8:00 a.m.:
NO ACTIVITY
9:00 a.m.:
NO ACTIVITY
10:00 a.m.:
NO ACTIVITY
11:00 a.m.:
Investigator observes the blue 2010 Toyota LandCruiser exit the drive of the residence and depart the area. Mr.Brandt is driving the vehicle. Mr. MacAllister is a passenger inthe vehicle. Investigator initiates mobile surveillance of thevehicle.
11:45 a.m.:
Investigator observes the blue 2010 Toyota LandCruiser park on Main Street in Mist Bend, OR. Investigator observesMr. Brandt and Mr. MacAllister walk up the street and into Tucker’sTavern. Subjects are engaged in conversation and appear cordial.Mr. MacAllister appears to have sustained facial bruisingconsistent with a physical assault.
1:28 p.m.:
Investigator observes Mr. Brandt and Mr. MacAllisterexit Tucker’s Tavern. Investigator observes Mr. Brandt and Mr.MacAllister enter the blue 2010 Toyota Land Cruiser and proceed tothe Black Bear Inn on Silver Pines Road in Mist Bend. Investigatorobserves Mr. MacAllister enter the lobby and return nine minuteslater. Investigator observes Mr. Brandt pull behind the building.Investigator initiates on foot surveillance of the vehicle.
1:45 p.m.:
Investigator observes Mr. Brandt open the door ofRoom 26 to an unidentified male (Caucasian, mid-forties, blondbeard, balding). Investigator observes Mr. Brandt, Mr. MacAllister,and unidentified male leaving rendezvous site, driving away at aspeed estimated in excess of 70 miles per hour and proceed to theresidence of William Brandt, Sr. on Mellinger Road.
2:35 p.m.:
NO ACTIVITY
3:00 p.m.:
NO ACTIVITY
4:00 p.m.:
NO ACTIVITY
5:00 p.m.:
NO ACTIVITY
6:00 p.m.:
NO ACTIVITY
7:00 p.m.:
NO ACTIVITY
7:30 p.m.:
Investigator observes the blue 2010 Toyota LandCruiser exit the driveway of the residence and depart the area.Investigator observes Mr. MacAllister is driving the vehicle. Anunknown male (Caucasian, mid-twenties, shaven, brown hair) is apassenger in the vehicle. Subjects appear tense and unspeaking.Investigator initiates mobile surveillance of the vehicle.
7:38 p.m.:
Due to extremely poor visibility and dangerousdriving conditions, Investigator was forced to suspend mobilesurveillance.
Chapter Nine
“This is the life,”Will said contently.
“Yep.”
Will reeled in his line, glancing back atTaylor, absently admiring both the graceful line of his lean body —even in chest waders — and the beauty of that forward cast. Taylorwhisked the fly over his shoulder so that it seemed to dance in theair for an instant — the line looping lazily and straightening outbehind him — then snapping his forearm to send the shining linesinging out ahead.
The line hummed sweetly and the fly droppedlightly to the green water.
Yes, this was the life. Taylor was smilingat him, his dark hair falling boyishly in his eyes, and Willgrinned back.
Taylor was not a big outdoors guy, not byany stretch — unless the outdoors was a warm beach somewhere — buthe’d have to be blind not to appreciate the beauty of this scene,the distant, snowcapped, purple-blue mountains and the surroundingdense forest, red-gold foliage blazing in contrast to the green andgray spikes of conifers and pines. Even the white thunderheadsmoving in slowly from the east like airborne glaciers, werebeautiful and dramatic.
“Worth getting up at four in the morning?”Will asked.
“For this? Sure.”
Protection details, not so much. But theywould have to make due with the work they could get until thingsturned around.
“Richard never called back?” Taylor wouldprobably not have forgotten to mention it, though he’d had a lot onhis mind that morning between last night’s bonding exercise withGrant and nearly being run off the road by the Dooleys.
“No.” One little word, but Will knew Taylorwas troubled.
“We’ll find another way.”
Taylor didn’t reply.
Will walked backwards a few steps, eye on aboulder on the far side of the river. He lifted the tip of hisfishing rod, swinging the rod back and over to create the loop inthe line and casting forward. The line glinted, snaking through theair and dropping down.
“Nice,” Taylor observed.
“We should try salmon fishing in Alaska someday,” Will said. “Supposedly there’s nothing like it.” Someday whenthey could afford to take a real vacation again. Will’s stomachgrowled. “You getting hungry?” he called to Taylor.
“Always.”
They hadn’t caught much that morning, butthat wasn’t really the point of the exercise. Even exercise wasn’tthe point of this exercise. A little time to themselves, a littlecommuning with the Great Outdoors. Mostly a little time tothemselves.
Will felt a drop on his face and glanced atthe slate skies overhead.
“Same here. You ready to call it a day?”
In answer, Taylor began to reel in hisline.
“Thanks for this,” he said.
“For what? Fishing? My pleasure.”
Taylor’s expression was serious. “No. Forletting me come along on this trip.”
“Let you? There was no let youabout it. Of course you were coming on this trip.” Will said itheatedly because he was unhappily aware that he had not initiallywanted Taylor to come. What a dumbass he was sometimes. Now hecouldn’t imagine having made this trip without him. Just when hethought they couldn’t get any closer, too. But somehow he feltcloser to Taylor than ever.
“I like your dad,” Taylor said, stillserious, still following his own thoughts.
“Me too.”
Taylor made an absent, amused sound. “You’relucky though. I love my parents, but I don’t have that. What youhave. I never did.”
Will had known that for a long time. Taylorwas close to his siblings and had a polite, distantly affectionaterelationship with his mother. He rarely spoke about his father, butWill had the impression Taylor would have liked a closerrelationship. It bothered him to picture a much younger, much morevulnerable Taylor yearning for what should have been his byright.
Families were complicated. But some peopleshouldn’t be allowed to have kids. That was a fact.
“Grant’s okay too. In his way,” Tayloradded.
Will laughed. “Thanks for, you know, notpulverizing him. Of course, I may pulverize him myself.”
“Nah. I like him. He’ll grow out of what Idon’t like about him.”
They reeled in their lines, waded out of thewater, and stood beside the Land Cruiser, stripping off theirprotective gear. Will wore Polypropylene long johns under hiswaders, but Taylor, as usual, had worn Levi’s, and the cotton hadacted as a magnet for the damp cold.
“God damn it,” Will said. “Why will younever listen to me? You’re turning blue!”
“Then the rest of me will match my balls,”Taylor said tartly. He was kidding of course, except…not entirely.All at once his smile was too tight and his green eyes looked gray.Glacial.
“Huh?” Will stared at him and he had thatsinking feeling
