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“The body isn’t in the system.” Rip shared with the group as they finished up their meal.

“That’s a good thing, right?” Nash asked.

Coy shrugged, “It depends on how you look at it. If they were a known criminal, we probably would have had a match. They’d be in a database somewhere, and fortunately for us, our resources have us linked internationally.”

“The downside,” Kenzie chimed in, “Is we are back to square one, and just because they weren’t in a database doesn’t mean they were a well-intentioned individual. There’s a reason they’re dead, and their body was buried here.”

“It doesn’t mean they were ill-intentioned either, though.” Coy shared. “They could have been a victim of a crime.”

Nash let out a low and slow whistle, “Buried here? That means whoever did it…”

Coy nodded, “Likely had, or has, ties here.”

“So, we could be looking at a ranch hand?” Kenzie asked as an explanation. Or, a family friend?”

“Or family member,” Rip said. “I mean that respectfully, of course, but we can’t rule out anything without more information.”

The family traded looks of concern.

“My money is on our sharpshooter over there.” Nash winked at Devyn across the table.

“Not the time or place, Nash.” She fired back with a glare. “You’re lucky he was friendly, and you should be thanking me because if he wasn’t… I was the only one stopping him.”

“Because everybody else knew he didn’t need to be stopped.” Nash snorted. “You really freaked out.”

“You haven’t seen shit yet, brother,” Devyn warned. “You’re next if…”

“Told you she wasn’t to be underestimated.” Kenzie grinned and said to Coy under her breath.

“Yeah, I see it now.” He replied, then turned to his younger siblings, “Knock it off, you two. She’s right, not the time or place, and Dev… reel it in. Whatever you’re feeling right now, take it out on me. Otherwise, pipe down.”

Devyn crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back in her chair, splitting her glare between both Rip and Nash.

“It’s been determined that the deceased was a young male, possibly in his twenties or thirties. It seems he had suffered a broken or fractured arm at some point, along with a GSW –– gunshot wound –– likely to the chest, evidenced by missing bone fragments. Additionally, another gunshot wound was found in the pelvic region. However, it's challenging to ascertain when these injuries occurred due to advanced decomposition. The gunshot wound to the head, on the other hand, is likely the fatal shot, based on our examination..”

“Advanced decomposition?” Cut asked. “Does that mean…”

Rip bobbed his head, “Yes. He’s been buried there for some time, and there’s confirmation to support that.”

“Though dental records couldn’t be matched, a dental repair on an upper molar of the deceased consisted of material that hasn’t been used in decades. There needs to be further soil and debris analysis to confirm this, but as of right now, based on the dental material and other analysis, we know the body has been there around… twenty… maybe thirty years.”

“Thirty years?” Kenzie guffawed. “How do we trace that back to a missing person or cold case of any kind? I can search files, but they aren’t necessarily going to be digitized that far back. The computer age hasn’t been around that long in police work, at least not like it is now. We’ve been creating digital records for old files for some time, but that’s like hunting for a needle in a haystack. We will likely be digging through old bankers’ boxes from the jail basement, reading files one by one.”

“We’re already running through your digital files,” Coy confirmed. “One of our operators at headquarters built a program to search your system simultaneously with those within a fifty-mile radius. Once that’s complete, he’ll expand to a hundred miles if we don’t get a hit. Being surrounded by rural counties means this could be local, but sometimes local is still three counties over.”

Kenzie rolled her eyes, “I’m sure all of this is legal, right?”

“Not the way they do it.” Devyn shook her head, “Not. At. All.”

“Certain laws and rules don’t apply to us when it has to do with the greater good,” Rip said. “We have access and automatic immunity, making us not prosecutable . Charging us would mean admitting we exist and we’re a well-kept secret to the most powerful people in the world –– nobody will come for us.”

“You aren’t protected for personal matters,” Devyn argued. “This isn’t one of your government-backed cases. Hell, it isn’t even a local legal case. It’s an in-house vigilante bullshit kind of case. How do we solve this one –– whether it be an accidental death or a homicide –– when the remains are older than everyone in this room? You realize that the deceased would be anywhere from fifty to sixty years old based on those details, right?”

“If we are unable to connect the dots, nobody will be able to. Remember, we’re the people they call in when they draw a blank and exhaust every avenue. If we turn this over to the local agency, Kenzie will ultimately run this thing up the ladder until the feds finally call us in as their saving grace. So, it lands back with us regardless.” Coy informed.

Devyn stood and began to pace, thinking through the limited details, “Something about this doesn’t feel right.”

“I would hope not. It’s a dead body on our family land.” Nash said.

“No shit.” She said. “There has to be something else. Something we haven’t found yet that will give us a jumping-off point.”

