Page 230 of Rangers Last Promise

“That was a mistake.”

“Which part?”

“All of it.”

Sheriff Tate walks into the hallway.

“What was in the photograph?”

“Grant. A piece of paper.”

“What was written on it?”

“I couldn’t read all of it.”

“But you read something.”

Hampton looks at Doc.

“McKinley.”

No one speaks.

The cellar.

The pasture.

Grant’s phone.

A property connected to Robert Vance.

None of this began when Doc came home.

It began before Grant died.

The front door opens.

A woman wearing a state-police jacket walks inside carrying a hard plastic case.

Sheriff Tate straightens.

“Lieutenant Ross.”

“Sheriff.”

Her eyes move over the crowded station, the Rangers, the prisoner in the holding room, and the lockbox on the table.

“I heard Eagle River was quiet.”

Tate looks exhausted.

“Someone lied to you.”

She sets the case on the desk.

“I brought the replacement battery and equipment for the phone.”

Doc moves before anyone else.