“Unless he breaks in like they did.And there are bullet holes all over the place upstairs in the hallway.”
“If anything, since no one will tell him that you were staying with Florence, he might come out to the ranch.But he won’t smell their scents around the ranch.By the waterfall, maybe.If the blizzard didn’t get rid of them,” Rory said.
Then Lacy got a call from Dan.“Hi, Dan, what’s up?”She put the call on speakerphone.
“We found one of the brothers’ cars.It was buried in the snow near Florence’s house.We’ve impounded it and notified Canton so he can take a look.But it’s in the impound yard, not by her home.We don’t want him connecting the dots.”
“He’ll ask where you found it.”
“We’ll tell him near the motel.They had stayed there a night.They’d been wearing disguises.The owner didn’t recognize them when they stayed there.”
“Oh, that’s awful.I mean that they were there, and none of us knew it.What about the other car?”
“We were going to turn it into scrap metal, but since Canton’s here, he can make arrangements to take both home with him, if he wants.”
“He’s not going to leave, is he?Not before he finds his brothers.”
“There are still two of them.They’re quadruplets, all identical.The other is Ren.He says he wants to return home, that they are on a fool’s errand.That they should never have come after their brothers.That they were wrong to go after you.”
“At least one of the four of them has some sense.”
“Let’s hope he convinces Canton to go home with him and leave well enough alone.But they might leave the cars here in case Timothy and Manning show up.”
If the men were close to each other, she didn’t believe they would leave without finding their brothers.They wouldn’t have come all the way there otherwise.
“They are cremated, right?”she asked.
“Yes, and down in the mine.So they’ll never find them.”
She sighed deeply.“All right.Oh, what about their cell phones and ID?”
“Destroyed, down in the mines with them.Hey, Ren’s coming into the office.I’ll let you go.”
“All right, thanks, Dan.”
She sat back in the passenger seat.“There are four of them—identical quadruplets.”
“Ahh, hell,” Rory said.
“I know.But at least the fourth brother, Ren, sounds more reasonable.He was against coming out here.”
A few minutes later, Dan called back, and she put the call on speakerphone again.“Hey, Ren said he has convinced Canton to return to Florida with him.He said that they put in the missing persons’ requests, and if we find them, to let them know.Otherwise, they would assume they came to a bad end in the storm, and they’ll deal with that if it comes to that.”
“So they’re really leaving town then?”Rory asked.“Were you able to get Bridget to the sheriff’s office to read their thoughts to see if they were being sincere?”
Lacy stared at Rory.One of the cougars could read thoughts?
“No.We didn’t expect Ren to come in and tell me they’re leaving.”
“So what do we do about Lacy’s safety?”Rory asked.
“I’m going to work at the coffee shop tomorrow.”Lacy wasn’t going to be stuck at the ranch now that Timothy and Manning were gone.She suspected that Ren was in charge of the remaining brother and would steer Canton on the right path.
“We’re going to have some of our people surreptitiously follow them out for a few miles to make sure they’re actually heading out of town,” Dan said.
“Okay, good.”Rory relaxed a little, then drove onto the ranch.“We’re just now arriving home.”
“Have a good night.Talk to you later,” Dan said, and they said goodnight, and they ended the call.
