Page 10 of Every Little Kiss
“All of them were type-two searches, and none of them lasted more than a few days. You do the search, disappear for a day, then burn rubber out of town.” His friend’s face went serious. “Hell, I don’t think you’ve spent more than a week anywhere in the past few years.”
That was how Ford liked it. As long as he kept moving, the what-ifs couldn’t pull him under. As for the disappearances, that was repentance.
“So you want to be straight with me? And don’t give me that BS story about Bullseye needing some time off after the search in Montana.”
Ford looked over at his dog, eating up the attention he was getting from Ms.Moberly, and felt his heart go heavy with concern. Ford wasn’t the only one struggling with the job.
Bullseye was more than a trailing dog. He was one of the top air-scenting dogs in the country. A talent that had them at the top of the national registry list to call when a natural disaster hit.
Bullseye could detect a body fifteen feet underground and know with a certainty if it was a person or a corpse. Each rescue lit Bullseye with excitement, but recoveries took their toll. And the Montana job had more recoveries than rescues. The last being a seven-year-old boy named Thomas.
It wasn’t normal for Ford to know the subject’s name in this kind of search, but he’d seen a weeping mother standing helpless by an ambulance, staring at the site where her house had once stood. So when the search was over and the small body was recovered, Ford had done the one thing he’d promised himself he’d never do again.
Instead of moving on to the next case, he’d spent a week looking into the boy’s life. Knew he’d likedStar Warsand played T-ball and that his favorite subject in school was science. Knew that he wanted to be a fireman when he grew up, like his dad. And even before his boss called to chew him a new one for missing his certification again, Ford knew he was in up to his neck.
His inability to let go started when he’d met Sam down in that frozen ravine. Listened to the stories about his wife, witnessed the deep love and commitment to his small son. It was what had driven him to leave Sam behind and get Paxton to safety. It was what had fueled a two-year-long promise—that was going to end this summer. Ford was going to make sure of it.
“We both needed a break,” Ford admitted. “And we’ll both be back on our A-game, ready for Canyon Ridge before the summer ends.”
Harris studied him for a long, hard moment. Ford didn’t know what he was looking for, but clearly he didn’t find it, because he said, “Well then, you might want to grab your notebook. Looks like you’ve got a missing dog to sniff out.”
Ford held up his hands in surrender. “I should have told you about the connection to the town, but if I limited jobs based on distance to past subjects, I’d be living in Alaska.” He paused. “No, wait, spent five weeks there during that avalanche.”
“Point taken.”
“Good, then can you drop the hazing bullshit and give me a real job?”
“Since you’re no longer a high-mountain rescue officer, this is as real as it will get for you,” Harris pointed out. “As for the hazing, as soon as you find LuLu, I need you to pay a visit to the assisted-living home on the west side of Lake Street. Mr.Gordon in room 34 has wandered off again.”
“Alzheimer’s?” Ford asked, because although it wasn’t the kind of search he usually headed up, at least this subject walked on two legs. “I’ll get right on it.”
“Oh, and you might want to check the senior center. It’s casino day.”
Ford made a note. “Is he a gambler?”
“Nope. Bring a blanket, though,” Harris said with a tip of his hat, then headed toward his department-issued Jeep. “The last time this happened, he forgot his pants and ended up mooning the ladies. From the front.”
