The Sixth Man (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 5)

“Too risky,” said Michelle. “Leaving a parked car on a road like this would invite instant suspicion. They couldn’t be sure a cop wouldn’t stop and check it out.”

“An accomplice then,” said Murdock. “Waiting in the car. The person walks through the woods to avoid anyone on the road seeing them. Gets to the car and off they go.”

Sean looked over at the Washington County lawman who’d been first on the scene. “You see any other car parked like that on your patrol tonight or when you were heading here?”

The cop shook his head. “But I came from the same direction you did.”

Mayhew said, “We’ve got cars patrolling the nearby roads looking for anyone or anything suspicious. But it’s been hours now, so the person could be pretty far away. Or else holed up somewhere.”

Murdock said, “I wonder where Bergin was going?”

“Well, he was supposed to be meeting us at Martha’s Inn,” said Sean. “But now we know he was heading in the wrong direction for that. He would have turned off for Martha’s Inn before he got to this point. If he was coming from Eastport.”

Murdock looked thoughtful. “Right, so we still don’t know where he was headed. If it wasn’t to meet you, then where? And with whom?”

Michelle said, “Well, maybe the answer is as simple as he was somewhere south and west of here for some reason and was driving up to Martha’s Inn to meet us. That would put him on the same road and in the same direction as we were.”

They all considered this. Murdock looked at the colonel. “Any thoughts on where he might’ve gone if that theory turns out to be correct?”

Mayhew rubbed his nose. “Not much down that way unless he was visiting someone at home.”

“How about Cutter’s Rock?” asked Sean.

“If he was leaving from Gray’s Lodge to go to Cutter’s he wouldn’t be on this road at all,” said the lieutenant, as Mayhew nodded in agreement.

Mayhew added, “And Cutter’s is locked down now. No visitors after dark.”

Murdock turned to Sean. “Did he know anyone up here that he talked to you about?”

“The only one he talked to us about was Edgar Roy.”

“Right,” said Murdock. “His client.”

The way he said it made Sean remark, “We understand that Roy was on a federal tag list. Anything happens remotely connected to him, you guys get called in.”

Murdock’s expression showed how plainly he disliked Sean knowing this. “Where did you hear that?” he snapped.

Behind him Sean could almost sense the heat rising from the face of the trooper who’d let this fact slip to him.

“I think Bergin told me when we talked a couple days ago. You guys knew all about him repping Roy, correct?”

Murdock turned away. “Okay, let’s finish processing the area. I want pictures, video, every fiber, hair, blood splatter, print, DNA residue, footprint, and anything else out there. Let’s roll.”

Michelle turned to Sean. “I think he’s lost the love for us.”

“Can we go?” asked Sean, his voice rising.

Murdock turned back. “After we take fingerprints, DNA swabs, and impressions of your shoes.”

“For exclusionary purposes, of course,” said Sean.

“I let the evidence lead me wherever it goes,” replied Murdock.

“They already checked my gun,” said Michelle. “And we both passed a GSR test.”

“I don’t care,” retorted Murdock.

Sean said, “We were retained by Bergin. We certainly had no reason to kill the guy.”