Page 42 of In Cold Blood (High Peaks Murder, Mystery and Crime Thrillers #1)

T he brakes were slammed on the investigation with a phone call.

Four calls, to be exact. They were all left as voice messages on his phone when he’d returned to the Bronco. While searching High Peaks Pub and Brewery, he’d left behind his phone attached to the magnetic holder.

Noah held a finger up to Callie as he listened.

He closed his eyes tight.

“Shoot. I completely forgot,” he said, hanging up and hitting redial.

“What?” she asked.

“It’s Saturday. I told Lena I would get together with my kids. I didn’t think I would be involved in a search today. I was meant to swing by at 8 a.m.”

He called her back. It rang a few times before she answered.

“Ah, you are alive,” she said.

“That’s not funny.”

“Sorry, wasn’t meant to be. Let me guess. Work?”

“Things have changed. I’m going to be here longer than Monday. We had a limited window to search a property. ”

“Some things don’t change, do they, Noah?”

He felt a twinge in the middle of his gut.

Although they’d parted amicably, it only came to light later when they began discussing custody that she wanted out because she felt he was married to his job.

She wasn’t far wrong. His OCD extended to his work.

Even when he wasn’t working, his mind was.

Ticking over. Going over evidence. Facts.

Conversations. Shuffling papers metaphorically in his head.

Shutting off at the end of a shift wasn’t easy.

When Kerri said that Luke never brought his work home with him, he’d only wished he could have been the same.

Even as Lena put him on hold for a second to tell Mia and Ethan to get ready, he was already thinking about all that needed to be done that day. He wanted to see if anything of significance had been found on his brother’s computer; messages, email, social media, unusual browser history.

Then there was his phone.

Callie had said they were getting a member of the Cellular Analysis Survey Team (CAST) to assist in determining the estimated locations for his phone on the days before and on the night in question just in case.

He didn’t expect there to be anything suspicious while Luke was on shift as shutting off his phone wouldn’t have concealed his whereabouts.

Officers were often tracked by dispatch through various methods.

Most cruisers had a dash-mounted computer that typically had some form of GPS in it, then of course there was his vest-mounted radio.

It was usually prohibited to turn them off but with technology having constant failures, it wasn’t uncommon to see some go down. It happened.

It was the grey area, especially when dealing with what occurred between calls.

Every sheriff’s office and police department varied when it came to equipment, GPS, and policies.

For the county, dispatch could see the direction, location, and speed of all cruisers at any given moment while on a call or between.

That information was logged and could be brought up by command when needed.

It was done to compile Luke’s call history.

In viewing that sheet, it would have been normal to see officers doing a run home to grab some extra gear they’d forgotten or carrying out a coffee.

No one generally cared about that unless of course, they were exhibiting odd behavior like driving past an ex’s home an unusual number of times in a shift or if they were breaking some kind of law and a complaint had been logged.

Had Luke arranged to meet someone later that night out on Route 73? Had he been in contact with someone previously? Was there anything suspicious about his browsing history or valuable enough to be a lead? Those were the things they were interested in.

Lena came back on the line. “Aiden and I are heading out for breakfast.”

“Ah, sweet,” he said, trying to not sound too condescending. He wanted her to be happy and he was glad to see someone was giving her the attention she deserved.

“Anyway,” she said. He caught an edge to her voice as if she was wondering whether he was being genuine or not. “Where are you now?”

“High Peaks.”

“Oh. Can you meet me in the parking lot near the bridge? The one from the other day. I’ll hand them over to you and…”

“Yeah, okay.”

She made it sound as if they were toddlers.

They were long past that stage. Ethan was fourteen, Mia was sixteen.

And a constant worry. It certainly would have been easier to live in High Peaks.

He’d chewed it over, what with his father talking about a position being offered.

But that was a leap he wasn’t sure he was ready to make yet.

So, in the meantime, he would see the kids one weekend out of the month.

Despite his driven nature, that was one thing he didn’t compromise.

His kids meant everything.

Thankfully he and Lena had never used them as a weapon in their divorce.

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Noah. Don’t be late.”

“You have my word.”

She grumbled and hung up.

Noah sat there clutching the phone and thinking. Callie rested her arm on his driver’s side window. “Sounds like I’m going it alone.”

