They put their heads down against the wind until they reached the sidewalk and headed toward the dingy yellow place next door. The townhomes had immaculate landscaping, probably taken care of by the homeowners’ association. With the buildings blocking the wind, the late afternoon sun warmed her back as she approached the front door of the yellow house. Up close, she noted the color now faded to match the sky, looked like it had once been royal blue.

  Ryleigh knocked and got out her shiny new badge in a small portfolio.

  “What do you want?” A gruff female voice came from the other side of the door.

  Ryleigh held up her credentials to the peephole, giving the woman a clear look at it.

  She opened the door and stood, hand on a cane with five prongs and looking up at Ryleigh. Stooped over her cane, Ryleigh had a hard time telling her height, but her wrinkled face and frail posture made Ryleigh think nineties or older.

  “I’m Bertha Samuels.” She clicked her teeth. “Suppose you want to know about the new neighbor too.”

  “Mr. Gates, yes,” Ryleigh said.

  “Knew he was trouble from the first time I laid eyes on him.”

  “Is that so?” Ryleigh let her comment hang in the warm summer air, hoping that the woman would elaborate.

  “He was moving in, and I came out to greet him with a plate of my famous peanut butter cookies. Now with my arthritis, it’s no small feat to bake these days, but the guy is one of those gluten-free people.” She rolled her eyes. “Rejected my cookies, and right off the bat he made sure I knew that he worked from two until ten and expected me to be quiet in the mornings when he slept late.”

  “I’m sorry,” Ryleigh said as she didn’t know what else to say.

  “I never.” Bertha shook her head. “Telling me to be quiet. I’m the most respectful neighbor he could hope to have. I knew he was from out of state by his southern drawl. I almost told him to go back to Alabama.”

  “How did you know it was Alabama?”

  “Plates on his truck. He got them changed though, so I guess he was planning to stick around. But you know those loggers. They’re a flighty bunch.”

  Ryleigh didn’t know any such thing. Most of Tobias’s workers had been with him a long time.

  “When was the last time you saw Mr. Gates?” Finn asked.

  Bertha craned her neck to see him. “Now, aren’t you a tall one?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He gave her a charming smile.

  “Good looking too.” She chuckled. “I saw Uri yesterday morning, which was odd. He left in his truck around nine. Haven’t seen him since.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.” Finn smiled again, really working Bertha in a manner that was getting the information they needed.

  No way would Ryleigh interrupt.

  “Have you noticed anyone else at his place today?” Finn asked. “Or anything else out of the ordinary.”

  “I’m assuming you know about the deputy who came to check on him this afternoon. He stopped by to ask me the same questions.” Bertha eyed Ryleigh with watery blue eyes. “Maybe you should try talking to each other.”

  “We should at that.” Ryleigh smiled.

  Bertha turned her focus back to Finn. “Then there was another person. A guy. Some might call him fat, but in my day, he would’ve been called heavy. He had on a baseball cap. A black one. And he kept looking down so I didn’t see his face. But he seemed to know where he was going, like he’d been here before. Still, I took a look out front for his car, but nothing was parked on the street that didn’t belong to a neighbor. So I don’t know how he got here.”

  “How long did he stay?” Finn asked.

  “About thirty minutes, I guess. I thought about calling the cops, then figured he could be coming by to pick up some clothes or something for Uri.”

  Finn nodded. “Was he carrying anything?”

  “Not when he arrived, but when he left, he had a plastic grocery bag with something in it.”

  Finn glanced around. “Doesn’t look like you have any security cameras that might have caught him.”

  She shook her head and shifted her other hand to the cane. “Wouldn’t know what to do with it if I did have one.”

  “Anything else suspicious going on?” Ryleigh asked, hoping to bring an end to the questioning.

  “Nothing related to Uri, but I could tell you all about who’s sneaking around behind their spouses’ backs.” She shook her head. “May the good Lord call me soon so I don’t have to keep seeing the downward spiral of people’s morals.”

