Page 96 of Rangers Last Promise

“Maybe.”

Wolf leans against the desk.

“Did he ask about anything else?”

“Grant’s personal belongings.”

My stomach tightens.

“What about them?”

“He wanted to know whether Grant kept notes.”

Doc and Wolf exchange a look.

“He knew about the journal,” I say.

“Or suspected Grant documented what he found,” Doc answers.

“What did you tell him?”

Trigger looks at me.

“That Grant wrote everything down.”

I close my eyes.

“Wonderful.”

“I didn't know there was a secret journal.”

“You couldn't have known.”

“But whoever asked the question knew Grant might have evidence.”

Doc reaches for the photograph Hampton left behind.

“Eight entered the valley. Seventeen were waiting. Twenty-three never existed.”

“Maybe Twenty-Three isn't a mission at all,” I say.

Doc looks at me.

“Hampton's wording matters. He wrote Twenty-three never existed. He didn't write Mission Twenty-Three never existed. We added the mission part because that's what it reminded you of.”

Sheriff Tate nods.

“Good point.”

I look at Trigger.

“And the investigator called it Operation Twenty-Three.”

“Right.”

“So Hampton could be referring to something else.”

“Or the investigator deliberately called it an operation because he wanted to know whether we'd heard that phrase,” Doc says.