Page 53 of Fatal Vision

“How do you want to proceed?”

Colton looked down to see Salisbury in the doorway, wagging his tail. In his mouth was a wrapper.

As if he were carrying a prize, the dog marched over and dropped it at Colton’s feet, sat like a well-mannered dog, and stared up at Colton with expectation all over his scruffy face.

Colton bent down and petted his head. “An empty granola bar wrapper. Fantastic.”

He gave the dog a thumbs-up, then straightened and stared at the farmhouse again, running scenarios through this mind. “If you can’t get anything more on your end,” he said to Beatrice, “I’ll have to kick some rocks here. I’m going to need more time.”

Beatrice started to disagree and Salisbury barked. Colton looked down, his gaze landing on the shiny wrapper as it caught a shaft of sunlight.

The wrapper wasn’t dirty. It was a bit crinkled, but not like ones that had been blowing around outside in the elements. It wasn’t faded from the sun either.

It was fresh, just like the shoe print.

Someone had been here, and recently from the looks of it. “Hang on,” he said to Beatrice.

Hustling to the truck, he grabbed a napkin from the glove compartment and returned, using it to pick up the wrapper. He put the phone back to his ear. “I might have something.”

“What?” Beatrice asked.

“I sent a photo to Rory of a shoe print—a fresh one—at the site where the sniper shot Shelby. That’s where I am right now. My pal, Salisbury, just found a granola bar wrapper. I think our shooter is still around and keeping an eye on Shel.”

“Don’t touch that wrapper. There might be prints.”

“I’ll see if the locals can dust it.”

“You think that’s prudent, considering their limited resources and dislike of you?”

Colton chuckled. “Guess that rules out the FBI as well.”

“We don’t know the exact parameters of this investigation, and unfortunately, it appears your relationship with local law enforcement will not smooth the way in reopening it. If the Navy is hiding something, they can and will exert a tremendous amount of influence and control over all of the players, as your ex-wife has already experienced with her dead-end investigation. We can’t run the risk of alerting them that the two of you are digging around again.”

“What do you suggest? I can’t just walk away. The shooter—”

“I didn’t advise you to walk away, Mr. Bells. Be quiet and listen. I’ve dealt with more than a few cover-ups in my time. Here’s what we’re going to do.”

Colton stared at the floor as Beatrice laid out her plan. It was a little bit crazy…which meant he liked it.

A moment later, he disconnected and pocketed his phone. Holding the wrapper up in the sunlight, he patted the dog’s head once more. “Salisbury, you may have just earned yourself a steak tonight.”