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For a oing to order Callahan to put handcuffs on Dustin

Maybe the man was even in on it He’d been involved with the search the day Marcus was found dead; he’d been one of the first to arrive at the scene

Why would a cop do such a thing? An old ax to grind? Maybe Marcus had refused to give hi he’d wanted Murder over a rescue pup? Seemed unlikely He wondered what other reasons the deputy sheriff ht have to obstruct the inquiry

But to his a to listen to hi Then he looked down at the ground for an equally long moment Finally he raised his head "Believe ation"

Dustin did believe hiood officer He just had trouble accepting that so on

"Olivia, you get everyone going," Vine said "The agent and I are--"

"Wait!" Matt broke in "Is that legal? Don’t you need a search warrant? I mean, what if you catch a killer, but your evidence turns out to be tainted?" He looked around worriedly "My, uh, dad’s an attorney," he added "Fruit of the poisonous tree, and all that"

"You have my permission to search all Horse Farm property," Olivia said "There That handles the tents"

"You can search all our personal property, as well Does anyone have any objections?" Drew asked "Matt, I’m pretty sure that if you say it’s fine, it’s fine There are a lot of witnesses who’ll hear you give your per of mine Hell, we have our blood and urine tested all the time What do I care about a backpack?" Matt said "Guys?" he turned to the others

They all murmured that they had no objections

"Then, Olivia, if you’d please get everyone mounted up? We’ll return everyone’s property later," Vine said "Deputy Callahan’s going to ride with you"

"Wow I finally got to useit away"

"We’ll get it back to you by tonight," Dustin promised

Olivia helped Mariah to her feet "We just leave everything?" she asked Dustin

He nodded, speaking to her privately as the others went to get the horses saddled and ready for the ride back It was decided that Callahan would be riding Aaron’s horse

"And stay with the deputy," Dustin e, and you stay with Callahan I don’t like you being without ht be here, butno one reacted when I brought it up" He shrugged "So, I just don’t know"

"You didn’t tellshot" He grimaced "If you’ll pardon the bad pun"

She nodded distractedly "But who could have struck hiether"

"None of us was at the stream when he went down there," he said "We didn’t realize Aaron was , there was so much commotion over Mariah"

"You suspected Aaron," she said "You thought he killed Marcus"

"I never put that into words"

She took a deep breath "Do you think he’llHow long he was out, I don’t know"

Drew had the kids saddling the horses All the saddlebags--everything else--was left behind

A dart could easily be hidden And even though a dart gun was s anything that looked suspect He surveyed the riders and saw cell phones pressed against pockets, but nothing in the shape of a dart gun

But, he figured, the dart gun could’ve been tossed in the forest somewhere

When the riders were all mounted and ready to head back, he stood close to Olivia for a moment She appeared to be calm and in control She also looked drained and weary

He wanted to rebuff the whole concept of searching for the dart gun--which he didn’t think he was going to find, anyway He wanted to head back with Olivia, take a stea shower and fall into bed with her He’d never in his life regretted trying to be noble asahile he stayed