Chapter 15
Griz was having a great time with his buddies, but he really wanted to spend some time with Elowen.
So far, they’d had a fun time together. He didn’t know if it was being on vacation, away from his normal routine, or if they really were good together.
He hoped it was that they were just good together.
Way too soon he would be heading back home and back to work. The idea of not seeing Elowen for weeks on end made him antsy. He would need to figure out a way for her to come see him until he could get some time away.
At least he didn’t live on a ship. He’d done that enough in his early days.
Maybe that was one of the reasons he didn’t like living in the city.
Out here, he felt like he could go anywhere.
In San Diego, he could go places, but there were so many people, so many buildings, he couldn’t get far without running into a place he couldn’t go.
“You all ready to go back?” Shine asked.
Squat grabbed his gear. “Yes.”
“Cool. Tomorrow we’ll go for a hike instead of fishing,” Sharp said.
“Maybe we could all hike,” Apple said.
Jay chuckled. “I don’t know how far Nichole will want to go. We could do a workout in the morning then hike with the women.”
Sharp turned to Griz. “Do you think Elowen knows any good hiking paths around here?”
Griz shrugged. “Probably.”
On the walk back to the cabin he didn’t see the camera until he turned around and looked back.
He had to ask Elowen about that. They made it back to the cabin and found the women had consumed two bottles of champagne.
Elowen came over to give him a kiss, and he was expecting her to be a little tipsy, but he could tell she was sober.
“You good?”
She chuckled and nodded. “These women are great. Thank you for introducing me to them.”
“I’m glad you all are getting along. But I’m sad that we’re almost down to only a week left. The days have flown past.”
She grabbed his arm and squeezed. “I’ll have a few free days about a week after you leave, then I’ll have a week, and in the deep winter months it’s too cold in the mountains for guests.”
“We’ll figure it all out.”
She glanced over her shoulder then leaned in close. “You haven’t discussed it yet with your friends?”
He shook his head. Maybe he should bring it up while they were here. But he didn’t want to announce his retirement then head out on a mission. It would be bad luck. Not that he believed in luck, but sometimes things happened on the battlefield he couldn’t explain.
“Not yet. Not something I really want to bring up now.”
She nodded. “I get it. Now then, I’m going back to my cabin to shower. I’ll see you this evening.”
“Sure. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Hey, Elowen, why don’t you join us for dinner tonight?” Danika called out before she could get out the door.
“Are you sure? I don’t want—”
“Yes,” Danika said.
Everyone else agreed, they wanted her there. She could tell they were sincere.
“Okay, I’ll come over for dinner. Can I bring something?”
“We still have some of the cookies you baked,” Nichole said.
“I have a good broccoli dish,” Elowen said.
“Sure, that sounds lovely,” Danika said.
“I’ll walk you back,” Griz said.
She was about to tell him he didn’t have to, but spending more time with Griz would be good. When he kissed her goodbye on her front porch, she reached back and opened the door.
He paused and narrowed his gaze. “You don’t lock it.”
She shook her head. “No. There are only about five, maybe six people in a six-mile radius. One of the couples is very old, and then there is the couple that just had kids. There’s an old guy living on his own and someone else I don’t know well.”
“You should be more careful.”
She shrugged. “I lock up if I leave the area.”
He turned to leave then paused and turned back. “So the trail camera down by the river. Is that yours?”
She shook her head. “Is it on my property?”
“I don’t know. We didn’t cross any fences.”
“I don’t have a fence between here and the river.”
“Then it could be on your property, or maybe someone else’s.”
Worry slid through her. “I don’t have a trail camera. I don’t know who would have put one up. I haven’t seen any.”
He nodded slowly. “Want me to show it to you?”
“Sure.”
“Let me text the guys and tell them that I’m headed over to the river to show you the camera.”
“Sure.”
He texted while she went in to use the bathroom. An odd feeling slid through her as she thought about the mixing bowl that had been washed. It sounded ridiculous in her head. There was no way someone would break into her house and do the dishes.
When she stepped out, she turned and locked the door. “There, it’s locked.”
“Everyone wants to come. So we can start walking, but let’s go slow because all the women want to see the river where we were fishing.”
“Sounds good. It’s beautiful out here and hiking is a good activity for everyone. The path isn’t too dangerous, either. On the far north side of my property it’s dangerous. That’s getting into the mountain and steep rock faces.”
“We haven’t gone that way yet. It looks beautiful, though.”
