Shielding the Baby, page 1
“Stop! Police!”
The woman revved the engine and took off, the back end of the sedan swerving a bit as she fought to gain control. Danica peered at the license plate only to find it was covered in mud.
“Come, Hutch.”
Her partner wheeled toward her and loped back to her side. She glanced over to where Luke was bent over Caden. “Is he okay?”
“I think so.” His words were muffled, and she realized he had the baby cradled in his arms, his face buried against the little boy’s head.
Using her hands-free function, she called the local police to put out an alert for a black sedan with muddy license plates.
“The driver tried to kidnap a baby in a stroller.”
* * *
Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit
Shielding the Baby by Laura Scott, April 2023
Scent of Truth by Valerie Hansen, May 2023
Explosive Trail by Terri Reed, June 2023
Olympic Mountain Pursuit by Jodie Bailey, July 2023
Threat Detection by Sharon Dunn, August 2023
Cold Case Revenge by Jessica R. Patch, September 2023
Undercover Operation by Maggie K. Black, October 2023
Snowbound Escape by Dana Mentink, November 2023
K-9 National Park Defenders by Katy Lee and Sharee Stover, December 2023
Laura Scott has always loved romance and read faith-based books by Grace Livingston Hill in her teenage years. She’s thrilled to have been given the opportunity to retire from thirty-eight years of nursing to become a full-time author. Laura has published over thirty books for Love Inspired Suspense. She has two adult children and lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her husband of thirty-five years. Please visit Laura at laurascottbooks.com, as she loves to hear from her readers.
Books by Laura Scott
Love Inspired Suspense
Hiding in Plain Sight
Amish Holiday Vendetta
Justice Seekers
Soldier’s Christmas Secrets
Guarded by the Soldier
Wyoming Mountain Escape
Hiding His Holiday Witness
Rocky Mountain Standoff
Fugitive Hunt
Rocky Mountain K-9 Unit
Hiding in Montana
Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit
Shielding the Baby
Visit the Author Profile page at LoveInspired.com for more titles.
Shielding the Baby
Laura Scott
The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
—Zephaniah 3:17
This book is dedicated to the brave men and women who work for our national park service. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the beauty of wildlife and nature.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Dear Reader
Excerpt from Amish Wilderness Survival by Mary Alford
ONE
“Shots fired. Two victims near the Longmire Suspension Bridge. PNK9 response requested.” The dispatcher’s voice came through Pacific Northwest K-9 officer Danica Hayes’s radio. She was in the Mount Rainier National Park with her K-9 partner, Hutch, accompanied by her colleague Colt Maxwell and his K-9, Sampson.
“Colt and I are on it.” She disconnected from the call. “Let’s go. But we’ll need to take the SUVs—the bridge is five miles from here.”
“Race you,” Colt said with a cheeky smile.
They’d been about to leave the park after successfully apprehending the man responsible for assaulting a hiker. She jogged to her SUV, quickly putting her male German shepherd in the back crate area. Sliding behind the wheel, she made a sharp U-turn toward the Longmire Suspension Bridge. Colt was hot on her heels in his SUV.
Why hadn’t they heard the shots? Five miles wasn’t that far, and out here the sound would carry, especially in mid-April, when the park wasn’t busy. She frowned, pulled over, then quickly retrieved Hutch.
From here she could see two people lying on the ground not far from the bridge entryway. Before Colt and Sampson could cross over to join her, more gunfire echoed, louder this time.
“Take cover!” Colt shouted.
Danica lunged toward the thick cluster of trees, Hutch at her side. Colt went in the opposite direction. She dropped to her knees in the brush, her arm protectively around Hutch’s neck, scanning the area. There was nothing up ahead, so she turned around. A flash of movement caught her eye. She narrowed her gaze as a woman with dark hair and wearing a dark blue parka moved through the trees. The woman glanced furtively over her shoulder. Their gazes clashed, and the flash of recognition was unmistakable.
The woman was Mara Gilmore, the PNK9’s newest crime scene investigator. For a moment, Danica was confused. How had Mara gotten here so quickly? Then she realized Mara wasn’t working today. Dropping her gaze to Mara’s hands, she half expected to see a gun, but the tech had already disappeared through the brush.
She blinked, momentarily frozen. What was Mara doing here? Was she running away from the shooter? Had she seen something? Mara’s expression flashed in her mind. Guilt? Fear? A combination of both? Either way, she needed to find the team’s tech, to discover what, if anything, she might know. She jumped out from the trees. “I’m going after a witness,” she called to Colt. “Let’s go, Hutch!”
Hutch immediately bounded forward, anxious to be on the move. “No, Hutch, this way.” Danica used his leash to correct his path so that he was following Mara. Danica ran with her ninety-pound black-and-tan partner, her gaze searching for Mara. The more she thought about it, the less likely it seemed that Mara was involved in the shooting. The look on her face must have been fear. Still, she wanted to reassure the newest member of their team there was no reason to be afraid.
Shame on her for thinking the worst. Blame it on her tumultuous childhood.
