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She started at the question, stepping back until her back hit the podium and she could go no further.
With a shaky hand, she held up her finger and pointed towards a door that was partially covered by a long curtain.
Trance’s big arms strained to hold the dog back, and finally, he just gave up, releasing the dog from the confining leash and letting him go.
Radar dashed off, shooting like an arrow towards the door, only to come to a stop with barely restrained patience.
When Trance arrived at the door, he cursed and bellowed at the woman who was still in the same position as before, fear etched across her features.
It wasn’t because of Trance’s snarled question, though. It was because of Loki who’d strode in moments after Trance.
He’d trimmed his hair since I’d last seen him the day before. Gone was the shaggy cut, replaced by a shorter buzz that no longer resembled a preppy surfer boy’s hair. His beard, though, which had been trimmed, remained.
He was wearing his badge on his left hip and his semiautomatic Colt .45 on his other. He had a black polo shirt tucked into his jeans, and black sunglasses sitting on top of his head. His eyes were all for the dog though, completely disregarding the woman who was staring at him in pain.
“Ma’am,” Trance snapped at the woman. “Come open this door.”
The woman, finally tearing her eyes away from Loki, snapped to and came to punch in some numbers into the keypad.
I saw the moment Loki noticed the woman, which caused him to freeze.
After that, I didn’t see much, because I was already through the doorway, on the heels of Trance.
I heard pounding boots behind me as we wound down a narrow hallway to the embalming area. It was a large room about the size of a large dining hall of a restaurant. There were tables about every ten feet, and on the far wall stood a bank of upright freezers that he’d guessed were for the bodies of the deceased.
A man, mid-thirties, wearing a black button down shirt and black pants was standing beside the drawers where they kept the bodies of the deceased.
Adeline’s brother.
Another man, near the same age as Adeline’s brother, wearing a polo shirt over khaki pants, stood beside a plain gray door that most likely led to the alley in the back of the building.
Which was proved true moments later when he jerked open the door, and sprinted out, not sparing his partner even a cautionary glance before he disappeared.
“Retrieve, Radar!” Trance commanded.
Radar looked torn, but ultimately followed Trance’s orders, slipping out of the door just before it closed. Which also remained locked due to the keypad on the side of the doorframe.
“Fuck!” Trance yelled as he turned and ran at a full sprint, going after Radar through the front room.
Loki, who powered into the room just after Trance left, took Adeline’s brother by the arm, turned him around, and started reading him his rights.
“You have the right to remain silent,” Loki said, as he snapped one cuff over Jefferson’s hand. “You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.” He said as he snapped the other cuff on, then pushed him forward, leading him out of the door they’d all come in through, still stating his rights.
I, however, stayed.
Something inside of me made me stay. I didn’t move. Not a single muscle. I moved only my eyes around the room, scanning over it for any hidden doors, cabinets large enough to hold a person, but I didn’t find one. Until my eyes landed on the freezers, and the feeling in my heart grew until it beat an erratic tattoo against my ribs.
Why was her brother standing at the doors to the coolers? Was someone in there? Was someone hiding in one of them? Was there a fucking bomb just waiting for every single cop in Benton to show up before it detonated?
Moving quickly, I jerked open the bottom right corner drawer.
After finding nothing, I moved to the one above it. That one, however, did have something in it.
Ripping the bag open, I was slightly startled to see the charred remains of...something... in it before I moved on to the next body.
Dixie, seeing what I was doing, joined me in the search, opening the doors one by one on the other side.
The next two were more of the same, and it wasn’t until I got to the first row on the far side of the room that I found Tunnel’s massive body shoved inside.
