Page 67 of The Deadly Shallows

“We make quite a pair,” she said with the soft hint of a smile.

Yes, they did.

“All right, folks,” he said, entering the room with Brooke at his side. “Let’s get started.”

“Come sit by me, Brooke,” Emmy said, patting the chair beside her.

“Thanks,” Brooke said, lowering into the chair as Rissi took the one on the other side of her. That’s why he loved his team—everyone was going out of their way to let Brooke know she was one of them. Not an official part of the investigative team, but an adopted member of their team family.

“Caleb and Austin, why don’t you start us off?” He’d decided to begin with their case to give Brooke some time to settle in.

Austin and Caleb walked to the whiteboard. Caleb held the packet of case photos but gestured for her to begin.

“This started with my dog, Dirk, getting sick.”

“I’m sorry,” Emmy said, her face scrunching.

“Thank you,” Austin said. “Turns out Dirk isn’t the only pet in our neighborhood getting sick. Five other dogs along my side of the street have as well. Our houses all back to the sound. My vet ran some tests and saw something in his blood but had no idea what it was.”

Caleb picked up the explanation. “I went out to take a sample from the sound, and two neighbor kids were struggling in the water.”

“In December?” Rissi said. “That water is freezing without the right wet suit.”

“Apparently they were throwing a ball in the yard before school, and it went into the sound. The beastly wind we’ve been fighting was pushing it farther from land, and they decided to take a canoe out to retrieve it. Megan fell in the water trying to grab hold of it. Unable to climb over the side to get back in, she spotted the barrel. She thought standing on it would help her get in the tipsy canoe, but her foot busted through, and everything unleashed from there.”

“Yikes!” Logan said.

“We quickly realized the barrel was leaking some sort of chemical,” Caleb said, then explained everything through the USS Diligence’s retrieval of the barrels. “We only found half a dozen barrels, but we fear there are more out there, considering the vastness of the sound and its access to the ocean.” It was hard to think of how devastating the full picture might be, especially not knowing the mystery chemical’s toxicity.

Caleb glanced at Austin, and she stepped forward. “Emmy is analyzing the sample taken from the barrels, along with samples of the surface water and Dirk’s blood.” She looked back at Caleb, and he nodded. “We anticipate the three being a match.”

“I hope to still have the results before the day is completely over, but I will for sure have them for you tomorrow morning.” Emmy picked up a folder.

“Anything else on the chemical case?” he asked Caleb.

“No, boss.”

“Good job, both of you.” Noah inclined his head toward Austin.

“Thanks,” she smiled as she and Caleb retook their seats.

Noah looked to Emmy. “You mentioned you’d found something on our last call?”

“Yes, sir.” She stood, indicating the whiteboard.

“Please.” Noah gestured to it.

“I think I’ve got something on the branding symbol.”

“Wonderful,” he said, thankful they were finally making traction on the shooting.

Em clipped several images to the whiteboard, and Noah studied them. One was of the branding mark picture he’d sent to Em of John Doe One’s upper left arm. The other was a hand-drawn image of the same mark with three interlocking triangles.

“It took some digging, but I found the mark.” Em smiled. “It’s a Viking symbol called a valknut. It translates as ‘the knot of the slain.’ The Vikings believed that people who lived regular day-to-day lives ended up in a shadowy existence after death. However, those who died valiantly in battle would live on in Valhalla.”

“Died valiantly in battle?” Noah said, tucking his chin in. “So we’re looking at men who consider themselves warriors? Men who view what they did to be some valiant battle?”

“I’m afraid so.” She nodded. “I’ve started researching, and it turns out some tattoo parlors offer branding. I’m scouring the area to see if any local ones do.”