Blaze (Steel Brothers Saga 21)

DONNY

Change of plans. Meet Brock and me at the winery.

I read the text from Dale that comes in as I start the engine of my truck. The winery. Will anyone be there on a Saturday? Surely there will be employees there, as wine is fermenting. What about tastings? And Uncle Ryan? We don’t really want to bring him in on this.

Dale wouldn’t have told me to meet him at the winery if there were any problems.

Twenty minutes later, I’m at the winery, and Dale and Brock are standing outside the door.

“What’s up?” I say, slamming the truck door.

“We needed to get out of the guesthouse,” Dale says. “Willow was having a hard time, having a crying spree about Dennis, and Ashley needed to be with her. I didn’t think it would be a good idea for all of us to be there talking about…well, shit that someone in mourning really doesn’t want to hear about.”

Ice pricks the back of my neck. “What are you talking about?”

“Brock and I went back up to the border last night.”

My stomach churns. “And…what did you find?”

“We’re not exactly sure,” Brock says, “but…”

“For God’s sake, just tell me.”

“Bones,” Dale says. “And from Brock’s and my limited biological expertise, we think they’re probably human.”

Puke gurgles in the back of my throat. “I suppose it’s not surprising, given the stench.”

“Except that these bones have been there for a long time. They didn’t have any smell, and they were just bones. No flesh.”

“None at all?”

“No. Which makes us think they may have been planted.” Brock rubs his chin.

“But what about the smell?”

“I suppose it could have been planted too,” Dale says.

“What the hell else smells like that?”

“Hell if I know,” Dale says. “But there was no evidence of decaying human flesh anywhere in that barn.”

“No evidence that we saw, anyway,” I say.

“Don, you know as well as I do that if the bodies had been buried deep enough, we wouldn’t smell them. And there was absolutely no evidence of any decaying body anywhere we could see.”

“Right… Anywhere that we could see.”

“Dude,” Brock says, “are you suggesting like they were on another plane or something?”

“Where the heck did you get that?” I shake my head. “No…but I’m wondering. Now that I think about it. The ceiling of the barn… There was a ceiling.”

“I’m not sure I ever looked up,” Dale says.

“I did, though. And it was something that I thought was weird for a minute before you guys got there. Instead of rafters, there was an actual ceiling.”

“Are you suggesting that there are decaying bodies up there?” Brock covers his mouth.

“I’m suggesting maybe we take a look.”