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“You did the right thing, baby.” Shane grabbed Belle’s hand. “Did you see anyone?”
“No. The noise came from that cluster of trees near the parking lot.” She sighed. “Maybe our imaginations were getting the better of us. It might have just been an animal.”
“You did the right thing, girls.” Corey turned to Emmett. “If you’ll stay with Amber and Belle, Shane and I can go check it out.”
Emmett nodded, opening his coat slightly to reveal to him and Shane that he was armed. No surprise, since most in Destiny never left home without a gun.
He and Shane walked out the door, the only way into the room.
Shane turned to Dylan and Nicole. “We might have an intruder outside. Belle and Amber heard something suspicious out back. Corey and I are going to check it out.”
Dylan nodded. “I’ll check the main courtroom and the front of the building.”
“Should I notify the rest of the team?” Nicole brought out her ROC.
“Wait until we know for sure.” Corey pulled his gun out of his holster. “It’s late. No sense in sounding the alarm until we know if there is a threat or not.”
She nodded. “I’ll stay here. Send me a message as soon as you know.”
He and Shane headed out the back, weapons drawn. Dylan did the same out the front.
Cautiously, Corey walked out of the building, scanning in every direction. The snow was coming down in thick, wet flakes.
Once they got to the trees, they saw several fresh footprints that were quickly being erased by the snow.
Shane bent down, staring at the tracks. “You follow them that way.” He pointed to the street. “I’ll go this direction.” Without a word, Shane headed to the side of the courthouse.
Corey followed the vanishing tracks across First Street before losing them completely. Fuck.
Shane and Dylan met up with him back at the trees. All the tracks they’d discovered were completely wiped out. Even their own.
“Whoever it was is long gone.” Shane holstered his gun. “It might’ve been a local.”
“Or it might’ve been someone on Lunceford’s payroll, bro.”
“Instead of checking the perimeter every hour, it’s time to increase that to every quarter hour.” Dylan pulled out his ROC. “I sent a message to Nicole and the rest of the team with what we found.”
“Good.” When Corey was first recruited by Black for Shannon’s Elite, he had balked at the idea. But now, he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. He trusted Dylan and the others with his life. “Until we know for sure whose footprints were in the snow, we’ve got to be on our guard.”
“Absolutely.” Shane’s face darkened. “I still don’t trust Trollinger.”
“We’ve ran every search possible and everything about her story pans out,” Dylan stated flatly. “She’s been in Destiny for several weeks and those footprints are the first sign of trouble we’ve had.”
When they came to the back steps, Shane stopped in his tracks. “Hold up, fellas.”
Corey looked at his brother, wondering what was on his mind.
“You have something?” Dylan asked.
“Only an idea. Come with me.” Shane headed to the parking lot at the back of the courthouse. He walked over to Cindy Trollinger’s car, which was the only one parked there at this hour. He bent down, checking the block heater under the vehicle that had been placed there since the woman’s arrival.
Corey was stumped. “What are we doing here, bro?”
“Trollinger made it a point to ask that her car be taken care of. Hell, at least once during her smoke breaks she asks one of us to turn the engine over. Don’t you find it odd that she’s that concerned about her car?”
“Yes, but everything she’s told us has checked out, Shane.”
“It’s not like she’s planning on going anywhere, or so she tells us. Kind of suspicious, don’t you think?”
