Page 70 of Montana Manhunt

“Will your aunt will want something of Camilla’s?” Grant asked.

“I doubt it.”

“What about Mrs. White?”

Violet walked to the wall beside the television and removed all the pictures her sister had hung up. One of them was a picture of Mrs. White and Camilla. They both looked so happy. “She’ll want this photo.”

“I’ll find something to put them in to protect the frames.” Rayne picked her way through the mess to the kitchen and searched for a box or container.

“Is there something specific you wanted to look for?” Noah asked.

“Cami always kept a journal. If something troubled her in her personal life or her work, she journaled about it to work things out in her head. I teased her about that since she was actually working it out on paper. She said the act of writing it down helped clarify the issues and helped her see how to approach the problems.”

“Makes sense. Many old school cops keep a separate set of case notes with personal impressions of all the people connected to a crime for the same reason.” Noah glanced around again. “What did she use to journal?”

“Beautiful notebooks. She loved the look and feel of them and also had a penchant for unusual pens.”

“I bet she could have spent hours in office supply stores.”

Violet laughed. “You have no idea. Every time we met, I wanted to go to the bookstore. Cami wanted to find the nearest office supply store.” Her smile faded and her hands clenched. “I’m going to find whoever killed my sister and make him pay.”

Noah wrapped his arms around Violet and held her for a moment. When the stiffness in her body eased, he said, “Where is the best place to look for her journals?”

“She turned the second bedroom into an office. That’s where she would have kept them. If they’re still here and intact, I want them all, Noah. This place isn’t secure. I don’t want to leave them unprotected.”

“I understand.” He clasped her hand and led her down the short hall to the office. Chaos reigned in this room, as it did in the rest of the apartment. Evidence of the crime scene team’s work was apparent. Black powder dotted the surface of Camilla’s desk and lamp. No computer in sight, though a printer remained behind. The detectives had probably taken the computer for the techs to analyze.

“There they are.” Violet skirted debris scattered on the office floor until she reached a heap of notebooks on the floor in front of a bookcase. She gathered all the notebooks into her arms and stood.

Noah started forward to help her when he saw a flashing red light out of the corner of his eye. He turned, searching for the source of the light. Frowning, he stepped closer to the desk and peered underneath.

Nestled in the corner was a bomb with a digital clock ticking down the time to zero.

“Bomb! Run!”

CHAPTER TWELVE

WITH CAMI’S JOURNALShugged tight against her chest, Violet raced toward the living room. “Grant, Rayne, run! Bomb!”

Grant grabbed a box from Rayne and shoved her toward the door. “Go! Noah, where is it?”

“No time to defuse. Out.”

The operatives sprinted from the apartment and down the hall to the stairwell, banging on doors as they went. Rayne tugged the fire alarm, and a siren blared throughout the building.

Rayne opened the stairwell door and held it for Violet. The two of them raced to the first floor and out the back through the laundry room, with Grant and Noah a step behind them.

“Go, go, go!” Noah snapped. They were half a block away from the apartment building when Noah yelled, “Down!”

Violet dropped to the ground, Cami’s precious journals underneath her body. Noah covered her body with his own and wrapped his arms around her head.

A split second later, the night sky turned bright orange and red, and a loud explosion rocked the world around them. Debris fell on the operatives, large and small pieces.

Noah grunted and tightened his hold around Violet. Was he hurt?

“Noah?”

“Stay still.”

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