“Great.As long as we’re clear.There’s a bathroom down here.You can wash your face before you go back.”
When Jem walked with him, Daniel rolled his eyes again.But he must have felt guilty enough to want to patch things up because he said, “The pet store by my house is doing a Valentine’s spa day.We could take Scipio.”
“Sign him up.We’ll drive down.”
A one-shouldered shrug was the only response.But it seemed like amostlyhappy one-shouldered shrug.
After returning Daniel to the gym, Jem finished his loop.By the time he got back to the bleachers, Tean was watching for him, worry scribbled all over his face.
“What happened?”Tean asked when Jem took a seat.“He disappeared, and you didn’t answer when I texted you.”
In answer, Jem held up the vape.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, we had a little conversation about it.”
Tean shook his head.“Can we press a button?Is there a way to fast-forward him until he’s twenty-five?”
Jem laughed and reached for what was left of his sandwich.
“I was thinking,” Tean said, “I can take another bereavement day.”
“And use it for a non-work-related murder investigation?That sounds like misappropriation of bereavement days.”
“But I can work on the funeral stuff from the car—” Then Tean stopped and frowned.“Very funny.”
“Just trying to keep you honest.”Jem took a bite and stared down at the gym.Daniel was going to be up soon.He watched, told himself to focus.His heart had stopped racing.Those black spots at the corners of his eyes had gone away.And he told himself, it was a fluke, it was a weird night, you’ve been stressed.
Everything’s okay.
10
The Curtis place was a two-story house barely visible behind a cattle gate.They’d gotten an early start—in spite of the objections from one member of the team—and the morning shadows were still pulling back.Tean hopped out of the Subaru, found the chain, and discovered a padlock securing it.He shook his head at Jem.
Jem gave him a thumbs-up, rolled the Subaru forward a few yards, and parked.There wasn’t a shoulder, just a steep drop into the drainage ditch so the Subaru blocked one side of the road.Tean suspected that was illegal.But they hadn’t seen another vehicle since the blacktop had changed to gravel, and around them, there was nothing but waist-high fields overgrown with Indian grass and, in the distance, pumpjacks.
“It’s locked,” Tean said when Jem got out of the car.
“Got that.”Jem studied the cattle gate, which changed to barbed wire on either side.“Ready?”
“There are No Trespassing signs.”
“Yep.”
“And we don’t know if anyone is still living there.”
“Only one way to find out.”
“We could get shot.”
“I guess so.”
“Or there might be booby traps.”
“True.”
“Or guard dogs.”
