"You heard from them?" Mick asked.

"Yep. Hayley just got done with finals. And Marla is finishing up her internship. They’re planning a visit soon." Thoughts of the impending visit brought on a pang of emptiness. He missed his daughters, but they were grown women now with their own lives in towns far away. He couldn’t expect them to hang around here.

"I can’t wait to see them." Mick put the picture down and leaned his hip against the bookcase. Sam was glad Gram had made Gramps secure it to the floor.

"So, what were you in such a hurry to see me about?" Sam asked.

"I got something for you." Mick tossed his beer into the trash next to Sam, opened the fridge, and pulled out another one.

Sam leaned over and retrieved the bottle from the trash and threw it in the blue recycling bin by the door. The glass clanked against the other bottles. Mick twisted off the top of his beer, flicked it into the bin, and came back to sit at the table.

"I did some research on that lady who had the car stolen. Barbara Bartles. Turns out she has a grandson that isn’t exactly an upstanding citizen." Mick took a slow sip of the beer. "Got to thinking that maybe the car theft wasn’t so random."

"He into drugs?" Sam thought about the trace of cocaine and partial fingerprint in the ashtray.

"Yep. Nothing on his record, but I have an in with the police down there, and he’s been taken in on suspicion a few times. They went easy on him, hoping he’ll eventually inform on the next guy up the chain."

Sam nodded. It was the same thing Sam was hoping to do with Jesse. "Think it has anything to do with Thorne?"

Mick shrugged. "He lives in Preston, but we don’t know how far Thorne’s influence reaches. Or even if Thorne is the source of these drugs."

Sam knew he was. Even though they didn’t have any proof, it wasn’t just wishful thinking. Thorne was up to more than just raping the land to build his resort. But this wasn’t about Thorne—this was about Tyler and catching the guy who had killed him.

Sam felt a spark of excitement. This kid could know something about what happened that night. Possibly even be Tyler’s killer himself. "What’s this kid’s name? Maybe we should go talk to him. You know, off the record. See if he knows anything."

Mick reached into his pocket, the grin spreading across his face. He pulled out a plastic bag with a shot glass in it. Sam had been wondering when he was going to show him what he had in there.

"I can do you one better," Mick said. "You know how you got that partial print from the car? I happen to have had a few drinks with Danny Bartles. He drinks shots of Sambuca. And it just so happens that I know the bartender at the bar he hangs out at. She’s a pretty blond thing. Anyway, I persuaded her to give me the glass Danny drank from. Might be a print on there you could use."

Chapter Twenty-Two

Since everyone had touched base as instructed on the previous night’s calls, no one was surprised when Sam showed up with Lucy and the remains of Lynn’s cell phone the next morning.

Reese found a charger that fit the phone, and now it was sitting on Kevin’s desk, and they were all standing around the desk, looking down at it. The screen was loaded with spiderweb cracks, and the back of the case had two chunks of plastic missing. It should have been fully charged, but wouldn’t turn on. No surprise, given the shape of the device.

"So the killer probably tossed the phone in after Lynn," Jo said.

"Must have figured something on there might implicate them. Probably hoped it would never be found," Sam added.

"But the killer didn’t know we had our secret weapon, right, girl?" Reese leaned down and rubbed Lucy’s head. The dog thumped her tail on the floor and glanced from Sam to Reese. Sam swore the darn thing was smiling.

Sam scrubbed his fingers through his short hair. "Too bad we can’t get anything off it. It’s going to take forever to get the information from Verizon, and meanwhile, the killer has time to cover his tracks."

"Can I try?" Reese reached a tentative hand toward the phone.

"You think you can get it to work?" Sam was dubious. Then again, Reese did have a talent for computers. What the heck? The thing was dead as a doornail—it certainly couldn’t hurt to have her try.

"Maybe. If not, I might be able take it to the academy and get someone to work on it." She looked up at Sam hopefully. "It could be quicker than waiting on the carrier to hand over the records."

"Okay, sure."

Reese smiled then cocked her head. "Did something happen to your lip?"

"Nope." Sam knew they’d all heard he went to break up the fight. They didn’t need to know the details.

Reese shrugged then took the phone to her desk. Lucy trotted along behind her.

Kevin’s eyes followed the dog. "What happens if Dupont comes in and sees the dog here?"

Sam got the impression Kevin wasn’t exactly a dog lover. He skirted around Lucy as if she would bite. From the sideways glances Lucy gave Kevin, the feeling was mutual. And it was obvious Kevin didn’t want to get on Dupont’s bad side, which was somewhat of a mystery considering he didn’t seem to care too much about his job.

"Maybe we should keep her in my office. That way if Dupont comes in, I’ll come out to talk to him and leave her in there. He won’t know she’s here," Sam said.

"We can’t just hide her in the police station," Kevin said.

"It’s just temporary. She has to go back to the shelter. But she helped find the phone, and I’d like to reward her with some free time before she has to go sit in a lonely kennel over there."

"How is she going to get adopted if she’s not over there?" Kevin asked.

Sam looked at Lucy, her eyes reflecting all the trust in the world. He wasn’t keen on the idea of someone else adopting her, but he knew it was the best thing for her.

"She might not get adopted," Reese said in a low voice.

Jo’s brow furrowed. "Why not?"

"She’s a runner. She’s already run away twice. Not too many people want to adopt a dog like that."

"What do you mean? What will they do with her, then?" Sam asked.

Reese glanced at Lucy, who was now lying beside her desk, and lowered her voice. "Eric said they might swap her with another shelter, but if nobody adopts her after a while, she could be euthanized."

As if she knew what they were talking about, Lucy whined. She put her chin on her front paws. Her eyes looked up, her brows twitching as she switched her attention from Reese to Sam to Jo.

"We can’t let that happen. She’s already helped us out twice. She’s practically an officer." Jo looked at Sam. Her gray eyes sparked with alarm.

Sam rubbed his hand over his chin, rough with stubble even at this early time in the morning. Had he forgotten to shave? The glass Mick had given him was burning a hole in the pocket of his windbreaker. He couldn’t wait to tell Jo about it. "I don’t know what we can do. I wish we could work something out, but…"

"There might be something…" Reese chewed her bottom lip. "Maybe for now we could just try to keep her with us for a little while. I’ll see if Eric can reset her time at the shelter so she has more time to get adopted before they trade her out."

"And if she doesn’t?" Jo asked.

"Let’s just buy her a few days," Reese said. "The shelter only gives them so many days, but if we can make it look like she’s a new surrender, then she’ll have that much more of a chance. If that doesn’t work, I might have something else I can try."