2
Rikter left out that the last mile was a winding red dirt road that meandered past a small mesa. Our approach would be obvious the moment we turned onto it. My Jeep’s thermometer said it was over a hundred degrees. The sun still had several hours to go on its downward trek across the sky.
“That’s the turn.” Rikter took out his laptop. “But pull off here. Let me check for stragglers.” He typed in a code, and a few seconds later, we looked at the view from above.
“How long has your drone been up?” I asked.
“This one?” He checked his watch. “Just forty-five minutes.”
“What if they saw it?”
“It’s got a powerful camera, so I can keep it high. They’d have to look right at it, and it’s tiny enough from that altitude they’d dismiss it as nothing. Besides, they can’t see what they aren’t looking for. Did you look up the last time you were at a crime scene in the open like this? Nah, you focused on the ground.”
“How long does the battery last?”
“Over two hours.” He must’ve noticed my startled expression. “I modified it to get that kind of time. Anyhow, they’re gone. The last cop left ten minutes ago. No doubt they missed something. Let’s go find it.”
I didn’t move the car and pointed at the bottom of the screen. “Whose vehicle is that?”
He shrugged. “Been there all day. It has a date written on it from a week ago like it was abandoned.” He put the computer into his bag.
“Were you connected to your drone at the gas station?”
He just gave me a look, and I muttered something inaudible as I put my Jeep in gear. A glance at my screen on the dashboard showed my phone had service, so it was possible Rikter’s drone was connected through a cellular network.
The road was rough, and I had to drive through a dry rocky creek bed before Rikter told me to stop. He rolled down his window, peering around intently.
“You planned to meet Edgar here? What’s wrong with a café?”
Rikter shrugged. “It’s where he dropped a geo pin. I expected something like this.” He obviously hadn’t thought it strange when Edgar asked to meet in the middle of nowhere. It would’ve made me wary.
“Where was his body?”
Nothing indicated that somebody had recently been murdered here. No obvious disturbance on the ground or anywhere in the surrounding sagebrush or red dirt. Perhaps there were more tire tracks than normal, but even that could’ve been explained by ATVs. We’d passed at least two rental shops on the way here.
Rikter nodded toward where a rusted metal husk of a car more than half a century old stood twenty feet from the road. “Over there.”
I pulled off, wary of how this place had been recently cleared by the cops. Nothing said we couldn’t be here, but they wouldn’t like us investigating the crime scene right after they’d finished.
Bothering the cops didn’t worry me, but I only did it if I had a reason. Otherwise, I avoided it.
Especially when I’m in an odd situation that doesn’t make sense. I glanced at Rikter. And when I’m with somebody begging for help who’s hiding things.
Rikter didn’t seem concerned. Other than tire tracks right in front of where I’d parked, there was no police caution tape or anything to indicate the cops had been here.
I took another moment to scour the area before following him across the red dirt through the sagebrush until we stood beside the twisted rusting metal automobile skeleton. When I spotted a dark spot on the ground, I kept from stepping in it.
Rikter pulled out his phone, zoomed in on a picture, and showed me the body of his dead friend where the dark spot was. Edgar had been shot in the chest. Strangely, he’d been wearing desert camo head to toe.
“The police didn’t have his bag or his phone. He always had both. I must’ve gotten here right after them because they were still prepping to process the scene, so I’m sure I didn’t miss it.”
I frowned at the dark spot. The cops definitely wouldn’t like it if they learned Rikter had recorded every move of their investigation.
He headed off into the brush, his bag bouncing against his side.
