Mandy shook her head hurriedly. “No. It was nothing like that.”
“It better not be,” James growled.
“He felt up our friend, Sherry, under the bleachers at a football game,” Ally said. “He took pictures and showed everyone. He even put some of them out on the web. He got what he deserved.”
James eased up his hold on his sister. “I’m going to let you up,” he said. “I have a feeling you might have a point about the friend thing warring with the boyfriend thing.”
“I always have a point,” Ally said, straightening her shirt and flicking James on the ear. “I’ll stop bringing up the misunderstanding, though. It’s mean, and I don’t want to be mean to Mandy.”
“Just me.”
“You deserve it,” Ally said, sauntering back over to the table where Jake was watching the exchange with amused eyes. “Besides, it’s a sister’s job to irritate her brother. You’re just going to have to get used to it.”
THE PHONE ringing on the nightstand jolted James awake. Mandy was asleep on his chest, her blonde hair spread out like a halo in the dim light of the bedroom. A quick glance at the clock told him it was early, a little before five.
James answered the phone without checking to see who was calling. “Hello.”
“James, it’s Sophie,” the voice on the other end of the phone is. “I’m sorry to call you so early.”
“Sophie?” Mandy stirred on James’ chest. “What’s wrong? Did something happen to Grady?”
“He was fine when I left him in bed two hours ago,” Sophie said. “I got called out on a story.”
“What is it?” James ran his hand over Mandy’s worried forehead, smoothing it.
“I got called out to a body dump at the Clinton River,” Sophie said. “Someone shot a man in the back and dumped him in the river.”
“Is it someone from the tent town?”
“Kind of,” Sophie said. “One of the sheriff’s deputies at the scene recognized the man from a previous incident.”
“And?”
“It’s Cole Gordon.”
James sat up straight, being careful not to knock Mandy around in his haste. “I’m on my way.”
Twenty-Two
James handed Sophie a fresh cup of coffee when he found her hanging around the crime-scene tape near the river. It had taken some convincing, but Mandy finally agreed to remain at the apartment while he came to the scene. The thought of her warm and safe in the bed they shared was fueling him.
“Thanks,” Sophie said, taking the coffee from him. “The days are getting warmer, but it’s still cold out here. I needed this.”
“Yeah,” James replied, sipping from his own coffee. “Have you found anything else out?”
“They don’t know what kind of gun it was yet,” Sophie said. “They won’t have that until they do an autopsy.”
“That’s not really going to help us unless they find a ballistics match,” James said. “And, for some reason, I doubt they’re going to find a match.”
“You’re probably right,” Sophie said. “I don’t like to leave any stone unturned, though. It’s something to follow.”
James glanced around, taking in the scene. “How far is this from the tent town? About two miles?”
Sophie shrugged. “I haven’t been to the tent town,” she said. “You would know better than me.”
“That means he was still hanging around the area,” James said. “He didn’t wander far. He wasn’t with the others, but he wasn’t far away from them either.”
“The courthouse is just over that ridge,” Sophie said, pointing. “I have no idea how Cole managed to get here from the shelter. Maybe he caught a ride on a bus or something. He could have easily walked from the river to the courthouse, though.”
James nodded, not for the first time marveling at how the reporter’s mind worked. “That’s a good point.”
“Where did he build the bomb, though?” Sophie was talking, although James wasn’t sure if it was to him or herself.
“The shelter?”
Sophie shook her head. “They’re searched before they go in. There’s no way.”
“So, someone provided him with a place to build the bomb,” James said. “It would have to be quiet and out of the way, somewhere he wouldn’t look out of place if someone saw him.”
“That could be any number of places,” Sophie said. “And when whoever hired him realized that we were closing in on Cole, they eliminated him as a layer of protection.”