Hutch slowed down, sniffing the ground, then lifting his snout to the air as if trying to capture Mara’s scent. It wasn’t easy, as she hadn’t provided him with a specific scent to find. Yet she trusted Hutch to do his best.
Her K-9 shifted, heading off at a diagonal direction from the area where she’d seen Mara. Keeping pace with her partner wasn’t easy; her feet slipped on the areas of snow and ice.
They covered roughly two miles before Hutch stopped, sniffing along the side of the road. The same road she and Colt had come up just fifteen minutes ago. Her K-9 sat and looked up at her, signaling this was the end of the trail.
“Good boy, Hutch.” She lavishly praised her partner, pulling the tattered bunny from her coat pocket. She tossed it to him. He caught it midair and pranced around like he was king of the world. Normally the routine made her smile.
Not today.
Mara must have left the park in a vehicle she’d parked nearby. The time it had taken her and Hutch to get here made it unlikely they’d be able to find her. The good news was, Mara hadn’t been lost. The tech had found her way to the road. Yet it was still strange that Mara had run away rather than sticking around to offer her statement.
Blowing out a frustrated breath, she called Hutch over, took his bunny and headed back down the road to the bridge.
Colt, tall and blond, and his bloodhound K-9 Sampson were there, examining the two bodies. He looked at her when she approached. “One male and one female victim, both in their late twenties, and both shot in the back.”
“I saw Mara Gilmore running from the scene. It’s possible she may have witnessed something and took off in fear.”
“I saw Mara, too,” Colt agreed with a frown. “It’s odd she was here. And that she left the scene.”
She stared down at the two bodies for a moment. “We need to alert the chief.” Chief Donovan Fanelli was their boss, and he’d want to know that one of their own was a possible witness.
“I already called him.” Colt grimaced. “I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but I thought it was strange how Mara ran off like that. I figured Hutch would have a better chance of tracking her, so I stayed here with the bodies.”
“I don’t want to jump to conclusions, either, but I know she saw and recognized me.” Danica managed a wry smile. “She’s a tech, not a cop. Being in the line of fire must have scared her. Hopefully she’ll return very soon to let us know what she saw.”
Colt rose to his feet. “I hope so. By the way, the National Park Service crime scene techs are on their way back.”
It made sense that he’d stayed with the bodies, as Sampson’s specialty was cadaver recovery. “What’s going on, Colt?” She stared at the two victims. “Why would anyone kill them?”
Before he could respond, the crime scene van pulled up on beside their SUVs. Danica and Colt stepped back to give them access to the bodies. They watched as the techs went to work.
“We have an ID here on both vics.” Trent Ward, the taller park ranger tech, looked over at them. “Male is Jonas Digby and female is Stacey Stark.”
The names didn’t ring any bells for her. At Colt’s shrug, she assumed the same was true for him.
Overhead, a yellow-and-black chopper came in flying low. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she watched it descend. “Is that the chief?”
“Yes. He’s bringing Willow Bates, too. They were both at headquarters when I called.”
Their PNK9 headquarters located in Olympia, Washington, was roughly a ninety-minute drive from Mount Rainier. She watched as the chopper set down in a large open field not far from the bridge. Donovan and Willow both jumped out, along with Willow’s K-9, a German short-haired pointer named Star. Their chief was tall, with broad shoulders, salt-and-pepper hair, and piercing blue eyes. He strode purposefully toward them, Willow and Star trailing behind him.
Minutes later, they were huddled together near the crime scene. “We heard that a witness reported a woman with dark hair wearing a navy blue parka shot the vics,” Willow said.
What? Danica swallowed hard, the similarities too much to ignore. “I saw Mara Gilmore wearing a dark blue parka and running from the scene.” Danica met Donovan’s serious gaze. “I know she saw me, too. Hutch and I tried to catch up to her—we assumed she was afraid of the gunfire—but we lost her near the road.”
Their boss grimaced. “I don’t like this. I wouldn’t want anyone from our team to be considered a possible suspect. Although the description is vague. Lots of people have blue parkas and dark hair.”
“I didn’t see her with a gun,” Danica quickly pointed out.
“And neither of us saw her shooting,” Colt added.
“I’ll call Mara.” Donovan lifted his phone to his ear. After several long moments, he grimaced and shoved it back in his pocket. “No answer. The call went straight to voice mail.”
That didn’t make any sense. Why wouldn’t Mara talk to their boss?
“What do you know so far?” Donovan asked.
“Colt and I didn’t hear the original gunfire, although there were additional shots fired once we arrived on scene. It’s possible the killer used a silencer with the first shots.” Danica waved a hand. “It would sure help to interview that witness. I find it strange that we didn’t see anyone other than Mara, and we’ve been in this general area of the park for a couple of hours. The only thing I can come up with is that the shooter had a vehicle stashed nearby.”
