Page 71 of Chasing Justice
Maya made a quick stop by her office to take a look at her national forest map hanging on the back wall. The cabin Juniper tracked to was indeed on private land. She didn’t know who the property belonged to, but the sheriff’s office could find out that information. She would head there next.
On the way out, Maya passed by her desk. She paused. The ring from Doug was back in the top drawer. She opened up the drawer and pulled out the black box, putting it in one of her pant pockets. Maybe somehow the ring would bring her luck. Or she would be able to use it to figure out the identity of Doug’s mystery girl.
A few minutes later, she pulled up to the sheriff’s office and let Juniper out to run around and stretch on the grassy area in front of the building. The dog sniffed around, enjoying the outside scents. The breeze picked up making the evergreen trees wave and dance. Near the entrance to the building, an American flag and Colorado State flag fluttered.
Maya smiled, watching the dog’s joy. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed having a dog, but she hated the stress of something happening to Juniper. What if someone had been in the cabin and Juniper had been injured? That was the part that worried Maya, but if she was going to do this job she had to toughen up.
Juniper wagged her tail, looking for a pat and for Maya to tell her what a great dog she was. Maya obliged. Then she opened the back compartment and Juniper jumped in, took a drink of water, turned in a circle and settled down for a nap. Josh had pulled up nearby and was waiting, evidence bags in hand.
Maya and Josh went inside the building and headed back to the evidence room. The sheriff’s department was small, which matched the town, but she knew that her grandfather was pushing for building more evidence storage space as their town grew.
Josh started filling out the paperwork for each item, logging it in and writing up a chain of custody. Then he put the evidence into a locker. The locker could only be opened on the other side by the crime scene tech. “Let’s go talk to Miranda really quick. Since this pertains to your grandfather, I want her to at least run prints tonight. Some of the other tests might take longer.”
“Works for me,” Maya said, following Josh through another set of doors into the room used to dust for fingerprints and that housed other equipment to collect evidence from crime scenes. The room was cool and a large evidence bench sat in the middle. Maya didn’t know what all the different machines did, but she recognized a few of them including a specialized forensic drying cabinet, a fingerprint powder station and fingerprint development station. Different chemicals lined a shelf, including Luminol to check for blood and various types of fingerprint dust.
Another door swung open and a petite dark-haired woman strolled in. At first glance she appeared to be about twelve, but a few crow’s-feet around her eyes gave away that she was probably a little older than Maya. She had large blue eyes accentuated by her purple-rimmed glasses and perfectly done dark red lipstick that somehow complemented her sheriff’s uniform in a no-nonsense way.
“Hey Miranda,” Josh said. “I’d like you to meet my friend and our local Forest Service officer, Maya Thompson.”
“Nice to see you, Josh,” Miranda said, turning to Maya. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Maya said.
“Thompson. You any relation to the sheriff?” Miranda asked.
“He’s my grandfather.”
“I’m sorry to hear that he’s missing. Any news?”
Both Josh and Maya shook their heads no. “I have a favor to ask,” Josh said.
“Am I going to have to stay late to fulfill this favor?”
Josh shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. Probably.”
“But it’s to help find my grandfather,” Maya interjected.
“In that case, I’m in. What do you need?”
“I have some evidence I put in a locker. I need prints lifted and run through the system,” Josh answered.
“You got it. I have some evidence drying right now, so I was at a stopping point anyway with that case. I’ll get on it.”
“How about we get you some lunch?” Maya asked. “We were just heading over to the Black Bear Café. We can bring you something back.”
“Deal,” Miranda said, her eyes lighting up. “I’d love one of their BLTs with chips and a Coke.”
“You got it,” Maya said. “I’ll buy.”
Miranda smiled and then a look of concern came over her face. “If you don’t mind me asking, did you find this evidence on federal land? Am I going to be stepping on any toes? I mean, I know we have agreements to help you, but for certain evidence, the FBI still likes to take the lead.”
“The K-9 track started on federal land, but my dog took us to a cabin on private land. I confirmed that on my way here. I’d rather you run it here, especially since this pertains to my grandfather’s disappearance.”
“Okay,” Miranda said. “Oh, and a chocolate chip cookie.”
“Excuse me?” Maya said.
“A cookie with the lunch you’re going to buy me.” Miranda gave a wink. As she headed through the door she said, “Come back in an hour or so and I’ll hopefully have some results for you.”
