Page 53 of Colorado K-9 Rescue
“Shall we call him?” Mckenna asked Mocha. She heard a little snore in response. Mocha was also tired from all the excitement. Mckenna dialed Evan, but it went to voice mail. She almost hungup and then decided to leave a quick message about what she’d figured out.
Relaying all the details about the ghost town and the location of the old mining camp, Mckenna finished with, “I’m going there to check it out. I’ll let you know what I find.”
She hung up, now wishing he had answered. But Mckenna needed to know if the mining camp was where they were kept. Then she could tell Evan or the sheriff and feel like she’d done her part to help solve the kidnappings and sort of make up for keeping the secret about Penny’s party all these years. She’d drive there, hike back and take a quick peek, see if there were curvy-trunked aspen trees and a bad smell and then leave. It wasn’t like a kidnapper would be waiting there for her. It would be fine.
Mckenna wanted, no, sheneededsome answers. She needed closure so she could move on with her life in whatever way she was meant to—with or without Evan.
CHAPTER 34
Once the evidence response team arrived and the coroner showed up, Evan decided to head to Toby and Rex’s house. Climbing in his car, he checked his phone. Nothing from Mckenna. Then he realized that he didn’t have service again.
He’d had a learning curve with cell phones in the mountains. One minute you could have service and the next minute it could be gone. Even law enforcement had times when there was no radio service. Although due to the fires in recent years and the need for emergency response, more repeaters had been put in. Still there were spots in the mountains where nothing would get through. Maybe a text if you were lucky, which was why you could text 911. If you had enough bars, it might go through.
Sighing, Evan put his phone down and headed toward Toby and Rex’s house. At one point his phone dinged, telling him he had a voice mail from Mckenna.
“She’s okay,” he muttered to himself, finding a spot to pull off on the shoulder of the road. There weren’t many good areas as roads around here often had trees lining the road or a large drop-off with a guardrail and very little room. He found an area for slow vehicles to get over and stopped. He played the voice mail, but Mckenna must have also been in the mountains. Her message cut in and out, sounding garbled. He caught something about a mining camp.
There wasn’t enough cell service to get back to her, so he pulled out the satellite phone. That had better reception. Evan dialed her number and heard it ring and ring until her voice mail picked up.
“Mckenna, it’s Evan. I couldn’t understand your message. Look, I know I haven’t filled you in and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried to protect you that way. I don’t know what’s going on, but Toby is dead. I’m worried that someone might be coming after you. Go back to the office. Please. Do this for me—” Evan stopped and then added “—I’m in love with you. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you. Call me when you can.”
He hung up and put the car back in Drive, navigating back onto the road. There. He’d said it. Admitted it. He was in love with her. She was more than someone to only spend the night with. Evan wanted to know everything about Mckenna, and that time he’d been telling the truth; he didn’t know what he’d do if anything happened to her.
If he knew where she was going, he’d try to find her right now, but his best bet was to find Rex and arrest him. Then it wouldn’t matter where Mckenna was. She’d be safe. He hoped there were answers at Rex and Toby’s house. A clue, something that would give him an idea of where Rex was going. Maybe Keith would have some ideas of where Rex would go.
His experience with probation officers was limited—most of his interactions with them happened when he needed to find an informant or a suspect. He could call their PO if nothing else was panning out. He hoped Keith could provide some direction.
Finally arriving at the property, Evan decided he’d do a quick walkthrough. Although Evan had filed for a warrant, he told the sheriff of his plan to search the house based on exigent circumstances. Since Rex was his top suspect and a threat to Mckenna, he had to make sure Rex wasn’t hiding and that Mckenna wasn’t being held.
Checking his phone again, he found there was at least a decent signal here. Evan dialed Mckenna, but it went to voice mail again. He called the office and asked for one of his tech guys.
“Hey, there, Knox. What’s up?” the guy asked.
“I have a favor to ask. Would you mind seeing where Mckenna’s phone is located?”
“Sure, give me just a second.”
Evan could hear typing and then the guy said, “I think her phone is here in the office.”
“Have you seen her?” Evan asked.
“No, but you know me, I’m in my room all day staring at screens. Hey, I heard you two are together now. That true?”
“Thanks for your help,” Evan said, hanging up. Was she back at the office? Then it hit him. She had a personal phone and a work phone. The tech guy had probably pinged the work phone. He called back.
“Hey, again. Now what’s up?”
“Can you find the location of Mckenna’s personal phone?”
“Why? Did you two have a quarrel?”
A quarrel? Evan glanced at his phone. Who called a disagreement a quarrel? A tech guy, that’s who. “No, it’s a work deal. I’m trying to find her. It’s for a case. No quarrels.”
“That’s going to be harder. I need a warrant for her personal phone and I’ll have to contact the carrier, so it might take a while.”
“If I can get a warrant, can you find her pretty quick?” Evan asked.
“I think it’s true. I think you two have a thing.”
