#####
Later, Julia talked to the media. “I should thank Detective Ryan Cook, who smelled the deep conspiracy to kill the President. Johnson was part of it.
“Like eyesight to a human, smells are to a dog. They identify scents that are unknown to the human nose. A bloodhound can detect 300 million smells and humans only 5 million. Dogs can smell sugar even if it has been diluted in one million gallons of water. They have 300 million olfactory receptors, whereas human have only 6 million. The section of the dog’s brain that analyzes smell is 40 times greater than man’s.
“Dogs love stinky smells. They love the odor emitted by the dead carcasses which actually consists of volatile organic substances. Johnson collected the odor of a pig carcass in sample bags and diluted to an extent that the human nose can’t detect. He put the diluted solution into small bottles.
“Johnson trained the dog to smell the solution he prepared. Then he made the dog to grab and pull clothes rinsed with the same solution. He would reward the dog with special food if it grabbed the cloth.
“When Ruby Blanc came out of the abandoned building to have coffee in a café, Johnson’s assistant mixed the solution with mud and threw it at her, hiding behind a tree. Ruby thought it was birds poop and wiped it with tree leaves and walked away without knowing that her jacket now smelt with a scent of a dead pig carcass.
“When she came opposite the dog, it sprang on her and tried to tug at her jacket. She screamed, pushed away the dog and ran away. Watching the dog attacking Ruby, Johnson felt happy; his idea was working fine. But Ruby thought the dog attacked her because she was a criminal. She felt that the dog somehow sensed it. She started to feel bad. She wanted to punish the dog. Two days later, when she encountered the dog on her way to café, she removed the knife from her purse and tried to kill the dog. Leslie saw this and, being an animal lover, she shot Ruby to save the dog.
“Johnson feared that the police would stumble upon the truth if they started to investigate why Ruby tried to shoot the dog. He decided to divert the police, he lied that an assailant shot Ruby. He convinced Leslie that it would save her from the media attention. Leslie also went with his tale, as she feared that the media would play it big, as she had shot a woman to save a dog.
“Johnson sold his idea to his boss and he liked it. They decided to execute it when the President was visiting Scottsdale. But the boss wanted Johnson to try it on another person to test its integrity, so if there was some unforeseen bug, it would come to light and they could fix it.
“Johnson planned to try it on Matt.
“Johnson gave pet food free of cost to Matt’s dog shelter and spent most of his time there. He brought five bloodhounds to the home, telling Matt that they were orphaned as their owner suddenly died and trained them to smell pig carcass scent.
“He suggested that the couple should go on a road trip to sort out their differences and he had already rented a room for them in the resort; it was a gift from their family friend.
“Without knowing Johnson’s real intention, they couple started out on their journey.
“While they were on their way and might have travelled some hundred kilometers, Johnson phoned the couple that one of the dogs in the home was missing. Actually, he had taken it with him when he came to Matt’s place for the send-off. The dog had the habit of hiding in the trunk. The couple stopped the car and checked. It was there. They took the dog along with them on the road trip.
“Matt and Leslie fought and Leslie decided to leave Matt. She didn’t go with him on the mountain trip. If she went with him, she too would have been killed.
“Matt started the journey with his dog.
“Johnson embedded a tracking device in the dog’s collar. Then Johnson used his cell phone to track Matt’s movements.
“When Matt left the Tortilla’s Flat and was navigating through the Apache Trail, Johnson fixed the accident spot near Roosevelt Dam.
“Matt wore a smart ring, an electronic gadget, in his finger, another present from Johnson. The tracking device and the smart ring were in sync and could connect via Bluetooth. If Matt received a call or message in his cell phone, the ring would alert, display the caller and message on its flat surface. lt would also remind him about meetings, birthdays and give wake-up calls.
“When Matt reached the hairpin bend near Roosevelt Dam where the car fell off, Johnson sent a command through an app in his cell phone to the tracking device, which in turn connected with the smart ring and powered on a mini motor that drew power from the ring’s battery. The motor pushed a pin that punctured a miniature balloon kept inside the ring’s compartment. The scented solution was released and leaked out of the ring through a small pore in the bottom surface. The dog, which was in the passenger seat, on sensing the scent jumped at Matt’s hand and tried to pull it. Matt lost control and the car fell off the road.
“The President, while coming down to the dining hall from his room surrounded by security men and secret agents, walked in the hallway to reach the dining hall. Balloons hung from the ceiling of the hallway. While the decorations were being done, Johnson’s man, wearing a hotel uniform, joined the workmen who were hanging the balloons. In the pretext of helping them, he went up and attached a small balloon with a tracking device and a camera in between the huge balloons.
“When the President walked below it, Johnson’s man, who stood outside the hotel, using his cell phone and watching the pictures sent by the camera, activated an app that released a pin with a mini motor’s help and punctured the small balloon. The solution dripped and fell on the President’s coat on the back and shoulder. The drops were so small and the President would not have felt it.
“Another one of Johnson’s men walked near the dining hall with the dog. He posed as though he was a dog trainer and his dog would smell for bombs. Sensing the stinky smell of pig’s carcass, the dog ran inside. He knew the origin of the smell: the President and his coat. It jumped on him. The trainer removed the gun as if he was going to shoot the dog. But he was going to shoot the President. Knowing his plan, Ryan Cook shot him.
“How did Ryan find out the conspiracy?
“He wondered how Ruby dared to kill the dog when its owner was standing near it. Then Ryan came to the conclusion that Ruby didn’t know that Johnson was the owner of the dog that attacked her. Why did Johnson act like that? And then there was this common factor, that the bloodhound was present in Ruby Blanc’s murder and Matt’s car accident. Ryan started to probe and came upon the orphaned dog shelter and the trained bloodhounds.
“Johnson was very careful. He didn’t want to associate himself with the dogs he trained to sniff pig carcass. He practiced the dogs in the dog shelter and not at his residence. He sent the trained dog on the path Ruby would be using to go to the cafe from the abandoned building. Hiding behind the tree, he watched his idea coming alive, the dog grabbing Ruby’s jacket, tearing it with its teeth. Ruby pushed it away and ran on the road, screaming.
“With Ruby’s jacket in its mouth, the dog ran away. It didn’t return to the dog shelter and Johnson didn’t care. He had four other trained bloodhounds. He decided not to walk on his usual path, as he didn’t want to meet Ruby again. On the day of the murder, he was preoccupied, as he was talking to his boss. Unknowingly, he chose his regular path and, to his surprise, he noticed the runaway dog running ahead of him without a care in the world, sniffing around and enjoying his freedom. Then he saw Ruby walking on the pavement toward the dog. Johnson hid behind the tree to avoid meeting Ruby. But she took out a knife from her purse. The events unfolded in slow motion. Holding the knife in her hand, Ruby raced toward the dog and Leslie, who was walking on the side of the road, shot her. The dog tried to run away and Johnson grabbed it, coming out of his hiding place. Leslie assumed that Johnson was walking the dog. Johnson confessed everything to us. Though we had caught him, we are yet to catch his boss.
“Okay, I wanted to share with you all another surprise. The Preside
nt was not actually a President. A secret service agent, having a body structure like the President and with the help of a disguise too, acted his part well.
“The President will come to this town as per his previous schedule.”
The End.
Log on to Murder (The President Series Book 2)
Rose Carter and Robert Ireland
Sample chapters