Chapter 3
3
ALTA
“ U niform or professional?” I mused to myself.
Dang, why was I making this so difficult? It was only a meeting with an FBI agent. An FBI agent who I still had no insight on as to why he was coming to the park. Yes, a second woman went missing three days ago, three weeks after Christina Brown went missing—who still hadn’t been found—but why would the FBI take notice of two missing women?
Something else was obviously going on, hence the dilemma in front of me.
I held up both hangers. Ranger uniform to look official, but also possibly look less qualified since park police weren’t high on anyone's radar for clout. Or a black pantsuit, which would give off the impression I wanted, but wasn’t very official for a ranger.
“Ugh,” I groaned and turned to Benny, hoping for guidance. “What do you think? Which one?”
I swear he actually rolled his black eyes, then trotted out of the room. Not surprising since Benny was a male dog.
“Fine. Leave me when I need you most,” I grumbled under my breath. Which was a stupid thing to say since one, I was talking to a dog, and two, assisting in outfit choices wasn’t the reason I adopted Benny six years ago. His intense obedience training from the military, harsh looks and deadly bite were. Okay, and all that fur was quite snuggly at night when he hopped onto the couch with me.
“Focus, Birdie.” My gaze bounced between the two choices, once, twice, and a third time. Eyes narrowed at the dark green uniform, I sighed and tossed it on the unmade bed before shoving the other back into the closet.
Official it was.
Twenty minutes later, I shivered in the truck as I pulled into the parking lot; I lived so close to the central ranger station that the engine didn’t have time to warm up before I arrived. After shifting into Park, I considered the long, sleek black Suburban two spaces down that stuck out like… well, a nice SUV in a parking lot full of white park trucks. Benny’s nails scratched at the door impatiently as he turned his furry head to me.
The dog loved tagging along to the station because everyone spoiled him rotten with treats and long chest scratches. It didn’t happen much, but today I couldn’t push aside the urge to. Maybe it was meeting the FBI agent, or having an unknown man in my safe zone, or the two missing women. Whatever it was, having Benny within striking distance offered enough relief that I didn’t have to pop a Xanax before leaving the house.
Yay me.
A cold blast of wintery mix pushed against the door just as I shouldered it open, buffeting me back into the cab where Benny was nudging my back with his head, eager to hop out.
“Benny!” I yelled as he shoved me forward with his heavy weight before I could gain footing on the somewhat slick pavement. Not paying me any attention, he leaped past, forcing me into the door and sending me tumbling out of the truck. My rear end slammed onto the cold blacktop as I held on to the side door handle with a death grip.
In the distance, Benny’s long nails clicked along the pavement as he trotted toward the station's door. Damn dog.
Eager to not let my first impression with the FBI agent be one with a wet backside, I tugged on the handle to stand, only for the heavy door to swing shut, pinning me between it and the truck’s running board.
“Jiminy Cricket,” I grumbled.
“Need help?” a deep voice said above me.
My head whipped up toward the speaker. With a silent gasp, I shifted back for more distance from the unfamiliar man looming over me. A quick once-over showed him wearing hiking boots, dark jeans that fit snug around thick thighs, an untucked black cotton thermal shirt pushed up to his forearms despite the cold, exposing one fully inked forearm, and a short cigarette dangling between long, thick fingers.
When I found the courage to look up, I wished I hadn’t.
Near black eyes bore into mine with an intensity that warmed my core. And scared the pee out of me.
The hand not holding the cigarette extended down, but his stone face never shifted, his gaze staying locked with mine.
“Thanks.” My shaking hand gripped his steady one. Heat met my frigid fingers, sending tingles to erupt along my palm as it thawed. The ease with which he yanked me to my feet left an unsettling feeling at the display of his hidden strength.
After gaining my footing, I dusted off my backside while keeping my gaze locked on the stranger, which wasn’t difficult. Something was alluring about him. Something that drew me into the darkness behind his eyes.
Something that called to me.
“I’m normally not that clumsy,” I stated as I reached into the truck’s door pocket to retrieve my gun. After securing it in the holster, I stepped closer to the still-silent man to make room to close the door behind me.
He didn’t move, making me get so close that his fresh, masculine scent wafted up, causing my heart to race even faster.
