Part 87 (1/2)

have where there's a lot of history, a lot of trust, and no one close

enough to hear.

I turned to him. ”Whatever I heard, I heard,” I said. ”Maybe

it came over my mic and not yours, but I heard it. We're going

to leave it at that. I'm not going over the edge.”

And yet I didn't tell him about seeing Rattlesnake Team. Why not?

Top studied me for a five count, then he nodded. I said, ”I think I want to take another look at the town square

and the cave while there's still enough light to see.” He was still looking at me. ”Want company?”

”No. Stay here with Bunny and keep an eye on Finn.” I left him there with Finn and Bunny and went back to the

valley. I stood for a long, long time looking at the blood. The

placement and amount of the blood fit the scene as Finn had

described it. Except that it didn't explain the missing bodies, the

lack of any evidence of return fire, or what happened to Finn in

that cave. I slung my rifle and drew my sidearm, turning on the

small light that was mounted forward of the trigger guard. The open mouth of the cave was only rock and sand and

some dead snarls of creeper vine, but I paused just outside, still

in the sunlight. But the sunlight was growing weaker as the day