Bertie arrived the next morning with two large Tim Horton’s coffees, one of which she placed on Harry’s desk. “Did you find anything out there in the woods?”
“Trees.”
“Oh, funny. Had something sharp for breakfast, did you?”
“It’s the truth,” he replied, with a chuckle. “Actually it was just as Royal described it. Definitely not young kids, the stones are too big. And it doesn’t look like drug users either, too clean.”
“Hmm, teens sneaking off to party with drugs or alcohol usually leave some trace of their activities.”
“Exactly,” he agreed. “Nothing was out of place there, except for the stones which had obviously been brought there… probably from someplace close by.”
“So what’s your next move?”
He sighed. “I went out there three times last night, sunset, midnight and sunrise. Nothing.”
Bertie’s eyes narrowed. “When did you sleep?”
“Naps in between… felt kind of like old times. I’ll go back today at noon, the boring part of any investigation. What are your plans for the day?”
She sighed and screwed up her face. “More painting… not my favourite task by any stretch of the imagination.”
Harry laughed. “But it has to be done and it’s easier to do it before you move in.”
“I guess. How many nights do you plan to do this?”
“A couple more nights and if I see nothing, I’ll run it by the guys at the station on Monday and see what they think.” He took a good long drink of his coffee. “Do you have some pickups lined up for us on Saturday?”
“Oh yes.” She laughed. “Living room and bedroom sets, table and chairs… that will do for now. I’ll pick up smaller things as I need them and the current appliances are good for a while.”
“I’ll make sure Bruce hasn’t forgotten about it.”
“Okay. If you need my help with anything, let me know.”
“Will do.”
As planned, Harry returned to the site again just before noon, stayed for just over an hour, but saw nothing. It was possible that the place wasn’t being used for anything, he thought as he drove home. Or maybe it was so recently done that whoever did it hadn’t started using it yet. That night he made another three trips and was beginning to think he was watching for nothing.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
