Lily felt a wave of adrenaline rushing through her system as they came through the small town of Appleton. It was little more than a crossroads on the side of a ridge overlooking a broad valley, with a cluster of small businesses near the intersection and a series of farmhouses overlooking them as the roads stretched out in each direction.
They continued through the intersection and started up a long straight road along the edge of the ridge to its top. Town Hill Rd led them to another road running along the ridge at the top of the valley. Checking her notes, Lily turned left here and they continued along a narrow, unmarked road that looked more like coal patch than modern asphalt. They found several large cow barns set back on the right as they drove, each part of a farm. They passed three similar farms, all with a barn near the road, big house, little house, and back house across the drive. Each sporting a series of tractors, at least two F-350s, and a family sedan.
The road dipped down the far side of the ridge and began descending into the valley on the other side. Now they saw a farm off to the left of the road that wasn't as clean and sharply delineated as the others had been. There was no large cow barn, but a smaller hay barn next to the series of connected houses. All of these appeared to be long out of use. The pasture sloping down the hill on the right hand side of the road was overgrown, and clearly hadn't been hayed or cleared for silage.
Lily checked the road before and behind, and with no lights anywhere, turned in at the farmhouse. She and Lily sat there nervously, expecting someone to appear at any moment with a shotgun to tell them to leave, but none came.
Cassie got out the FLIR and turned it on, sweeping the house in front of them. Everything glowed blue. She stepped out of the car, and took a step forward, pointing the camera at the farmhouse and barn, then swinging it around to take in the entire panorama around them. Only their own car showed any heat of significance. Cassie jumped back in the car.
"This has to be the place!" She cried. "There is nothing showing up on the infrared."
"Let's get out of sight first," Lily said, and drove the car up to the farmhouse, which showed no signs of habitation, and seemed to be in bad need of repair in places. She pulled up toward the barn and noted that there was a little space between the house and barn where she could pull the car in and it would not be visible from the road or the front of the house. The adrenaline was taking fun control of her now, and she quickly pulled the car in and got out.
"What are you planning to do, Lily?" Cassie asked cautiously as she got out of the car to join her friend. She could see Lily's teeth shining white under the moon in her eager smile.
"This is the place, Cassie," Lily called out. "I can feel it in my bones! We know the directions Grace left in that note to Detective Richards, so we'll go inside and find the sheets."
"Lily! What if this isn't the place? We'll be breaking and entering. What if the sheriff drives by now, while we're here? What if it collapses on our head, for heaven's sake?" Cassie was frantic with worry.
"Listen, Cass," Lily tried to reason with her. "Those two guys down the road will find out they're at the wrong spot soon enough, and start looking for the next one on their list. Chances are, they tracked it down the same way I did, so they'll be coming along here soon. I say we take advantage of them being at the B&B and get in and out of here before they change their minds. Ok?"
Cassie shook her head, but followed Lily toward the back door.
They approached carefully, and as quietly as they could manage. Cassie was a bundle of nerves and couldn't shake the cold out of her fingers. Lily was a bundle of nerves as well, but so pumped with adrenaline that she could barely hold back from running blindly ahead.
