Reese snorted. “I’m glad you never met my father, so you couldn’t tell him that. He would have electrified the barbed wire, I’m sure. As it was, Hodges and I managed to refrain from mentioning that all it would take was a ladder and anyone could get in.”
“Or a downed tree,” David said.
“Yes. Or that,” Reese agreed grimly.
“Take Hodges off mute,” David said. Reese took his hand away from the phone. “Hi, Hodges. This is David.”
“Hello, David,” Hodges said. “Do tell Reese that I can still hear him when he covers the mic instead of hitting the mute button like a normal person.”
Reese rolled his eyes.
“Message received,” David said with a laugh. “Now, tell me, what are you thinking?”
“I want to figure out where the footprints lead, which, thanks to the snow, won’t be hard but will take time. I ran out of light today before I could finish. Whoever came for a visit covered a lot of ground. I want to see if I can figure out where and why. And if he left anything behind.”
David didn’t like the sound of that but agreed Hodges was pursuing the right course.
“Any chance they’re still there?” Mati asked. David squeezed her hand.
“Only if they got dropped off and survived the night somewhere.”
“Unlikely,” Reese said. “I assume you’ve checked the barn and the sheds.”
“First thing, and they only approached one of them and didn’t get inside.”
“So, they’re gone,” Mati said.
“That’s my thought. There’s no sign of whatever vehicle brought him. My guess is it was one person, and he ditched his car across the street where the logging roads cut into those properties.”
“Any chance it could have been Chaz?” David asked.
“Last I heard from you, he was in Boston last night—which I still can’t wrap my head around. It’s hard to fathom what the hell he has to do with all of this.”
David dug his phone out of his pocket. His reception had been spotty for most of the drive, but Hodges’ call was clear, so maybe he was online now.
There was indeed a text from Chance.
Charles Bentley not registered at hotel. Searching others in area. Will text what I find.
He read it aloud to the others.
“Maybe he was at the hotel for a meeting,” Mati ventured.
“He didn’t mention one,” said David. “He seemed like he wanted to stay and talk to us for a while.”
“I can ask him why he was there,” Reese said.
“Do you think he’ll tell you the truth?” asked Hodges.
“I don’t honestly know what to think anymore,” Reese admitted.
“In the meantime,” Mati said, “we know Chaz was in Boston yesterday afternoon, making the chances he was the one sneaking around the house last night pretty slim, if not impossible.”
“So, we still don’t know what’s going on, and there are at least two people involved, who may or may not be in two different countries, looking for either us or something else, but we don’t know what,” Reese summarized.
“Three people,” Mati added.
“Who’s the third?” Reese asked.
