Page 55 of Haystacks and Hoaxes

“We’d appreciate that.” Rock disconnected the call and repeated everything the sheriff had told him.

“Poor Mom,” Mila breathed, looking stricken over the verification that her mother had been taken into custody. “Part of me was hoping my stepdad would find a way to keep her out of the country.”

Rock was very glad that wasn’t the case. “It would’ve only made her look guilty.”

“I know.” Mila gave a damp sniffle and dabbed at the edges of her eyes. “It helps to know my stepdad is sticking by her side.”

“It certainly puts her actions in a better light,” he agreed.

“As for Mr. Monty…” Her voice cracked. “The smoke I saw was a week and a half ago, Rock.” She bounced anxiously on the balls of her feet, glancing toward the door. “Between ten and eleven days. If anyone is still down in his storm cellar…” She stopped and swallowed hard.

Yeah, he’d already considered the fact that whoever was down there might no longer be alive. “You want to go for a drive?”

“Yes, please!” She was already yanking her jacket off the back of the chair in front of his desk, where she’d tossed it earlier.

They jogged to the front of the building to collect Hawk from the bodyguard pen. Many of their coworkers were still on holiday vacation, so there was only a skeleton crew on duty today. However, Hawk was present since Mila was present.

He seemed glad to have something to do. “Where to?” He hurriedly threw on his jacket and clapped his uniform ball cap backwards over his inky black hair.

“Chester Farm,” Rock supplied as he led the three of them on a quick detour to the supply room. There was no way he was taking Mila anywhere near Chester Farm without being properly geared up. Under his watchful eye, she grudgingly donned a bulletproof vest again. Only after the three of them strapped on protective gear did they hurry down the long hallway toward the parking garage.

Hawk shot a curious look at them while he buckled his seatbelt. “Didn’t the police tape off the place?”

“Dunno,” Rock retorted cheerfully. “Probably,” he added, unsurprised that Hawk knew about the raid. Word traveled fast in a town the size of theirs. “Let’s go find out.”

As he drove to the outskirts of Heart Lake, he kept sneaking glances at Mila in the passenger seat.

She was unusually silent, though her fingers were moving as she typed up a storm on her phone.

“Everything okay over there?” He angled his head at her phone.

“Not really.” She flipped it face down on her leg. “I’m still trying to get in touch with my mom. She reads my messages, but she doesn’t respond.”

Possibly at the advice of her attorney. However, Rock sensed that Mila needed to hear more than that. “She will.” He wasn’t sure where the words came from, only that they were true.

“You don’t know Carla Kingston.” Despair reverberated in her voice.

“She will,” he repeated.

He could feel her searching his profile. “How can you be so sure?”

“I have faith.” The fact that Hawk was seated behind them was the only thing that kept him from reaching for her hand. “I’ve been praying for you and your safety nonstop since we started working together.”

“Really?” Her voice grew shy.

“Yep.” He winked at her. “I’ve got a great partner, one I’m not looking to replace anytime soon.” Unless, of course, her brother insisted on splitting them up after he figured out that his lead forensic artist was falling in love with his junior forensic artist.

“It’s been one big rollercoaster ride, hasn’t it?” She turned away from him to stare out the window.

“I happen to like rollercoasters,” he announced cheerfully.

“I don’t.” She shivered. “I prefer to keep my feet on the ground.”

He immediately pictured talking her into a rollercoasterride someday, just so she would cling to him throughout the entire ride.

Chester Farm came into view over the next small rise in the road. As Hawk had predicted, the farmhouse had yellow police tape crisscrossed over the garage and the front door. The entry gate was padlocked shut, too. Rock parked in front of it and idled his motor, debating what to do next.

Mila abruptly reached for his arm. “There’s smoke again! Please tell me you guys see it, too” She pointed at the chimney. It was jutting at a slight angle from the roof of the farmhouse. Parts of the home were more than a century old, so it had long since settled and lost its original squareness.

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