Crime Scene Connection Read online

  Life with Tucker was like a constant conversation.

  Right now the dog had to find Jennie and the boy so Patrick could transport them to safety. Then he intended to get out of town again. Back to his life in Albuquerque and studying for the sergeant’s exam.

  Tucker tugged harder on the leash, a signal the scent was stronger. He was closing in. Patrick’s night of searching for the missing woman and her child would soon be over.

  Tucker rounded a sagebrush and sat.

  “Good boy. Yes, you are.” Patrick let the leash slacken a little. He circled his dog and found her, lying on the ground.

  “Jennie.”

  She stirred. Her eyes flashed open and she cried out.

  “No, no.” Right now he was just a dark figure leaning over her. “State police. I’m a K-9 officer.” Most people softened when confronted with a police dog in a search and rescue situation. “I’m Officer Sanders.”

  He would get into the rest of it later. After she recognized him.

  “Sanders?”

  He helped her sit up. “Easy.” He crouched, and Tucker leaned over to sniff without breaking his sit.

  “This is Tucker. He’s a search and rescue dog, here to find you and your son, Nathan.”

  She gasped. “Nate. I let go of him when I fell. Those men...” She scrambled to her feet, nearly knocking him over. “They’re probably still up there. How far did I fall?”

  She spun around.

  Patrick said, “Sheriff Johns called us here to help find you both. It’s our job.” He motioned to his dog and figured he’d be reassuring. “Finding people is Tucker’s favorite thing to do. He loves kids.”

  “Patrick.”

  “Yes, Jennie. It’s me.” Did she have a concussion? Maybe he should call for a helicopter to fly her to the hospital, but she wasn’t swaying or slurring her words.

  “You’re really here.”

  He nodded.

  “We need to find Nate.”

  “I have a T-shirt from your house. Tucker can get the scent and find your son.”

  She blinked. “He’s—”

  Patrick finished for her. “Nine years old and up there with armed men, right? In danger.” He grasped her elbow. “So let’s go.”

  The quicker he got them both to safety, the quicker he’d be able to leave town again.

  For good this time.

  She stood, seemingly steady enough on her feet. Determined to get to her child. He grabbed the evidence bag from the side pocket of his cargo pants and let his dog smell the contents.

  “Tucker, find.”

  Copyright © 2021 by Lisa Phillips

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  ISBN-13: 9781488072147

  Crime Scene Connection

  Copyright © 2021 by Denise Pysarchuk

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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