“Our associate, Killion, is building a program that will take images of the remains and rebuild them based on the remaining detectable features to create an image of what the Vic may look like then and now.” Rip shared. “Once he gets that up and running, he’ll take the images his program generates and run them through another program that’s much like facial recognition but uses different measures, including unique biometrics to find potential matches in the same databases he’s looking through now.”

“That’s both interesting and disturbing to think about. I didn’t know the technology to do all of that existed.” Kenzie chuckled.

“It doesn’t.” Coy said, “He’s building as he goes with parameters he’ll need to make it work. It’s still a shot in the dark and searching for a needle in a haystack, but it’ll be much faster.”

“Killion is good. If anyone can narrow this down and find us that extra piece of anything, it’s him.” Coy shared.

“In the meantime?” Kenzie asked.

“We stay vigilant. Hold things down here. Hope and pray Killion gets us something we can work with.” Coy said, “Until then, I guess we go grab some of those banker’s boxes you mentioned and start sorting through them.”

“While you do that, I’m going to see that lawyer that signed off on Mama’s new will,” Devyn said, clearing plates from the table.

“You’re not going alone.” Rip scolded.

Coy and Dillon shared a surprised look.

Devyn turned and leaned against the kitchen counter, “So, that’s why you’re here. My babysitter since I got the last one shot.”

“You don’t need a babysitter from where I stand. Seemed to handle yourself just fine today.” Rip said. “But it isn’t safe for anyone to go anywhere alone. From what I understand, there’s a lot of bad shit happening around here.”

She nodded. “But like you said, I can handle myself.”

“Coy?” Rip said, his gaze fixed on Devyn.

“He’s, uh, right.” Coy looked between Rip and Devyn. “You aren’t going alone, sis.”

When neither said a word, Coy turned back to Dillon, who shrugged, letting Coy know he wasn’t the only one stumped by the interaction between Rip and Devyn.

“Oh, come on. Just say it.” Nash chimed in. “Coy. Dill.”

“Not the time, little brother.” Coy got up from his seat and stood in front of Devyn, blocking her from Rip’s view and vice versa. “I’ll go with you, Dev. It won’t be suspicious if it’s the two of us, especially since you wrote the original. It’s reasonable for you to question the new one.”

“I’ll go, too,” Kenzie said. “While you work the will over with the guy, I’ll look for anything else that may be out of place.”

“Will it seem off if the rest of us aren’t present?” Cut asked.

“No. Your wife is about to have a baby, so you’re staying close by. Dill has an entire detail that follows her everywhere, so not exactly practical for her to join us either. Besides, I don’t want to leave the ranch vulnerable, and we need those agents here.” Coy shared.

“I’d rather be here anyway. I’ll work with Rip to hold things down while you’re gone.” Dillon said.

“Or, I follow in a second vehicle and watch your six. Nobody here knows me, and I won’t be familiar.” Rip insisted. “Play this right.”

Coy turned around and looked at Rip, “You aren’t going to take no for an answer, are you?”

Rip took his plate to the kitchen sink and handed it to Devyn, who’d started rinsing dishes. “Not a chance,” he said.

“It’s a good idea,” Kenzie said. “It can’t hurt to have another set of fresh eyes on the lookout.”

“Done,” Coy said.

“Then I guess I’ll ride with the big guy?” Nash asked.

“No.” They all said in unison, catching each other off guard.

“Then, what am I supposed to do?” Nash continued, “Or is this a case of leave Nash behind so he doesn’t screw shit up.”

When nobody spoke, Nash got up from the table to leave the room, “Got it. Leave the screw-up here so he can only screw shit up on the ranch.”

“That’s not it, and you know it, Nash.”

“Then what, Coy? What is it? Am I still paying for the damn pot plants? Did that really cripple your trust in me that much? Or maybe there wasn’t any trust to begin with. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“I need you here,” Coy said. “Cut’s going to be close to the house. Dillon is going to oversee security. I need someone to cover for me. Keep me updated if anything happens. Run information between us as needed. Can you do that?”

“So, I’m the hub.”

“You could say that. You kept your cool and jumped right in when shit hit the fan. You didn’t even flinch when all that went down with Devyn and Ran’s agent.”

“So, what I’m hearing is… you need me.” Nash grinned.

“Yes, Nash. I need you.” Coy rolled his eyes. “We all need you.”

“Well, big brother, you got me. I’ll do whatever it takes to help get us out of whatever it is we’re stuck in the middle of.” Nash vowed stoically, “I always knew I was the heart of this family.”

Coy shook his head, “Pfft. I wouldn’t take it that far, but yeah, if that’s how you feel. You’re the heart.”

“You can count on me. I mean that. I won’t disappoint any of you again.” Nash said. “We’re a team. A family. If we can’t count on each other… who can we count on?”