Chapter 8 - THE DEAD MAN LEFT A TRAIL OF BLOOD
Rex disappeared around the corner.
“Rex, hold!”
No answer.
I ran.
The corridor ended at a maintenance ladder beneath an open hatch.
Fresh blood marked the rungs.
Not Butch’s.
The shooter had cut himself getting through.
Rex stood beneath it, staring up.
“Good boy.”
Cole reached me.
“You heard what Butch said?”
“I heard.”
“You believe him?”
“No.”
That was a lie.
I believed enough to be afraid.
We climbed out behind the warehouse into tall weeds.
Rex picked up the blood trail immediately.
It crossed the rail yard, ducked between two abandoned freight cars, and ended beside a county cruiser.
Deputy markings.
Engine still warm.
Cole stared at the plate.
“No.”
“Whose car?”
He didn’t answer.
“Cole.”
“My chief deputy.”
A flashlight beam moved beyond the tracks.
“Sheriff?” a voice called.
Cole lifted his gun.
“Danny?”
Chief Deputy Daniel Price stepped into view.
His right hand was empty.
His left sleeve was soaked in blood.
Cole’s face went hard.
“Show me both hands.”
Price laughed.
“You really gonna point that at me after everything I cleaned up for you?”
“Hands.”
Price slowly raised them.
I watched his posture.
Too relaxed.
Rex watched his waist.
There.
A second weapon tucked behind his belt.
“Don’t,” I said.
Price moved anyway.
Rex launched.
Price fired wild as the dog hit him.
The round punched through a freight car.
Cole kicked the pistol away.
I pulled Rex off.
Price lay on the gravel, gasping.
“Where’s Mia?” I asked.
He grinned through the pain.
“Gone.”
“Where?”
“The Colonel wanted her moved.”
“Who is the Colonel?”
“You already know.”
I grabbed his jacket.
“Say the name.”
Price smiled wider.
“Eli said you’d ask that.”
My grip loosened.
“Eli spoke to you?”
“Yesterday.”
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
Cole handcuffed Price to the rail.
“Where did they take the girls?”
Price’s eyes went toward him.
“Girls?”
Cole hit him.
“Where is my daughter?”
Price stopped smiling.
“You really don’t know?”
Cole froze.
“Know what?”
Price looked almost amused.
“Sheriff… your daughter’s been in Ash Creek the whole time.”
A phone vibrated in Price’s pocket.
I pulled it out.
One new message.
UNKNOWN: BRING NOMAD TO THE OLD CHURCH. ALONE.
Attached was a photo.
Mia sat tied to a pew.
Beside her was another woman.
Cole took one look and collapsed against the freight car.
“That’s Lauren,” I said.
He shook his head.
“No.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“That’s my daughter.”
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