Page 101 of In Cold Blood

“You’ll come back. On leave. Right?”

“Sure. Yeah.”

Noah hadn’t told them what his father had said about leaving and never coming back. He didn’t want to taint their view of him. Ray looked up to him like he could do no wrong. Luke wasn’t as adhering to his rules. He would often disagree but because he never chose a different path, their father rarely argued with him. Madeline, well she was a firecracker. She spoke her mind much like their mother.

Gravel crunched below the tires, alerting him to the end of the smooth blacktop.

The Bronco bumped as it wound around another bend and Noah took in the sight of a yellow A-frame set back in among the trees. Instead of pulling into the driveway, Noah veered over to the side of the gravel road and hopped out. He made his way around the back and got out the ballistic vest Callie had given him earlier that morning. He checked the magazine in his sidearm and then collected Axel.

The dog began sniffing the ground. Zigzagging with every scent he latched onto, and there must have been hundreds among the thousands of trees that spread out like a green blanket as far as the eye could see.

They worked their way through the thick underbrush untilNoah spotted a small Chevy pickup parked out front. It was old. Worn by the weather. The black paint had faded. He kept a tight hold on Axel; the dog was eager, pulling, and ready to be let loose.

Arriving on the grounds outside the A-frame, he soaked it all in. The property was stunning. It sat on acres of wildlife habitat bordering state land. No wonder Cyrus used the cabin. It made for a great escape.

Noah skirted around the cabin, eyeing it closely, his service weapon already in hand. He wasn’t taking any chances. Outside the cabin were four Adirondack chairs around a fire pit. There were two ways into the abode: entering the lower level or climbing up a flight of steps that would take him around to another part of the cabin.

His heart sped up.

He only had one purpose.

Get visual contact. Confirm it was him, then once his phone had a little juice, make the call and wait for backup. It would have been easy to charge in their all balls and glory but he’d seen situations turn south real quick. At least with five or ten officers on hand they could watch the windows and have his six.

It wouldn’t take long to get confirmation.

Noah sidled up to the house and sliced the pie, so to speak, to see if anyone was inside the lower level.

From the window, he spotted something.

It was unclear what or who it was. He squinted.

Noah was about to turn away when he noticed a hand dangling over the edge of the couch. A bottle of wine and two cans of beer were on a coffee table nearby. Noah worked his way around to get a better angle.

As he came around to the doorway, which gave him a clear shot of the inside living room, his jaw went slack.

It was Cyrus.

He was slumped over, a gun in his right hand, a wound to his temple.

A spray of blood was on the leather sofa.

It was an absolute circus.

Adirondack County Sheriff’s Office descended upon the property. Deputies blocked off access to the A-frame and neighboring homes while others secured the scene.

Noah leaned against a cruiser outside, taking it all in. The flow of officers in and out was steady. Camera flashes illuminated the inside. The A-frame was crowded as a forensic team took photos, sketched the crime scene, dusted for prints, and collected body fluid, gunshot residue, human tissue, and anything else that could be analyzed by the lab.

The young deputy before him couldn’t have been older than twenty-one. He fidgeted with his pen as he continued to take his statement. He dropped his pad every few seconds. Noah couldn’t shake the feeling that he was out of his depth and not as prepared as he should have been.

“This your first crime scene?” Noah said, noting how out of sorts he looked.

Axel lay beside him, intrigued at the flow of people. He was panting.

“Yeah,” he said, looking back over his shoulder, nervous tension showing in his posture. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. “Anyway, um. So…?”

Noah continued. “Like I told you. My ex’s brother told me he used this place for hunting.”

“Jack Grayson?”