Then she heard it. A faint cry. The back of her neck prickled with awareness. “What’s that?” she asked.
“Barn owl,” Calvin answered smoothly, but she saw a change in his face. He hadn’t expected this. Something around his eyes tightened.
So the boy might well be in the barn and waking up early.
“A barn owl? Is it in the barn?”
“It flies in and out.”
“Can I see it?”
Calvin froze for an instant. “Maybe in a few minutes. Anyway, when you go in there, it almost always flies out.”
“Why do you let it in?”
“Mice,” he said. Some of his smooth veneer was vanishing, and he kept looking at Cade as if he expected something. Finally, he asked, “You feeling okay, Cade?”
Cade looked fine to DeeJay but then he rocked slightly on his feet. Just a little. “I’m fine,” he answered. “Just tired. I don’t keep rancher’s hours.”
“Well, have some more coffee,” Calvin said.
Pushing it just the way he had pushed them to come out here. DeeJay heard the soft cry from the barn again. Her heart began to race. Impossible to tell if it was human and her mind scurried down legal avenues, wondering if that cry would justify her walking into the barn on the imminent danger doctrine. If an officer suspected someone was in danger, they could break down doors if necessary to get to them. But she had a man standing here telling her it was an owl, and she couldn’t be sure.
“I really want to see that owl,” she said. “Just let me peek.”
Calvin’s expression was no longer pleasant. His face had stiffened, become hard. “It’s just a damn owl,” he said. “I told you, it’ll fly away the minute I open the door.”
She looked at the barn, debating her options, then heard a sound from behind her.
She turned. Cade had dropped his bottle onto the snow.
“God,” he said, “I’m all thumbs today. You’d better take the photos, DeeJay. I’ll lose my damn phone in the snow.”
“I got it,” she said. Calvin seemed fixated on Cade, as if expecting something.
“I’m getting cold,” Cade remarked.
Calvin immediately opened his own bottle and poured more coffee, then passed it to Cade. Cade reached for it, but let it slip through his fingers to the ground.
“Is he sick?” Calvin asked. It sounded like a perfectly reasonable question, but DeeJay didn’t believe it for a minute.
“Why don’t you stay here?” she said to Cade. “Calvin can show me where to take the pictures from, then we’ll get you home.”
She saw something flare in Cade’s eyes. He didn’t want her walking away with Calvin alone. But she needed this guy to do something untoward, and she needed him to do it fast. If that sound from the barn was the missing kid, time might be of the essence.
She left her own coffee bottle on the ground near Cade, believing it might turn out to be evidence. Best to keep it away from Calvin, who might be able to get rid of it if things went awry. Then she touched his arm. “Be right back, honey. Drink some more coffee if you need it.”