“It’s not about Storm,” I say. “Yes, we want to see her, but we’re here early because I need to reexamine the man we found buried.”
She checks her watch. “At seven in the morning?”
“You can go back to bed. I’m not asking you to help or to watch Rory. Eric and I have been out half the night dealing with a threat, and since we’re up, I want to move on this. The sooner I can resolve it, the sooner Will and Yolanda can return.”
“Where are they?”
“At Lilith’s cabin. Guarding our dead hiker’s wife. I think our other dead man is from the mining camp, and I need to examine him.”
“We have already determined he is not.”
“April,” Dalton says behind me, “Casey doesn’t need to explain why she requires access to a victim. We just need you to know that we’re here, and if you have appointments this morning, we can work in the adjoining room.”
April flushes. A mild rebuke from Dalton cuts deeper than the sharpest from her little sister.
She backs up. “Of course. Come in. I have nothing scheduled until eleven. You may use the main examination room, and I will assist.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
We bring the man’s body up from under the clinic. April puts out her sign for patients to knock and then locks both the front and back door. We don’t want anyone bursting in for a bandage and seeing a dead stranger.
Dalton cares for Rory while April and I examine the man again. As we do, I tell my sister about the possible connection between Blake and Mark—the original mine owner. Yes, as Dalton said, I don’t need a reason to reexamine the victim, but I don’t want my sister thinking I’m being “silly.”
Old wounds will always be sensitive, and part of me will always need her approval. She agrees that we seem to have a link. As for how it connects tothisdead man, she’s not convinced that it does. If Blake is here for the mine, then it’s unlikely our dead guy is their companion. As Petra pointed out, a trio of spies doesn’t make sense.
Whatever the connection, if Gretchen is telling the truth about hearing two men in the burial clearing, then I believe someone at the mining operation killed him.
After an hour of examining the body, I sit back, pull mygloves off, and rub my hands over my face. “There’s no chip, is there? Not an existing one. Not a removed one.”
“Doesn’t mean he couldn’t be from the mining operation,” Dalton says. He’s on the floor with Rory, stacking blocks for her to knock over. “A new hire. Management. Visitor.”
“I know. I just keep thinking the trackercouldbe there. It’s like searching for a needle in a haystack. One tiny mark on a human body. But since we know the others were implanted in the shoulders, looking for it elsewhere feels like a wild-goose chase.”
“The mark is not ‘tiny,’” April says.
I clamp back a frustrated growl. “You know what I mean. It’s small. Very small.”
“But I still believe we’d see it.”
Dalton scoops up Rory as she makes a mad scramble for Storm, sleeping on the floor. When he lifts her onto his shoulder, she immediately grabs for his hair… which works far better with me and she grunts in frustration when she can’t get enough.
“Have you checked under his hair?” Dalton asks.
“We’ve searched his hairline,” I say. “And the tops of his ears. We also shaved off his beard.”
“I could shave his head,” April says.
I sigh. “At this point, we’d just be making extra work for ourselves.”
“Shave it,” Dalton says. “Let’s be sure.”
I want to argue, but April already has the scissors. I shake my head and start looking for the clippers.
“Good job, Rory,” Dalton says, patting the baby’s back as she wriggles to get free. “You’re going to be a fine detective.”
“You’re the one who suggested looking under his hair,” April says, frowning.
“But it was Rory’s idea. I just interpreted the clue.”
