Chapter 11 - TITAN REMEMBERED
“Police! Stop!”
I ran after him.
Titan tried to follow.
“Stay!”
This time he obeyed.
The man shoved through the front doors.
I chased him into the parking lot.
He jumped between cars.
I grabbed his jacket.
He spun and swung.
His fist caught my cheek.
I drove him against a truck.
“Hands behind your back!”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Then why’d you run?”
He struggled.
Hospital security rushed over.
I cuffed him.
Harris arrived fifteen minutes later.
One look at the man and his expression changed.
“You recognize him?”
“No.”
“I do.”
He showed me a surveillance still.
The driver of the pickup from Rainier Elementary.
Same height.
Same jawline.
Same tattoo near the wrist.
Name: Cole Voss.
Martin Voss’s younger brother.
“Family business,” I muttered.
Cole refused to talk.
But his phone did plenty.
Messages with Pike.
Locations.
Payments.
Photos of transport crates.
And one message sent that morning.
MARTIN: PIKE IS A LIABILITY. FIND HIM BEFORE POLICE DO.
Harris looked at me.
“That sounds promising.”
Another message arrived while the phone sat in evidence mode.
Unknown number.
YOU HAVE 2 HOURS. OLD FERRY WAREHOUSE.
Attached was a photo.
Evan Pike.
Tied to a chair.
Blood on his forehead.
Alive.
For now.
Harris cursed.
“Martin’s cleaning up.”
Pike knew everything.
If Martin killed him, we might lose our best witness.
SWAT mobilized.
I wanted in.
Harris looked toward Titan.
“He’s not medically cleared.”
“I know.”
“And neither are you.”
“I’m fine.”
“You were punched ten minutes ago.”
“I’ve had worse dates.”
He didn’t laugh.
“You stay with Titan.”
I hated it.
But he was right.
An hour later, the SWAT team entered the old ferry warehouse.
Empty.
No Pike.
No Martin.
Only a chair.
Rope.
Blood.
And another message painted across the wall:
DOGS SHOULD LEARN WHEN TO STOP CHASING.
Harris sent me the photo.
I stared at it.
Then Titan lifted his head.
He sniffed my phone.
I laughed bitterly.
“You can’t smell through a screen, buddy.”
But something occurred to me.
The hospital package.
The crate.
The park.
The school.
Pike had handled all of them.
Titan had encountered Pike’s scent more than once.
And Titan remembered scents better than faces.
I called Harris.
“I have an idea.”
“No.”
“You don’t even know what it is.”
“It involves Titan.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Pike may die.”
“Titan almost died three days ago.”
I looked at my partner.
Titan stood.
Weak, but ready.
“I’m not asking you to put him in a fight.”
“Then what?”
“Give him Pike’s scent.”
Silence.
“Let him tell us where the trail goes.”
Harris exhaled.
“You’re crazy.”
“Probably.”
Another pause.
May you like
Then he said:
“Bring the dog.”
