Page 7 of When You're Safe

“No, he does this sometimes.” Rodsighed. “Do you have something else, Finn?”

“Maybe,” he finally said. “Carefor a walk, you two?”

Amelia and Rob walked alongsideFinn, moving past the blind turn and then down the hill. At the bottom farbelow, Finn could see the police checkpoint stopping any traffic. But it wassomething closer that had his attention.

Finn looked off into the distance andcould see, surrounded by a small offshoot of the Thames, which had formed amoat, a huge sprawling castle with four massive turrets. “You couldn’t see itfrom the other direction,” Finn said. “I take it that’s DeGrey Castle?”

“Bravo,” Amelia said, cheekily.

“Give me a break, Winters,” Finnsaid. “You could throw a stone around here and hit a castle. I just wanted tomake certain it was the right one.”

“There’s not that manycastles in the UK,” Amelia said. “I mean, if there were, I’d be living in one.”

“Fancy yourself a princess?” Finnasked.

“A queen, actually,” she replied,putting on a regal accent. “And one who takes a dim view of those beneath her.”

“Remind me never to get on yourbad side again,” Finn said. “The point is, even from here, I can see all ofthat estate around the moat. Is that part of the DeGreys’ land?”

“I think so,” Rob now answered.

“Then why wouldn’t she jog downthere where it was safe?” Finn questioned. “Why run out here?”

“A change of scene,” Ameliastated, continuing her walk downhill. “Even the rich need that from time totime.”

“More money, more problems,” Rob said.

“Exactly,” Finn agreed. “MaybeMaggie was trying to get away from the place, even just for a while. Or perhapsfrom someone in it…”

“Conjecture again,” Ameliareminded them.

“Yes, that may well be conjecture,but this isn’t,” Finn said, stopping by the side of the road where it widenedmomentarily, enough for a car to sit on the muddy ground. “I saw this passingplace on the way up the hill. It’s covered in mud and it’s kept the tracks. Lookhere.”

Amelia turned from the castle and lookedat the mud. Finn was pointing at four deep indentations sitting in the middleof a set of tire tracks.

“Hmm,” she said, biting her lip inthought. “Now you might be onto something.”

“Can someone please care toexplain?” Rob asked. “I see car tracks here, but they could have been from anycar having to pull in from oncoming traffic.”

“Look how deep the tire indentationsare,” Finn explained. “They are a lot deeper than the tire tracks.”

“And that means?” Rob asked, stillseemingly bemused.

“It means,” Finn said, standingup, “that a car sat here for some time. It waited and sank into the mud morethan a car just stopping for a moment would.”

Finn turned around and lookedfurther up the hill. His eyes fell upon a trail to the right that headed downtoward the river.

“If Maggie ran out of that trailonto the road,” Finn said, “and if this was a route she took often, thensomeone could have been waiting for her in a car. Then they timed it right torun her over after the blind turn so it looked like an accidental hit-and-run,rather than a premeditated murder.”

“What do you think, Winters?” Robasked.

“I don’t know, Chief,” she saidwith a sigh. “It’s possible, but it still seems like a leap. We need to findout more.”

“Yes, we do,” Finn said, turningand looking toward the huge castle in the distance. “And I think I know wherewe should start looking for answers.”

CHAPTER THREE

Why is it never simple?Amelia thought to herself as two security personnel in black fatigues held outtheir hands in front of her car.

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