Play Fetch: An Avery Barks Dog Mystery (Avery Barks Dog Mysteries Book 3) (4 page)

Chevy was sprawled out across the sleeping bag lying on the shelter floor next to Travis, letting the toddler use him as a pillow.  I stayed at my post on the rock, focused on staying calm as I watched Don as he raced up the trail. I really didn’t have anything to say to Travis, and I wasn’t interested in hearing about his life.  I just wanted to make sure he was safe.

Don was out of breath when he finally reached me. “Avery, what’s going on?” he panted as he took off his ball cap and wiped his brow with his forearm. 

I pointed toward the shelter behind me and took a deep breath. “He’s innocent and scared to death. The kid is with him too, so go slow.”

Don leaned over and squeezed my shoulder. “Thanks Avery.”  His flannel shirt flapped in the wind and revealed a gun holstered in the back of his jeans. 

Travis stood and picked up his sleeping child.  As the guys shook hands and sat down to talk, I called Chevy over and picked up my empty pack.  There was no reason for me to stick around, and I wanted the chance to hike out on my own.  As I packed up my gear to leave, I overheard bits and pieces of Travis’ conversation…

“Someone called and demanded she meet him at ‘the exchange spot’ and give him money...”

“She wouldn’t say who it was…” 

“Twenty thousand in cash…” 

“She screamed, I’ll pay you ONE time and that WILL be the end of it...” 

“When she got out with the briefcase, he started shooting…” 

“Looked like it was a teenager...” 

“He wore a white sweatshirt with a black skull drawn on it…”

“I was afraid for myself and my baby...”

The story made me shudder and I left with my dog, without saying good-bye.

Chapter 10

I sat at the counter in Millie’s diner, finishing up a piece of her homemade chocolate cake.  My stomach was already about to burst from a big bowl of chili, but it didn’t matter, Millie’s desserts were legendary.  Besides, I had burned a lot of calories earlier in the day on my hike to find Travis.

Millie skipped around the counter and gave me a big rocking hug.  She said, “I’m so glad you got a new job helping the animals.  That fits you perfectly.” Her eyes sparkled and her face glowed with pride.  I often wished she was my grandmother.

“Where’s Charlie and the kids?” I asked.  It was unusual not to see her husband or hear the grandkids rumbling around the diner.

“They’re out buying me a birthday present. Isn’t that sweet?” She laughed and brushed a wisp of grey hair from her face.

I bet Charlie’s pulling his hair out,
I thought to myself and chuckled.

Talking about Millie’s rowdy grandkids reminded me of Anna.

“Hey Millie, did your grandkids ever go through a spell where they wouldn’t talk much?” I asked. “There’s a little girl in Jamie’s class who will only talk to Chevy.”

“Oh, bless her little heart.” Mille put her hand to her chest.  She scurried behind the counter and filled a small paper bag with several generous portions of chocolate cake.  “Try this.” She slid the bag across the counter top.  “No child can resist chocolate cake!”

I laughed.

“And an extra goodie bag for my sweet friend, Chevy.” The second bag was packed with her specialty dog treats.

“Millie, I just love your generosity.  You make me want to be a better person,” I said.

Millie wiped away happy tears and blushed.  As I walked out the door she called after me, “Make sure to give that cake to the little girl!”

###

As I sat in my truck at the four way stop sign at Mill’s Corner, I battled with my will power.  I was tempted to eat all the chocolate cake sitting on my passenger seat.   As I looked at the bag out of the corner of my eye, Millie’s words played over in my mind.
Make sure to give that cake to the little girl. 
I sighed and made a right turn in the direction of Anna’s home.

Miss Brenda was out in the yard when I pulled in her driveway.  She waved and ran over to the truck as I held the paper bag out of my window, “I have a bunch of cake from Millie’s diner.  We thought Anna might like some,” I said.

Miss Brenda’s eyes lit up and she said, “Anna will love it.”