“You here visiting someone or disputing a charge?” I asked, then took a steady step toward the ranger station front door. Damnit, where is Benny? Even as the thought passed, something about the man told me I wouldn’t need Benny’s deadly bite. This man, as intense as he was, wouldn’t hurt me. A feeling deep in my core reassured me that he wasn’t a threat, which was shocking. Every unknown man was a threat according to my fight-or-flight senses.
But not him.
Halfway across the parking lot, I turned, expecting an answer, but no one was there. A curious glance back to the truck showed him standing in the same spot, smoking the cigarette’s remnants.
Hand on the station door, I paused for one more look at the strangely alluring man only to find him gone. Huh. I leaned forward for a different angle but still came up empty.
Dang. The quick twinge of disappointment was unexpected. How in the heck could I be disappointed about a guy who’d said all of two words?
With a shake of my head, I pulled open the glass door, allowing Benny to wiggle between me and the doorframe. The comforting sounds of volunteers and other rangers bantering, coupled with the scent of stale coffee, pulled a smile up my cheeks despite my lingering disappointment.
“Ah, there you are,” Sarah called out from her perch on the corner of my desk.
As I walked toward her, a few volunteers called out to Benny, begging for his attention with treats and whistles. Sarah tossed her head back with an open-mouthed cackle when Benny tackled a ranger to the ground in an attempt to snag the treat he’d held out of the dog’s reach.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as I sat beside Sarah on the desk.
Sarah was my one girlfriend in town, and that was due to her initiating it. When we first met, I was intimidated by her gorgeous exterior and outgoing personality. But after I got to know her, I found that Sarah was funny, charismatic, and wicked smart. There was something about her that drew you in and made you want to be around her, which was exactly what happened to me. Somehow in the few months we’d known each other, she’d coaxed me to open up about my past and broken down all my antisocial barriers.
She was fun too, opposite of me, horny as heck, and willing to jump on any willing male—or female, depending on her mood. I lived vicariously through her rambunctious dating stories and wild nights.
“I clocked out early at the coffee shop, so I decided to come up to say hi.”
“And…?” I knocked her calf with the heel of my hiking boot.
“And I might have heard through the grapevine that an FBI agent was arriving today. I want to meet the newcomer, you know, welcome him to Estes Park,” she said with a smirk.
Oh no. I knew that smirk. Whoever this guy was didn’t stand a chance if Sarah locked her sights on him.
With a grin, I dropped my head forward and shook it back and forth. ”What if he’s not good-looking? Not all FBI agents look like the ones on TV.”
“Duh, but have you ever heard that power is an aphrodisiac for some people?”
“No.”
“Not surprising,” she said with an eye roll and toss of her long, blonde hair over her shoulder. “You don’t notice things like that, whereas I sure as hell do. Just like that friend of yours became ten times hotter the second his promotion came through.”
Wait. What? “John?”
“Yeah.”
No way. “My John?”
“Oh.” Her smirk turned devious. “So he’s yours now, is he?”
No, John wasn’t mine in the way she was referencing. He was a sweet man, a fantastic friend, but that was it. An underlying tension had built between us recently as his feelings for me grew deeper than friends. But it stopped there. He knew I didn’t feel the same way, and also knew that, with my past, I’m too broken for any sort of normal relationship. Plus the sympathy in his eyes when I sometimes caught him staring was a deal killer. I didn’t want sympathy, didn’t want anyone else telling me I was a victim.
Clearing my throat, I pressed both palms behind me to the desk and leaned back. “No. Not mine in that way. Never in that way. You know what I’m saying.”
Sarah tossed an arm across my shoulders and pulled me close. I tensed beneath her touch, grinding my teeth to keep from shoving out of her hold.
“I know. I was just giving you a hard time. So, have you seen him? The FBI guy?”
I stood, very ready to sneak out from under her arm, and glanced toward John’s closed office door. “Nope. I’m going in now. No idea why he’s even here, you know. I mean the FBI. Something big must be going on.”
Her eyes scanned over my face, and her lips pursed before she said, “Yeah, I guess. Tell me if he’s hot. If he is, I get dibs, unless you want to join in, which you know I’m down for.” She paused to scan my face, her lips pressing together in deep thought. “You want some lipstick or something before going in there? You’re looking a little duller than normal today.”
