The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton

Author:Jeffrey B. Burton [Burton, Jeffrey B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250244543
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 28

Vira led in the middle, with Maggie fifty yards to the left and Delta at an equal distance on the right. I hung back, keeping a leisurely pace, watching my golden retriever and two collies work as a team. They’d been to Gomsrud before, to the acres of woodland behind the park, all those times when I’d been too lazy to cart them someplace more complex for training exercises.

I love my sister collies even though they do their damnedest to gaslight me. The two are inseparable; in fact, they’re so symbiotic they may as well be Siamese twins. Now and again I’ll catch them staring at something, then they’ll send sideway glances at each other before turning back to the original item of interest. It makes me paranoid, gets me thinking the canine duo knows a hell of a lot more than they’re letting on. Just last week I picked up a couple of Quarter Pounders on the drive home for dinner. I made a quick pit stop in the restroom before returning to the kitchen table, but they pulled their shtick on me as I lifted the first burger up to my mouth. The bag of food had only been out of my sight a minute or two, but I got all apprehensive and stopped everything to lift the bun and examine all condiments before I took a bite.

We continued our walk together in the shadows of elm trees and oak, ash and maple.

They say that humans have lost much of their sense of smell as we’ve continued to evolve, placing a greater emphasis on our sense of sight. I’m not so sure this is true. If I miss two meals in a row, I swear I can smell the hot dogs over at Wrigley Field.

I watched my dogs sniff at the ground as we moved deeper into Gomsrud’s jungle of trees and underbrush. Then a site to behold as three snouts lifted into the air, a trio of bobbers coming to the surface. My dogs had caught a waft of something in the nearly nonexistent breeze. A second later they came together as one and took off in a mad dash toward the ravine. The scent of decomposition had tripped their radar … they’d zeroed in on the death trail. This was where I’d get my cardio workout as I jogged behind in their wake.

I tapped at my iPhone. I should have made a wager with Officer Ennis. Turns out the old coot wouldn’t be found on a barstool laughing his ass off.

“Sup?” the cop from Lansing answered his cell phone.

“The dogs got a hit.”

“No shit,” he replied. “Already?”

“It’s what they do.”

“You got eyes on the body?”

“Give me a minute,” I said. “You’d have to be an Olympic sprinter to keep up with my girls.”

“So where are you headed?”

“You know that grassy area or clearing before it drops down into the ravine? About fifty yards in front of Knob Hill?”

“Ah hell, I started on the southern trails—the farthest side,” Officer Ennis said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.