Shane huffed. “Oh, yeah. Great progress. We’ve managed to escalate the situation from warnings to murder. Harlan will be thrilled, particularly since we’re out of his jurisdiction.”
“You should call him.”
“I already told him what we were up to tonight. There’s no hurry about the rest. We can fill him in after we get home.”
A shiver skittered up her spine and she felt queasy again. “You told him? I can’t believe it.”
“Why not? He’d have helped if he could.”
“Did he say so?”
“No. I didn’t speak directly to him. Just left a message I figured only he would understand.”
“You said we were going to the lake?”
“No.” Shane was scowling at her. “What’s your point? I trust that man as much as I’d have trusted my own dad.”
“Okay. Suppose you’re right. Unless you plan to blame the preacher, you’re going to have to come up with a leak somewhere. If we weren’t followed, then somebody was lying in wait for us. And for poor Max. His murder was no hunting accident.”
When Shane answered, “I know,” she could tell how upset he was. That made two of them.
* * *
Police cars, green park service trucks and red fire vehicles had clogged the narrow roads at the murder scene, so Shane pulled over. “I don’t suppose it would do me any good to tell you to stay here and wait for me.”
“Nope. Not a chance.”
“I figured. Okay. Stay close.”
“I wish I’d brought Useless so I’d have company,” Jamie said wryly.
“Yeah, well, unless he was the size of a police dog he wouldn’t be much help.”
“He warned me about prowlers before.”
“And bit one. I know, I know. If he’d been big enough to take the guy down I’d give him a medal.”
“You don’t have to get sarcastic.”
“Whoa. Hold up.” His arm barred her way like a gate. “Look.”
“At what? All I see is way too many cars and trucks.”
“Exactly. So what’s missing?” He waited impatiently until he heard her quick breath.
“Max’s car. He couldn’t possibly have driven it.”
“No kidding. So who did?” He elbowed through the crowd with Jamie trailing. Not only was the attorney’s vehicle missing, so was the man’s body!
A gruff-sounding park ranger confronted Shane. “You the one who called this in?”
“Yes.” He pointed. “The victim and his car were right over there when we left them.”
“Why did you do that?”
Shane fully expected Jamie to say something like, “Well, duh,” so he hurried to answer first. “We weren’t sure Max was going to be the only one shot. Or killed. Believe me, he was dead.”
“You a doctor?”
“No, but...” The officer cut him off with a snort of disgust.
Jamie stepped forward. “If that man managed to drive off with half his forehead missing, he should be in the book of world records.” She displayed her hands and forearms. “Look at me. At both of us. Where do you think we got this?”
Crime scene bags were quickly produced and scrapings taken from their arms and soiled clothing. After that, Shane and Jamie were left in the backseat of a patrol car while a more thorough search was made.
“You okay?” Shane asked quietly.
“I’ve been better. What do you think they’ll do with us? Are we under arrest?”
“I doubt it. Until they find a body, though, we may be kept in custody.”
“What do you think happened? Why would anyone bother to move Max? I mean, he’s bound to be found eventually and we’ll be proved right.” She took a shaky breath. “Won’t we?”
“Probably.” Shane pulled out his phone. “And just in case we are locked up, I think I’d better notify Harlan before they confiscate this.”
“When you get done with him, call your mother and make sure she promises to take Kyle far away ASAP.”
“What about Useless? Do you want me to ask her to keep looking after him, too?” The gratitude in her dark eyes warmed his heart.
“Would you? Would she? I hadn’t thought about keeping him out of trouble, too.”
“Considering the way Kyle and that mutt took to each other, I imagine they’ll both be delighted. And Mom’s a sucker for whatever her grandson wants. They’ll take good care of your dog.”
To Shane’s relief, she kept quiet while he made both calls. When he ended the last one and bid his mother goodbye, he noticed that Jamie was staring out the window and into the woods.