Page 13 of Night Hawk
“Clay!” she yelled. “Come here. You have to see this.”
Toni.Clay spun at her call.
She was panicked again and needed him.
He clicked on the headlamp he’d gotten from Sierra and charged down the hall. Toni stood in a small room staring into the open void in a wall. The back side of the wall was intact, but the brick wall in front had tumbled to the floor.
“What is it?” he asked.
She pointed at the mound of bricks.
He took a long look and blinked a few times. He had to be certain of what he was seeing.
“Man. Never expected this.” He shook his head but kept his gaze glued to the human skeleton. Mostly bones but with patches of flesh and clothing clinging to them. He couldn’t tell the person’s gender, but the frame was small, the shirt feminine. So likely a woman, but they needed a forensic anthropologist like Dr. Kelsey Dunbar at the Veritas Center to verify.
“You think this is what we were supposed to discover when we came here?” This was a strong lead, but Toni’s tone was wooden, her expression tight.
“Maybe.” He gave it some thought. “But why start the fire or put the snake in the closet? Or for that matter, why send us to the closet at all and not direct us here instead?”
“Maybe it wasn’t about telling us anything.” She considered the options. “Maybe the killer was worried we’d find this place and the body in our search, so he wanted to take us out before we did.”
“Could be.”
“We’re looking at murder here. Guess we’ll have to call in the local authorities after all.”
“I’ll take care of that.” Clay dug out his phone. “Blake knows Trent and should be able to persuade him to let the forensic anthropologist from the Veritas Center handle the recovery.”
“You think he’ll be able to do that?”
“Blake’s a pretty hard guy to say no to, so yeah. He’ll get it done.” Clay forced out a smile. “In the meantime, can you cordon off the area? I can grab a roll of tape from Sierra.”
“No,” she said firmly. “I can get it.”
“You sure?” He tried not to sound skeptical, but she’d looked terrified when they’d passed the closet, which was why he’d sent her to the room in the first place.
Her irritated expression told him she wanted to snap at him, but she took several slow breaths. “Please don’t baby me.”
“Not babying, just concerned for you is all.”
She sighed. “Don’t be.”
“I get it. You like to be in control. Goes against your personality when you aren’t.”
She shook her head, lips pursed.
“What?”
“You have me pegged, don’t you?”
“Not any more than you do me.”
She tilted her head and watched him for a long moment. “Do you think we might’ve gotten together if my dad hadn’t died?”
Right.She’d said exactly what he’d been thinking for a year but was too chicken to ask. “I would’ve asked you out, that’s for sure. What would’ve happened after that…” He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Clay,” Drake’s voice traveled down the hallway. “You back there?”
“Better see what he wants.” Clay spun and heard Toni following as he headed back down the hallway.
