Chapter 5
Noelle had thought Emma was going to make a run for it when she’d offered to give the girl a ride.
The teenager had been hesitant and appeared miserable through their entire talk, and the suggestion of a ride had visually morphed her misery into fear.
Making Noelle even more determined to drive her home and find out why she was scared.
Using her peripheral vision, she checked on the girl in the passenger seat. Emma hadn’t said a word. She’d turned around twice, trying to reposition the bag of cans on the floor of the back seat to keep them from noisily vibrating. No luck.
Speeding down the country road, they passed the huge black iron gate and long driveway that led to Noelle’s new home.
She hadn’t liked the gate at first; it’d seemed pretentious.
No one else on the winding road had a gate.
But once she’d been in the isolated house for a week or two, she’d started to appreciate it.
It eased her mind a bit, given what had happened at her previous house.
Well, the intruder knew the alarm code.
The iron gate provided an extra layer of defense on top of her extensive home security system, and she also kept multiple handguns stashed around her home. She’d been reluctant to tell her therapist about the guns, concerned she was becoming a paranoid freak.
“Does it make you feel better knowing a gun is in reach?” the therapist had asked.
Noelle had been quiet for a long moment, fighting the immediate denial that had popped into her head. “Yes,” she’d finally admitted.
“Do you think I’d tell a child to put away his teddy bear if having it near made him feel better?”
“I think my guns are a little different than a teddy bear.”
“You’re a trained professional. You understand weapons,” the therapist had said. “And you’re a responsible person. I think for you, having a few guns in drawers isn’t a big deal.”
A few weeks later, Noelle had returned most of them to her safe. They’d served their purpose and gotten her over the hump of her emotional recovery after the break-in and violence.
“How much further?” Noelle asked Emma, interrupting the silence.
“A couple miles. You’ll turn right at the next road.” Emma seemed to shrink into her seat.
“You okay?” Noelle asked.
“Yeah.” The teen abruptly straightened. “That was your house we passed, wasn’t it?” The words rushed out of her mouth. “The one with the gate.”
Noelle hesitated. “Yes.”
“Are you rich?”
Startled at the question out of left field, Noelle glanced at Emma. The teen held her gaze for the first time, curiosity in her light-green eyes. “Some people would say I am,” Noelle admitted.
Most people.
Noelle had come into a lot of money when her second husband died.
“Then why do you work?”
“Because I love my job.”
Emma looked doubtful.
“I honestly love what I do. My job is different every day. It’s a challenge, and it’s important. I truly like helping people.” She paused as she thought about the FBI agent who’d steered her toward law enforcement years ago. Alice Patmore continued to be a friend and mentor.
Best guidance I ever received.
“What would I do instead?” asked Noelle with a shrug.
“Have my nails done? Spend all day at the gym? Throw fundraisers for charities?” She knew women who were very happy doing all that.
She’d tried to live like that because her former husband and his family had expected it of her.
She didn’t have anything against the life; it simply wasn’t for her.
“I don’t really have any hobbies. I read a bit. I tried gardening and hated it.”
“I hate gardening too, but sometimes it’s necessary,” Emma said softly, now looking straight ahead.
Noelle sucked in a breath and glanced at the girl’s heavily worn boots.
She must garden because they need the food.
Noelle didn’t know what to say. The silence in the vehicle was deafening.
“Turn there.” Emma pointed at an unmarked road Noelle had never noticed before. It was deeply rutted, needing grading and new gravel.
“You ride your bike on this?” Noelle asked.
“I walk it to the road.” A hundred yards later, she indicated for Noelle to turn again.
The condition of this road was no better.
In fact, road was a strong term; it was more of a trail that happened to be wide enough for a vehicle.
It wound through scrubby pines and around huge black boulders, the results of a volcanic eruption eons ago.
Volcanic rock could be found almost everywhere in the county, including in thousands of acres of lava beds that attracted tourists from around the world.
“It’s over there.” Emma pointed.
Hidden from the road’s view was a single-wide trailer that Noelle suspected was at least forty years old and that made her regret everything she’d mentioned to the teenager about her life.
Emma Chambers didn’t have much. When Noelle was growing up, her family hadn’t had much either.
But they had lived in luxury compared to Emma.
Noelle didn’t see any vehicles. “Is your dad here?”
“No.”
“And your mother doesn’t live here, correct?”
The girl whipped her head around to goggle at Noelle. “Who told you that?”
“Officer Cooley knows a little bit about everyone around here. He told Chief Daly.”
She looks as if she’s about to cry.
The pain in Emma’s eyes vanished as quickly as it’d come. “That’s none of his business.”
“I agree,” said Noelle. Clearly Emma’s mother was a tender spot.
Noelle stopped her Tahoe on a semiflat area under a tree.
A worn path from the spot to the home told her it was probably where Emma’s father parked too.
She turned off the vehicle, and Emma was out of the SUV before Noelle could reach for her own seat belt.
Then Emma opened the vehicle’s back door and grabbed her bag of cans.
“I’ll be right back with my license.” She ran toward the house and paused to unlock the door before disappearing inside.
Noelle slowly got out of the SUV, scanning the area.
It was quiet except for a soft rustling of wind in the tall grasses.
A faint clucking told her there were chickens close by.
The remote area was peaceful, and if Noelle stretched, she could just see the white tip of a snowy mountain. She felt her spine relax.
Our homes may be vastly different, but we share the same beautiful setting.
She took out her phone to send Emma’s list of partiers’ names to Detective Evan Bolton.
No service.
Reception had been a problem at her home too, but she’d immediately purchased a system to take care of it. She sighed and slid her phone back in her pocket, not wanting to bother activating satellite service to send the list.
A door squeaked and Emma reappeared. Noelle noticed she deliberately skipped one of the outside steps as she exited the home.
Broken? Rotting?
Emma trudged over and handed Noelle her license. The young woman was eighteen. Her birthday had been in December. “Are you a senior?” Noelle asked, studying the photo, where the teenager gave a wide smile that lit up her face.
“I’m homeschooled. But I’ll be finished this spring.”
“Then you’ll take the GED?” Noelle gave back the license.
Emma waited a beat. “Yes.”
Noelle already had a cell number for her, so she pulled out a business card and wrote her own personal cell number on the back. “Can you get reception out here?”
“Sometimes I can. It’s better out by the road.”
“I want you to call me if you think of anything else about this morning. Or if your dad wants to ask me some questions, he can call too.” She handed the card to the teenager, who accepted it gingerly.
“Will you need to talk to me again?” Emma asked, eyeing the card.
“Maybe.”
“Can you tell me when you identify the body?”
“I can do that once his family is notified.” The teenager hadn’t looked up, and Noelle sensed she wasn’t ready for her to leave.
A few minutes ago, she couldn’t wait to get away.
Lonely?
“Are you going back out for more cans now?” Noelle asked.
“I don’t feel like looking any more today.” She gave a small shudder. “I don’t have my bike back yet anyway.”
“I’ll check with Ben once I get to the road. I’m sure he’ll be along shortly.”
“Thank you.” She finally looked Noelle in the eye.
“You’re welcome.”
As she drove away, Noelle considered her interaction with the teenager.
Why do I feel like I’m abandoning her?
Noelle scowled. The teenager appeared healthy, if thin.
She was well spoken—when she spoke. She’d lost some of her early fear and now just seemed a bit rattled by the morning’s discovery, which was understandable.
Noelle reached the main road just as Ben Cooley was turning in.
She lifted a hand in greeting, and he did the same as he sped by.
If she’s lonely, Ben will take care of it.