He lifted his brows to her. “Got another idea?”
“Pissed to say I don’t,” she muttered.
The phones rang throughout the department but Reva was catching calls so the team just turned their attention back to the board.
The ringing stopped.
Seconds later, Hix’s line rang.
He reached across, picked up and put the handset to his ear, his eyes to the lights on the phone telling him he was getting a transfer from Reva.
“Yeah?” he answered.
“Call for you, Hixon, and you’ll wanna take it,” she said with urgency.
He unhooked his ankles and straightened, turning toward the phone. “Send it through.” He heard a click and said, “This is Sheriff Drake.”
“Drake. Miller. Ranger at Fort Robinson,” a man replied. “We think we got your truck.”
Hixon lifted a hand and cut his gaze through the room, snapping his fingers. He hit a button with his other hand and put down the handset.
“You’re on speaker, Ranger. Got my deputies with me.”
“Right. Found a Ford F150 this morning. Like you asked, we did a number of patrols so it wasn’t there yesterday. Found it on a patrol this morning. Seems dumped, no one around, engine cold, so whoever had it’s been gone awhile. Your plates but even if they’d switched ’em out, won’t matter. Back cab is filled with blood.”
Hal prowled out, yanking out his cell.
“It’ll take a while, but we’re coming with lights on, Miller,” Hix told him. “You call your locals?”
“Figured you’d want the news first, but they’re my next call.”
“Great. Thanks. It’ll be a trek to get up to Dawes, but we’re on our way. You got my cell in case you need to call?” Hix asked.
“Got it. See you when you get here.”
They disconnected while Hal walked back in.
“Forensics is on their way there,” he announced.
“Good, Hal, thanks,” Hix muttered then looked to Larry. “You’re with me.” He turned his attention to Donna and made sure she read his look that she wasn’t going to like what he had to say for a variety of reasons, but she was going to have to do it. “I’m on the road, we still gotta talk to our meth man. You’re gonna do that with Hal.”
Her eyes shared she didn’t like it but she just said, “Got it, Hix.”
Hix looked to Bets. “Bets, want you goin’ over any calls Reva takes. Do it while runnin’ names of known fugitives anywhere in the U.S. that have ties to McCook County.”
“Needle in a haystack?” she asked.
“Yup,” he answered. “Also, the McCalls don’t turn in their boy for spray painting the Mortimers’ barn after school today, you take a ride out there and have another chat with them.”
“Bryce did it?” she asked, eyes crinkling.
“Louella shot his dog,” Hixon answered.
“Art I’d paint on their fuckin’ barn’d be a lot more colorful, those assholes shot my dog,” Hal muttered.
Bets set her crinkle to Hal, muttering back, “Totally.”
Hal looked surprised she shared this with him, but Hix didn’t have time to feel relief it seemed his uncomfortable chat with his deputy yesterday might bear fruit.
He turned to Larry and said, “Let’s roll.”
“With you, boss,” Larry replied.
And they rolled.
Hix and Larry were standing next to Ranger Miller as the Cherry County forensics boys went over the truck when his cell rang.
He dug it out of his pocket, saw the call was from Donna, took it and put it to his ear.
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Kavanagh Becker is a dickweed,” she answered.
Kavanagh Becker, their meth man.
Hix blew out a sigh before he asked, “What?”
“Won’t talk to anyone but you,” she told him. “And that would be you and only you, not you and another one of your deputies there for backup.”
He could strangle Blatt for leaving him this shit.
“He give any indication it’s worth my while to make that effort?”
“I don’t know. Think he’s scum but that’s not the only reason I wouldn’t play poker with the man.”
Damn.
“This gets done, I get back, I’ll take care of that. Anything else?” he asked.
“Sadly, no. There?”
One of the forensics men was heading his way so he said, “Not yet but I gotta go.”
“Right, Hix. Later.”
“Later.”
He disconnected and jerked his chin up to the guy as he shoved his phone back in his pocket.
“First, the good news,” the man started.
Which meant there was bad news.
Shit.
“Let’s have it,” Hix said.
“Guy didn’t have time to run a vacuum, so we got hair, we got some fibers, we got mud. Your vic took care of his truck so it’s tidy but not clean as a whistle. This may narrow some shit down.”
“Right, good, what else?” Hix pressed.
“Well, obviously, he couldn’t clean up that blood and reckon he knew it because he didn’t try. Also, your vic’s cell is in there. It’s stomped to shit but it’s his model. It’s not much but at least that mystery’s solved. ”
Hix nodded.
“Now, the bad,” the guy said. “Whole damned thing is wiped down. Steering wheel, dash, handles, windows, even the exterior. Hood to tailgate, thing’s been gone over with what looks like Windex. Streak free. Not even a partial fingerprint we could pick up.”
“Fuck,” Larry bit off.
“Larry,” Hix murmured.
“I’d say this is a fuck moment, Sheriff,” the guy put in, sounding frustrated himself.
Hix gave him a nod and turned to Larry. “On your cell, man. Call Faith, ask her if her husband happened to keep a bottle of window cleaner in his truck. He didn’t, get on to Bets and get her on the phone to every gas station and convenience store between Glossop and Fort Robinson to see if any of their clerks recall a man in a white Ford truck buying glass cleaner in the last three days.”
Larry nodded and stepped away.
Hix looked to the ranger. “We’ll arrange for this to be towed to McCook.”
“You got your hands full and I got a brother-in-law with a towing business. You want me to take care of that for you?” Miller asked.
“Be obliged.”
Miller nodded and stepped away.
Hix looked to the forensics guy whose name he now knew very well was John.
“We find this asshole, you come to the pig we’re gonna roast in celebration and I’ll have your favorite bottle waiting for you.”
“Cherry’s a big county, Sheriff, but can’t say we’ve had anything this interesting in a while, no matter how much what we’re investigating sucks. That said, never turn down a hog roast or a bottle.”
“Me either,” the other forensics guy, named Jay, called.
“Hope the next call you get from us is sharing the details of when you can roll up for that and not another request for you to roll out,” Hix replied.
“Me too, brother,” John muttered, turned and headed back to the truck.
Larry returned and immediately shared, “Bets is on it.”
“Right,” Hix said, staring at the truck.
“You figure his prints are in the system and that’s why he was so methodical about wiping that truck down?” Larry asked.