching for Grandpa, but I don’t know where to start.”

“I know.” A sudden thought occurred to him. “We could try doing an online search for newspaper headlines that end with the words At Large.”

“From fifty years ago?” She made a face. “I don’t know about that.”

He wasn’t well versed on searching for newspaper articles from fifty years ago either. “I should call my brother-in-law Doug Bridges. He might know how to access information from fifty years ago.”

“That’s fine, but what can we do in the meantime?” Libby was clearly frustrated. “Go back into the woods to track the bad guy’s scent?”

He was hesitant to keep pushing Bryce on what would likely be a fruitless mission. But she was right in that sitting around wasn’t going to help.

Before he could say anything, Bryce’s ears pricked forward, and the dog began to bark. Libby startled badly, but he caught the low rumble of a car engine.

“Stay here. Come, Bryce.” He gave his K9 the hand signal to heel and moved quickly around the house. A white and black sheriff’s deputy vehicle was rumbling up the long driveway.

He relaxed and told Bryce to be quiet. Then he called, “Libby? Looks like Deputy Paul Holland is here.”

“Why didn’t he call?” She ran around the corner of the house to join him. Then she grabbed his arm in a tight grip. “Bad news? They always give bad news in person.”

“Don’t, Libby.” He covered her hand with his. “Maybe he’s just checking in.”

She watched the approaching squad with apprehension. The vehicle stopped a few feet behind his K9 SUV.

Then she visibly relaxed when Paul slid out from behind the wheel, raising a hand in greeting. “Libby, Shane. I heard from dispatch that you had an intruder here last night?”

“We did, yes.” He offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile to Libby. “Come inside and we’ll fill you in.”

“Okay.” Paul gave Bryce a wide berth.

“You don’t have an update?” Libby asked as they headed inside. “I take it there’s been no sign of my grandfather?”

“I’m afraid not.” Now Paul looked somber. “I traced the license plate to a vehicle owned by a man named Ward Engler. He’s a local resident living in a house nearby. By the time one of our deputies arrived at the property, there were no four-wheelers on the trailer. Since we had no reason to suspect him of wrongdoing, we let it go.”

Shane suppressed a sigh. “I guess I can understand that. Did you verify if he had a grandson?”

“No, that’s not exactly an easy task. The kid could have a different last name.” Paul shrugged. “We focused on keeping an eye out for trucks pulling trailers. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any others.” When Shane frowned, Paul added somewhat defensively, “I know what you’re thinking, but we patrol a large county.”

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