Out of the corner of his eye, Cloister saw Boyd straighten in her seat in surprise.She glanced over at Rios and then back to Frome.Her hand started to go up.Tancredi put her hand on her forearm and pressed it down.
At the front of the room, Mel stood up.She tapped the tablet again and pulled up a map of Plenty, divided into colored districts subdivided by numbers.
“We’re going to start in his comfort zone,” she said, a tap of her finger muting the rest of the map so just the one area stayed bright.“Boyd?You’re riding with Tancredi.I want you on sector three.”
Tancredi nodded and hopped to her feet, dragging a still muttering Boyd with her as they headed out.The rest of the shift followed suit as deputies scrambled to their cars the minute they got their assignments.
“Witte,” Mel said.“You’re riding with Agent Merlo.Sector five.”
734Callendarwasaburnt-out shell of a building.It was marked with an ominous “arson?”on Fowler’s list, but the records had it down as an oil fire that got out of hand.It was the sixth building on their list.Bourneville’s fawn feet were black, and she had greasy dollops of soot caught in her whiskers.
Cloister clipped her into the back of the car.He wiped her face on his sleeve and gave her a bowl of water.She slurped thirstily as he picked up her back paw and wiped between her toes.
The background mutter of the radio was steady.
“Cleared.”
“No sign.”
“At Estrella.No sign.”
Every few minutes someone said the override wasn’t working and they’d had to make entrance by force.The last had been Tancredi.
Cloister glanced at Javi as his partner got into the passenger side of the car.“We’re closer than we were,” he said.
Javi rubbed his temple with one finger as he tracked the progress on his tablet.“Barely,” he said grimly.“Four hours work and we’re barely a third through the list.Never mind the fact we could be wasting our time.The minute the Horvats knew Fowler was in custody they could have moved Eric.”
He flicked to another tab on the tablet, stopped, and corrected himself.
“Miles.”
The tiredness in his voice made Cloister bite his lips on what he’d been about to say.He didn’t have the full story on the Horvats, obviously, but something about it didn’t work for him.It wasn’t the time for complications, though.
“Where next?”
Javi started to answer, and then he got a text notification on his phone.He pulled it out and grimaced.
“The hospital,” he said as he killed the screen.“For me, at least.Joel woke up.Kincaid wants me there.Probably to try and make her not trust me again.”
Cloister finished with Bon’s feet.He balled up the damp cloth in his hands.
“I can come,” he offered.
It mattered that Javi visibly thought about that.There had been a time he’d have dismissed it out of hand.Now he hesitated before grimly shaking his head.
“That will just give him another button to push,” he said.“That’s the last thing we need.No, I can deal with him.And you can get some rest.The sheriff’s department can only afford so much overtime.”
Cloister supposed he could.Despite how it felt sometimes, sleep wasn’t actually rationed.His excessive four hours last night didn’t mean he had to skip the next few.He tossed the dirty rag in the bin on the back of his seat and climbed through to slide into the driver’s seat.
“There’s only two listings left to clear our sector,” he said as he put his seatbelt on.“I’ll clear them after I drop you off at the station, then I’ll think about it.”
Javi snorted as he tilted his head back against the seat and closed his eyes.“I won’t hold my breath.”
2034Hosterhadbeena restaurant.
From the faded notice posted in the window, the health department had closed it down.That was impressive considering some of the kitchens that Cloister had seen on the job.It was still fully furnished, with the shutdown having apparently caught the staff mid-clean-up before they closed.Half the chairs were stacked up on tables, a mop and bucket—the water long since dried out to a soapy crust—had been left by the door, and someone’s spectacles had been abandoned on the bar.
It had been one of the addresses that Fowler had shown a direct interest in.The note on its entry in his list had just said “SUPPRESSION,” but it was hard to see why.There was no sign he’d been here for a while, and from Bourneville’s disinterest, no sign of Miles either.
