Part 63 (2/2)

”It sounds like she knows a lot about this world,” Avery said.

She gave him a grateful look.

Falcone scowled at him.

”I can help you look for a suitable place,” she said.

Falcone's gaze bore into her. ”Why would you help me?”

”So I can get back to Logan as soon as possible.”

Falcone continued to stare at her. ”Who is this Logan person?” he asked.

”A shape-s.h.i.+fter. He got caught in that trap you left for me. That's how I met him.”

”We're wasting time talking about this shape-s.h.i.+fter,” Avery interjected. ”We should find a place to hide.”

Falcone glared at him, but he went outside and gave orders for the men to pack up camp.

When he came back, she raised her head. ”Untie me,” she said.

JAKE Cooper leaned against his unmarked. It had a few dents in it where chunks of the building had landed, but other than that, it was unharmed.

He was supposed to be on sick leave. But he'd gotten the lieutenant to rea.s.sign him back to active duty.

He still had the mother of all headaches from the incident last night. But the good news was that he hadn't been inside the building when it exploded. And neither had anyone else, thanks to his stroke of intuition, or whatever it was.

Earlier in the day, the owner had screamed b.l.o.o.d.y murder about having his place shut down. Now he was going after his insurance company.

So had he blown the place up himself to collect on the insurance? That was always a possibility.

A team from the Maryland State Police were on their way to determine what had caused the explosion. Someone had suggested a gas leak, and that was one possibility.

Or maybe someone had set a bomb. He repressed a laugh. Yeah, terrorists, like he'd told the Lieu.

Or maybe it was someone who wanted to destroy evidence.

And who would have done that?

Marshall? It didn't seem likely, since he was busy searching for his wife. Unless he was lying about that.

Jake had sent a patrol car back to the residence, and the guy wasn't there.

He switched his thoughts from Marshall to his own lucky escape. He would have been pretty close to the explosion, if a large dog hadn't dashed out of the woods and pulled him toward safety.

A large dog wearing a backpack of all things. Make that three large dogs and two backpacks.

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