Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
T
ripp stayed close to her as she and Rufus led the way through the woods behind her house. The beams of their high-powered flashlights cut through the darkness, but the going was slow once the trail ended and they were left moving through the undergrowth.
“We went over this way,” she murmured, trying to retrace her steps. Rufus was on a mission. Nose down, tail up, eagerly sniffing his way along the forest floor.
Maybe he would make a good search dog after all.
“Okay, from here I honestly have no idea, except that we went in that general direction,” she said, pointing right.
Rufus sniffed around a bit more where they were standing. Paused. Sniffed at something else and then moved off to the right.
“Let’s hope he knows where he’s going and not just taking us to a raccoon den or something,” Willow muttered, hurrying to keep up with him.
They walked another ten minutes deeper into the woods. Owls hooted from high overhead. Small animals scurried through the underbrush.
Rufus paused as something darted across their path, body stiffening. The fur across his shoulders rose.
Tripp stilled and looked around, praying it wasn’t a damned cougar or bear.
But seconds later Rufus lowered his nose to the ground and resumed his route, taking them farther and farther away from the main trail they’d left behind them a while ago.
“It was buried right next to a big fallen tree,” Willow said. “An old one, covered in thick moss.”
Rufus suddenly veered left, and the beam of Tripp’s flashlight fell on a big log lying on the ground.
“That might be it.” Willow hurried after Rufus, the rest of them right behind her.
She stepped over the fallen tree, aimed her flashlight on the ground on the other side. “What...”
“Something wrong?” Tripp stepped up beside her, tensing.
“I’m sure this was the spot,” she said, searching the ground beside the downed tree. Rufus was sniffing like crazy, pawing at the brush and dirt.
Rafe moved past them and knelt to take a look. “All this material is loose.”
“Did someone cover it back up?” Willow asked.
“Let’s find out.” Rafe took a shovel from a deputy and started digging. Rufus tried to jump in and help, but Willow pulled him back.
They all stood watching as Rafe dug at the loose soil, uncovering an area large enough to match the size of the container Willow had shown him.
Rafe stopped. “They didn’t cover it back up.” He looked up at them. “It’s gone.”
A slight chill snaked down Tripp’s spine. Had someone seen Willow find it? Or did they regularly come out here to check on it and make sure it was still buried?
He aimed his flashlight at the trees, looking for a camera. But searching for a decently camouflaged camera at this time of night was almost pointless.
Rafe and the deputies were all doing the same. “I don’t see any cameras,” Rafe said. “Anyone?”
“Nope.”
“No.”
Rafe lowered his flashlight and turned to Willow. “You said whoever broke into your car stole your backpack.”
“Yes.”
“And that there were no valuables in it.”
“Right.”
“But the paper from here was inside it.”
“Ah, shit,” Tripp murmured, a bad feeling taking hold.
Willow nodded, face strained.
Rafe’s expression was grim. “So then it might not have been a random break-in at all.”
Darren unzipped the front pouch of the recovered backpack and came up with a pack of gum, a pen, and a bag of dog treats. “Was there anything else in the car?”
“No,” the guy who’d stolen it for him said. “Just this.”
He opened the main pouch, breathed a sigh of relief when he pulled out the coded paper. “This is good. We wouldn’t want this falling into the wrong hands.”
“No. I got her name and address from the insurance papers.” He held out his phone, showing the picture he’d taken of the registration.
“Willow Carlson. From...” He frowned. “New York? Nah. She’s a local. Has to be, for her and her dog to be wandering around that area. You had someone run her plate number?”
“Yeah, of course.” He swiped to show the next photo with the plate info. It was registered to New York.
“I’m betting she’s still somewhere on the island, probably close to that cache site.”
“You want me to see if anyone can trace it?”
“No, I’ll handle this personally.” They had a new sheriff in town, and all signs pointed to him being by the book. Reaching out to his contact there was too risky at the moment. He’d have to work some other contacts and find another way. One that didn’t raise more suspicion. “Once we—”
He paused at a beeping sound from his phone. Grabbed it from the kitchen counter, his expression tightening when he saw the alert from the security camera app.
It had come from the compromised ammo cache site. He’d left the cameras in place specifically to watch if anyone came back, posted high up on two trees.
Watching the feed, his resolve hardened. “The new sheriff just found out the ammo’s been moved.” He showed the other man.
“Looks like two deputies with him. I’m guessing that’s Willow off to the side?”
“Yes. You recognize her?”
“No. What about that other guy?”
Darren took a closer look. Swore under his breath. “Tripp Rawlings.”
“Aww, man...”
He rubbed a hand over his chin. He liked Tripp and his father.
Didn’t want this to involve them or get any messier.
But this had to be dealt with. Fast, and decisively.
“As soon as they leave, get in there and take down the cameras. Cover your tracks on the way in and out. I’ll get a location on Willow.
” He had no choice but to watch her now, find out how much of a threat she posed to him and the operation.
How much did she know? Did she have any other evidence?
“What then?”
Darren shook his head. “We’ll have to keep eyes on her until we know how bad this breach is. The pictures she took concern me. The ammo is serialized. And if she got a clear shot of the sheet, then the sheriff might have it too.”
That could be a big problem. There was no way Darren could have everything listed on there moved and rehidden if the sheriff found someone who could crack the code and then decided to go sniffing around elsewhere.
The people Darren worked for wouldn’t tolerate any aspect of their operation being exposed.
Unfortunately for Willow, it meant she had just put a target on her back. They could take her out and make it look like an accident.
Darren had to fix this now, before he became a target himself.