  “Thank you for your time, ma’am,” Finn said.

  “See how polite you are.” She smiled. “You wouldn’t cheat on a spouse, would you?”

  “No, ma’am. I sure wouldn’t.”

  But he would bail on the woman he was dating. Namely me.

  “Thank you for your time, Ms. Samuels,” Ryleigh said.

  “No Ms. for me like you younger girls.” She tried to straighten up but failed. “I was a Mrs. for seventy-eight years and proud of it.”

  “And well you should be, ma’am.” Finn smiled. “Again, thanks for your time.”

  Ryleigh walked away. The door closed and the lock snicked into place behind them.

  Finn caught up. “I know what you’re thinking.”

  She glanced up at him. “You do, do you?”

  “That I might not cheat like Bertha said, but I’d walk away.”

  “You got me.”

  “Will I ever live that down?”

  She shrugged. “Guess it depends on our talk tonight.”

  She caught the disappointment in his gaze, but she kept going. She couldn’t commit to forgiveness until she knew his full reason for treating her so badly. She knew as a Christian, she needed to forgive him no matter what, and she honestly thought she had. But today God had made it clear. She was still holding the breakup against Finn and had to do better.

  Ryleigh leaned back in the passenger seat of Finn’s truck and read the group text from Russ. She quickly replied with an affirmative to Russ’s text then swiveled to face Finn, who was driving them to the daycare center to pick Avery up.

  “Russ’s text says the warrant for Shadow Lake Logging’s office came in.” She dropped her phone into her pocket. “As an employee, you’ll have to sit this one out, but Russ wants me to join him. He’ll pick me up at your place.”

  Finn didn’t even try to argue but gave a quick nod. “Even if he did include me, I’ll be watching Avery.”

  She turned her attention to the late afternoon sun beaming over the daycare building just down the road. They’d finished their search by four-thirty, giving them plenty of time to pick Avery up before the center’s six p.m. closing time.

  Finn turned the corner. “I wonder if Tobias is going to can me.”

  So that’s what he’d been preoccupied with on the drive.

  “Why would he do that?” she asked.

  He flexed his fingers on the wheel, maybe relieving stress. “I’m in charge of security, and his whole operation was blown to bits. I couldn’t do a much worse job than that. I’d can me if I were in his place.”

  Yeah, she might too. And what about Steele Guardians? “Same goes for our security services. He might dump us as well.”

  Finn gripped the wheel. “I can’t help but feel like we deserve to be fired, but even in hindsight, I don’t know what we could’ve done differently.”

  Should she have done a better job? “I probably should’ve called Nick or Colin to review the threats earlier on.”

  “Maybe,” he said, as if he didn’t want her to think she’d failed.

  She wished he would’ve totally disagreed with her, but even if he had, she knew she was right. She should’ve kept digging into the threats until she had at least one strong suspect to go after. But after the bomber didn’t follow through on the first threats and then they stopped coming, she’d foolishly believed they’d been idle threats. She’d let other things take her focus. And now a man had lost his life in a very gruesome way.

  She resisted sighing as Finn pulled into the daycare parking lot and stopped his truck out front.

  The bright primary colors of the building made the place look cheerful and inviting, and brightly colored playground equipment peaked above a sturdy wooden fence on both sides of the lot. Children’s giggles and joyful screams rang out.

  “Avery has always gone here after school and in the summers.” He shifted into park. “I don’t really know how to evaluate the place, but she seems to like it. At least she doesn’t complain about coming, and it’s what she was used to, so no point in changing it.”

  He took out the keys and opened his door. “Be right back.”

  Well, that answered the question of if he expected Ryleigh to come inside with him. If she joined him, it would likely start tongues wagging. Probably why he was avoiding it.

  Still, she was anxious about everything that was going on, so she slid out to pace. Ryleigh hoped staying at Finn’s house didn’t disrupt this child’s life any more than it had been. The poor thing. Losing her mom—her only parent—so suddenly.

