Vaughn looked over her shoulder. Squinted.
“Search party ordered,” Delaney said. “We’ll have this entire place lit up in under an hour.”
“Good. Delaney, you think you can walk Ivy back to her car? She shouldn’t be alone if there’s someone still out there.”
Delaney seemed less than enthused about this prospect. Ivy didn’t know much about PPD hierarchy, but figured that detective was above officer. Doubted someone in plainsclothes—the same clothes she’d seen Vaughn in earlier in the day, minus the jacket—took orders from a man in uniform.
Made sense.
“Where’s your car?” Delaney said. He sounded almost petulant.
“At the home. But wait. Is this another prisoners problem?”
“A what?” Delaney asked.
“It’s the name of the game at the other crime scene,” Vaughn clarified. “We think that the numbers and boxes were all part of a complex math game.”
Delaney made a face. Ivy might have, too. She wouldn’t have classified the 100 prisoners problem as a “math game.” Still, Vaughn was trying his best.
“Oh. Well, no, this is different than the other. To be honest, I don’t know what the hell was going on in there, didn’t spend too long inside the barn. As soon as I confirmed the vic was DOA, I rushed back out.”
“You see anything in the barn?”
“Sure. A couple of buttons—green, red—some fucking display screens. I don’t know. Just checked the guy’s pulse and then headed out.”
“Buttons?” Vaughn queried.
“Yeah—buttons. There were two rooms, each had a red and a green button on a table.”
This triggered something in Ivy.
“And the screens, did they show red and green dots?” she asked.
Delaney looked at her, eyebrows rising up his forehead.
“Yeah,” he said hesitantly.
“You recognize it?” Vaughn said to Ivy.
“I might. Not sure.”
Vaughn scratched his head, appeared torn.
“If she helped with the other scene, it might be worth having her look at this one, too.” Ivy got the impression this was more about Delaney keeping in the loop than believing that she could help. “It smelled like eggs. Vic looked the same, too. Eyes cloudy, foam—”
“Got it,” Vaughn said quickly, clearly to protect her. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“It’s fine. If I can help...”
“Seeing a photo is different than seeing the real thing.” Vaughn chewed his lower lip. “But you might be right. Delaney, you have something in your car you can put over the body?”
“I’ve got a tarp.”
“Okay, snap some photos and cover it.”
“Gotcha.”
Delaney scampered off. Vaughn waited a moment before indicating for Ivy to join him up the small grassy embankment toward the barn. She started to feel pressure in her chest when she saw a cop wearing a gas mask. Vaughn quickly introduced her. He referred to Ivy as Dr.Reeves, a consultant on the case.
