Hermit's Peak Read Online Free Page A

back and call the district office.”
    â€œWhat about the dog? It’s a neutered male. I make him to be about five or six years old. He needs a meal bad and he has a gimpy hip.”
    Kerney looked at the mutt. Mostly black, with brown markings around the eyes that matched his stockings, he had flecks of gray on his chest and a salt-and-pepper tail. He was hairy, filthy, skinny, and scared.
    â€œI’ll keep him,” Kerney said impulsively.
    â€œYou need to give him water, food, and a name,” Dale said.
    â€œI’ll call him Shoe, for now,” Kerney said, as he opened his saddlebags and reached for one of the sandwiches he had packed for lunch.
    He handed it to Dale and the dog wolfed it down. Dale cupped his hands and Kerney poured water from his canteen into them. Shoe lapped it up and Kerney gave him more.
    He untied Soldier’s reins and mounted up.
    Dale held Shoe out to him. “He’s your dog. You might as well get used to his smell.”
    Kerney sided Soldier over to Dale, took the dog, put him across the saddle, sniffed, and wrinkled his nose. “We’ll head to that stock tank and clean him up a bit before we turn back.”
    â€œGood idea,” Dale said.
    â€œWe should still have part of the day to explore after things settle down.”
    â€œWhat happens next?”
    â€œOfficers and a crime scene unit will come out and search the area.”
    â€œDamn, I’d like to see that.”
    â€œI’m sure you will.”
    â€œYou sound grumpy.”
    â€œThis is not the way I wanted to spend my weekend.”
    â€œDo you think you’ve got a murder on your hands?”
    â€œI always think the worst when people turn up dead.”
    â€œMaybe you should call this place Skeleton Mesa.”
    â€œThat’s cute, Dale.”
    Dale shrugged his shoulders. “Just a suggestion. I think that dog likes you.”
    Shivers ran through the dog as it laid across the saddle. Kerney could feel it breathing heavily. He ran his hand over the dog’s back to calm him and scratched his ears. The dog looked at him with serious eyes. “Not yet. But I think he will.”

2
    Kerney spent more time than he liked briefing the two officers who showed up at the old cabin. Russell Thorpe, the rookie patrolman who responded to Kerney’s phone call, had brought along his field training supervisor. Thorpe was a new academy graduate in his last week of on-the-job training before being released for independent patrol.
    Six feet tall, with a weight lifter’s build and a boyish face, Thorpe nervously questioned Kerney under the watchful eye of Sgt. Gabriel Gonzales. Kerney figured that Gonzales had warned him not to screw up in front of the deputy chief.
    After double-checking Kerney’s statement for accuracy, Thorpe bagged the two sneakers as evidence and went to the patrol unit to call for a response team. Sergeant Gonzales tagged along to oversee, and stood by the open door of the patrol car while Thorpe transmitted radio messages.
    Kerney found Dale stretched out on the seat of histruck, snoozing. In the back of the extended cab, Shoe was curled up in a ball. He fashioned a collar and leash out of some rope, put the collar around Shoe’s neck, got the dog out of the truck, and shook Dale awake.
    â€œGot any flea powder?” he asked when Dale sat up.
    â€œIn the tool box,” Dale said. “There’s a bottle of equine spray.”
    â€œThat will do.”
    Kerney found the bottle, tied Shoe to the front bumper, and began spraying. Fleas started jumping off the dog.
    â€œChief.”
    Kerney turned to face Sgt. Gabe Gonzales. Twenty years on the force had set deep creases on either side of the sergeant’s face. His eyebrows turned up at the corners of his eyes, and a stubby chin gave him a squared-off, serious cast.
    â€œWe’ll have a helicopter here in thirty minutes with a crime scene unit,” Gonzales