Page 8 of Lone Star Rescue

Davy’s head whipped toward her. “With silver angel wings on the cuffs?”

She nodded. Sighed again. Of course, Davy would recall that. It’d been a staple in Tessa’s wardrobe, and she’d worn it everywhere, including during the summer when it’d been hotter than hell.

“We’ve got binoculars on the truck,” Davy went on a moment later. “Let me get them and see if I can spot anyone or anything. You’ve accounted for everyone that was on scene?”

“Yes.” And she counted them off for good measure. “Three workers, two CSIs, two deputies, Wade, Ollie, the workers, Rafe and me.”

That caused Davy’s head to whip up again, and he turned, no doubt looking for Rafe. Prom king, star quarterback, and themost likely to succeed partner to Tessa. The term,charmed life, had fit both Tessa and him.

Yet, here they were. With Tessa likely dead and Rafe with that dark, haunted look in his eyes.

“Hell, I didn’t notice Rafe when I drove up,” Davy remarked. “Not a good time to catch up with him though. Let me get the binoculars.” With that, he hurried back toward the truck.

Bree took out her phone and texted dispatch to light a fire under the gas line inspector to get him or her out here ASAP. She’d just hit send when she looked up and saw Rafe making his way back to her.

“How bad are the injuries?” she immediately asked.

“I don’t think anyone is critical. It seems your deputies and the two CSIs got the worst of it.”

She had to agree, and if they all managed to get out of this with broken bones, concussions, and such, then they were lucky.

“If the blast had happened just minutes earlier, we would have likely been killed,” Bree muttered.

“Probably. We were all standing around the grave. The only reason I moved away is because you wanted that word with me. The others moved back a little after we left.”

Yes, they had, and that caused a knot to form in her stomach. She glanced at Gavin McCray again, the worker who was now being treated by an EMT. The worker who’d found the body, called it in, and then was seemingly nowhere in sight when the explosion happened.

“Yeah,” Rafe muttered, and that’s when Bree realized he’d followed her gaze and knew she was looking at Gavin. “You’ll want to do a deep dive into his background.”

She would indeed and would start that as soon as she got back to the office. Normally, she’d tap one of the deputies for a background check like that, but with both day deputies here and hurt, it would have to wait. As it was, dispatch was alreadyhaving to bring in one of the swing shift deputies just to cover the office.

“Do you have any experience with explosions?” she asked, watching as Davy started surveying the scene with the binoculars. Since she wanted her own look, she started in that direction, with Rafe following right alongside her.

“Some,” Rafe answered.

Even though his expression didn’t change, she heard something in his voice. Maybe something to do with that twenty percent who hadn’t gotten rescued.

Rafe stopped just a few feet from Davy and motioned to the left of where the grave had been. “I think that’s the point of origin for the blast.”

She saw the mound of displaced dirt and debris, and if that was indeed where the explosion had gone off, it was only about two yards from the grave.

“I see bones,” Davy said, drawing her attention back to him, and both Rafe and she hurried to join him. “They’re scattered, but I can make out at least three.”

Davy passed her the binoculars, and while it took her a moment to focus and find the right spot, she did indeed see bones.

And something else.

Something…

“Oh, God,” Bree managed, and she immediately passed the binoculars to Rafe, hoping she was wrong.

She had to be wrong.

Rafe pressed the binoculars to his eyes, moved around. And cursed.

“Hell, there’s a body out there,” Rafe confirmed. “Not a skeleton.A body.”

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