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Barbara cursed. “Let’s go check inside.”
They traipsed through the snow toward the falling-down porch. Barbara pulled out her gun. As an extra precaution, she had her UV gun tucked into a second holster. They still didn’t know who, or what, they were dealing with here. They climbed the steps to the front door. Barbara could see it was ajar. She shoved it open.
“Police!”
Silence. The house was dark, cold, and Barbara could smell something. A familiar irony tang.
“Check the dining room and kitchen,” Barbara instructed Tucker. He nodded wordlessly and disappeared down the hall.
Barbara walked slowly forward and pushed open the door to the living room.
“Shit.”
Blood. Everywhere. The walls and furniture were spattered with red. Thick rivulets ran down the TV screen and a large stain had turned the faded rug in the middle of the floor black. Blood-soaked towels had been dumped on the sofa, as if someone had made a futile attempt to clean up.
Tucker walked back into the room and stared around. “Damn. That’s a lot of blood.”
“Let’s check upstairs,” Barbara said tightly, trying to swallow down the bitter taste in her throat.
A quick check of Nathan’s closet showed a clean sweep of empty hangers. Jacob’s room was oddly bare for a teenage boy. No posters of rock bands on the walls. No PC or laptop. But his wardrobe was still full of clothes. Dread dug its claws into Barbara’s gut.
“What are you thinking?” Tucker asked.
“Nothing good,” she said.
“Maybe Jacob was injured, and Nathan went to get help.”
“After packing up all his clothes?”
But then, if Nathan had killed Jacob, why not leave the body and flee?
“There’s only one road out of Deadhart,” Tucker said. “That’s the AK-3 to Talkeetna.”
“And from there?”
“If Nathan makes it to Talkeetna, which is unlikely in this weather, it’s still a long way to Anchorage, and that’s if the road is passable.”
“But if he does make it, he could disappear pretty quickly.”
Barbara looked around. Dammit. She had known something was wrong here. She should have followed her gut.
“He can’t be that far ahead of us,” she said. “That blood looked fresh.”
“What d’you want to do?”
Barbara debated with herself. They should call the state police. Get them to be on the look-out. It was probably foolish trying to catch up with Nathan in this weather. However, there might still be time to save Jacob.
“We go after them,” she said.
—
After easing a little, the snow was coming down heavier again and the wind had picked up. Barbara could hear the yowl over the engine and feel it rocking the vehicle as they pulled out on to the highway. She leaned forward, nose almost pressed to the glass. The windscreen wipers whirred noisily back and forth.
She had notified the state police before they left the Bell house. An APB was out so all the patrols in the area would be on alert for Nathan and Jacob.
Tucker was on the phone to Rita. “That’s right,” she heard him say. “Yes, Jacob is missing too. We’re heading out on the AK-3, but we need you to be on the look-out in case he’s come back into town.” A pause. “Okay, put the word out. But not too many words. A need-to-know basis.” He nodded. “Yeah, I do know what you’re like.”
He ended the call and turned to Barbara. “Done.” He paused. “Do you think Nathan is our killer?”