“It is. I haven’t hiked up there in a while.”
“So you don’t really know who could be camping there.”
His words hit hard. What if someone was living on her land? Maybe she should lock up more. When she first moved out here, she’d thought about getting a camera, but she thought it made her look paranoid, but now, she thought she might want one.
She hadn’t washed that bowl. She was sure of it. But it was put up in the cabinet where she would put it.
The rest of the group caught up with them after about ten minutes. They were at the river not long after. All the women thought the river looked like a great place to swim. Then Griz pointed out the camera.
She stared at it, then back at the river. The tree was technically on her property. Why would someone want to point a camera at the river?
“I don’t get it. That is my property, but I didn’t put up the camera.”
“Maybe we should remove it,” Sharp said.
She stared at the camera, worry creeping in. “Do you think they’ll be angry?”
“It’s on your property and you didn’t put it there.”
“I haven’t had any issues…that I know of. But then again…” She trailed off, not wanting to bring up the bowl. Telling these people about the bowl would make her sound crazy. Of course she’d washed the bowl. No one would come into her house and do her dishes. Or would they?
“What?” Griz asked.
Squat moved from the far side of the group to right in front of her. “You look like you are thinking hard about something.”
She shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
“Are you sure it’s nothing?” Rowan asked.
She blew out a breath. “So the other day I made the cookies. I was running a little late, and I didn’t want to show up halfway through lunch.
The timer for the cookies rang, and I grabbed them and put them on the plate.
I didn’t have time to wash the bowl. Or I thought I didn’t have time.
But when I got back from the cabin, the bowl was washed and put away.
I swore I hadn’t washed the bowl or put it up.
I was surprised to find it in the cabinet when I got home. ”
“You lock your doors, right?” Sharp asked.
She shrugged. “I’m out here, in the wilderness. Few people live out here.”
Asher circled her hand around like she was indicating the whole area. “You don’t have a dog, do you?”
“No. I didn’t want to get one while I was working on the cabin, then I didn’t want a dog disturbing any guests. I’ve thought about it, but I just haven’t made the move.”
“So someone could have gone into your house and washed your dishes,” Griz said.
“Yeah, but that sounds crazy. Why would someone come into the house and wash dishes?”
Apple moved to the tree and shimmied up, grabbing the camera before dropping to the ground.
“What are you doing?” Elowen asked him.
Apple turned off the unit. “There is no reason for this person to keep getting video and audio feed.”
Elowen didn’t know what to say. Why had someone put a camera on her property?
There wasn’t anything out here, except people swam here.
“This is the place people come to swim. I know it. The other side of the river is state land. There is an access trail, but you’d have to cross the river to get to my side, and few people are that adventurous.
But they come out here to swim, sometimes naked.
Do you think they wanted to watch people skinny dip? ”
Griz shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think with the angle of that camera, they wanted to catch you skinny dipping.”
“But who would do that?”
Sharp wiped his hand over his face. “A demented individual who is obsessed with you. So you haven’t had any problems with people, mainly men? Have you dated anyone? Noticed anyone obsessed with you?”
“No. I haven’t interacted that much with the locals. I deleted all my dating apps. I haven’t even tried since I came here. I was working to get the cabin finished.”
Amelia spoke up. “So no ex-boyfriends? No guys you went on one date with, nothing like that?”
She shook her head. “No. There are a few guys who helped me with construction I couldn’t do on my own.
There were a few tasks that took two people to complete, and I needed help.
But those guys were professional. None of them even tried to do anything.
They came to the cabin, worked, and left.
Most of them have families and they aren’t going to come around to harass me. ”
Nichole pursed her lips. “And none of them gave you any feelings that something was off?”
“No. Working construction, I’ve been around weird guys, but I didn’t see any of that with the men I hired here.
They were professional, some jokes but none of them bad.
They worked hard, respected the work I did and took off at the end of the job.
None of them tried to get me to date them, I didn’t catch them giving me weird looks, or watching me.
I’ve been in situations where guys tried to watch me go to the bathroom or spilled drinks or food on me to get me to have to take off my shirt or something, this wasn’t like that. ”
“Fuck. I hate that you’ve had to deal with that,” Griz said.
Danika rolled her eyes. “It’s called being a woman. We’ve all dealt with pieces of shit like that.”
All the men looked disgusted. They weren’t making any new discoveries standing out here. Whoever owned the camera wasn’t going to show up now. Maybe they didn’t know the camera had been removed, but they would soon enough.