Page 32

Static crackled through the radio, mocking Finn's attempts to reach Sheila. He adjusted the frequency again, fighting down his growing unease.

"Sheila, do you copy?" Only white noise answered. "Sheriff Stone, come in."

Star paced behind him, her boots squeaking against the operations center's linoleum floor. "Maybe the storm's blocking the signal."

"Maybe." But Finn had been running tactical operations long enough to trust his instincts. Something felt wrong.

He tried another channel. "Michael, Diana—any contact with the sheriff?"

Diana's voice came through broken but audible: "Negative... heading back to base..."

Finn cursed and checked his watch. Sheila and Tommy had been radio silent for over an hour. Even accounting for the treacherous conditions, they should have reached the research facility by now.

"What about cell service?" Star asked, pulling out her phone.

"Towers are probably ice-coated by now." Still, Finn tried calling Sheila's number. The call failed immediately. "No signal."

Star dropped into a chair beside him, hugging herself. "She's okay, right? I mean, she's with Tommy. They're probably just focused on finding Mark."

Something in her tone made Finn glance over. "You sound worried."

"It's just..." Star fidgeted with the sleeve of her hoodie. "Tommy was asking me weird questions earlier. About Sheila's dad, about old cases. Stuff that happened before I even lived here."

Finn straightened, ignoring the pain in his side. "What kind of questions?"

"About her mom's murder mainly. Whether Sheila ever talked about it." Star frowned. "He seemed really interested in what Gabriel might have told her."

Finn's unease deepened. That was odd—a rookie being so interested in the sheriff's personal history. He'd initially suspected the young man simply had a crush on his superior, but now Finn wondered if Tommy's insistence on sticking to Sheila's side like a burr was more strategic than emotional.

Why would a new deputy be so interested in a murder investigation from long before he joined the force?

He tried the radio again. "Sheila, do you copy?"

To his surprise, Tommy's voice crackled through the static: "This is Forster."

"Tommy? What's going on out there?"

"It's Wells," Tommy said, his voice tight with what sounded like distress. "Oscar Wells is our killer. We confronted him in the facility, but he got away. Sheila went after him."

Finn sat up straighter. "In this storm? Alone?"

"I tried to stop her, but you know how she is." Tommy's voice cracked slightly. "She wanted me to stay with Mark—he's hurt pretty bad. I couldn't leave him."

Yes, it did sound like Sheila to do something like that. Still…

"What direction did they go?" Finn asked.

"East, I think. Hard to tell in this whiteout."

Finn cursed under his breath. "How the hell did Wells escape?"

"It all happened so fast." Tommy's voice wavered. "There was a fight. Wells knocked me down, then ran. Sheila... she just took off after him. Wouldn't listen when I told her to wait for backup—hardly even noticed Mark, she was so focused on getting Wells."

Finn glanced over to see Star watching him intently.

"Tommy," Finn said carefully, "stay where you are. I'll send Michael and Diana to your location. Do not pursue Wells or the sheriff. Do you copy?"

"Copy that," Tommy replied, perhaps a bit too quickly. "Just... hurry, okay? Mark's losing a lot of blood. I don't know if he's going to make it."

The radio went silent. Finn stared at it for a long moment, his mind racing.

"He's lying," Star said quietly.

"What makes you say so?" Finn asked.

"The thing Tommy said about her hardly even noticing Mark—that's not like her, not at all. The Sheila I know is compassionate to a fault."

Finn sat back, thinking. "I agree." Then he added, more softly, "But why in the world would Tommy lie to us?"

"There's a more important question. What do we do?"

Finn sat in silence for a few moments. Then he keyed the radio again.