Chapter 4

4

"How'd it go last night?" Devyn asked as she and Rip entered the living room and found Coy and Kenzie seated, poring over additional missing persons files.

"Last night?" Kenzie questioned, looking between Coy and his sister, her cheeks turning crimson.

Coy grinned, it was clear he knew full well where Kenzie's mind went. Straight to their evening together, in his bed.

"It went… really well." He said.

Devyn sat a handful of journals on the coffee table in front of them, "Does that mean you found something?"

"Oh, uh, no." Kenzie shared, "But we've made a lot of progress. Once we separated the relevant files from those that weren't, we started getting through them pretty quickly. We took out all the male missing persons, then narrowed by age, location, and those with children versus those without. It was a whole process."

"Uh-huh." Devyn looked between Coy and Kenzie, "You know we know, right?"

Kenzie continued to blush, "You… know?"

"Everyone knows." Devyn grinned. "And if there was any question before, you just confirmed it with your long-detailed explanation –– deflection, Sheriff, is a dead giveaway. As is distraction tactics."

"Oh. That." Kenzie awkwardly chuckled.

"It didn't work when you two were younger and always out in the barn, either."

"Wait, you knew about that too?"

"Everyone did."

"Oh wow." Kenzie buried her face in her hands. "That's embarrassing."

"Why? You're adults. You can do whatever you want. As long as you're happy, we're happy for you." Devyn shared.

Kenzie looked at Coy and raised an eyebrow, "Is that so? Happy adults, huh?"

"Yes, and I'd appreciate the same courtesy when it comes to my love life as well." Devyn deadpanned. "You two talk louder than you think. I heard it all. Let this serve as my first and only warning, butt out. I'm a grown-up, too, big brother."

"Copy that." Coy huffed in frustration and returned his focus to the file he held.

"How about you?" Kenzie interjected, her tone resolute as she steered the conversation in a different direction. "Looks like you've been doing some reading. Anything stand out?"

"I was up all-night reading those. I didn't find anything that can help us now, but I found a little comfort in her words and the things she shared as mementos she wanted to remember."

"Such as?"

"Just funny or sweet stuff, mostly about all of us. There were some things about Pop. You may want to give it a read." Devyn said. "It was a nice reminder."

Coy set aside the file he had been examining and reached for a stack of journals, flipping through the pages of one, then sat them aside and went back to the file. "Maybe when things calm down."

"Maybe we can all read them, take a few, and then pass them on to the next person when we're done," Devyn suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea," Kenzie remarked, her gaze lingering on Coy. "Your mother left you a gift with those journals. Getting to read her words in her handwriting. It's special."

Seeming to sense Coy's unease, Rip shifted the conversation to a new subject, "We're going to get started on lunch before Cut gets here with Nora. You guys hungry?"

Both of them nodded in agreement.

"The Crime Scene Investigators finally left a little bit ago." Devyn shared.

"About time." Coy chided.

"It'll be nice to speak with Nora a little more in-depth without deputies, or in this case, a CSI team around."

"They said they may be back if the evidence yields anything that requires another search." Rip said, "The property is so massive, they had to stop somewhere eventually, but they combed over the areas they were in pretty good so unless something big pops us, I think the coast is clear."

"Did they haul a lot out of here?" Coy asked.

"Not from what I could see," Rip answered. "A reasonable amount, but mostly garden tools and things of that nature from around the scene. I didn't note anything significant, and they weren't exactly sharing."

"If you're referring to our entrepreneurial brother's little hobby farm side hustle, I don't think they found any traces of anything. If that were the case, we would have been served immediately with search warrants." Devyn optimistically shared.

"That's a relief. One less thing to worry about." Coy grimaced, "Now we just need to figure out who killed those bastards and why they dumped them here."

"Do you think it could've been a message?" Devyn asked, "Like a threat against Nash because of those damn plants?"

"Double murder is a pretty steep price for a few plants, but who knows at this point." Coy pinched the bridge of his nose as the frustration built, "Given we also have remains that have yet to be identified from decades ago, I'm starting to wonder when we're going to catch our break here."

"It's coming," Kenzie added while checking her phone to read a new message. "It has to break eventually. Looks like my recusal from Nora's case has been accepted. Per my recommendation, Shanks will take point on the case in my absence. This is good. He'll keep us in the loop as things transpire. And looks like Nora's been released. They're on their way –– left less than an hour ago."

Devyn's phone buzzed, prompting her to glance at the message notification.

"I just got the message, too. Poor Nora. As if she's capable of something like this." She slid her phone back into her pocket.

Kenzie sighed, "To be fair, she was covered in blood and holding the murder weapon."

"Alleged murder weapon." Devyn corrected.

Rip snorted, "Considering both men were stabbed and she held a knife –– the only knife in the immediate area –– it was a pretty fair assumption of the police to make. I'm not saying she did it, and I agree this was a set-up, but the optics aren't good."

"So, she picked it up. Stumbling upon something like that is surely to surprise anyone who isn't familiar with murder and mayhem –– which is the majority of the population unless they're in your line of work, apparently. She was in shock… One came at her… That's an easily explainable defense." Devyn shrugged.

"You sound like her lawyer." Coy teased.

"Second chair, maybe, but I'm not ready to lead this kind of case once it hits the courtroom, and that is what it will turn into if we aren't careful. If we don't start finding answers, this thing is going to go all the way, and it'll be a fight. One we can win, but a fight nonetheless."

"Not knowing who is behind this complicates it even more." Rip interjected, "If they're willing to murder and dump on your property, attack the sheriff at the sheriff station, and shoot at Dev and one of the President's agents a handful of miles from the President himself, who knows what they'll do in a courtroom." Coy contributed to the mounting concern.

"Damn. We really are being set up, aren't we? I just can't wrap my head around that." Coy shared with the group. "I get that Dill, and I do things in our line of work that provoke really bad people, but this is starting to feel completely unrelated. It's… too personal."

"Maybe. It is certainly starting to look personal to me, but still a mystery at this point." Rip volunteered.

Devyn snorted and sarcastically said, "A long-growing list of mysteries. It's like a bad movie at this point. And to think, just a handful of weeks ago, this place was boring as hell."

"Then we all came home, and all hell broke loose." Coy shook his head, a defeated expression clouding his features.

"Why is that? Maybe you're on to something, big brother, and there's a clue in there. Coming home… hmm. Let's think about that, shall we? In the meantime, we are going to fire up the grill and get lunch ready for Cut and Nora."

As they all rose to head to the kitchen, they encountered Nash rushing in, clearly out of breath.

"There you are." He panted. "We got to go. It's bad…"

Coy grabbed his arm, "What? What's bad, Nash? What happened?"

"Cut and Nora. There's been an accident." Nash's eyes filled with emotion.

Kenzie's phone pinged once more, and she swiftly read the message, hoping it contained information about the accident.

"Oh God." Her voice quaked, "The coroner's been called to the scene. There's… a casualty."