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“I think Mr. Smoot here is the lucky one.”

“He has a grandson, in his twenties, who is also missing. Any chance your crew could circle around and look for sign of someone else?”

The team and the pilot conferred a moment and decided that since Jerry was now receiving life-saving fluids an extra fifteen minutes wouldn’t hurt.

“We’ll take a look.”

They had him loaded quickly. They circled a few times, but then a crew member leaned out of the chopper and shook her head as if to relay that they didn’t see anyone else. I sent her a thumbs-up and waved them away.

They had offered to take me with them, but I didn’t want to go to Tucson. I hoped Graham would return soon.

My wish was granted ten minutes later. He’d put on another shirt.

“We were notified about the chopper pickup. I’m glad, because I couldn’t find anyone in that police station. The sheriff’s place is too far away.”

“I think we’re good.”

“Jerry still alive?”

“So far.”

“Let me get you back. It’s been a day.”

I hopped on the back again and tried not to fall asleep as Graham took me back to my Jeep. I hadn’t even realized how tired I was, how the release of a load of adrenaline exhausted me.

“You okay to drive home?” he asked as I dismounted.

“I’m good. I’m taking a shower and going to bed, though.”

“Eat and drink something. In fact, meet me at the diner. We could both use some sustenance.”

“I … uh.” I really just wanted to go home.

“Come on, Hazel. We both need some food. Meet me there.” He turned and headed toward town.

I watched him go, feeling gratitude that he’d helped. It didn’t change what I wanted to do, but I was willing to take one for the team and eat food, maybe drink some cold water.

“Okay. See you there,” I said aloud, though he was too far away to hear a word.

I wasn’t hungry, but Dixie’s chicken noodle soup hit the spot, along with a few tall glasses of water.

If I looked as ruffled as Graham, it was no wonder that Dixie gathered us both as we walked inside. She led us to a booth and brought food and drink quickly.

Graham ate a full steak and a loaded baked potato. I’d been known to do that few times myself, but the soup was all I’d wanted today.

I was tired, but I didn’t have time to be. I was distracted by the pendant in my pocket. I should have called Calloway or told Verro or Jenna right off, but something had stopped me. It was a curious intuition, like maybe I knew something about that pendant. It was the bones of a hand—shouldn’t it mean something to me of all people? Me before everyone else?

I knew what I had to do, and a meal with Graham was only prolonging my curious anxiety.

“Tell me about the last case you worked on,” I asked, hoping for something to distract me from jumping out of my own skin.

“Lead coffins.”

“Oh yeah?”

A few lead coffins had been dug up in the United States over the years. We hadn’t used lead in coffins in this country in a long time, and only for a short time as the colonists were placing the building blocks of the country.

“What did you find inside?”