that blood?” Shelby asked.
Seth didn’t touch it, but it sure looked like blood to him. And it was fresh at that, with no dry spots even around the edges. He wasn’t sure exactly how long it took a pool of blood that big to start drying in a hot building, but he didn’t think it was hours.
More likely, minutes.
He stood, practically snapping to attention, and had another look around. Seth still didn’t see anyone. Especially not someone with an injury serious enough to cause that kind of blood loss. However, a few of those boxes were large enough for someone to hide behind.
Seth kept watch around them, and he took out his phone so he could hand it to Shelby. “Call 9-1-1 and request officers on the scene.”
Thankfully, she did it without hesitation or arguing. The dispatcher would direct the call to the Sweetwater Springs sheriff’s office. To Seth’s stepbrother, Sheriff Cooper McKinnon. And while Seth and he weren’t exactly on friendly terms, he knew Cooper would do his job and get out here fast. This was likely a crime scene, and it needed to be processed.
And maybe more.
Maybe someone here needed medical attention. First, though, Seth had to find out where that someone was.
He fanned the light over the floor again. More blood. Big drops that looked as if they’d splattered from at least a few feet of distance. The drops didn’t lead to the first box, but he checked it out anyway.
Nothing.
So he moved on, following the blood trail. Past all the boxes and the trash. The trail stopped right outside the room with the closed door.
Of course it did.
This couldn’t be easy. That closed door could conceal the very person responsible for that blood loss. Or someone who was dying. Either way, Seth had to check it out.
He looked back at Shelby. “This would be a good time for you to go back to your car and wait for Cooper.”
Her chin came up, and even with just the dim light, he saw the resolve in her eyes.
Seth could have arrested her and gotten her butt out of there. But that would take time and it’d mean a trip back to town. He really just wanted to see if anything was behind the door. Anything to do with the black market baby ring. Or his stepmother.
“Okay,” Seth told Shelby when she didn’t budge. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Seth put his flashlight away to free up his hand, and he opened the door. It was pitch-black because the light from the windows didn’t reach back there. Shelby did something about that. She turned her flashlight into the room.
And she gasped.
“Hell,” Seth cursed.
They’d found the source of the blood, all right.
There was a mattress, the sheets stark white except for the dark red stains. And there in the center was a body. A male wearing only a pair of boxer shorts. The guy wasn’t moving, and his skin was as white as the sheets.
Shelby was still holding up her flashlight, and Seth took her wrist to turn the light into the four corners of the room. No one was lurking there. So he aimed the light on the mattress. It was flat on the floor, so no one was beneath it, but he checked around all sides. As far as he could tell, no one was there.
“Don’t go in the room,” Seth ordered when Shelby started to move. “It’s a crime scene.”
And this time Shelby actually listened to him. A miracle. But she did keep her flashlight aimed at the body.
“What’s that on his face?” she asked.
Since there were no indications that anyone was about to jump out at him, Seth took out his own flashlight again and leaned in closer, putting himself between Shelby and the body. He soon saw the probable cause of death.
Multiple stab wounds to the chest.
It was hard to count how many because of the blood, but there were plenty of them. Seth aimed the light on the dead guy’s head, and his heart slammed against his chest.
Oh, hell.
“What’s that on his face?” Shelby repeated, moving to the side so she could no doubt see better.
“A paper mask,” Seth answered.
Of sorts.
It looked as if someone had enlarged a photo and then cut it out to create an image to cover the dead man’s face.
“A mask?” Shelby leaned in. And she gasped again. “That’s a picture of my father.”
Yeah, it was. Whitt Braddock. The very man Seth’s mother was accused of murdering.
“Oh, God,” Shelby mumbled, and she just kept saying it. “Who’d do such a sick thing?”
Seth had to shake his head. He had no idea.
He wanted to take off the mask to see who was behind it, but he couldn’t compromise any evidence that might be there. Shelby and he had perhaps compromised enough just by going inside the building. However, when he’d gotten that call from the CI, the last thing he’d expected was to find a dead body.
Seth backed up, trying to follow the same path that he’d used to get into the room so he would disturb as little of the area as possible. He bumped into Shelby, who wasn’t moving. She seemed frozen. Her gaze was fixed on the body, and her mouth was trembling. She’d only been seven or eight years old when her dad had died, but this had to bring back what bad memories she had.
“They never did find my father’s body,” she said. More trembling and this time, it wasn’t just her mouth. She sagged against him. “But the cops think he was stabbed multiple times because there was blood everywhere.”
Seth was very familiar with the details. Heck, he’d memorized them.
“Come on,” he told her. “We need to get out of here.”
The last thing he wanted was to get into a shouting match with Cooper because Seth hadn’t followed this search to the T.
When Shelby didn’t budge, Seth took her by the arm to get her moving. But they only made it a few steps when he heard the plinking sound. Like something metallic falling onto the concrete. That barely had time to register in his mind when the smoke started to billow right toward them.
But it wasn’t ordinary smoke.
It was tear gas.
Both Shelby and he started to cough immediately. The tear gas burned his throat and eyes. Seth tried to get them out of there, but it was hard to see anything. Hard to think, too.
Each step was an effort, but he headed straight for the door. He also kept his gun ready because someone had thrown that tear gas grenade, and that someone no doubt was lurking outside waiting to do heaven knew what to them.
Shelby and he were still several feet from the door when he heard a sound to his right. A footstep. But it was the only warning that Seth got before someone wearing a gas mask reached out and touched him with something.
The jolt went through Seth, all pain and static, and he had no choice but to drop to the floor.
Someone had used a Taser on him.
A split second later, Shelby made a sharp groaning noise and fell right next to him. Their eyes were open, gazes fixed on each other.
But neither could move.
Seth could only lie there as the footsteps came right toward them.
The moment Shelby opened her eyes, the light stabbed into them, and she