“Have you noticed Anna being less talkative the last couple of days?” I asked.

“Yes. Ma’am, I have,” she said, her eyes squinting with worry.

“When did that start?  She seemed fine the night I met her.”

“Oh, she’s still fine.  Her cousin called the other night and probably has her playing a game.  Believe me it won’t last long.” She chuckled.  “They do stuff like that all the time.”

“That’s a relief,” I said.

“Anna has been drawing pictures of your dog all afternoon,” her mother said. “Is that Chevy in the back of the truck?” 

Chevy barked when he heard his name.

“Do you think Anna could play in the back yard with him for a little bit?” Brenda asked.  “It would be such a fun surprise, and I know she wants to give you one of her drawings.”

“Sure, we just need to keep him away from your tennis ball crafts.” I laughed.  “Take her out the back door and I will bring Chevy around the house and surprise her.”

I waited about five minutes, then grabbed a couple loose tennis balls and let Chevy out of the truck.  He already had another in his mouth.

I asked him, “Where’s Anna?”

He looked around looking for his new friend.

“Where is she?  Where’s Anna?” I coaxed as I started walking toward the back of the house.  Chevy romped around and checked out the new surroundings.

I knew they had found each other when I heard her squeal with delight.

“Chevy!”

I rounded the corner of the house and tossed a couple tennis balls in their general direction. Anna ran up to me with one her drawings and hugged my leg.  I looked down at her big eyes and noticed she was missing a tooth.  When I knelt down to give her a hug and accept the thoughtful gift, I gasped.

My body tensed when I came face to face with her white winter trapper’s hat.  It had a perfect black skull design stenciled on the front.  I thought back to the description Travis gave of the shooter’s white sweatshirt.  It also had a black skull design.

“Where’d you get that nice warm hat, Anna?” I asked. 

My heart pounded as I touched the flaps that came down over her ears.  She reached up and touched the hat, but didn’t say a word.  Chevy raced by and she chased after him.

Her mother said, “Her cousin, Austin, left it here.  Anna is so fond of him that I let her wear it, even though it’s way too big for her.”

“Where’s Austin now?” I asked.  “It could be very important.”

“I’m sure he went back home, over near Falls Gap,” she said. “He came by the other night to check on his grandfather and borrow the hunting rifle.  He made some of his hat and clothing crafts with Anna and worked on his truck at the old shed across the road.”

That’s why all the search and rescue dogs ended up across the road during the search
, I thought. 
They had a scent article taken from Austin’s jeans.

My mind raced as I tried to remember the bits and pieces of Travis’ story. White shirt with black skull, gun, money, exchange spot, my head was spinning and my stomach was nauseous.

“Miss Brenda, did Austin ever mention a place called the ‘exchange spot’?” I asked.

She fidgeted and cleared her throat.

“No,” she answered.

“It’s okay, I’m just trying to help my friend.  He was supposed to meet someone at the exchange spot.  Have you ever heard about it?” I asked.

“When I was young, there was a small shack down the road where folks would trade and barter on the weekends,” she said and buried her hands in her coat pockets.

“Has Austin ever been there?” I asked.

Her face softened as she watched Anna laugh and play with Chevy.  She said, “Children are the most precious thing.  My older sister always dreamed of having children, and told anyone who would listen that she wanted to have at least ten kids.  One summer night many years ago, she got a phone call in the middle of the night.  An acquaintance of hers requested to meet over at the exchange spot.”

“Did she go?”

“Yes, and two hours later she came back with a beautiful baby boy,” she said.

My mouth dropped open and I covered it with my hand.

“Daddy tried to find the real mother, but the young woman had already left town and was nowhere to be found.  So we raised him as one of our own,” she said.

“Was it Austin?” I asked.

“Yes, she said, nodding. “He’s one of the family, just as if he had been born to her.”

“Did anyone ever tell him?”

“Oh, my goodness, no.”

