Page 106 of See How They Hide

Someone had pulled the alarm to lure Riley out. Most likely to kill her. Maybe because shewasCalliope’s daughter, they’d bring her back to Havenwood. Kara figured sixty-forty, but neither option was good.

Her head pounded from the alarms, but they had to stop sometime.

Riley still looked worried, but she’d sat down and watched Kara pace the room. Kara went to the door and looked out the peephole. It provided a wide-angle view of the hall; no one was there.

She heard sirens and walked over to the window again. “Fire is here,” she said loudly over the alarm. She didn’t know if Riley heard her.

Two minutes later, blissfully, the alarms went silent. The ringing continued in her ears. She called the security chief again. “News?”

“Fire is clearing the building. I told them you were there protecting a witness. They may want to talk to you.”

“Fine by me,” she said and ended the call.

Five minutes later, the security chief called her back. “Agent Quinn?”

Again, she didn’t correct him. “All clear?”

“We need you down here. There’s a female body. She’s dead.”

Matt and Michael walked the perimeter of Morrison’s house and saw no disturbance—and no truck. There were fresh tire marks going up and back, and the sheriff hadn’t been out here this morning since the storm, so Matt was on alert.

He and Michael checked the house—no sign of a break-in and the police seal was intact. Then the barn, which was clear. They walked up the steep path to the small cabin to ensure that the intruder hadn’t returned. It, too, had an unbroken police seal.

They returned to their SUV and drove back to the neighbor’s house to get her statement. If Anton and Ginger had been here, he didn’t see any sign of them now.

Matt parked on the edge of the two-lane highway in front of the neighbor’s home. From here, they couldn’t even see Morrison’s place, but Mrs. Chastain would be able to see any vehicle going up Morrison’s drive.

They walked up to the door and Michael knocked. Matt stayed two feet behind him and looked around the yard. The house was set back from the road and the snowplows had piled hills of the powdery white in front of the fencing. There were no cars, but they were off the main highway and there was no ski access from this area based on the maps he’d studied.

No one came to the door. Matt heard a television inside. Michael said, “She’s a seventy-nine-year-old widow. Maybe she’s hard of hearing.”

Michael pounded on the door. “Mrs. Chastain? It’s the FBI. You called.”

They waited and almost walked away to check out the property when the door opened. The woman was tiny with white hair and a hunched back. “Hello?” she said loudly.

Michael and Matt both showed their IDs. “Ma’am, you called about a trespasser?”

“Trespasser?”

“Yes,” Michael said. “Did you call about seeing a dark green pickup truck?”

“Nooo,” she said slowly. “I didn’t call anyone today. My granddaughter called me this morning, I’m going to be a great-grandma again!”

“So you did not call the sheriff’s station?” Matt said.

“Nooo, I did not. I’ve seen them around the last couple days, talked to a nice deputy, but I didn’t talk to them today, I assure you. Is there a problem?”

“No, ma’am, sorry to bother you,” Matt said quickly and walked away. He pulled out his phone and called Kara. “Something’s going on, be on alert. We were sent on a false alarm to Morrison’s house. We’re coming back to the hotel, ETA twenty minutes.”

“We have a dead body here. Someone dumped her out on the deck either right before or right after they set off the fire alarm.”

“Is everyone okay?”

“Yep, everyone but the dead person.”

Kara wasn’t going to leave Riley alone in the room, and she didn’t want her to go outside and see the body. She brought her downstairs as she called Dean, hanging up when she saw him standing in the lobby. “Have you inspected the body? Do you know what’s going on?” she asked him.

“I was waiting for you.”

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