Page 64 of High Frequency

“Plenty of time for backup to get here then.”

Before he throws more objections my way, I pull out my cell phone. I only have one bar of reception, but it’s enough to get Ewing on the phone.

“Boss, the dog found remains.”

“Good news,” he responds. “Hopefully there’s enough to help us identify the guy.”

“It may actually be more than one set. I’m heading down there to get eyes on it, but communication may be an issue. You may want to see about organizing a forensic recovery team,” I suggest. “And the other thing, once I can confirm it’s more than one body, we should probably put a call in to the feds.”

“Shit. Just what I fucking need,” he grumbles.

“Let’s wait and make sure first, but in the meantime, we could probably use some extra hands up here.”

“Leave it with me.”

As I tuck away my phone, I notice Bo does the same. He must’ve sent a text because I didn’t hear him talk.

Either way, there are no more objections from him. Only basic instructions on the mechanics of my imminent descent as he helps me into the harness.

Fear is definitely setting in now; the butterflies are gnawing holes in the lining of my stomach. I just hope to hell I don’t make a fool of myself and scream, since I’m the one who insisted on going down there. Knowing Bo, he’d never let me forget.

Five minutes later I’m walking off the edge of a cliff.

Willingly.

Dan

“What’s her name?”

I look up at him and shake my head.

“Look, I’m not even sure she had anything to do with it,” I backtrack.

Wolff showed up earlier to give me a hand putting up GoPro cameras outside the house, and has been asking questions. Being a former FBI agent, he can’t seem to help himself. He’s pretty good too, since I just finished telling him about my most recent interactions with Shelby—something I’ve kept to myself—although, I didn’t mention her by name.

“Can I point out; you also didn’t think she had designs on you that went beyond fuck buddy?”

Right. Point taken.

I step out of the way as he climbs down the ladder I’ve been holding steady.

“Yeah, but what if I point the finger at her and she turns out to have nothing to do with it? Things can get really fucking awkward when I stop by her family’s store to pick up an order, which is about once a month.”

I realize I walked right into that one when I see the shit-eating grin on Wolff’s face.

“Ah, yes, Shelby Vandermeer,” he confirms.

Then he grabs another camera and walks to a tree on the other side of the driveway, leaving me to follow behind with the damn ladder.

Glancing over at the house, I notice the installers are working on the second main window in the front. I was able to get hold of the contractor yesterday afternoon and asked him to bring as big a crew as he could get together. He’s got two groups working, the second crew is tackling the rear of the house. It looks like they’re making decent tracks, and I’m really hoping we can get the place sealed up for tonight.

I prop the ladder against the tree we picked on this side of the driveway. One camera will be aimed down the driveway and the other toward the house. These will be the last of the GoPros to go up. We’ll have five up altogether. I’ll be able to remotely control and monitor them from my phone or computer.

As Wolff heads back up the ladder, my mind drifts to Jonas’s visit last night.

He dropped by with a couple of beers, wanting to see the progress. We ended up on the porch and watched the sun go down, while he filled me in on Jackson. We talked about getting Jackson out here, see if he could be coaxed into helping out, in hopes it might make him feel useful.

Right before he left, he urged me to take some time off, reminding me I probably have close to six months in vacation time banked. I rarely take time off, aside from the occasional time I join Fletch for a quick hunting trip.

---