I rolled my eyes. Nope. My plain—dull, as she called it—exterior helped me blend into crowds, kept me from any unwanted attention. In college I learned the hard way the type of trouble a pretty face and outgoing personality could attract.
“Fine,” she said with a dramatic sigh. “Good luck in there.”
After the quick stay command to Benny, I smoothed down my top, tucked it tighter into my pants and then marched down the narrow hall toward John’s office. As our division director, he was the only one who was allowed a legit office; everyone else had to share desks out in the communal room.
Murmuring male voices vibrating through the closed door caught my attention before I could knock. For a few seconds, I waited with my ear pressed to the door and listened, hoping to gain a hint of what this was all about.
Unable to make out a single word, I finally leaned back and rapped a knuckle against the cheap wooden door.
At John’s curt command to enter, I twisted the metal doorknob and pushed the door open. Cold air brushed along my cheeks as I moved to the center of the small office. Immediately I scowled at the open window. Thirty-one degrees outside and this polar bear of a man had the stupid window open.
Behind his desk, John smiled with a straight-teeth grin as he gestured to the lone empty chair in front of his desk. My gaze shifted from John’s extended hand to the man occupying the other chair in the office. Dressed in a black suit and black tie, he radiated federal agent. The man’s ice-blue eyes met mine with an assessing glint. In the few seconds our eyes locked, my past, my thoughts—everything felt exposed.
Breaking from his observing stare, I nodded in greeting to the two men and carefully sat in the empty seat.
“Agent Peters, Alta Johnson. Alta, this is Agent Chandler Peters from the FBI.”
A stiff silence followed the obligatory introductions.
“Nice to meet you,” I said to ease the growing tension. “I’d say thanks for being here, but I’m still a little unsure as to why you’re here.”
Agent Peters smiled, one that was a bit mischievous and a tad sad. “I understand the confusion. But once I explain the details of the situation, you’ll be glad we’re here.”
“We?” I shot a confused glance to John, who simply shrugged.
Agent Peters spoke up once again, swinging my attention back his way. “I have a partner here with me. He’ll be working the case as well, though he’s not FBI. Sergeant Mathews, a USPP officer, has both federal and state authority, which could come in handy depending on how this case develops.”
“I see.” But I didn’t. Everything he said was clear as mud. “Where is he?”
Ignoring my question, Agent Peters leaned forward, resting both elbows on his knees. “Have either of you read any news regarding several missing women cases in other parks?” His calculating gaze shifted between John and me. At our simultaneous head shake, he nodded. “Twelve months ago, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a woman went missing. No trace. Then another. And another. Ten in total.”
“That’s terrible,” I whispered in shock. I tucked both cold hands beneath my thighs to keep them from coming up to my mouth. That park was where I got my feet wet as a park officer years ago. Estes Park had only been home for two years. “What happened to them?”
His knowing blue eyes found mine and narrowed. “We don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know,” John said with more bite than I’d ever heard him use with a stranger.
“Meaning,” Agent Peters said, angling his body toward John but keeping his gaze locked with mine, “we haven’t found a single body. Not a trace. It’s like these women vanished into thin air. There one second, then gone the next, leaving behind families, friends.”
A million varying thoughts flicked through my mind. “You never caught the person responsible,” I muttered as I looked out the opened window to the gloomy sky. “That’s why you’re here.”
“You catch on quick. I like that. Yes, we believe the two missing women in this park are somehow related to the previous cases.”
“You think he shifted hunting grounds.”
Again his ice-blue eyes bored into mine. “Yes.”
“Because you got too close?”
“We believe so.”
I narrowed my eyes, forming a deep line between them. “You believe so?”
His shrug of indifference came off stiff, like the casual gesture was only for show.
“Who was the special agent assigned to those cases?” Surely one had been assigned by the park service instead of passing it off to the FBI. “And why isn’t he here now investigating this case instead of you?”
A creepy yet sad smile pulled at Agent Peters’ lips, sending a bolt of caution down my spine. “You’re perceptive. That will come in handy as we work the case.”
“You didn’t answer her question,” John cut in as he leaned forward, pressing his forearms along the edge of the desk.
“Well, a special agent was assigned these cases but—” Agent Peters cleared his throat. “—she was the last woman in the Smokies to go missing.”