“No, not even any footprints. Found a scrap of newspaper, though. He must have laid paper on the floor of the backhoe. Trey just got here and is digging a slug out of the post at the inn.”
“Reckon what the intruder was digging for?”
“Good question. One of my deputies is bringing a metal detector to go over the ground. Thought I’d ask Emma to use that fancy machine to see what’s beneath the ground. But it’s not likely anything of value is buried here.”
“Do you think the intruder found what he was looking for?”
“Hoping that GPR machine will tell us.”
Sam stared at the hole. No one trespassed at a federal park in the dark and hot-wired a piece of equipment to dig a hole this size for nothing. Or fired at someone coming to investigate. He followed Nate to the Mount Locust Inn, where they found Trey working at the back of the cabin. The chief deputy acknowledged him with a nod as he inserted a laser rod in the bullet hole.
“Find anything?” Nate asked.
“Just got started.” Trey nailed a string beside the rod. “How’s Emma today?”
“Fine until she received a bouquet of daisies this morning,” Sam said, watching for a reaction.
“You mean I have competition?” the chief deputy said. “Who were they from?”
“The person didn’t leave his name on the card,” Sam said. “Thought they might be from you.”
“It wasn’t me. I would have signed my name if I’d sprung for flowers. Do you suppose it had anything to do with this?” He jerked his head toward the post.
Sam shrugged. “At this point, I don’t have enough information to tell.”
Trey let the string drop and stepped off the porch. “It should be easy enough to track down the sender. Whoever sent them must have ordered them from a florist since daisies don’t grow around here this time of year.”
“True, and I’ll be checking that out.” Sam had to admit Trey’s reaction didn’t fit a guilty person, but maybe he was a good actor—he certainly had a ready answer about the daisies.
8
Several cars were already parked in the visitor center parking lot, including a couple of Adams County deputy vehicles, when Emma pulled into Mount Locust. After realizing she would be late, she’d contacted Guy Armstrong, the head of maintenance, and asked him to unlock the gate.
Emma parked and scanned the grounds for the gray-and-white tabby that had showed up last night. It was probably hiding out from all the activity buzzing around the visitor center. When she entered the building, her volunteer was circling a Trace map for a visitor. Sheila was helping out this winter while Emma worked on the mapping project.
“I’m sorry, the Mount Locust Inn is off-limits today, but be sure to stop here,” Sheila said, pointing to the Sunken Trace. “It’s twenty-six miles up the road.”
After the tourist left, she turned to Emma. “What’s going on? Nobody will tell me anything.”
That was a first. Sheila could usually worm information out of a scarecrow. “We had a little disturbance here last night.” Emma set the bag of food on the counter. “Have you seen a cat around here?”
“Cat? No,” she said. “Must have been more than a little disturbance. Half the sheriff’s department is here. And since I’m having to turn visitors away, it would help if I could tell them why.”
“I’m afraid it might frighten them instead. Someone shot at me last night when I came back to Mount Locust for a file.”
“You’re kidding.” The volunteer’s voice dropped. “Who was it?”
“It was too dark to see. I just hope whoever it was doesn’t come back.” Emma poured the dry food in the bowl she’d bought.
“Do you think it was someone messing with that machine that came yesterday?”
“No, the intruder was fooling around with one of the backhoes.”
“You think someone was trying to steal it?”
“I don’t know. We didn’t want to destroy evidence, so we didn’t look around last night. I’m going now to check on the GPR machine and see if the sheriff has discovered anything.” She stopped at the door. “If I’m still with the sheriff when the GPR operator arrives, send him on up the hill.”
After Emma shut the door, she rattled the bowl of dry food.
“Come here, kitty,” she crooned, setting the bowl against the wall on the back side of the building. Almost immediately, the tabby rounded the far corner and made a beeline for her. Emma’s relief surprised her.