Page 118 of One Last Chance

Shasta made anOwith her mouth.

Flynn grimaced, shook her head. “It’s just a hypothesis. But the first death happened fifteen years ago, right after Wilson’s second wife cheated on him, so . . . could be a trigger.”

Silence as they gaped at her. She decided not to mention the wolf tattoo. “Listen, it’s how we sort it out—follow one lead to the next.”

“Wilson is a fixture in this community. He’s been coming up for years, helping his nephews . . .” Dodge said quietly. But his voice trailed off and he looked at Moose. Shook his head.

Moose lifted a shoulder.

“I’m going with you,” she said to Moose. “I need you to take me right to O’Kelly’s cabin on Jubilee Lake. And call Axel—we’ll meet him at the cabin.”

She turned to Shasta. “I think you’re in the wrong profession. They could use your detective skills around here.”

“Or yours.” She smiled.

Huh. Flynn headed outside and got into a truck Moose had borrowed from the airport.

“What are you thinking?” Moose asked.

“First, that Ox Remington is not our killer.”

“I didn’t know he was a person of interest.”

“He’s just lower on the list, but now I’m thinking Wilson Bowie fits our profile. He’s here every year, and he has a home near the Remington land. Women in town know him, and he’s flying under the radar, undetected. It feels close. And he could have intercepted Parker on her way to the party. Jericho and his dog are searching, but I fear that he put her in his car and drove away. And then stashed her in the cabin and drove to the festival.”

Moose looked over at her. “That’s dark.”

“That’s a river monster for you.”

He started up the truck. “I just . . . Wilson?”

“You’d be surprised—serial killers can be very Jekyll and Hyde.”

They pulled into the airport, and she spotted Shep working the controls of a drone. Lifting it, maneuvering it in the air, landing it.

Moose walked over. “You all set?”

“It’s a video game. I got this.” He picked up the drone, about twelve by twelve, maybe a couple pounds by the way he handled it. Four arms came off at angles from the body, on which was attached a camera. “This is a thermal imager,” Shep said, probably picking up Flynn’s silent curiosity. “And Boo will have the iPad with the map. I also have a display on the controller, but she’ll get a better lay of the land. And she can send you coordinates.”

He got into the chopper and held out a hand for Flynn. She sat beside Boo. London and Moose took the front seats.

“I was at O’Kelly’s cabin a couple months ago when I dropped off Oaken,” Moose said. He indicated headphones which hung from a hook near Flynn’s seat. She put them on.

Shep closed the door and strapped in.

The chopper shuddered, then wrenched itself into the air. The headphones blunted the whir of the chopper blades, and maybe Flynn shouldn’t have drunk so much coffee, because her stomach swayed with the movements of the bird.

But then again, she always felt a little woozy before venturing into the darkness. And it made her think of Axel.

“You see me, and it’s okay.”

Yes, and he saw her. And it was okay.

And maybe that’s how love was supposed to be. Reaching into darkness, trusting that he’d hold her hand on the other side.

Maybe, in fact, that was faith.

Oh, she was going to be sick. She opened her eyes. “I need a bag.”

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