Free Ashes and Bone by Stacy Green

eye when I asked about Fayette.
    “You can have all the access you want,” Dani said. “I admire what you’re doing, but don’t get your hopes up. I’ve seen this happen too many times to expect any other outcome.”
    “Thank you.” Dylan grabbed a shovel and a metal detector out of the truck, along with a dirty, black nylon bag. “I won’t be a bother, I promise.”
    Dani pointed to the path along the west of the house. “You take that, you’ll go down to the creek. The Semple property is on the other side.”
    Dylan hurried down the drive, loitering around Ironwood’s exterior. Jaymee knew he’d asked Dani several times to see the house’s hidden passage. So far, she’d refused. “I doubt he’ll find anything useful.”
    “So why’d he lie?” Jaymee asked, staring at Dylan’s retreating back. Shoulders slumped and gait slow, he looked more like a man unwillingly going off to dig in the trenches instead of one happily fighting the good fight.
    “About what?”
    “He said his shovel broke, and he went to the hardware store in Fayette for a new one. Except the one he just pulled out of the truck was old and covered with the same red dirt that’s on his shoes. Which are normally pristine, by the way.”
    “He’s probably already been digging without my permission.”
    “But he lied about why he was in Fayette,” Jaymee said. “That bugs me. Dylan’s usually a straight-up guy. And why did he assume Penn would have information on Nick’s case? For all Dylan knows, Nick just decided to disappear.”
    “I don’t have the answers. But we need to track down Cage and tell him what we know. If we do it in person, he’ll be less likely to yell at me for sharing information.”

  9  
    NICK
    W hatever he gave me is screwing with my memory. Or maybe it’s being confined in a dark room and robbed of most of my senses. I keep trying to remember what I’ve left behind, if anyone will be able to put the pieces together like I did.
    Did Cage find what I left in the car? He’d think to look, surely. When Lana and I were first married, I’d told Cage that any time I had valuable information for a story, I stuck it underneath my driver’s seat. He’d laughed and told me to use the computer.
    But that’s the first place people look. And when you’re trying to be the first to break news, you guard your secrets like a cheating spouse.
    Why am I here again?
    Oh yeah, because I didn’t tell a soul what I was up to, and now no one knows where to look. Or what to look for. Jaymee found the fakes in the chifforobe. If Cage finds my gift under the seat, they’ll start in the right direction. But I don’t think they’ll see the turn in the road until it’s too late.
    Maybe I can talk to him. He brought me water earlier. Told me to drink. He’s not all bad. Maybe I can get him to see this is the worst mistake he can make.

  10  
    JAYMEE
    C age met them at the sheriff’s office. Bags under his eyes and terse replies told Jaymee he hadn’t had any sleep. He took one look at Dani’s sheepish smile and dropped the turkey club sandwich she’d brought him.
    “You told Jaymee about the cartridge case, didn’t you?”
    “I couldn’t not tell her,” Dani said. “She’s terrified and wants to help. You can’t expect her to sit around and do nothing.”
    Cage glared at them both before going back to his sandwich. He took a huge bite and talked out of the free side of his mouth. “So what have you two been up to?”
    “Well, a few things,” Dani started. Cage’s glare didn’t soften as she quickly recounted their afternoon. He finished his sandwich, wadded up the plastic wrap, and tossed it in the trash. Then he took a long drink out of a sweating paper cup. Finally, he sat back in his chair and unleashed.
    “So, you two are reminded of this meth dealer who moonlights as an antiques fraud, and when you realize he’s in the same jail as Penn, you decide to make a social call. Have a girl’s