Page 5 (1/1)

The living room was empty

He pulled out his cell phone, dialed Sherlock before he realized it hadn’t worked the last time he’d used it But she answered i problelad I reached you The last ti’s happened"

A brief pause, a touch of panic in her voice, then, "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I pro’s happened"

"Tell h it When he told her about so him out of the attic, he kept his voice as calain She was so terrified, so hysterical, that I couldn’t get anything out of her We’ve got to find her I don’t know if she’s still in danger, but she believes she is It’s cold outside and she didn’t have on a coat, she wasn’t even wearing a sweater She could freeze to death"

"Dillon, I think you should go to the sheriff’s office in Blessed Creek I reht there in the middle of Main Street I’ll be there with Sean as soon as I can I’ to call the sheriff, ask him to meet us at his office You be careful, Dillon, drive slow and careful, keep your eyes open for that woured out I love you" He could hear Sean singing away in the background Now, that sounded normal He smiled

Ten minutes later, Sherlock climbed out of Jimmy Maitland’s old jeep, which he left at the cabin for his boys’ use She orried about Dillon, feeling more scared than usual, perhaps because they were on vacation and this was so unexpected With Sean asleep in the backseat, snoring little puffs of cold air, she could let the worry show on her face She stood a le light shining in the wide front s She saw an olderwith a coffeemaker Good, he had to be the sheriff He’d taken her seriously

Sheriff Doozer Harms stood in the middle of his office, his back to his coffeepot, his arms crossed over his beefy chest as he watched a man pull up behind the woer side, unfastened the child’s car seat strap, and lifted out a sleeping boy They all huddled close, then turned, as one, toward his office

The man pulled his ID out even as he stepped into the office "Sheriff Harent Lacey Sherlock We have a problem and we need to move quickly My wife is the one who called you"

"Yes, she did," said Sheriff Harents, and they were husband and wife, even had a little kid What was this all about? Agent Sherlock had told hi i the Bud Light he’d left on top of the TV, and began tapping his foot

He’d been the sheriff of Blessed Creek for nearly thirty-two years He figured he’d heard every tourist probleents But he knew the i polite, kne to listen even if he was thinking about howthe 76ers

He shook hands all around, patted the little boy’s head, and pulled out two chairs "What seeent that you see me"

"It’s a wo her ar to kill her"

Sheriff Harms didn’t say a word, just leaned a bit closer, his eyes on Savich’s face He hadn’t heard anything like this before "Where is she, Agent Savich? This wo the bats that had knocked him off the attic ladder and onto the second-floor corridor

"Bats," the sheriff said, then nodded for hiical explanation I can coet your deputies together so we can search around the house She ran away again, and I’ to kill her, and whatever’s going on, soht"

"I can see that you’re worried, Agent Savich You spoke of driving her back to her home Where was her hoh the frontTiht, it was cold, and she had been so disturbed he knew she’d do so in the thick trees, shuddering with cold, crying, her hysteria building until ht without his help