  The door opened, and Finn came out with a thin little girl wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt and blue jean shorts. She had frizzy blond hair down to the middle of her back and no bangs. The sides were clipped back with bright blue barrettes. An excess of freckles dotted her high cheekbones, and she was missing two upper teeth, and the ones that had come in were spaced wide apart.

  Now what did a seven-year-old respond to? Ryleigh had babysat when she was a teen, but that was ages ago, and her memory was vague.

  Finn and Avery marched up to her. Finn introduced Ryleigh. A guarded look tightened the little girl’s face. Man, how rough to be seven and so uneasy. If the child smiled, she would be adorable.

  “We’re working on an investigation together,” he told Avery.

  She looked up at him, her cautious look changing to full-fledged worry. “What kind of investigation?”

  “Just one at my workplace,” he said off-handedly.

  Avery scrunched her eyes. “You mean the bomb that went off today. The one at your work.”

  Finn grimaced. “How did you hear about that?”

  “I heard a couple of teachers talking about it when I was coming back from the bathroom. They didn’t know I was there. I was worried that…” She shrugged.

  “That I was there and might’ve been hurt?” Finn squatted next to her.

  She nodded.

  Finn rested a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to hear that, Peanut. I wasn’t anywhere near the bomb. If I’d known you heard about it, I would’ve made sure you knew that.”

  She lifted her pointed little chin. “But otherwise, you weren’t going to tell me, were you?”

  “No. No point in you worrying for nothing.”

  Wow, that was honest. Ryleigh would probably have tried to sidestep the question.

  Avery’s chin wobbled. “Will this investigation be dangerous?”

  “Not likely.”

  “Will she help you stay safe?” She jerked a thumb at Ryleigh.

  He nodded. “She used to be an FBI agent.”

  Avery’s eyes widened, and she looked up at Ryleigh. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “Do you have a gun and everything?”

  “Yes.” Ryleigh stopped short of telling her that she was carrying right now.

  “Did you shoot anyone?”

  “No.”

  “How come?”

  A question Ryleigh had gotten all the time as an agent. “I never found myself in a situation where I needed to.”

  “I would’ve shot someone.” Avery turned and climbed into the truck then slid between the seats and shed her backpack to scramble into her booster seat.

  “Spoken like a seven-year-old.” Finn grinned.

  Ryleigh laughed and got into the truck as did Finn. Avery’s seatbelt clicked, reminding Ryleigh to put on her own, something she never failed to do. Ryleigh didn’t know why she was so frazzled over meeting Avery, but maybe it made her think about what it might be like to have a child with Finn.

  Not a place she wanted to go.

  She turned to look at Avery. “What was the best part of your day today?”

  “I dunno.”

  “You always like the art projects,” Finn said as he backed out of the space.

  “It was okay.”

  “What did you make?” Ryleigh asked, trying to keep the child engaged.

  “Paper hot air balloons that we hung in our classroom. They’re decorations for a party we’re gonna have soon.”

  “What color was yours?” Ryleigh asked.

  “Pink and purple.”

  Finn looked in the mirror. “Your favorite colors.”

  “I guess.” She looked out the window.

  Man, she was a tough act. Finn really did have his hands full.

  Ryleigh turned around in her seat and faced the dash. She would wait for Avery to talk to her next time and not try to start a conversation. Who knows, Avery might not say a word. Which was sad, because Ryleigh really wanted to help the child relax and find some joy in her day. She hoped Avery had fun when she was in her known environments like school and daycare and especially at home. But maybe her grief still usurped her joy at this point.

  Finn navigated through the small town with people walking dogs and riding bikes. An idyllic area, and here sat a traumatized child who couldn’t enjoy any of it right now.

