Page 35 of Hard Rain

“Nope. Last carpet was dark brown. This one’s sand.”

Axel watched Whip stop mid-scan and narrow his eyes at him.

“Ass,” Whip muttered.

Worth it.

He’d needed to get Whip talking again. Arguing pointless things usually did the trick.

“What else changed?”

“Blinds are new,” Whip muttered after another sweep of the room. “Coffee maker too.”

Axel’s mouth twitched. He reclined back against the nearest bed with his hands behind his head. Whip stopped speaking, but Axel could see him silently cataloging the room like a human inventory sheet.

“Possible truck sighting.” Whip frowned.

“What?”

It took a second to catch up.

“Alert on the phones.” Whip waved his cell toward him.

Axel pulled his own phone from his pocket.

Sure enough, he’d missed the text.

“We going after him?” Axel sat upright.

Whip was already reaching for the county maps spread across the table. “Let’s look at the routes first and figure out where he might be heading.”

“You think he stopped somewhere?”

“I think even Cutter’s not dumb enough to tear around ranch roads when a bigger storm is set to roll in tonight.”

Axel dropped into the chair beside the motel table while Whip spread the county maps across the scratched wood surface.

Rain rattled steadily against the windows.

The heater kicked on again with an ugly metallic hum.

Whip dragged one hand through his damp hair while studying the text alert on his phone.

Axel watched the way the strands slid back into place.

“Truck was spotted here twenty minutes ago.” Whip tapped a road south of Paisley. “Near County Twelve.”

Axel jerked and leaned forward.

“Thought they already searched all this.” He frowned.

“They did.” Whip tapped farther south on the map. “But the truck was spotted here.”

Axel narrowed his eyes. “Near Frank Delaney’s uncle’s hunting cabin.”

“Yeah.”

Axel stared at the road layout another second. The sheriff had already checked that earlier in the day.