See Her Die (Bree Taggert #2)(10)

Todd jogged toward her. “Sheriff?”

She stopped. The title still felt strange.

“State police K-9 units are tied up searching for a university student who went missing over the weekend. The earliest I can get a team out here is late afternoon.”

Bree glanced at the sky. To the east, the sunrise reddened the morning sky, but thick clouds gathered on the western horizon. She pulled out her phone and checked the weather. “There’s more snow on the way. It’s forecast to start by early afternoon.” She wasn’t sure how new snow would affect a dog’s ability to track, but it would cover any evidence on the ground.

“What about Matt and Brody?” Todd asked.

Matt had been tied to her sister’s murder through his best friend, and he’d helped her solve the case. They’d made a good team, but Matt’s history with the sheriff’s department made her hesitate.

“Doesn’t seem like I have any other options,” Bree said.

“Is there a reason you don’t want to call Matt?” Todd asked.

“It would be preferable to use an official team.” Bree didn’t voice her real concerns. One of the deputies who had shot Matt had left the department. The other was Rogers. The incident had officially been declared an accident, but Matt’s interactions with Rogers and the other deputies were understandably awkward. Asking him to work for the sheriff’s department felt like an imposition.

But she’d get to see him again. Despite the fact that she didn’t have the time or energy for a personal commitment outside of her family—as evidenced by her failure to return his messages for the past few weeks—she’d missed him.

Bree massaged her temple. Matt came with departmental complications, but she trusted him. She couldn’t say that about all the men under her command. It would be nice to know someone had her back.

“I’ll call him.” Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she surveyed the uniformed men moving around the scene. She felt confident in her chief deputy. Todd had been one of the people who’d convinced her to accept the position. Most of her deputies seemed glad to have new leadership, but a few resented her appointment to sheriff.

She stepped away for some privacy to make the call. The rising sun reflected off the frozen lake in shades of bloody red. With the exception of Todd, Matt didn’t fully trust her deputies.

Could she?





CHAPTER FIVE

Matt’s phone vibrated. He pulled it from his pocket. Bree.

He might be thirty-five, but seeing her name on his phone screen gave him a rush. He tempered his enthusiasm and cleared his throat. “Hey, how are you?”

“Sorry,” Bree said. She sounded stressed. “I know I should have answered your text weeks ago, but it’s been crazy at work and home.”

“Everything OK with the kids?” Matt worried about them—and her. The Taggert family had suffered more than its share of tragedy.

“Not really, but I don’t have time to get into it now,” she said. “I need to ask you for a favor. You and Brody.”

He could hear wind and voices in the background. Someone yelled for the chief deputy. Disappointment poked him. She was at a scene. She wasn’t calling him back for personal reasons. This was business.

“How can we help?” he asked.

“I have an unusual situation.” She explained her current case, a shooting with little evidence other than a single, less-than-ideal witness. “I need to track the shooter. I can’t get a K-9 team until late afternoon, and there’s more snow on the way. I know it’s asking a lot, but is there any way you and Brody could try?”

Matt reached down and rested his hand on Brody’s head. The dog’s ears came forward, as if he could hear Bree’s voice and understood the conversation. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise Matt if he could. Brody was the most intelligent animal he’d ever encountered. Energy vibrated off the big dog, and his tail began to sweep back and forth across the tile. Matt often wondered which one of them missed the work more.

“Brody says he’d love to help,” Matt said. “I have something I’d like to talk to you about anyway.” Considering Bree had been avoiding him, doing her a favor might make her more likely to cooperate with him. “Where are you?”

“Thank you.” Her voice rang with relief as she gave him the location.

“We’ll be there ASAP.” He ended the call.

Brody whined.

“Yeah. We’re going out,” Matt assured him. He sent Greta into her crate and gathered his gear. Brody was waiting at the door when he was ready. They went out to his Suburban. Brody rode shotgun. Matt cracked the window, and the dog pressed his nose to the opening. The dog vibrated with excitement.

As if he knew they had work to do.



Forty minutes after Bree’s call, Matt parked his Suburban in the clearing behind three deputies’ vehicles and the sheriff’s SUV. He climbed out of his driver’s seat and held the door for Brody. After he snapped the leash onto his dog’s collar, the big dog jumped down from the vehicle and stumbled when his front paws hit the ground.

“You OK, buddy?” Matt knelt next to his dog. Normally, Brody was agile and sure-footed. Matt inspected the ground, which glittered with patches of ice.

Damn it.