  They arrived at the large box of a house with two stories and a wall of windows in the front. After pictures Finn had shared of Felicia, who’d been a quirky dresser, the plain traditional style was just as unexpected. Finn pulled into the garage, and they all got out. Avery ran ahead and inside without a word.

  Finn looked at Ryleigh. “I’m sorry for Avery’s rudeness but not surprised. She’s really hurting. I’d call her on it, but I don’t know if that’s a good idea or if it’ll harm her more.”

  Ryleigh couldn’t even imagine having to make such a decision. “Have you considered counseling for her?”

  “Way ahead of you there. She’s going but just sits and looks at the counselor. Not a word out of her, so no progress yet, but I’m not giving up.”

  Ryleigh was about to comment when Russ pulled into the driveway. “That’s my ride. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “Let me know if you’ll be later than six-thirty. I like to make sure Avery eats by then.”

  “You don’t have to hold dinner for me. Just go ahead as you usually do, and I’ll find something.”

  “I’m glad to have you join us. Just call if it’s going to be late.”

  “Will do.” Feeling like an old married couple and not hating it, she fled to Russ’s patrol car and got into the passenger seat. He was on the phone and held up a finger.

  She buckled her seatbelt and then sat back, looking at his computer set up. A laptop was fixed in a holder with a navigation screen mounted next to it. The radio played dispatch calls that came over loud and clear. No calls nearly as urgent as the bombing, unless you consider a bull getting out of his pasture urgent.

  “Get back to me if it turns up anything helpful.” He ended the call and placed his phone in his pocket before backing out of the drive. “That was my deputy who’s running the ViCAP search. He struck out with the use of a photoelectric cell in the state. He’s expanding his search nationwide.”

  “I really think that’s the kind of detail that would make it into ViCAP.”

  “Agreed.” He set off at a clipped speed. “Give me details on your search of Gates’s house.”

  She gave him a report, including the talk with the neighbor. “I’ll get Sierra over to Gate’s place first thing in the morning.”

  “About that. I gave Jenkins a call and asked if they could bring additional staff so they could process the logging office too, after we lock it down tonight. He said he would try, but it was up to Sierra as she runs the trace evidence department.”

  “Would be great if you had more forensic staff to keep from stretching her group too thin.” She looked at him. “No offense to you, of course.”

  “Hey, none taken. I’d love to have the budget for that.” He cocked a half smile. “We could call in the state, but then I’d have to call ATF, and I’m not ready.”

  “You’re seriously not worried about blowback on that?”

  “Why? All it could do is end my career as sheriff.” He chuckled.

  He made light of it, but she didn’t get that vibe from him. “Seems like the job is kind of important to you, though.”

  “Yeah. I’d like to think I’m good at it and I still make a difference, so I’m not ready to leave. But if my decision costs me the job, so be it. In this business you have to do what you think is right no matter public opinion. I think this is the right move that the local voters would appreciate. Especially if they knew my motive is to find and stop a killer.”

  “But you haven’t told the public that a bomber is at large,” she said.

  “No need. The grapevine already has.” He turned onto the road leading to the mill and Shadow Lake Logging’s office. “There’s no indication anyone outside of the mill and logging business is in danger, and my staff is warning the other local companies to be alert.”

  He glanced at her. “You miss the law enforcement gig?”

  “At times. I have to admit to enjoying this investigation. Not that a man has died though or even convincing Colin to come out of retirement.”

  “Yeah, he was pretty broken when he came here. But he’s really lightened up the last few weeks.” Russ turned his blinker on for the office sitting down in a lush valley on the right side of the road. “He’s a real asset to the family business, just like I know you are to your family.”

  She sat back. “Who’d have thought when we played together as kids that we’d be working on solving a murder together.”

  “Well, we did play cops and robbers.” He grinned. “Remember the cap guns and holsters your grandad got us.”

  The smile sent a wave of love for her grandad through her heart. “Gran was so mad at him. Said we had plenty of time to play cops when we grew up if we wanted to.”