The Bridge (JD Pickens Mysteries, #6) / JD Pickens Mysteries (ePub)

Losing a beloved pet was traumatic for JD Pickens and his daughter Sarah. What made matters worse was when Sarah took a liking to a boy, one Pickens didn't know. Pickens wasn't ready for Sarah to date because he feared losing his little girl's heart. It created a chasm in their father-daughter relationship. When Sarah and her boyfriend witnessed a dog beaten and tossed in a truck, they followed it until the truck turned onto a dirt road. Sarah had called the incident to Deputy Billy Thompson and asked him to run the license plate. Billy agreed but asked her not to follow the truck, and they decided not to follow it.

The rift between Pickens and Sarah widened when Pickens solicited the boyfriend's help locating the dirt road without telling Sarah. He agreed even though it got him in trouble with Sarah. After he pointed out the road, Billy contacted a member of his drone club and had her launch a drone to do aerial surveillance of the road.

The aerial surveillance revealed a compound with trucks and cages at the end of the road. Using the drone, Pickens and his team descended upon the compound only to discover the trucks were gone and the cages were empty, except for one. That cage had a malnourished dog chained up with no food or water and left to perish. With animal control as part of Pickens's team, animal control rushed the dog to the shelter. Pickens hoped the dog would survive and he might adopt it. Unfortunately, the dog died, which angered Pickens.

After Sarah's boyfriend took her fishing, Pickens attempted to bridge the chasm between them by offering to take her fishing, but Sarah thought Pickens was trying to drive a wedge between her and her boyfriend. Pickens assured Sarah he was only trying to bridge the gap between them, and Sarah eventually relented and agreed to go. The event ended up being a relationship mender, but Pickens kept a secret from Sarah. Ultimately, the secret was revealed when they visited Pickens's parents, creating another rift between Pickens and Sarah. With the help of Pickens's mother, Pickens escaped Sarah's wrath, and their bond remained intact.

Angry over the death of the emaciated dog, Pickens vowed to track down the men who caged it along with other dogs at the compound. Billy came up with the name of one of the men, thanks to prints from the compound. But Pickens still couldn't locate where the men were hiding, but a stroke of luck led Pickens to a remote farmhouse.

After Sarah mentioned that she and her boyfriend were going on a helicopter ride, Pickens asked her to get the pilot's name, so he could enlist the help of the pilot to descend upon the farmhouse and arrest the dognappers. Sarah agreed, and Pickens contacted the pilot and paid for his service by flying Pickens and a small team to the farmhouse. Once again, Pickens was days too late and found the dognappers dead, but a fingerprint left at the scene revealed another name, but it became difficult to locate the person.

Although Pickens was disappointed about the dead bodies, they happened upon a female dog and her litter. The dogs were taken to the shelter and cared for, and the veterinarian discovered a chip in the mother. Pickens attempted to locate its owner. Unfortunately, he found the owner dead in his trailer. Pickens decided he'd take the dogs if no one wanted. First, he had to locate any relatives of their former owner. Pickens discovered a son-in-law of the dogs' former owner, but he didn't want the dogs, so they became available for adoption.

Pickens still had to locate the killer, but it proved difficult, as though he was a ghost. A twenty-year-old mug shot of the man led to Amy contacting the Jacksonville law enforcement agencies, but they were no help, and the case went cold.