The sheriff and Dane glanced at each other then stared at him.

“Really, it’s a bad idea,” Bone said. “There are... dogs down there, wild dogs. With rabies.”

“Dogs,” Dane said.

“Not according to your boss,” the sheriff said. “She reckoned there was a group of drug takers and thieves making the old Longford their home, and you’d got mixed up with them and needed our help. What are you, DEA?”

Bone shook his head.

Her eyes opened wider. “Fed?”

Bone sighed. He couldn’t let these people go down there, not without a proper warning of what they were up against. And he didn’t want to go there with them. He’d called Jordan to send the army, not two sarcastic cops who’d rather be eating each other back at their pissant little precinct.

“In the car,” the sheriff said.

Bone tensed, ready to run. He saw Dane do the same, the big man’s eyes going wide in anticipation of the chase. His hand fell down to the taser on his belt.

“Car,” Dane said.

Bone could run. He’d known these hillsides once, but he wasn’t a young boy anymore, and there were no hollow trees for him to hide in now.

Besides, Jordan hadn’t believed him. She’d sent these two to check his claims. If he went with them, maybe they’d have a chance of pulling back and getting the fuck out as soon as they saw what he had seen. They’d have Mallian on their body-cams, and he’d be able to show that footage to Jordan.

He nodded, walked to the police cruiser, and sat in the back. Dane slammed the door and got in, and the sheriff drove them on their way.

“You’ll have to be careful,” Bone said.

“Of the dogs or the junkies?” Dane asked, and he chuckled.

“What’s your name?” Bone asked the driver.

“Sheriff,” she said.

He sat back and closed his eyes. If Jordan was sending these cops to test the water, the army was not yet on its way.

He had to make sure it would be soon.

* * *

The sheriff parked the car at the edge of the old reservoir. The lane ended there, and though before it had wound down the hillside towards Longford, now it was part of the grey mass of drying reservoir bed and muddy pools. Further distant the river still meandered through the valley, and to their far right, shielded now by the falling dusk, the old dam cast a broken guard. Fading sunlight did little to give colour to the greyness. As shadows emerged and coalesced, it looked more like a moonscape than ever.

“Can’t hear those dogs,” Dane said, tilting his head through the open window. “Don’t smell no dope.”

The sheriff wasn’t laughing. She was watching Bone in the rearview mirror, frowning. Maybe she’s starting to believe something’s really wrong, he thought.