I picked up my phone and mumbled, “I have a bad feeling that he might’ve found out.”

I stood outside on the porch enjoying the new morning sunrise while Chevy did his business, when a familiar deputy’s car drove up.   Don stepped out holding a small brown paper bag.

“I had breakfast at Millie’s and brought you a biscuit.” Don grinned as he handed over the goods. “Actually, she forced me to.”

“Oh, I love that lady!” I said as I opened the bag and took a deep whiff of the homemade fried chicken and biscuit sandwich.  My stomach rumbled with hunger in response.

“Don, you just made my day,” I said, rolling up the bag to keep my meal warm until I got back inside.

“And you made mine,” Don said. “Thanks to your tip, we know who killed Bethany Biltmore.  Most of the cash was in the kid’s bedroom closet, hidden in a knapsack.”

“That’s a relief,” I said.

Don said, “His adoptive mom is alive and well.  She said Austin surprised her by catching them up on the rent yesterday, then supposedly went backpacking for a few days.  Area law enforcement are out cruising the forest roads between here and Falls Gap looking for his truck.”

“Sounds like you’re gonna have a busy Monday,” I said.

“Yeah, and a chilly one.  A cold front is going to hit us by lunchtime,” Don said.

Don’s eyes suddenly saddened and he took half a step toward me.

“I just wanted you to know, Travis took the baby back to Chicago. Since we don’t have Austin in custody yet, we felt that was the best option,” he said.

Don reached into his dark brown deputy jacket and pulled out an envelope, then stretched his arm out toward me.

“He did ask me to give you this note,” Don said.

“Keep it, I don’t want it,” I muttered, and waved him off.

“Are you sure?” Don asked as he drew his arm back in.

“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life,” I replied.

Don wasted no time tossing the card through the window into his patrol car. 

As he jumped inside and drove away, I thought I saw a small grin on his face.

###

The past week had been pretty busy, and I was happy to finally have a chance to sit back and relax.  I turned on the morning news and plopped down on the couch with biscuit in hand.  There was nothing on about Austin, which didn’t really surprise me.  Don mentioned that they were keeping it quiet for now until they could grab him.  I was glad the whole ordeal was behind me and I looked forward to a day of rest.

I put my feet up on the ottoman and took a bite out of my chicken biscuit.  It was just perfect, and I savored everything about it.  Chevy sat on the floor in front of me drooling.  My eye caught the artwork Anna had given me lying on the armrest of the couch. 

It was actually pretty good for a second grader.  At least I could tell who was who in the drawing.  She had Chevy with a ball in his mouth, her throwing a ball for Chevy, and me holding my baby plant in the tennis ball pot. 

I chuckled and glanced over to the table at my little baby plant sticking out of the tennis ball Miss Brenda had given to me.  They really were a sweet family. 

As I looked again at the picture, I remembered how Anna grabbed the clean yellow tennis balls out of her book bag at the school.  As I scratched Chevy on the head, I wondered why she brought out her own tennis balls when there was a whole box already there to play with.

I pictured that day again in my mind, and went over it step-by-step. The bright yellow balls were lying on the grass when Anna carefully repacked Chevy’s box, but when she walked away with Jamie, she did not have any balls with her.

She must’ve given them to Chevy as a gift, I thought.  What a little sweetie.

Then another thought tugged at the back of my mind.  Miss Brenda said that Austin had been making crafts with Anna not too long before a woman was murdered.  I buried the uneasy feeling in my stomach with another bite of the delicious chicken biscuit. 

The next thought that floated by was how Anna had turned her back to us as she packed up Chevy’s box.  I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was off. It gnawed at me just enough that I finished my biscuit and went back outside to the back of my truck, dropped the tailgate and pulled out the box. 

I dumped part of the box onto the ground and Chevy scurried after the balls, trying to see how many would fit in his mouth at once.  After digging through the rest of the box, I found what I was looking for - two clean tennis balls. I picked them up, one in each hand and gave a slight squeeze.  One of the tennis balls had a two inch slit in it. 

