Tyree said in a near whisper, “There’s another back road into the farm that leads to an old barn. We should probably post some folks there too just in case.”

Reuben, Harry and Caleb headed that way following directions Tyree gave them.

Both groups hunkered down and waited. And waited some more.

Finally, Alex checked his watch. “Four in the morning. I don’t think it’s happening. Maybe they don’t transport every night.”

Tyree stretched his limbs. “They killed Shirley so maybe they postponed the shipment.”

At that moment Harry came hurrying up to them.

“Did you see anything?” Alex asked excitedly.

“Not a person, but we did see something. Come on.”

They hurried after him. When they reached the spot where Caleb and Reuben were waiting, Harry pointed to the woods at a spot right across from the entrance to the barn. “You can see somebody’s gone crashing through there. Brush and low tree limbs all busted up.”

“Let’s follow it,” said Tyree, taking the lead. He pulled out a flashlight and slipped another off his belt and handed it to Alex.

“Never worked with a fed before.”

“It’s sort of a first time for me too, Sheriff,” Alex said wryly.

They came to a dirt road in the woods.

“Look,” said Annabelle.

It was Joe Knox’s truck.

They ran to it and looked inside.

“No rental docs,” said Tyree. “Any idea who it belongs to?”

Annabelle glanced at the others, her thoughts moving rapidly. Does this have nothing to do with the drug dealers? Has Knox gotten to Oliver, killed him already? But why would Knox’s truck be here then? Has Oliver killed Knox?

“No,” she said.

Tyree saw the bloodstains in the woods a bit later. “There, and there, and over there,” he said, making stabbing motions with his light.

“That’s not good,” Caleb said quite unnecessarily.

Annabelle’s spirits sank further. It seemed like one of the men had been hurt or killed. But which one?

They followed the trail across the road and up the slope. There were more bloodstains here. They moved across some more ground and then stopped. There were lots of footprints in the soft mud and more dark stains. Annabelle’s gloomy expression changed now and she became more alert. As they followed the marks they came to a spot where it appeared as though the people had marched in lockstep.

“Or carrying something. Or somebody,” Alex deduced.

They followed the trail back down to the road but at another spot. There were more dark stains here, and also what looked to be a slick of oil.

“It looks like someone was put in a car or truck,” said Harry.

“A truck,” noted Tyree. He flashed his light on the asphalt. “Tire ran over some of that oil and left a mark. That’s a tire tread from a truck. Maybe we can track it that way.”