Page 40 of Chasing Creed

“I promise I won’t eat all your fries,” she smiled at him. “You mentioned in your text that Jason and Brodie are heading home. How’s she doing?”

“Sore. She said it looks worse than it feels, but I know it hurts.”

“I’m so sorry.” She sat back and shook her head. “I had no idea what kind of mess I was sending you all into.”

“It’s part of the job.” He sipped his coffee and tried not to think about how defeated Brodie had looked. It reminded him too much of when they’d first found her. How quiet and frail she looked in that hospital bed. Hannah kept telling him she was strong now. Confident. Fearless. But that wasn’t what he saw last night.

“No, this is a particularly screwed-up shit-show. Excuse my language.” Norwich poked at her fruit, stabbing a slice of strawberry. “The State Patrol’s almost finished at the scene. I got an update from one of the investigators I know. The body’s not Kyle.”

“Wait a minute. What?”

“The body isn’t Kyle.”

“How can they already be so sure?”

“Because the person they recovered from that rubbish pile is a woman.”

“Wow! I have to admit I didn’t see that coming.”

“Me, either.”

“Do they have any idea who she was or how she died?”

“No. Not yet. Their forensic team is thorough. Alvin said they’ve been there since last night.” She put down her fork. Sat back. Rubbed her eyes. “He’ll keep me posted, but I have to tell you, I’m relieved this is not my jurisdiction.”

“What about the drone? Grace detected something. They might be able to test for residues of drugs or explosives.”

“He said they couldn’t find it. Maybe I didn’t give good directions. They had a lot to deal with. The drone might not have been high on their priority list. Did you or Jason happen to get a photo of it? I’ll pass it along.”

Creed pulled out his phone and found the photos he’d taken. “Text?”

“That’s fine.”

“Jason thought it looked more sophisticated than a hobby drone. I talked to Maggie about it last night. She said some of the drug cartels are using them for airdrops and surveillance. You know anything about them being weaponized?”

“Weaponized?”

“They can detonate it. Blow it up remotely if it goes off track or a competitor comes across it before they can make the pickup. Jason thought that might be why Grace found it. She’s trained to detect explosives.”

She sat still, fork in mid-air. Put it down and took a deep breath. “I didn’t even consider that. I am so glad you’re all safe.”

“She’s trained for drugs, too. If there were any on board, they were gone, but it’s possible she could still detect them. We didn’t notice any foot traffic. The drone was tangled up in a bunch of thorny bushes. The same ones Brodie fell into. My point is, if Grace hadn’t led us there, I’m not sure anyone would have seen it. Maybe it’s still there.”

“Is it possible it flew off on its own? Didn’t you tell me it was still making noises?”

“I guess that’s possible, too. Jason thought it might have motion sensors. It was making mechanical sounds. I swear it sounded like it took pictures of us.”

“You didn’t tell me that yesterday.”

“My mind was on Brodie. I didn’t give it any more thought. We should have marked its location. But then, I didn’t expect it to disappear overnight. Do you think the drone has something to do with the body we found? Or Kyle Lawrence?”

“I think it would be stranger if it didn’t.”

“Is it possible Kyle and this woman were making a drug pickup?”

“I was wondering about that, too. But it still doesn’t make sense why a woman’s dead, and Kyle is still nowhere to be found.”

“From what I remember about some of these cartels and networks, they don’t need a whole lot of reason to make people disappear.”