Free Scent of Murder by James O. Born Page A

of potential candidates, learned everything there was to know about her, including her schedule, then grabbed her at will. If that wasn’t God-like behavior, he didn’t know what was.
    No one would be able to pin anything on him. He had watched the ten o’clock news, but there had been no mention of the incident near Belle Glade. In a way it was good that the public wasn’t aware of his activities. But it hurt him as well. No one thought it was worthwhile enough to put on TV. That didn’t seem particularly God-like.
    Now he scanned page after page on the computer to find someone that fit the profile. Someone had to satisfy his urge.
    He considered his father and wondered how he could possibly be sane. It didn’t matter. He had to keep going.
    Junior settled on three young women, all about the same age, any one of which would be suitable. This was the safest part, and it kept his interest, but it lacked the thrill of actual contact.
    That would come.
    *   *   *
    Tim Hallett was out of his bed and Rocky at the door silently listening and sniffing the air. Hallett had not opened the lockbox containing his gun yet, but he’d put the combination into the small lock and was standing right next to it. The box ensured Josh could never get to the gun accidentally.
    Anxiety got the best of him. He opened the box, pulling out his pistol and sliding it out of the holster. He slipped a T-shirt over his head and walked to the front door in just his sleeping shorts, T-shirt, and bare feet. Rocky hadn’t made any sound, which was typical. The dog was the equivalent of a ninja. He loved to sneak up on people.
    Hallett opened the door and peered through the crack. Whoever it was had parked directly in front of the trailer and wasn’t trying to hide the fact that they were here. He and Rocky had managed to make several enemies since they had been on the CAT. They had broken up a drug-smuggling ring that used State Road 80 and U.S. Highway 27 as a corridor to transport hundreds of kilos of cocaine. Hallett had arrested three of the drivers, and Rocky had inadvertently bitten off the finger of one of them.
    The local gangs were also pissed off, because just the sight of Rocky had cut into their drug sales and cast doubt on their courage. Few thugs could stand up in the face of a badass police dog. But Hallett doubted any of those morons would be brazen enough to pull up in front of his trailer and park.
    He stuffed the pistol in his shorts and pulled his T-shirt over it but kept a tight hold on Rocky’s collar. Then he saw the newly revised form of Helen Greene step out of the car and flash her brilliant smile at him.
    Hallett smiled back as he stepped down the three stairs from his trailer. Rocky followed him step for step. The newly arrived poodles stirred from their padded bed and started to bark in short, shrill spurts.
    Sergeant Greene said, “Those two are new. Where did you get them?”
    Hallett hesitated, not wanting to tell a boss at the sheriff’s office he had essentially stolen them, no matter how good his reasons. “I just picked them up. I’m looking for a home for them. You interested?”
    She held up her hand. “Not since you talked me into taking the gecko for my son. I ended up buying dead crickets and feeding him.”
    Hallett grinned and waited to hear why the sergeant had come by his house after ten o’clock.
    After a moment, Sergeant Greene said, “I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to chat with you this afternoon. You and Rocky did a fabulous job finding the girl.” She held out her hand for Rocky to sniff, then, after his approval in the form of not biting her, she reached down and rubbed the clean, brushed fur on his head.
    Hallett nodded and watched his partner display his warmth by letting the sergeant pet him. “It’s hard to put a value on a happy ending. I was just lying in bed thinking what a good day it