“I need a few minutes to talk to Cass, then I’ll head straight for kiddie land.”
“Fine.” Thompson raised his radio and spoke into it. “Captain K-9 is coming up to see you, boss. I’m heading up the hill to fill the honcho in on the RV and Troy Baker,” he informed her.
Cass zipped past them again. “Ten-four.”
Bud Thompson gave him a jaunty salute before heading for his cart. Jake turned back to the merry-go-round as a cloud blotted out the slanting afternoon sun. The wind kicked up, ruffling Max’s fur. He tilted his head back to stare at the sky. The afternoon heat hung on, but big, puffy thunderheads were forming to the west.
“Come on, big guy,” he said, giving Max’s lead a gentle tug.
He didn’t have to ask the dog twice. Max bounded onto the swiftly moving platform as if he did this sort of thing all the time. Jake’s landing wasn’t quite as graceful. He clung to the brass pole impaling a rearing white stallion until he got his feet under him.
Cass smirked. “I’m going to start scoring people on their mount and dismount.”
“Easy for you to say.” They threaded their way toward her. “You sit there and the whole world comes to you.”
She barked a laugh. “Yeah, it’s been super easy to be stuck here in this…horse vortex.”
“Horse vortex,” he repeated with a laugh.
“Livestock tornado?” she offered.
He gave her a wan smile as he dropped down on the bench across from her. “You’re right. I don’t know how you’ve been able to stand this.”
She shrugged. “What’s my option?”
Jake inclined his head to concede the point. “I spoke with both Parker and her department head, Simon Taylor. They are following up at the scene, but Trevor Baker is claiming he and his brother fell out years ago. His wife was home at the time of Agent Parker’s visit, and confirmed Trevor had not left the house, but said Troy Baker had been harassing them since he was released from prison.”
“How long ago?”
“I don’t have all the details yet.”
“How reliable does Emma think the wife is?”
“Seems good. She’s convinced it was the brother.”
Cass mulled the information over for a moment, then shook her head. “Something isn’t adding up. How would Troy Baker know Agent Parker would go question his brother. And when?”
Jake held his palms up. He was fresh out of theories. “Beats me.” He looked down at the two mobile phones on the bench beside her. They were identical, aside from the drop-resistant case on her personal device. “No chance you mixed up phones when calling Parker?”
Cass followed his speculative glance at the phones but shook her head. “No,” she insisted. Picking up her original phone, she opened the contacts. “I only have Agent Parker’s information saved in the new one. I called from the new phone.”
She opened the call log, then turned the screen toward him. Though there were dozens of inbound numbers listed and as many voicemail messages, there hadn’t been any outgoing calls placed for hours.
He gnawed the inside of his cheek as he craned his neck to look around. “I wish we knew how he was watching you.”
“You and me both, buddy,” she answered in a tone dry as dust.
As if her ears were burning, one of the mobiles on the bench lit up with an incoming call from Emma Parker. He watched as Cass snatched the handset and fumbled to accept the call.
“Hey. How are you?”
She sounded breathless and anxious. The urge to take her hand in his again was strong, but he resisted. Instead, he leaned down to pat his dog as Cass switched the call to speaker.
“I have Jake Donovan here with me. And Max.”
Emma chortled. “Trooper Max, the wonder dog?”
Jake moved closer to speak into the phone. “The one and only. Hey, did anyone ask you about Airman Baker’s brother?”
