Tess zipped her jacket and pulled up her collar as they walked to where Victor stood. The deputy with the dog joined them. It was cold and spitting ice on and off. Altogether a miserable day for a search in the forest.

Victor studied a map with the dog handler while the dog jerked energetically on his lead. Two more deputies joined them, and Tess had her whole team assembled now.

“What do you think, Victor?”

“It’s almost noon. We have daylight for a few more hours. The guy is bleeding, but he’s got the advantage. We could walk into an ambush.”

“I agree, but he’s armed and dangerous. We can’t just wait for him to surface somewhere. He’s a clear and present danger.”

“I’m not suggesting we don’t search. I’m just saying we need to be cautious.”

Tess noted that Victor was wearing body armor. Though a civilian, he was a member of Jackson County Search and Rescue, so he had a lot of police equipment.

The deputies agreed.

“I’ll keep my dog leashed. He’s got a scent, but with this weather . . .” The dog handler shrugged. “We should get going ASAP.”

“Agreed.” Tess nodded.

Victor pointed out landmarks on the map such as where the property line ended. The entire acreage was fenced—unusual, but a must for Bronwyn because of animals she rescued. Though the plan was that they stay in eye contact, everyone needed to be on the same page about the property layout. No one could get ahead of the dog because that would destroy the scent.

Once everyone was clear, Tess turned to the dog handler. “We’ll follow you.” She directed the two deputies to the left and wanted Bender on her right, with Victor and the dog handler in the middle.

They started out with promise, spread out as best they could. The dog hit on a scent right away. And they quickly found more blood. The suspect had rubbed against a tree trunk and the rain hadn’t been hard enough to wash it off.

But then they found the hole in the fence.

“Look at this,” Victor said. “That is a clean cut.”

“Hmmm.” Tess studied the chain link. “Either he had help, or he came prepared.”

“What is that smell?” Bender asked.

“Smells like death,” Victor noted.

The dog handler had squeezed through the fence after his dog, who had its nose to the ground but was not moving forward.

“He poured something on the ground here, trying to confuse the dog.”

“Will it work?” Tess asked as she scrunched herself through the hole.

“For a few minutes, maybe. Some guys use pepper spray to confuse the dogs.” He paused, checking the area. “Let’s get away from where it’s concentrated, and we’ll pick the trail up again.”