Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
When he’s a far enough distance away I return my glare to my best friend. “What did he want to know about the dogs?”
“He just wanted to see what they could do.”
“Don’t you feel that kind of thing should remain a proprietary secret, Collin?”
Collin is not the least bit chilled at my reaction even though I’m sending ice vibes. “I’m not an idiot, Amon. And anyway, he asked me this morning about a dog demo, and I said yes, of course. But I told him after lunch because I was busy. And then I set a trail that led right to the old mine.”
A smile creeps up my face. “You did?”
“I did. So, of course, when I set Mercy and King on track they took us right there.”
I laugh a little. “What did he do?”
“Oh, he was all kinds of flustered. Couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Started thanking me for the demo and then, as you just heard, we got back here and there he goes.”
And sure enough, when I look down the driveway I see Sawyer getting into his little silver government car. He backs up so fast, his tires spit gravel.
Collin and I both chuckle. I say, “Good riddance.”
Collin agrees. “And goodbye. I don’t know what he was all about, but he’s done now and I doubt he’ll be back.”
“But we still don’t know what he was really looking for.”
“My guess is that this property is part of whatever’s going on with Blackberry Hill. They’ve got tunnels. We know that, even if we haven’t seen them.”
“And this property has an old mine,” I add, making Collin nod his head.
“There’s an entrance,” Collin says. “It’s all connected. I think that’s why Charlie told you about this place. He had some suspicions and even if he didn’t want us to know about it, he trusted his relationship to me enough to put it in my hands until such time he could make use of it. That’s my guess anyway.”
“What should we do about this, Col? Move?”
“Move?” He laughs. “Hell no. We’ve got a doorway, Amon. A front fuckin’ door right into their secret business. This is a blessing. A gift that Charlie Beaufort never meant for us to receive.”
“Won’t this just piss them off, though?”
“Of course it will. But there are no cameras up there, so they don’t know we know.”
“How can we be sure?”
“Because I had it swept last night. I sent Grinder and York into the woods on the pretense that they were setting up the course they were running this morning. But they were really just sweeping a perimeter around the mine for wi-fi and radio frequencies.”
“Yeah, but those detectors are rinky-dink, Collin.”
Collin puts up his hand. “No. You don’t understand. They weren’t using some phone app, Amon. After you told me the forensics you had Penny do, I sent a request to her for some augmented reality visors that indicted any and all types of electromagnetic waves across all spectrums and they were delivered yesterday afternoon. There are no cameras or microphones up there. My guess is that this place was decommissioned decades ago, Charlie knew about it, told us about it, and now he’s hedging his bets on just how loyal we might be so he sent this Sawyer guy in to figure us out.”
“Hmm,” I say. “Sawyer was here to see if we were using that mine or had suspicions about it.”
“That’s my guess.”
“Do you think he bought it?” I nod my head down the driveway, but the inspector is already gone.
“Fuck no, he didn’t buy it. But he was nervous enough to get the hell out of here. I doubt he’ll be back. And anyway, we haven’t disturbed that place. He’s got nothing to say about it.”
“What are you gonna tell Charlie?”
Collin scoffs. “I’m not tellin’ Charlie nothing. It’s none of his damn business what we do up here. And as far as I’m concerned, what lies below our property is ours to do with what we please.”
“But do you think there’s tunnels that lead directly to Blackberry Hill? I mean, they did infiltrate us.”
“That’s because you hired them, Amon.” He gives me a scornful look. “Which I advised you against, but you didn’t listen.”
“I know. It was a mistake.”
“Doesn’t matter. And anyway, it’s the kinda thing that falls under an ‘earlier the better’ kinda heading, ya know? But I think if there were direct tunnels to Blackberry Hill and they knew about them, then this property wouldn’t have been for sale in the first place and we wouldn’t even be here.”
“It’s Trinity County, though. Which means all the land is private, open to residents only. Blackberry Hill…” I think for a moment, puttin’ some pieces together. “I suppose Ike could’ve bought it, but no outsider could.”
“And Ike’s not technically an insider, is he?”