Deadfall by Patricia H. Rushford

hand. Watching Rachael leave, she prayed they were right and that Brad was at home—or somewhere, safe and alive.
    AT FOUR O’CLOCK, Mac’s cell phone vibrated. He and Dana had been following the upper trail. Flipping open his cell, he answered, “Mac here.”
    â€œFun’s over, Mac.” His partner, Kevin Bledsoe, sounded none too happy. “We got a twelve-forty-nine. Body was found by a real-estate assessor at the old Cazadero Mill on Faraday Road, east of Estacada. A guy was found in the old sawmill out here. Sawed in half.”
    â€œYou’re kidding.” Mac glanced at Dana, who joined him on the trail.
    â€œWish I was.”
    â€œHave you ID’d him?” Mac wondered briefly if the murder victim might be their missing guy, then dismissed the idea. No reason to make that kind of connection.
    â€œNot yet. The assessor said it was a male. I’m en route—M.E. should be there within the half-hour. Where are you?”
    â€œWah-kella Falls area—about two miles from the top of the falls.”
    â€œHow soon can you get out here?”
    Mac wished he’d taken his own car. He hated to pull Dana out of the search. “Hang on, Kevin.” He told Dana about the murder.
    â€œYou’ll have to take me out there, or I’ll try to catch a ride.”
    Glancing at her watch, Dana said, “I’m with you.”
    â€œWe’re on our way. Should be there within the hour.”
    â€œWe?” Mac could picture Kevin’s raised eyebrow. “Don’t tell me; let me guess. You’re with Trooper Bennett.”
    Mac grinned, not really minding the implication. “Yeah. You got a problem with that?”
    â€œNot at all, partner. Just curious.” Kevin chuckled. “This one sounds pretty grisly, Mac. Dana might want to think twice about coming in on it.”
    â€œI’ll tell her.”
    As he and Dana jogged down the trail, Mac’s concerns about Bradley Gaynes returned, but he didn’t voice them. He wanted to be wrong. He wanted Gaynes to walk out of the woods a few miles down the road. He wanted the girlfriend to be an innocent bystander. There was nothing thus far to indicate foul play, and he hoped it stayed that way.
    â€œYou think Brad might be the victim at the sawmill?” Dana asked after they had checked out with the command center and were pulling out of the parking lot. Her flushed cheeks, sparkling aquamarine eyes, and breathless voice made her more appealing than usual.
    â€œCrossed my mind.” Mac pulled his gaze from hers. Down, boy. She’s got a boyfriend and you—you’re in limbo. “Estacada isn’t all that far away. They haven’t ID’d him yet.”
    â€œGuess we’ll find out soon enough,” Dana said, merging into the freeway traffic.
    â€œAre you familiar with the Cazadero Mill?” Mac asked.
    â€œYeah. The sawmill went out of business a little over a year ago. The owners left it as is, hoping to sell it, but nothing so far. There’s still thousands of dollars in equipment in the building with a razor cyclone fence around it, but like any abandoned property, after a while it starts looking attractive to the bad guys. Some creeps were dealing drugs out of it for a while. We closed them down.”
    â€œRight. I heard about that.” Mac glanced at her. “Maybe they started back up again.”
    She shrugged.
    â€œKevin said a real-estate assessor found the body. Makes me wonder how well the security guys are doing their job.”
    â€œI think it’s one of those agencies that checks in once a shift. If the bad guys knew the routine, they could stay under the radar.”
    Mac shifted in his seat. “Kevin said you might want to stay out of the foray on this one. It’s pretty gruesome.”
    Dana bit her lower lip. “Aren’t they all?”
    â€œYeah, but this guy was sawed in half.”
    Dana sucked in a sharp