Page 87 of The Fragile Ones

“What’s that?” he asked, straining to see.

Katie walked back to him. “Don’t know if it’s anything. It’s a blue piece of fabric.”

“Okay, I’m up,” he said, struggling to his feet. Katie helped him the rest of the way.

“C’mon, let’s get some bandages from Betty and some food for you too.”

“Yeah, I haven’t had my first cup of coffee yet.”

“Gav?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I’ve seen this fabric before,” she said slowly.

“Where?”

“It looks similar to what Tessa Mayfield was clutching in her hand.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Tuesday 1105 hours

After Katie patched up McGaven with the help of Betty, they drove to the police station to see Chief Osborne.

“I don’t see any cars,” she said.

“Let’s go check it out,” McGaven said as he got out of the Jeep.

“Stay, Cisco,” she said, leaving the back window slightly cracked. The rain was still holding out, leaving the humid air smelling of pine and some late-blooming vines.

Katie knocked on the door of the small police station, which was really more of an annex than a department. No answer. She tried the door, which was unlocked, and pushed it open.

“Hello? Chief Osborne?”

Still no answer.

“I sent him a text this morning, but I haven’t heard from him,” she said.

“Let’s go inside and leave him a note,” he said, but she knew in reality he wanted to check things out, just like her.

They stopped in shock as they walked inside. It looked as if someone had been looking for something: drawers were open, files strewn everywhere, the garbage can dumped over and its contents spread across the floor.

“What the hell?” said McGaven.

“What happened here?” said Katie. She slowly scanned the files, not wanting to touch anything.

“Think they found what they were looking for?”

“Hard to tell.”

There was a clipboard hung on a single nail with a list of the names and events on it. Katie noticed one name in particular, Wild Oats Productions. “Gav, check this out. Looks like the film crew are scheduled to shoot some footage tomorrow.”

He moved to her side and read the clipboard. “Interesting.”

“Well, maybe not so much. I called Matt Gardner, the director, and asked about their DVDs and if they signed any for friends and such.”

“What did he say?”