Page 24 of The Executioners Three

“Yeah.” Divya blushed furiously and eased out her own Nokia. “She did. So thanks anyway, Kyle.”

“No problem.” He pushed to his feet. “I’ll see you at the Quick-Bis. And”—his green gaze shot to Freddie—“maybe you’ll join us later?”

“Oh, absolutely.” Freddie nodded her most emphatic, King-worthy nod. “I will most definitely join you.” In seconds, Kyle had vanished back around the dumpster.

Divya crawled in close to Freddie—and now, she was the one whispering. Actually, it was less a whisper and more of a vicious snarl. “You’d better not be going to meet Theo Porter right now.”

Freddie recoiled. “Of course I’m not. I’m going to get Xena back. Then I want to check on Mrs. Ferris. Oh, and I want to go to the library too.”

Divya didn’t look like she believed Freddie one bit. Not even when Freddie promised, “I’ll call you in a few hours, okay? And I’ll be able to do it from anywhere in Berm. You know why?” She shook Sabrina at Divya. “Because I have a cell phone now.”

“And a Snake addiction like mine, I’ve noticed.”

“I do.” Freddie nodded gravely. “I now fully understand the allure of chasing dots and avoiding one’s tail. It’s a rich commentary on the futility of life.”

“That’s right, Fred.” Divya patted her shoulder. “But we’ll get through it together. Maybe Dr. Born can help.”

Freddie choked. Then cackled. And with that imagery to warm her blood, she slunk off toward the bike racks, ready to once more brave the autumn cold in her righteous pursuit of answers.

The police station at the edge of Berm’s tiny downtown was nothing more than a brick cubicle with a coffeepot at one end and a long desk at the other.

A single door in the back led to a few holding cells for the occasional rowdy drunkard and to a locked cellar where “sensitive” items were kept.

(Freddie had gotten to explore it when she’d interned for Bowman; it hadn’t been nearly as exciting as she’d hoped.

Just a bunch of shelves with a few items in Ziplocs.)

Other than Sheriff Bowman and the two deputies who usually cruised the streets in their patrol cars, Berm didn’t have much need for a proper police force. If there was anything too big to handle, they called in backup from the county seat fifteen miles away.

When Freddie arrived at the station, she found Deputy Ibrahim Abadi manning the front desk.

She flushed as soon as she saw him. He always had that effect on her.

Partly because he was just so gosh darn nice (and always let her call him by his first name).

And partly because he was twenty-five years old, making him only eight years Freddie’s senior.

Mostly Freddie flushed because Ibrahim was Very Beautiful Indeed, with his glowing brown skin and thick, dark lashes. He smiled at Freddie (swoon) when she shuffled in. “Hey, Fred. Come for Xena?”

“Yep.” She flushed even harder now. He’d remembered her camera’s name. What a dreamboat.

“I’ll be right back,” he called before disappearing through the single door. Freddie occupied herself with Snake while she waited. Futility of life and all that. Humans were just snakes trying to outrun their own tails.

A few minutes later, Ibrahim returned with Xena in a Ziploc. “Just sign for it here.” He slid a clipboard across the desk.

As Freddie scribbled down her signature, she asked in her most casual voice, “So, uh, did Sheriff Bowman end up finding that water bottle?”

Ibrahim shifted his weight, expression apologetic. “Unfortunately, no.”

“No?” It took Freddie a full three seconds to process what that word meant.

Once she did process it, she dropped the signing pen. It clattered to the floor. “What do you mean ‘no’?” she squawked. “I told her exactly where it was.”

“And there was no bottle there.” Ibrahim reclaimed the clipboard and glanced meaningfully at the fallen pen.

Freddie yanked it from the industrial carpet.

“Me and Knowles searched with Sheriff Bowman,” Ibrahim elaborated. “But we didn’t turn up anything, Fred.”

“Impossible.” Freddie slammed down the pen and snatched Xena off the desk. “It was right there , Ibrahim! I saw it with my own eyes.” She tore open the Ziploc and tugged Xena free. “I told Bowman not to wait to look for it. Someone must’ve moved it!”

“Or it rolled away.”

“Rolled away so far you couldn’t find it?”

“We’re still searching, Freddie. Plus, Sheriff says you took pictures, right?” He waved to Xena. “We’ll get those developed soon, and then we’ll have a better idea of what we’re looking for.”

“It’s not hard to get a good idea. Red water bottle. About yea high.” Freddie slotted her hands a foot apart. “Says Fontana on the side.”

“I am aware, Fred.” Ibrahim’s voice had taken on a familiar weariness that Freddie remembered from last summer.

He was a great cop, but he had little patience for Freddie’s pestering.

Then again, no one really had patience for her, and he was at least nicer about it than Knowles was, who always just rolled her eyes and said, “Can it, kid.”

Bowman, meanwhile, had a tendency to straight up ignore Freddie entirely.

“Are you really aware, Ibrahim?” Freddie tugged Xena’s strap over her neck. “You don’t seem very alarmed by this. There was a water bottle; now there isn’t. That seems like a good cause for general freakout.”

“Freddie,” Ibrahim warned. He leaned over the desk. “I know that look in your eyes. Don’t even think about going to search for it. Understand?”

Freddie sniffed. “Why do you think I would do that?”

“Because I know you.” He shook his head. “But those woods aren’t safe right now, yeah? First Mrs. Ferris got mauled by some wild animal, and now we’ve got another body—” He broke off, eyes widening. “I mean… Forget you heard that.”

Freddie would do no such thing. “Another body? Where? Who?” She planted both hands on the desk. “Tell me.”

Ibrahim only scoffed. “No way. I’m not allowed to talk about it, Fred, and let’s just say it’s bad. Like, really bad, okay? Bowman has even called in the feds.”

Freddie’s eyebrows leaped high. Feds never came to Berm.

“The entire county park is now off-limits to the public, so promise me you’ll follow the rules. Can you do that?”

“I always follow the rules.”

Ibrahim’s eyes narrowed. “I mean it, Freddie. Danger aside, Bowman is not in a mood you want to cross right now.”

Freddie tensed. That warning did give her pause. Not because she was afraid of Sheriff Bowman (although she was) but because Mrs. Ferris was Bowman’s mom, and having your mom unconscious in the hospital was a genuinely terrible thing for anyone to have to go through.

“Is Bowman here right now, actually? Maybe I can talk to her personally. About all of this.”

Ibrahim’s frown shifted from Freddie to the parking lot outside. “No, she’s not here. She was supposed to come a few hours ago, but she hasn’t turned up yet. Want me to leave her a message?”

“No.” Freddie smiled sweetly.

“In that case, follow the rules,” Ibrahim repeated. “Okay, Fred?”

“The truth is out there.” She turned to go.

“Wait,” Ibrahim called after her. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that!”

“Notice what?”

“You just quoted The X-Files at me instead of agreeing to follow the rules.”

“Oopsies!” She shimmied backward through the front door, baring her toothiest grin. She was so innocent a halo was probably floating over her head. “See you later, Ibrahim!”

“Freddie!”

She didn’t hear what else he had to say before she was outside and scampering for her bike.