Page 28 of The Whispering Girls

“Then let’s get to work.”

FIFTEEN

Thursday 0715 hours

Katie woke to Cisco standing on the bed panting and turning in circles. He wanted his breakfast and he wanted it now.

“Oh…Cisco…” said Katie. She rolled over and saw it was already after seven. Still exhausted, her body ached, and she wanted to cover up her head to stay warm and snooze for just another ten minutes.

Cisco whined and bounced back and forth on the bed.

Katie groaned some more. “All right…all right…” she laughed. “You goofball.”

Kate and McGaven had spent another couple of hours at the crime scene after Jack had finished with the photos of the body. The scene had been documented, evidence was collected with the proper chain of custody attached, and the body transported to Jack’s large refrigerator, waiting for the county coroner to arrive sometime today.

They had brought the evidence back to the lodge, securing it in a safe place inside the closet before crashing out in order to get a few hours of much needed sleep. McGaven bunked in thesuite next to Katie’s. The lodge was still without electricity and very cold when they arrived. Jack had to buy a part this morning in order to fix the breaker box.

Katie sat up and realized it wasn’t as cold as it had been last night. Jack must’ve been able to find the part that was needed.

There was a soft knock at Katie’s door. Cisco barked and jumped off the bed to greet whoever was there.

“Come in,” she said.

The door opened slowly. McGaven stepped in, dressed in sweats and a baggy hoodie, and carried two steaming cups of coffee.

“Oh, coffee…”

“Wow, I think your room is bigger than mine,” he joked. He sat on the edge of the bed, handing Katie her cup. “The electricity went back on about an hour ago.”

“Fantastic,” she said, taking a large sip. “Jack fixed the problem.”

“Jack seems cool. He brought more wood for the fireplace and built a nice fire. It’s nice and toasty.”

Katie looked outside. It was overcast and dreary, and she hoped it was warmer than yesterday.

“Get up. We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said.

“I’m working on it,” she complained.

Cisco ran to the door and barked.

“I’ll feed him and take him out.”

“Thank you, Gav. That would be great.”

“No prob.”

Katie watched Cisco follow McGaven out of the suite. She needed to wake up and have a plan of attack for the day.

Katie took a quick hot shower and changed into warm clothes before she entered the grand common room of the lodge. McGaven had been busy organizing their working area.

“Thank you, Gav, for taking care of Cisco this morning.”

“It’s my pleasure. I love my Cisco time.”

McGaven had folded a large blanket near the fire for the dog to have his own relaxing space, and Cisco was taking advantage of the comfort by snoozing quietly.

“There’s some breakfast for you—it’s warming in the oven,” he said.