Read Online Hoaley Ill-Manored by Declan Sands - Free Book Online

around increasing the tension.
    If nothing else it would upset their watch
dog.
    The dark shape of the red barn loomed up
before them. Adam followed the skeletal form created by the white
trim around to the front, heading for the giant white X in the dark
that marked the barn’s front sliding doors.
    He took a moment to glance up and down the
road, looking for cars, before he pulled one of the doors open a
few inches. He and Maddy slipped through and Walter followed. His
energetically wagging tail brushed both sides of the opening as he
came through.
    Once inside, Maddy turned her flashlight on
and Adam pulled the door shut and unclipped Walter. He pulled his
own flashlight out of a front pocket of his jeans and shone it
around the space. The barn was tidy, but full of stuff.
    An ancient, once red tractor sat to one
side, near the doors, and various pieces of lawn and farm equipment
surrounded it. Bags of fertilizer, their identity clear from the
chemical stench that filled the space, were piled against the far
wall, along with several bales of old hay and some bald tires. A
long tool bench filled most of the back wall. A pegboard of
matching length hung above the bench, holding a variety of
implements.
    Adam spotted the coil of rope neatly placed
on one end of the bench. “Mads, go see if you can get a piece of
that rope.”
    “What for?”
    “I have an idea. Just help me out here,
okay?”
    “We need to get those damn papers and get
the hell out of here, Adam.”
    Adam hit the “On” switch of his metal
detector and started running it over the ground. His movement was
accompanied by a low level robotic sound with nearly constant
higher tone blips. “I’m working on it.” Adam adjusted the frequency
to limit finds to larger objects and returned to his search.
    Maddy sighed and headed toward the back
wall.
    A moment later the sound flared into the
higher pitched tone. Walter barked, running over to see what was
making the strange noise. Adam looked at his screen and saw that,
whatever it was, it was buried about six inches deep. “Got
something, Mads.”
    He pulled a small gardening trowel out of
his back pocket and started digging. Walter hopped into the air,
gave a quick bark, and then went butt up to help Adam dig. “Good
boy.” Adam laughed. “I knew it was a good idea to bring
Walter.”
    Shoving the piece of rope into her shirt for
safekeeping, Maddy gave him “the look”. “Yeah, ’cause bringing the
dog was your idea.”
    Adam’s trowel hit metal. He abandoned the
trowel and started pulling dirt away with his hands. Expecting to
find the smooth, metal surface of a box, he was disappointed when
his fingers scraped across an uneven surface. Adam kept digging,
until he uncovered what looked like a metal cylinder. “Shit.” Adam
sat back. “This isn’t our box.”
    The sound of the sliders rolling open
immediately preceded the barn bursting into light and Adam jumped
to his feet.
    Beside him, Maddy said, “Oh shit.”
    Walter yipped and continued to dig, butt up
and tail wagging as Adam looked into the furious gaze of his
ex-lover, the cop who hated him, and the big angry man with the
ever-present shotgun in his hands.
    “You son of a bitch!” Teddy said, right
before he started to lift the gun.

CHAPTER EIGHT

    CC’s hand snaked out and clamped around the
barrel of the shotgun. “Not so fast, Mr. Worth. I’ll handle
this.”
    Adam’s gaze slid away from the gun to Dirk,
who radiated anger, his fists clenched at his sides and his body
taut with it. “Dirk, I…”
    “Save it, Adam.” He turned and stalked
out.
    CC’s gray eyes flashed under their overlong
lashes. His lips were tight, and his arm bulged with the effort it
took to hold the shotgun muzzle toward the ground. In jeans and a
tight-fitting white tee shirt instead of his usual suit, he looked
buff and a little hot.
    The big cop shook his head. “You just can’t
stay out of trouble can you, Hoale?”
    Adam shrugged, there