“For a couple of hours. I…” He breathed in deeply. “I need to see them.”

“It’s fine. I’ll head over to Cyrus’ apartment and phone you. Let you know what we found. In the meantime, we’ll wait on the DNA to be processed and to hear back from the FBI on the cellular and video footage.”

Axel barked in the back. Callie reached through and ruffled his ear. “And I’ll see you later, Deputy Brown Eyes.” Axel barked. She smiled at the dog before crossing the lot toward her black cruiser.

The drive into Saranac that morning was an easy one.

A mountain morning mist had settled over the tips of the green pines like a ghostly apparition as Noah made the journey up Route 86.

It felt like the place was beckoning him home.

To return to his roots. The tall trees hedging him in on both sides were only a fraction of the enormity of the Adirondacks.

Each one reached for the sky like an outstretched finger.

Noah turned up the air conditioning .

He could already feel the humidity. It was going to be another hot day.

He pulled into the parking lot near the skate park. A couple of teens were sliding in and out, already getting a head start on Saturday. It reminded him of Dax. He’d gone through his own skating phase.

Noah swung into a parking space. He climbed out and looked around. That’s when he spotted them. Mia was first out, she glanced at her phone and said something to Lena. She didn’t look too happy. Ethan was all smiles. He’d always been that way. Lighthearted, easy. Mia, well, she had her moments.

“Hey, darlin’.”

Noah opened his arms and Mia veered around him like an obstacle. “Okay.”

He smiled at the sight of his son. “Ethan.”

Ethan fist-bumped him. “It’s that time of the month, Dad,” he said quietly without Mia hearing. Noah rolled his eyes.

“Jump in. I’ll be there in a second,” he said.

“I would if there wasn’t a wolf inside,” Mia said.

“It’s not a wolf. It’s Uncle Luke’s K-9. His name’s Axel.”

“I’m not going in there.”

“Then jump up front,” Noah replied, turning as Lena approached with Aiden.

“Noah. This is Aiden.”

“Hey,” he said, shaking his hand.

“I’m sorry about your brother,” Aiden replied. “Grief is a hard thing to process. If you ever need to talk, I’m here.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Well…” Lena said, a smirk forming.

Aiden must have sensed them wanting to have a moment. “Well, good to meet you, Noah.” He thumbed over his shoulder. “I’ll be in the car, Lena.”

He wandered back under Noah’s watchful eye .

“Seems nice.”

Lena nodded. “Listen, Mia is a little hot-headed today. If she gives you any problems, tell me. Okay?”

He waved her off. “Ah, it’s all good.”

“No. She’s been a handful lately. Sixteen. Boys.” She summoned a smile. “All right. Well. I’ll meet you back here at noon?”

“That works.”

They returned to their vehicles. Axel was having a whale of a time in the back with Ethan.

His bushy tail was batting Ethan in the face.

“Axel. Come on now. Sit your butt down,” Noah said as he slammed the door shut and glanced at Mia who was staring at her phone, thumbing it faster than he could even read what was on the screen.

“So you wanna get some ice cream?”

“Sounds good to me,” Ethan replied, scratching Axel’s back.

The dog barked seemingly in agreement. Mia just shrugged.

The upside was he didn’t get to see this often.

Usually, she was talkative and upbeat. Although it was new, he thought it was best not to prod the wasp’s nest. Nothing worked better than ice cream in getting a kid to relax.

He figured she’d eventually slip out of the funk.

Noah took them over to Donnelly’s Ice Cream, famous in Saranac for its soft-serve ice cream.

Since 1953 it had been a staple of the Adirondacks.

The tiny white shack was set back from the road about ten minutes north of the town.

An American flag flapped in the breeze above it.

A teen was inserting money into the Pepsi machine up against the side as they rolled in.

“Have you found out who killed Uncle Luke?” Ethan blurted out.

“Ethan!” Mia said, whirling around in her seat and glaring .

“It’s okay, Mia. He has a right to ask.” Noah eyed his son in the rearview mirror. “No. Not yet. But we will.”

“Best of luck,” Mia said under her breath.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I heard it was a gang hit.”

“From who?”

“Rumors.”

He stopped the vehicle beside a few other trucks and cars. Several parents had the same idea. Spending time with his kids was what he most missed. “These rumors? Where did you hear them?”

“School. Kids I know.”