"Thank you," the senior forensics technician called before turning his attention to the door in question.

She watched them puffing powder over the door for a few seconds, but Bruno was still a concern. She left them to it and hurried over to where Bruno was hiding.

Marcus was breathing heavily when he got back to their camp. "Herman, grab everything of value from your quarters and put it on the boat with the stuff we took from the cops. Wilhelm, you come with me."

While Herman headed for their living quarters Marcus and Wilhelm headed for the shed where their still was located. Marcus pointed to the full barrels. "Start loading those onto the boat."

While Wilhelm started rolling away the first of the barrels Marcus went through the shed looking for anything that could connect him with the facility and tossed it into the flames under the boiler. He then rolled the remaining full barrels of alcohol out of the shed before tipping a partly filled barrel over to fill a jug, which he used to splash alcohol around the shed. With a last jug of nearly one hundred and seventy proof spirits in his hand he turned the gas burners right up and lit a candle, which he touched to the alcohol splattered walls. Then he headed for the cabin Wilhelm and Herman been living in. He splashed the contents of the jug around before dropping the candle onto the bedding, where it ignited the alcohol. Sure everything was going to burn, he headed for the boat.

In the distance Dina could see a black cloud forming as her uncle and his party returned carrying two body-bags between them. The bags were loaded into an ambulance, and it headed off. Dina started to worry that she and Bruno had been forgotten as first her uncle, and then the other policemen drove off, leaving just the forensics team, who were also preparing to leave. She jumped to her feet and hurried over. "Are you going to take us home?" she asked.

"What the. "

From Georg Meisner's shocked reaction to her appearance Dina concluded everyone had completely forgotten about her and Bruno. "You aren't going to leave me and Bruno here, are you?"

"The Fraulein is correct, Herr Meisner," Martin Dorrenfelde said. "We can't leave them here."

"I know she's right, but we are not going back to town." He sighed heavily. "Get into the van. Herr Chief Richards can decide what to do with you."

The motor started first time, and soon Marcus was steering a course that would take them as far away as possible from the now merrily burning campsite. He was upset at losing such an ideal location, but the precious cargo of alcohol, the weight of which was threatening to sink the boat, mitigated the loss a little. "She was a nice little earner," he muttered.

"What do we do now?" Herman asked.

"You sell this last load and go to ground. There's nothing back there to connect any of us to the camp, or the dead cops."

"It's a good thing you were there today," Wilhelm said.

Marcus could only agree with the man. If he hadn't been around his two colleagues would probably be in police custody right now singing their tiny little heads off.

At the top of Salt Lick Run a number of police vehicles were parked on either side of the road and armed police were milling about as Sergeant Estes Frost tried to organize them. He broke away from them and approached as Martin drew the forensics van to a halt. Estes walked around to the passenger side and tapped on the window, which Georg wound down.

"We've found a camp, but they torched everything before they left. Do you still want to have a look?

"Yes, thank you."

Dina poked her head through the gap between the front seats. "Uncle Estes. You forgot all about me and Bruno!"

All color drained from her uncle's face and he muttered something she was sure was either a curse or a swear word. She consigned the word to memory, so she could look it up later.

"You and Bruno stick with me, but don't get in the way."

Dina dragged Bruno out of the truck and together they formed up, not quite at the "heel" position, but very close to it. When Estes moved, they moved. They followed Estes up over the hill and down the other side. They followed him to the water's edge, where Chief Press Richards was standing.

Press took one look at Dina and Bruno and swore. Dina pretended she hadn't heard him as she added it to the growing collection of words to be looked up. She waved. "Hi, Mr. Richards."

"Hi, Dina." Press pulled Estes Frost to one side to talk. Every so often either he or her uncle turned to look at her. Finally, it seemed as if Press had come to a decision. "Dina, we can't spare anybody to take you home right now. Can you keep out of trouble until I have someone to spare?"

Mindful that she didn't really have a lot of choice, Dina nodded. "Will it be all right if I look around for milkweed plants?"

"Sure. Is that what you were out looking for today?" Press asked.

"Yes." She looked around the campsite, paying special attention to the still burning shed that someone had built in the middle of a patch of milkweed that would have been worth over a hundred dollars.

The house on Gray's Run looked quiet and peaceful as her Uncle Estes drove the police car up the drive a couple of hours later. As the vehicle rounded the final corner she could see the reception committee that had assembled. There had been little chance that the story wouldn't have broken before she could get home, so Chief Richards had arranged for the office to call home for her, to pass on that she and Bruno were unharmed. Dina touched her uncle on the shoulder. "There's no need to tell mom and dad that me and Bruno saw the men, is there?"

"Well. "

Dina could see her uncle was about to launch into a speech about how her parents had a right to know, so she preempted him. "And there's no need for me to tell Mom that me and Bruno almost got left behind."

Estes stared hard at Dina for a few seconds before a smile flashed across his face and he held out his hand. "It's a deal. So what do we tell your mom and dad?"

Dina put her small hand into his and shook it. "We don't lie, because lies are always found out."

Estes nodded. "So we tell them the truth?"

She nodded. "Just not all the truth."

"You're associating with the wrong people, Dina."

Dina switched her gaze between Estes' eyes and the hand holding hers and raised her brows.

He saw it and grinned. "Enough of that, let's get this over and done with."

Dina had been sent off so her mother could get the real story from Uncle Estes. She knew that because she'd hung around long enough to hear her mom ask exactly that question. She left them to it. Mom was going to freak out when she heard that Dina had discovered three dead bodies, but it wasn't as if Dina hadn't seen dead bodies before-the Croat raid of '32 had taken care of that. She just had to hope that her uncle didn't let slip that she and Bruno had actually seen the murderers when they discovered the police car. That would really freak her mom out. And probably result in all sorts of restrictions being placed on her wanderings.

That reminded her. Bruno had freaked out pretty badly himself when he'd caught sight of the murderers. Why? She wondered. She'd seen Bruno scared before, but never that scared. She probably couldn't just ask him. She'd have to work it into a conversation sometime, but not right now. Not while the memories were too fresh. She needed Bruno to calm down before she asked, because she couldn't risk him freaking out like that again. Mom would be sure to ask uncomfortable questions.