Frank cut himself off when he heard the call of a distressed calf. He couldn’t make out where it was coming from, other than it was somewhere among the bodies.

“Megan, I think there’s a calf alive in there.” He started once more toward the pasture. Jasper raced in front of him, growled, and bared his teeth.

“Franklin O’Reilly!” Megan yelled through the radio. “Don’t you dare go near that herd! I’m calling the vet—”

“But Megan—”

“No, I mean it. There might be some disease or something you could catch.” Megan’s voice cracked. “Please, come home.”

Megan’s distress penetrated Frank’s fog of shock. “You’re right. I’ll come back. But call Doc Johnson. He needs to get out here right away.”

Chapter Sixteen

Waiting in the car outside Eastview Mall, Nate tapped the refresh button on the tracking monitor for the umpteenth time. The display redrew itself, showing the triangulated location of Dr. Chalmers’s cell phone “How long can this guy shop?” he grumbled.

Alex twisted her lithe frame in the passenger seat, cracking her back. “I still say we should just go in.”

“I told you, this place is swarming with people at this time of day. We’re better off waiting for him to go somewhere less crowded so we can pick him out.”

Alex pointed at the display. “The dot is moving!”

“Shit.” Nate brought his seat back to a more upright position and turned the ignition to the Chevy Suburban. The engine roared to life.

As Nate slowly weaved through the parking lot, Alex said, “It looks like he’s on Commons Blvd and… no, wait, he’s getting on NY-96 North.”

Nate hit the gas and maneuvered the car through traffic. “We’re looking for a black Mercedes, right?”

“Yes, black Mercedes.” Alex opened her notepad and flipped through the first couple pages until her finger lit on some hastily scribbled notes. “Right after he left his previous job, he dumped his old car and applied for tags for a brand-new Mercedes. Look for an S-series with temp tags.”

Nate scanned the heavy midday traffic and shook his head. “I don’t see anything yet.”

Alex tapped the refresh button. The flashing dot jumped ahead. “And he just took I-490 westbound.”

“Crap.” Nate spun the wheel hard to the right, barely sneaking onto the highway on-ramp.

His cell phone rang, and he answered with a tap of the phone icon on the steering wheel. “Carrington, what’s up?”

“Nate, it’s Bill Wallace.” Bill was the veteran agent in charge of maintaining watch on the doctor’s home. “I got a call from the eye in the sky. Evidently, soon after you left, the maid called our suspect. He knows someone’s hunting for him.”

“Well, Alex and I are on him. It looks like he’s heading back toward his house.”

“All right, we’ll keep an eye out.”

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