I squeezed the tennis ball harder to open the hole wider, and saw something hidden inside of it.  I grabbed my knife and cut the ball in half, and a computer USB Flash Drive tumbled out onto the tailgate.  Anna was smarter than the average second grader, and must have had hidden the USB drive at the bottom of Chevy’s ball box.  But why?

I hurried back in the house, took a deep breath and put the USB drive in my laptop to see what was on it. There were a few files, and I clicked on the first one that caught my eye named ‘DNA test’.  A copy of a maternity test report popped up that showed a woman named Tina Leeder was not the mother of Austin Leeder.

I closed that file and clicked on a document with the chilling title, ’Hit List’.  I held my breath and opened the file. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I saw that Bethany Biltmore, the woman found dead on the road the other day, was at the top of the list. What was gravely concerning was that there were a couple other names that I didn’t recognize.

My hands were shaking when I opened the third file titled ‘Ambush’, and my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach when I looked at my computer screen.  It was a crude drawing of the layout of what was labeled Falls Gap High School.  There was a big X marked in what appeared to be the parking lot at the back of the school, and today’s date was written underneath the X.

I sprinted out the door with Chevy right behind me.  I didn’t have time to stop him from jumping in the passenger seat when I pulled the door open.  I dropped my phone twice while trying to call Don on the way to my truck.  I finally made a connection as I raced out of my drive.

“Hey Avery.” Don answered on the first ring.

“The kid’s not backpacking.  He’s gonna kill kids at Falls Gap High. Send everyone you have.” I yelled.

I threw the phone into the back seat and gripped the wheel tight as I sped down the road as fast as the truck would go.

I had no plan what-so-ever, but everything in me knew I had to do whatever I could.  If all the deputies were out in the forest like Don had mentioned, it would take them a good twenty-five minutes to get back to town.  I could make it to the school in fifteen.

I flew into the school entrance and drove around to the back of the school.  The parking lot was full of cars and the kids were already inside. I held onto Chevy as I took the speed bumps without slowing down. My truck ran up on a curb and skidded to a stop right next to the football field that bordered the parking area. 

I opened the door and a couple tennis balls fell out at my feet as I struggled to get out.  I stopped short when I saw a brief flash of white clothing behind a dumpster in the distance.  He was here! 

Chevy tried to force his head past me to get out and I reached for the balls and threw one out into the field, trying to make it look like we were just out there playing fetch.  I needed to give myself a minute to think.  I didn’t get the chance because a couple kids late for school pulled into the parking lot with their music blaring.  They ambled out and held hands as they slowly made their way to class.

The young man stepped out from behind the dumpster and everything went into slow motion.  He wore an oversized white hoodie with a big black skull spray painted on the front and a dark pair of sunglasses.  He ignored Chevy and me and headed directly for the students at a rapid pace, lifting the rifle and aiming it at their backs. 

I had no weapons, but somehow my body took over.  In an almost ridiculous fashion, I ran toward him and threw the remaining tennis ball in my hand as hard as I could. It missed his head by a good three inches, but was enough to distract his aim, causing the shot he fired to break out the back window of a parked car. 

He swung his head toward me and all that registered in my mind was the orange design on the side of his black sunglasses and the white hoodie.  That is, until he aimed the gun at me.  It seemed like I was running in slow motion trying to get to the other side of my truck when another shot hit the blacktop near my feet.

After that, all I heard was screaming and sirens as the high school couple ran to the building, and I dove into my truck laying on the horn.  Within a minute, three deputy vehicles sped into the parking lot and converged on the scene.  My eyes were still squeezed shut when Don pulled my hand off the horn.  I collapsed in the seat face down as Chevy jumped in the truck on top of me.

“It’s okay, they got him walking down the road,” Don said.