“What time is it?”
“Time to touch bases with the rest of the team and see if our guy Bobby is awake and talking. I’m going to hit the shower. Care to join me?”
They spent the next twenty minutes sliding around in soap suds and sex until the water chilled and hunger forced them to find clothes and go in search of food.
By the time they arrived at the sheriff’s office, it was well past ten. They found Sheriff Taylor with Agent Bradley and Bree in the conference room, looking over a map of the county.
Melissa greeted them with, “About time you two showed up.”
Avery’s cheeks heated. “We stopped at the diner for breakfast before coming in.”
Grant filled them in on what Swede had shared.
“So, we might have our killer,” Melissa said. “We still need to find where he held the victims.”
“I take it he hasn’t come to yet,” Grant surmised.
“No. We had a shift change with the deputies,” Sheriff Taylor said. “They’ve been watching him. The doctor said he suffered a concussion when he was flung out of the car. And he broke his leg. I doubt he’ll try to make a run for it when he wakes up.”
“We want to check out a few places today to see if we can find his lair while we wait for him to wake,” Bree said.
“We could divide and conquer to make the search go a little faster,” Avery said.
“Good,” Melissa said, “because the sheriff needs to stay close to the hospital in case Blade, aka Bobby, wakes up.”
Melissa continued. “If you and Avery could take the McElroy, Hornsby and the Stenson place on Cemetery Road, Bree and I will check out Roland Baumgartner’s old place and the Tidwell compound. They’re further out.”
“We can do that,” Avery said. “Let us know when Blade wakes up; we’ll head back as quickly as we can. I want to hear what he has to say.”
“Will do,” the sheriff said. “Be careful out there. I’m sure word is getting around about the murders and making people punchy.”
Grant snorted. “Ran into that with the Smolkas last night. They have quite the hemp operation going out there.”
As they headed out the door, Avery walked ahead with Bree.
Grant tried to eavesdrop on their conversation, but Melissa had other ideas.
“You know, when this case is wrapped up, those two will need to have a long conversation. Finding a long-lost sibling has to be life-changing.”
“Agreed,” Grant said. “They’ll have to figure out if they want to be a part of each other’s lives or be happy just knowing they’re not alone in the world. Are you going to press charges against Bree for impersonating a federal officer?”
Melissa studied the twins walking ahead of them. “What she did was wrong, but she’s a helluva detective and good at what she does. It would ruin her career. But I’ll leave it up to Agent Hart. It was her reputation Bree could’ve damaged.”
Grant nodded. “That’s fair.”
“I don’t think she’ll press charges,” Melissa said. “It’s uncanny how alike they are.”
They were. Grant hoped they’d take the time to get to know one another. Life was short, and Avery had lost all the family she’d known when her mother had been murdered.
Though Grant hoped she’d come back to being part of their family of two, having a sibling was pretty amazing, too.
Outside, Avery headed for the beat-up rental while Bree aimed for Melissa’s red pickup.
They drove off in opposite directions. Grant and Avery decided to go for the furthest destination first. The McElroy place was out on FM 31, four miles from town. It hadn’t been one of the places Swede had identified as having a spike in the electrical usage. From what Cook had said, the place had been abandoned when McElroy’s daughter had passed a decade before.
They arrived to find an old building with a sagging front porch, busted windows and an overgrown yard. The front door hung slightly ajar, making it easy to enter and look around. The house had a basement leading off the kitchen. The steps down into the lower level were draped in cobwebs. They had to knock them down to descend all the way to the bottom.
Grant took a quick look around. “This place hasn’t been disturbed for a while, and it’s too small to house a still.”
