It was nearly dawn when they finished. Cait flopped down in one of the chairs in the waiting room, Coop across from her.

“Tired?” he asked.

“Exhausted.”

“Let’s go home.”

The way he said it made her smile. “Gladly. We can—” She was about to suggest breakfast but the phone rang. She looked at her watch: 4:42 a.m. “This isn’t office hours and it’s Sunday.”

Coop’s face was serious. “Could be an emergency.” He picked up the receiver and said “Yes” about eight times. “I’ll be there as soon as I can... No, but I have someone here who can tell me.” He hung up and looked at Caitlyn. “On the drive home, you can tell me where the Fredericks place is.”

“It’s—” Caitlyn began, but stopped. “I’ll go with you.”

“You don’t need to. I can...” He smiled. “Okay. Help me gather things. Just so you understand, it’s possibly a rabid raccoon.”

“Who was on the phone and what did they say?”

“Celeste Wigman Schneider. She said—”

“Oh,” Caitlyn cut in. “That woman is always hysterical. She’s had three husbands and her kids are constantly in trouble. What were they doing at that old house in the wee hours of the morning?”

“Being threatened by an insane raccoon was what I was told. Do you know everyone in this town?”

“Pretty much. Tell me what you need.” They gathered what Coop thought he might need, both for capture and testing. He grabbed his bag of surgical instruments.

Minutes later, they were in her Jeep and heading toward the old homestead. He asked about it. “Built in the 1800s, I guess. It’s been falling down for years. Kelly said it was a make-out place when she was a kid.”

“Is it still?”

“Yeah, it is. Adam did some repairs but it was years ago. He said he didn’t want the roof falling in and killing his future players. He’s the head coach at KU.”

“And the ruler of Mason, from what I hear. I’ve heard ‘Ask Adam’ a dozen times. Doesn’t he have a brother who gets into trouble?” When Cait didn’t answer, he glanced at her. “Did I put my foot in it?”

“No.” Her voice was quiet. “Adam had a younger brother, Robert, called Robbie. He was killed in Vietnam.”

“I’m sorry about that. That war seems so long ago but it still affects people. Did he—?”

“There!” Cait said loudly. “That’s it.”

The sun was up enough that they could see the old house. The pink dawn light looked good on the gray siding. The house was perfectly symmetrical, with tall windows and a wide front door.

“It’s quite beautiful,” he said. “Who owns it?”

“Adam. Or maybe Kelly. Their lands have merged. Or maybe they’re separate, I don’t know. But I do know that Heritage Harvests land butts up against this.”