Tansy sighed. “He must have parked out of sight of the cameras. There’s no way he hiked from town to do this.”
Sam agreed. “We’ll see if the deputy can check into any visitors in town. I didn’t notice a motel, did you?”
Tansy shook her head. “I saw a sign for a B&B but I haven’t seen more of the town than you.”
Another sign she’d been isolating herself.
They parked in the same lot and walked to Phail General. Troy greeted them with a smile. “Tansy, Sam. Nice to see you again. How can I help you today?”
Tansy looked at Sam, letting him take the lead. She wasn’t much for interacting with strangers and she didn’t like sharing her private world with others.
“We had an incident out at the lodge last night and we’d like to make a report with your deputy. I understand his office is here?”
Troy frowned and nodded. He moved behind the counter and waved at them to follow.
At the back section of the store, he knocked on a closed door with a sign stating, Sheriff’s Office. Deputy M. Ramirez.
“Come on in.”
Troy opened the door, and they trooped into a larger room than Sam had expected.
Filing cabinets, a seating area, and several desks took up the space. The man at the only occupied desk stood, and Sam knew he was meeting another former military man. Tall, strong, steely eyed.
He walked around the desk with a slight limp and extended his hand to Tansy first and then Sam. “I’m Marcus Ramirez.”
As they introduced themselves, Troy closed the door behind them.
Marcus started the conversation. “What brings you here today?”
When Tansy didn’t speak, Sam jumped in. “Tansy and her brother own the sawmill and lodge property north of town. Last night, someone tried to break into the lodge.”
Marcus frowned. “That’s quite a hike in from the highway isn’t it?”
Sam nodded. “It is. A couple of miles. I have security footage showing him climbing the fence by the gate and then another of him about to use a tool on the window when the alarm scared him off.”
After he reviewed the footage from Sam’s phone, Ramirez looked between the two of them. “This isn’t a random break in. You were targeted. Any idea what he was after?”
Tansy sighed softly. “I’m working on a couple of projects for the Department of Defense. I don’t know if this is connected to that or not. I’ve emailed my contact at the DOD to let him know about the incident and that we’re reporting it here.”
The deputy’s eyes widened slightly, but his expression didn’t change.
“Can you tell me if the contract involved intellectual property or a tangible product?”
Tansy nodded. “Both. I’m creating a few devices for them. The information itself is classified, but I can tell you that I’m working on both personal and group protective items.”
Ramirez nodded. “Okay. I have contacts within DOD myself. My clearance probably isn’t high enough to know details, but I don’t need them.”
The deputy looked at Sam. “Are you working on these devices together?”
Sam shook his head. “I’m currently working for the FBI. Looking into the possibility of creating a personal security training program here, though. I don’t have the head for science like Tansy.”
Ramirez nodded and studied the footage from the security cameras again.
“I’d like to come out and walk through the property, see it for myself.”
Tansy nodded. “Any time.”
“How about now?”