Page 22 of Shadow of Hope
“I could see that. It’s kind of dress up for adults and not something others might take seriously.”
“Still, I’ll do my best to learn more about each person today.”
He nodded. “We’ll be finding sources of food, along with hunting and trapping today.”
“Hunting.” She shivered. “The part I’ve been dreading, but I know it’s necessary.”
“It is. You need protein, but you can get protein from beans. It just takes time to grow and harvest them. I’ll also discuss gardening and preserving produce. Necessary for sure, but especially if you decide to go vegan or vegetarian.”
“I honestly don’t know the difference,” she said, though if she wasn’t able to stomach hunting she wouldn’t be eating any meat.
“Vegetarians might eat eggs and fish, but vegans don’t usually eat any animals or food products that come from them.”
“I could never live without cheese for a long time. I think I’m part mouse.” She grinned.
He chuckled and liked that she could find some humor in all the stress. He took his phone from his pocket. “I want to grab a picture of Layne from the internet if I can find one so I know what to keep an eye out for.”
“That’s easy. A tall, buff guy. Blond buzz cut and startling blue eyes.”
“Sounds like a lot of guys, but it’s a start. I’ll also call Colin now to do that background on your name and get deeper backgrounds going on everyone here. I’ll ask him to specifically look for a link to Layne and Holly Boyle.”
“Thank you.”
He stood. “We need to get a hold of the autopsy report, and the hospice care center security feed, too, which I assume the police don’t have or Layne couldn’t be threatening you with it.”
She got up, too. “He probably turned it over to the police after I took off, and now they’re looking for me too.”
He nodded. “We’ll try to get the police report and figure out if he turned it in, then plan accordingly.”
“Once you know for certain that I’m a fugitive, you can’t hide me, right? You’d be guilty of harboring me. I can’t let that happen.”
“Let me worry about that. I’ll deal with it if we learn an arrest warrant has been issued.”
“If you want a copy of the security footage, Layne sent it to me. It’s on the phone I surrendered to you at the compound.”
“Good. I’ll want Colin to look at it to see if it’s been altered. And of course, I’ll want to study it too. But we should still try to get the original from the facility to confirm it’s complete and hasn’t been changed.” He held out his phone. “Now I need you to stand watch down the trail a bit. Stay within eyesight. If anyone heads my way, give me a shout-out so I can end my call.”
She gave a quick nod and marched off.
He kept his focus on her and dialed Reid.
“Problem at camp?” Reid asked.
“Yeah.” Micha shared the situation. “I wanted to ask if someone could relieve me, and I could bring Ava back inside the secured compound for safety.”
Reid hissed out a breath. “Let me grab the schedule.”
“And can you have someone other than Colin do it? I hoped you’d let him do some investigating for me.”
“If I can work the schedule out that way, you got it. Now let’s see what we have here.” Reid went silent.
Micha imagined him sitting in the lodge office behind the big rolltop desk that once belonged to his dad. The Maddox brothers had grown up in the lodge, and their parents had remained there until recently, when they moved into town. Reid now lived there with his daughter Jessie, his wife Megan and her daughter Ella, plus Poppy their cook, who’d been with the family since Reid was a kid. She was like family, as were all the team members, all adopted by Barbie, mother to the Maddox boys and a throwback hippie with love for all.
“Okay,” Reid said. “I can get Ryan up there after the training he’s conducting this morning. That is, if I can pry him away from Austin for a few days.” He laughed.
Ryan was a devoted father to his baby boy, but he was also a team player, and Micha believed he would say yes.
“When you get back here, I’d like to talk to Ava,” Reid said. “Sounds like her assailant knows where she is, and we’ll need to gather the team to brainstorm safety protocols. And I’m assuming you won’t only have Colin do a deep dive on everyone involved, but you’ll be running a full-blown investigation yourself.”
