Then he saw the driver.
Danny.
Trooper Danny Mercer climbed out, hat in one hand, eyes narrowing slightly as he took in the quiet site, the lingering stares, the dust still hanging in the air from the SUVs.
“Everything all right?” he called.
The foreman stepped back automatically, giving the brothers space.
David set the phone down on the truck hood.
“Fine,” he said. His voice came out rough. “Just had some uninvited guests.”
Danny’s gaze flicked toward the road where the podcasters had disappeared, then back to David’s face.
“Reporters?”
“Podcasters,” the foreman muttered. “Fading Away, they said.”
Something in Danny’s expression shifted—protective more than anything.
“Yeah,” he said. “They’ve been buzzing around town since that Vanished in the Valley episode dropped. Dispatch has gotten a couple calls already.”
He shifted his weight, the easy Trooper posture at odds with the way his eyes stayed sharp on his brother.
“They give you a hard time?”
David gave a short, humorless laugh.
“They asked if I killed her. In front of my crew.”
Danny’s mouth flattened.
“They’re not here for the truth. They’re here for a headline.”
One of the workers pretended to check a nail gun, listening without looking.
Danny lowered his voice a notch.
“Best thing you can do is not feed ’em,” he said. “Don’t answer questions on a jobsite. Don’t try to explain yourself to a camera.”
David looked down at the screen of his phone.
Lila Grant’s podcast art still filled it, episode title blazing up the charts.
“Kind of hard when they show up where I work,” he said.
“I know,” Danny said. “But you start talking to them, they’ll cut it however they want. Let the sheriff’s reports and your lawyer do the talking. That’s what they’re for.”
He clapped a hand once against the side of the truck, a small, solid sound.
“You need me to run them off next time, you call,” he added, a hint of dry humor in his voice. “Might as well let me earn my paycheck.”
David managed a thin smile.
“Thought you stopped by to write me up for OSHA violations,” he said.
“Tempting,” Danny said. “But MiMi would tan us both if I hauled you in off a job.”
