“Oh.” Devlin dragged a hand over his face. “Got a lot of things going on with the business, and my wife’s sick. We’ll be taking her to Boston for treatment.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Thanks, but that’s not why I’m here. We need to be on the same page about our arrangement if police come—when police come—to search.”

“In what way, Mr. Foxe?”

“Listen. If you are asked, you are not a rent-paying tenant.”

“I’m not?”

“No. You’re a caretaker hired by me, the property manager, to watch over the property in exchange for living here. It’s for insurance purposes, that sort of thing. No money changes hands.”

Byyle looked at Devlin.

“Mr. Foxe, is there something improper about our arrangement?”

Devlin looked directly at Byyle.

“You can’t be serious. You know how we met, where we met. We don’t want to upset the order of things. Do we?”

“No, we don’t.”

“Now, before coming here, I made some inquiries with lawyers on rights when police arrive. You are not obligated to allow them to search the house, other buildings, or property without a search warrant. I suggest you not let them in, but that you do volunteer to let them search the property. If they have questions, you can refer them to me, the property manager.”

“You seem very concerned about this, Mr. Foxe.”

“This approach is good for you and good for me. No one needs to know the extent of our business.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Foxe.” Byyle stroked his cat while eyeing Devlin. “I know how to keep secrets.”

CHAPTER 8

Northeast Kingdom, Vermont

That night, strong winds drove heavy rain, creating conditions that washed away and dispersed scent.

Not good, Ben Brenner thought the next afternoon as he guided his SUV along a rough earthen path. The road coiled toward the house in the zone Brenner was assigned to search next. His SUV jostled his partner, who barked and panted from behind the steel-wired barrier in the rear.

“You’re still full of energy, aren’t you?” Brenner said, looking into his mirror at Luna, his Belgian Malinois.

They were part of a regional volunteer search-and-rescue association that worked with police and other agencies. Brenner and Luna had been called in to help with search efforts for the New York woman who’d vanished from the motel in Spiritsburg. Like most of the canine teams that had come in from across the state, they’d been involved from the start.

The dogs keyed off of the missing woman’s University of Toronto sweatshirt and were dispatched to search properties and the wilderness for any trace of her in an ever-expanding operation. Brenner did not know how many total hours it had been so far. He yawned, rubbed his eyes. Today, they’d been at it since sunrise, and had already searched four large properties.