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This right here was the main reason Dante was DEA and not a cop. Investigative work was often boring. He liked the thrill of being on the inside, working undercover, making things happen. He didn’t have the patience for paperwork or sitting for hours at a computer.
“Let’s check in at the forest services office first. The forensic anthropologist and his team are planning on heading up Crook’s Trail today. We might have missed them already, but if not, I want to tell them in person to be extra careful out there. Critter thinks he’s indestructible and Mags isn’t much better.”
“Do you think it’s possible our perp hid out in the woods the rest of the night?” Dante wanted to know.
“Anything is possible. But I wouldn’t want to be them. Still, I need to let Critter and Mags know there’s a perp on the run.”
NINETEEN
André
Carol poked her head around André’s open office door. “We have a call.”
Something in Carol’s voice had him looking up at her sharply and immediately rising to his feet. He pulled on the damn Kevlaragainand threw his CSPD slicker on over it. The painful call with the mayor had only just ended. He’d rather have a root canal or two than have to go through that conversation again.
Mayor Moore seemed to have a limit when it came to murder and mayhem—who knew?
“What is it?” he asked, stepping around his desk.
“Rufus Ferguson.” The stricken expression on his face had her quickly adding, “That was Rufus on the phone. He went out to check on his containers and found something. A body. He says you need to come.”
Damn,anotherbody in a town of less than five thousand in a county of less than eighteen thousand residents? Something funky was in the water.
“When it rains, it pours,” he said grimly.
“When it rains, Chief, it floods,” Carol corrected.
He didn’t want to leave the station, but he had to. For one, not responding wasn’t an option. For two, the last thing they needed was curious town folk getting wind of yet another body and tromping all over the scene.
“Keep the doors locked while I’m gone,” he instructed. “Don’t let anyone inside. Radio Lani and let her know the situation.”
Carol knew why Dani was hiding out in the station. Probably Morrison had told her, but Dante and André had also shared the Cliffs Notes. Were those a thing of the past?
“You can count on me, Chief Dear.” Carol was unsmiling and her lips pressed together. No one was getting past her, and Dani was safer at the station than anywhere else in Cooper Springs. He hoped Morrison’s Trojan horse idea worked and that they had a little breathing room to figure out whatthe fuckwas going on. Unfortunately, a niggling sensation in his stomach that he’d learned to listen to over the years had him worried.
Outside, André realized Deputy Cooper was on patrol with Dante in the station’s only available cruiser. Backtracking, he pushed through the back door and grabbed the keys to his Jeep. Then he headed to the location Carol had given him.
Anyone who didn’t know better might think the three shipping containers were abandoned. André certainly had thought so when he first moved to town. They squatted at the back of a vacant lot owned by Rufus and not far from The Steam Donkey. André knew that, among other paraphernalia, Rufus stored various props and materials for the Shakespeare plays his son Magnus was going to put on in August.
Parking next to a sporty orange Ford Fiesta ST, André cut the engine and climbed out. What Rufus Ferguson needed with what was basically a racing car André had never asked. Waving, Rufus got out and came around to meet André at the front of his car.
“Good morning.” Rufus was ensconced in a weatherproof parka, his hands tucked into the pockets.
“I suppose,” André replied, not sure the morning was good at all. He, Dante, and Daniella were still alive. That was a win, he supposed. “It’s been a busy one already.”
“I have the feeling it’s about to get busier. It’s over here. I peeked just to make sure it wasn’t my imagination, then called you right away.”
As he spoke, Rufus led André around the three containers. Behind and partially underneath the middle one lay a blue tarp. It had been rolled into a tube and at one end André saw a pair of leather shoes, possibly boots. André thought he recognized the footwear. The soles were thick and heavy, very similar to the shoes André and Lani wore.
“Crap.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Looking up, André took in the three containers. Two of them were a dirty shade of gray and the other was dark green.
“What brought you out here today?”
“Checking in. Magnus has some of his props stored in one—he’s working on the summer production already. I have a wireless security thingy set up. Technology is pretty damn fancy these days.”
