Page 54 of Scent of Fear

“For now, but who knows if there’re other shooters out there?” Shane’s expression could have been carved from stone. “Just stay down a while longer, okay? I knew staying at the cabin was a bad idea.”

She winced. “My fault.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Shane sounded less upset now that they were relatively safe. If there was such a thing as being safe, which she was beginning to doubt. Especially since they were no closer to finding her grandfather.

“I don’t understand. Why did he start shooting?”

It took Shane a moment to respond. “I think he wanted us gone so he could keep digging in the cellar for the treasure.”

That had her sitting up. “Well then, we need to call Paul and have him head out there to arrest him.”

Shane grimaced, but the call he made wasn’t to Paul. The name that popped up on the dashboard screen was Alexis Sullivan. “Don’t go to Marvin Tolliver’s cabin,” he said in a curt tone. “Some guy with a rifle has taken several shots at the place, forcing us out of there. We’re back on the road.”

“What in the world?” Alexis sounded shocked. “On the road heading where?”

“Don’t know yet,” Shane admitted. “Turn around and head for the ranch. I don’t want you or Joel anywhere near the gunman. If you ask me, they’re getting desperate. As if they know they’re running out of time.”

Libby couldn’t help but agree with that sentiment. They’d had her grandfather for more than twenty-four hours. They probably hadn’t anticipated it would be this difficult to get the money.

If there was any money. Libby still wasn’t sure that her grandfather had kept it or if he’d used it over the course of the past forty-eight years.

“We’re not going back to the ranch,” Alexis said firmly. “We’re coming to back you up. Tell me where you are right now.”

Shane sighed. “We’re heading east on Highway 14. But I don’t know what our final destination is. You could be driving aimlessly for hours.”

“Doesn’t matter, we’re heading your way,” Alexis insisted. “Keep us in the loop.”

“Okay, I will.” Shane sounded resigned. “But whatever you do, stay away from Marvin’s cabin.”

“Got it. Call us back when you have a plan.”

“Yeah, as soon as I think of one,” Shane muttered sourly, before ending the call.

“I had an idea shortly before the gunfire erupted.” Libby opened the laptop. “Hang on, I need to use my phone as a hot spot again.”

He frowned as she pulled out the phone. “Okay, but what’s your idea?”

“Let’s see if it even works.” She was hesitant to say too much because what she was about to do would get her fired. If she were caught.

Then again, her grandfather was running out of time. Without Paul or any other law enforcement helping them, she didn’t have much of a choice. As Shane had mentioned, the gunmen were getting desperate. They were going to keep searching for the money until they found it.

And once they did? Her grandfather would be taken out of the picture for good.

Drawing a deep breath, she brought up the hospital billing system. She had to go through a few extra steps as the system didn’t recognize her using this particular device. But it didn’t take too long, and soon she was logged into the hospital billing system. From there, she quickly entered Ward Engler’s name to see if he was in the system. If he wasn’t, there would be nothing more she could do.

He was! Her heart thudded against her ribs as his name and address popped up on the screen. “I have Engler’s address.”

“You do? How?” Shane looked shocked.

“I logged into the hospital’s billing system. He was treated at the hospital in Cody last year.” She shrugged, then added, “I’ve broken all kinds of rules accessing the hospital database for personal reasons, but that doesn’t matter. For now, I think we need to head over there. If nothing else, to cross him off the list of suspects once and for all.”

“What’s the address?” Shane asked.

She rattled it off. Using the built-in map application in his SUV computer, he found the address. He tapped the screen. “Here’s the location. And surprisingly, it’s not far from where we are right now.”

“Which means it’s not that far from Grandpa’s cabin. I think we’re onto something.” She held Shane’s gaze for a long moment. “Engler has a trailer that could have housed the four-wheelers. Then he acted guilty when you saw him in Greybull. I don’t know yet how he fits into this, I don’t think he looks like the bank robbery accomplice Harry Stern who is out of jail, but I’m convinced he’s involved.” She frowned, then added, “What’s odd is that Ward Engler is a local resident. And that he doesn’t live that far from Grandpa. I wouldn’t have expected that.”

“I agree, that’s odd. But who knows how these things happen?” Shane hit a button so that the route to Engler’s place was highlighted on the screen. After a few minutes, he made another call to Alexis. “Hey, we have a new plan. We’re headed to the home of a guy by the name of Ward Engler.”

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