Page 177 of The Woman By the Lake

No wonder Maribeth knew she was giving clear warning, because that was precisely what she was doing.

He moved to within reaching distance of a crowbar just as Jess walked into the door.

Jess took one look at Gia, who was now growling, and stopped dead.

“Gia. Friend,” Riggs commanded. Gia relaxed her stance, circled around to look at him again, and Riggs said, “Go.”

She approached Jess.

Jess bent to offer his hand, and Riggs took a second to try to understand how he could tell the two brothers apart.

It boiled down to Jess having a cocky vibe, and Jace having a confident one.

Other than that, if you couldn’t sense that nuance, you couldn’t tell them apart.

Even so, those vibes were so strong, if you knew the men, you couldn’t miss it.

This meant, if Roosevelt, Lincoln and Sarah were actually a thing, Riggs could see how it worked.

Kind of.

Rubbing Gia down, Jess noted, “Totally calling Hutch this afternoon. Gotta get me one of these babies.”

“Highly recommend,” Riggs replied.

After Jess gave Gia her rubdown, he asked, “Got a second to come with me? We found something and want to show you.”

Riggs didn’t know if this was good or bad.

Jess sensed that and went on. “Nothing big. But we got a take on it and want you to see it while we explain it to you. I’ll drive you and bring you back.”

“You good with Gia coming with?” Riggs asked.

Jess gave her another rubdown and answered, “Absolutely.”

They left his workshop and piled in Jess’s truck. Jess opened the back window for Gia, and she stuck her whole head out to feel the breeze. In that manner, he drove them to the access road and down to the end of it, which was right by the edge of the lake.

They got out and hiked into the woods at the north end about three hundred yards before they stopped.

Jace was in the distance. He had several small, orange flags on wire stands sticking out his back pocket. When he saw them, he pulled one out, planted it where he was and jogged their way.

Jesus, these two guys had it down.

Riggs gave the command to Gia so she wouldn’t flip Jace out, and Jess showed him what they found.

It was a hole dug in the ground. Not deep, but it looked like an animal did it with their front paws, the soil flung back several feet from the hole. It also wasn’t fresh, but who, or whatever dug that hole did it relatively recently.

Beside the hole was a rusted metal can, like one beans came in. No label.

He turned his attention to the twins. “They’re using metal detectors.”

The twins exchanged a glance and looked back to him.

Jace nodded. “You snapped to that quickly. And it was our take. People do metal detecting as a hobby. But they don’t claw like a dog at what they found.”

Riggs turned his attention to Gia.

She’d come to sit by his side and didn’t seem to have any interest in the hole or the can.

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