Measured Aggression by Sean Monaghan

Author:Sean Monaghan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Triple V Publishing

Chapter Thirty-Six

It was noticeably colder higher up the valley’s side. The turn off from Route 16 was barely marked. A rough sign reading Old Man’s Way. The road was rough. If it had ever been tar-sealed, that was long broken up into little more than gravel.

They’d brought the Suburban. Tam drove, with Rebecca in the passenger’s seat giving directions. Wright and Grant sat in back.

Grant was nervous. Pretty clear that he just wanted to be done with this. Get on his way back to home office and pick up the next investigation.

“You could just go,” Wright said, quiet enough that Tam might hear, but know that he was trying to keep private with Grant.

“Go?” Grant said.

“You’re thinking of your career. Thinking that you need to keep your nose clean.”

Grant said nothing.

“Because this is a long way from keeping your nose clean. This could taint you.”

“In the eyes of superiors, maybe. In the eyes of my colleagues, not so much.”

Wright nodded. Trees whipped by as the Suburban’s engine purred. Tam handled it well, keeping at the edge of what that slippery surface could manage. Driving into the headlight beams. Gravel chips rattled around the wheel arches.

“And,” Grant said. “No way I’m pulling out if Tam isn’t.”

“I appreciate that,” Tam said. “But I can look after myself.”

“I know that. I didn’t mean it like that. Actually, it was more about me. What if I decide to go home and you break the case open? I’ll look like a sap.”

“You got kids?” Wright said.

“Two,” Grant said. “Sam and Liv. Seven and six.”

“You gotta think of them too.”

“I am.”

“You’ll never look like a sap. Not if you go look after them.”

“Just up here,” Rebecca said. “There’s a driveway.”

Tam slowed the Suburban. The gravel crunched along under the tires. Wright got a glimpse of something with bright eyes along the brush at the side. Ahead of the vehicle, shining the headlights back.

There was a break on the right and Tam turned in. The headlights swung across weedy trees and broken fences. She drove on around, following a muddy track. There were some abandoned vehicles along the side.

Soon the track widened into a flatter, grassy area. It might have been mown a couple of months or so back, but now it would take more than a mower to bring it under control.

The headlights stretched on around to the double-wide.

At least, the remains of the double-wide.

“Why did the fire department not get involved here?” Grant said.

There were the pieces of framework and twisted parts of the roof. All blackened and collapsed one atop the other. The old tires had burst. The steel chassis was perhaps the only thing that had survived.

“A quick blaze,” Wright said. “Far up here in the hills. If no one called it in, then no one would know.”

“Deliberate,” Tam said. “Of course. They might have even stayed to watch. Make sure it didn’t jump to the trees.”

She stopped the vehicle and shut off the engine. Leaning over she opened the glove compartment and pulled out a chunky flashlight.

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