“What about our lead? The teacher?”
Lawson was nothing but smug now.
“I think we might have just found a way to kill a lot of birds with only one, very effective stone.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Improvising came quicker than either of them expected.
“When I offered to help, this wasn’t what I thought you meant.”
Price was ducked down, one shoulder tucked against a wall, the other facing an open field. JJ was in front of him in the same stance. Instead of turning to address him, though, she swung her hand back. It wasn’t a slap, but it hit her mark.
Her hand covered his mouth.
“You wanted to be here so hush.”
The sudden contact threw him off, but he still smiled against her palm. The sweet image of JJ Shaw had been one he’d already found interesting. Once the act had dropped? Well, he was finding this JJ to be entirely entertaining.
Even when she had them doing something that wasn’t exactly on the up-and-up.
JJ dropped her hand and used it to point ahead of them.
“Your friend said Boyd lived in the barn, right? That’s the new one?”
By his friend, she was referring to the son of the owner of Becker Farm. Instead of willy-nilly breaking and entering, he had tried to use casual conversation to get information on Anthony Boyd’s whereabouts. It had made for a slightly awkward conversation in the beginning, but Price had saved it by an excuse of potentially needing help with future home renovations. Anthony Boyd’s strength was well known, considering that had been one of the main reasons a grump like Old Man Becker had hired someone not from his bloodline.
“He’s not in town, though,” the junior Becker had told Price over the phone. “He and Dad are in Alabama for a livestock auction. They won’t be back until Monday. Want me to get Boyd to call you then?”
Price had thanked him for the offer and said he’d reach out again himself.
That had green-lit JJ Shaw, who was currently sneaking her way across the back of one of the storage buildings on the Becker Farm.
“If no one’s home, this might be the easiest and quickest way we have to look at what we need,” JJ had said, coaxing him outside of the western gate of the farm. “If it’s not Boyd? Then no one will ever know we were looking for anything. No one gets suspicious and no one’s in potential danger. It’s a win-win.”
Now she waved an impatient hand back at him.
“He said new barn, right?” she repeated. “Is that the one right up there?”
Price hadn’t seen the new barn in person, but he definitely knew where the old one was. He nodded and pointed.
“We should see it once we turn the corner.”
True enough, the moment they rounded the storage building they had a straight sight line to a structure that Price hadn’t seen before. It was all traditional on the outside—red and white, stall doors tall and wide, and all types of tools and equipment parked on the dirt patch outside—but the junior Becker had taken the time to talk about how it was unlike any of the buildings on the farm.
He’d been proud to say that he had approved Boyd’s living quarters, located as an apartment on the second floor.
“I’m assuming those stairs lead right up to the apartment.” Price pointed to the stairs on the outside of the barn. JJ bobbed her head this way and that for a moment.
“I don’t see any security cameras mounted anywhere.”
Price snorted.
“And you won’t find any on the property,” he said. “Old Man Becker likes his privacy. Even from himself. He’d sooner do rounds every hour on the hour than let electronics and the internet do it for him.”
JJ nodded and didn’t talk after that. She led the way across the open land with surprising speed. Though, maybe it wasn’t that surprising to Price anymore. Shehadbeen the one in the mask who had managed to outrun him at Josiah’s.
The same person he had fought.
