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Bailey was on her crutches when they made it into the Value TSP post. Clay was going to hit the shower in the basement first chance he got. After Bailey.
But it wasn’t Veri who first greeted them. It was Deb. The night dispatcher. She sent a worried look at Clay. “Veri hasn’t checked in yet. I don’t know where she is. I came in to see if I could help, and Jeremy told me he didn’t know where she was.”
Clay’s heart froze. Veri was special to him. And she always would be. “I’ll head over to her place now.” Veri lived closer to the northern edge of the county.
Close to the southern side of Finley Creek.
He hadn’t looked at the maps yet, but she would have been right in the path of destruction.
“I’m going with you,” Bailey said. “And I need to go by the house, see if Bert’s there. He’s not answering any of the phones, and Jake’s not heard from him yet.”
“We’ll go to Veri’s first, then take Bracker’s Mill if it’s open, down to Bert’s. See if the phones are out. Or if he’s turned up somewhere.”
Bailey nodded. Her worry was right there on her face. “That’s probably it. Bert’s not stupid. He wouldn’t have been out in a storm like this. He’d seek shelter.”
Clay ran a hand up her arm, just to comfort. “I have some calls to make. I’m leaving in twenty. Shower. Grab something out of the vending machines—besides M&Ms—and we’ll go.”
Bailey hurried off as fast as she could on her crutches, worry for Bert and Veri on her face.
Clay waited until she was out of sight. Then he made his calls. There was a reason Bert hadn’t checked in yet—or Veri—and he was afraid of what it meant.
If they were out there hurt somewhere, he needed to know. But the first places he was checking were the local hospitals. Just in case.