But Not Foregathered: A Clint Wolf Novel (Clint Wolf Mystery Series Book 24) by BJ Bourg

Author:BJ Bourg [Bourg, BJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Death Shadow Press, LLC
Published: 2022-06-24T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 29

Elton White’s Shop

“Walk in front of me,” I told Elton, “and keep your hands where I can see them.”

Elton walked slowly toward the back of the shop, where Amy was standing just inside the doorway of the second room, and I could tell he was worried about something. When we reached Amy, she pointed first into the room with the flashlight, and then shined it in Elton’s face.

“What in the hell is that?” she asked.

I sucked in my breath when I saw a large upright tank taking up the larger portion of the room. The tank was so large that it appeared the room had been built around it, because there was no way it would fit through the door, and it was plugged into a power outlet. There was a digital thermostat attached to the exterior wall and an LCD screen displayed the temperature and humidity inside the tank.

“It…it’s nothing,” he said. “It’s just an incubator.”

Amy turned back toward the incubator and reached for the door latch. I kept my eyes on Elton and waited for her to pull it open, a million thoughts going through my mind. What if the boys were alive and well inside? It would bring an end to this case just in time to get everyone to safety before the storm hit, but it would also present a number of questions, the foremost being, why in the hell had this man kidnapped these three boys?

I heard metal clank against metal as Amy unlatched the door, and then the door creaked open. Elton didn’t appear ready to make a move, so I glanced into the incubator.

Amy grunted. Although the tank was big enough to fit four or five people, it was empty. Well, except for a row of metal shelves lining the right side. Atop these metal shelves were over a dozen plastic bins with lots of holes for ventilation.

“What’s going on in there?” I asked.

“I was gonna buy some emu eggs and hatch them in here,” he said. “He pointed behind us to another corner of the shop, where large rubber bins were lined up. “Once they hatched, I was gonna raise them in the shop and then sell them. I…I heard a lot of people are doing it and it’s a pretty lucrative business.”

“Where were you planning on getting the eggs?” I asked.

“There are a few shops online that sell them,” he said. “I’ve been in contact with one of them. They have the best prices on the eggs and I was gonna pull the trigger on the order, but I’ve been watching the news about the storm. I was around for Katrina and a couple of the other big ones, so I know how bad things can get. I figured if the storm hits this area and shuts everything down, then we won’t be getting mail for a while. I was afraid to pay for the eggs only to have them get stuck in transit and go bad in the back of a mailroom.

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