“Yeah, well, I didn’t know there was a dog kennel just a couple miles down the road, and I’ve lived on this patch of dirt my whole life.”
JJ laughed. “It’s a canine camp,” she clarified. “Magnus Storme, he owns the place. Does training and boarding, also runs the search and rescue team.”
Mercy stopped, stared at JJ. “Magnus Storme? He owns that place?”
“He does,” JJ confirmed. “You know him?”
“Not personally, but I’ve heard the story about what happened to his family. Sucks.”
Yeah, JJ would agree. It broke her heart to think that Magnus had lost his entire family in a fire. She never would’ve known the man had suffered such a tragic loss in his life. He was one of those people who was quick to smile and faster to flirt. She liked him tremendously, so it pained her to know he’d had to endure so much so young.
“Well, why don’t I give you the dime tour of the stables,” Mercy offered. “I promise, you won’t have to shovel anything while you’re here.”
JJ laughed. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”
*
BRANTLEY SPENT THE MAJORITY OF THE MORNINGtracking through the open field they’d caught the senator in last night. With help from Ethan, Beau, Kaden, Keegan, Sawyer, Braydon, Brendon, and Kaleb, they walked a grid pattern up and down, starting at the southernmost end of the field and working their way north. Another team that included Trey, Magnus, Gia, Randy, Rex Sharpe, his husband, Jack, his brother, Rafe, and Brantley’s father, Frank, and his uncle Curtis, started at the northernmost end and began working south.
So far, the dogs hadn’t scented on anything, but he had to admit, Tesha was doing a damn fine job. She’d come a long way in the past six months, and he could tell even Reese was impressed.
As they went, Brantley filled Reese in on the training Tesha had undergone since he left. He made sure there was no accusation in his tone because he genuinely believed that once you decided to move past something, you did just that. And the only way to do that was to put the past in the past. Brantley sensed Reese was expecting a snide comment from time to time, but Brantley ensured they didn’t come. It would take some time before the memories would fade, but he vowed he was moving on. Hell, he loved Reese. Had never stopped loving the man, and the truth was, he’d held out hope for a future for them despite the shit they’d gone through.
“Hey, Brantley,” Trey’s voice sounded over the two-way radios they were carrying. “I think Adira’s alerted on something.”
“Roger that,” he answered. “We’ll head your way.”
“And what way would that be?” Reese asked.
Brantley grinned. “Hell if I know. Can’t be too far away; they were movin’ toward us.”
Based on the expression on Reese’s face, they could’ve been a couple of miles away.
Brantley lifted a hand, pointed toward the northwest from where they were standing. “They’ve worked away from the road.”
It took ten minutes at a brisk jog for them to get to where Trey, Magnus, Gia, and Randy were currently standing.
“What’d she find?” Brantley asked, coming to a stop near them.
Trey pointed, and Brantley felt his heart drop. “Is it a body?” he demanded to know because the suspense was going to take him out at the knees.
“We don’t know. We didn’t … move anything,” Gia answered for the group. “There’s a rug, and there’s blood.”
“Call the sheriff out here,” Brantley instructed Reese before he started toward the direction they were pointing.
As he walked, he was careful where he stepped, pulling a pair of latex gloves out of his pocket. He knew he should probably wait for the sheriff, but if he did that, there was a good chance Magnus was going to implode. He figured the least he could do was check to see whether or not Ava was wrapped up in the rug. As he moved closer, he sent up a silent prayer.
Carefully, he tugged one corner of the rug, pulled until it unrolled.
“No body!” he called out. “She’s not here.”
However, he suspected she had been.
On a high note, the rug looked antique and probably cost a pretty penny. If someone could tie it back to the senator, then there was proof of foul play.
He pulled his phone from his pocket, dialed JJ’s number. “Hey. We found what looks to be the dump site. I need you to get my coordinates and pass them on to the team going door to door. Tell them where to focus their efforts. They need to talk to anyone who lives within a mile of here first.”
“On it, boss,” she said before disconnecting the call.