Willow had gone over to check on the victims. Her gaze was somber when she returned. “Look, I know Mara pretty well—we’ve gotten close since she joined the team. The male vic, Jonas Digby? He’s Mara’s former boyfriend. And the woman, Stacey Stark, is Digby’s new girlfriend. I know it looks bad, especially because the witness’s description matches Mara as the shooter, but I know she couldn’t have done this. Mara isn’t a killer.”
“Yeah, right,” Trent muttered from behind them as he removed something from the van. “Protecting your own as usual.”
Chief Donovan’s face reddened at the accusation. Danica didn’t want to believe Mara was guilty, yet the crime scene tech certainly hadn’t come forward proclaiming her innocence, either.
“Let’s get somewhere private.” Donovan gestured for the team to step farther away from the scene.
“The Longmire welcome center isn’t far,” Colt said. “We can go there for warmth and privacy.”
“Officers?” A female crime scene tech rushed over. “I thought you’d want to see this. We found it in the snow near the two victims.”
She held up a plastic evidence bag containing a thin gold bracelet, a charm engraved with the letter M.
Willow gasped. “That’s Mara’s bracelet. Her father gave it to her for her sixteenth birthday.”
Donovan’s expression turned even more grim. “Thanks for letting us know,” he told the crime scene tech. The woman nodded, then hurried back to place the evidence in the van.
No one said anything for a long moment. Donovan’s expression was grave. “If Mara is a suspect, we’ll need to make sure to have all evidence handled by the park ranger crime scene techs to avoid any conflict of interest.” Donovan turned to Colt. “You mentioned the visitor center?”
“Yeah, let’s go. You can ride with me, Chief.” Normally Colt liked to crack jokes, but the somber situation put a damper on the normal camaraderie the team shared.
“Willow, why don’t you ride with me?” Danica said. “Star can take the back seat.”
“Okay,” Willow agreed. As soon as they were settled in the SUV, she added, “I’m telling you, Danica, Mara didn’t do this.”
Danica glanced at her. “I know it’s hard to believe, Willow. And I honestly didn’t see her shoot anyone, or even have a gun. What bothers me is that she didn’t come forward when she recognized me. Even if she was afraid and hiding, wouldn’t she answer Donovan’s call?”
Willow closed her eyes for a moment. “There has to be a good reason. Something more going on than we know.”
“Like what? And why was Mara here at Mount Rainier, where her ex-boyfriend was with his new girlfriend?”
Willow shook her head grimly. “I wish I knew.”
The trip to the welcome center didn’t take long. Soon they were huddled inside the center, which was thankfully empty of visitors.
“Thanks for meeting me here.” Donovan brought the impromptu meeting to order. “I wish the entire team could participate, but we’ll have to make do.”
The Pacific Northwest K-9 Unit had been founded ten years ago, primarily funded through a generous federal grant bankrolled by Roland Evans, a philanthropist who strongly believed in their core mission of solving the most difficult crimes that transpired throughout several police jurisdictions in Washington State, including the three national parks. Danica was proud to be one of twelve federal law enforcement K-9 officers reporting to Chief Donovan Fanelli. Their team also had two dedicated crime scene techs, Mara Gilmore and Bartholomew Davis. With Mara as a potential suspect, Bart wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the case, either. And really, thinking about the team made Danica realize that Mara’s half brother, PNK9 officer Asher Gilmore, might need to keep his distance, too.
She glanced at her fellow officers, Colt and Willow. They had investigated many difficult cases, but she sensed this would be their toughest yet.
“We need intel.” Donovan pulled out his phone. “Jasmin must have something by now.”
Jasmin Eastwood was the PNK9 team’s technical expert and always ready to assist.
Donovan placed the call on speaker so they could all hear. “Jasmin? What do you have on the witness who reported seeing a dark-haired woman shoot the victims?”
“Chief, the call came in via a burner phone,” Jasmin informed them. “What I found interesting is that the caller’s voice was distorted by a mechanical device. I listened twice, and honestly can’t say if the caller was a man or woman. Because it was a burner phone, there’s no way to get a trace.”
Donovan’s brow furrowed as he digested this information. Already the puzzle pieces didn’t fit. In Danica’s experience, an untraceable witness was very suspicious. Was it possible the mechanical-voice witness was really the killer?
“We have two victims, Jonas Digby and Stacey Stark,” Donovan said. “Run their names through the system.”
There was a brief silence as Jasmin did the search. Each team member’s face was grim as they waited. “Chief? No criminal records for either vic. Stacey Stark is from Ashford, which is only a few miles from where you are now. She owns three luxe yet charmingly rustic Stark Lodges, each near a national park, with a business partner, Eli Ballard. One of their properties is between Rainier and the small town of Ashford. That’s her last known address. The other two lodges are located near the other National Parks, Olympic and North Cascades.”
“We need info on Eli Ballard, her business partner. What about the vics’ families?” Donovan asked.
“Digby is an only child, parents deceased. Stacey’s brother, Luke Stark, lives at the Stark Lodge near Mount Rainier. He may have motive, as he’s the only family member Stacey has and logically stands to inherit the properties now that she’s gone.”
