Chapter 2
“If the air feels like soup, don’t go outside.”
—It’s science
HECTOR
The man in front of me was pissing me off. I wasn’t sure why I was even talking to him, honestly.
I was supposed to be heading back to my post for the rest of the day, but I’d hesitated once I’d gotten to my car.
The weather service folks didn’t need me anymore, but I just felt this pull to stay nearby.
Years of working in both the military and as a police officer had taught me to trust that instinct.
It also didn’t hurt that the most drop-dead gorgeous woman I had ever seen, Iris, was close by.
That woman screamed red flag. Not because she was a bad person—quite the opposite, actually.
She was flirtatious, sexy, and smart as hell—a deadly combination, especially for someone like me.
I, too, was a red flag, but for a whole other set of reasons—bad ones.
I watched as she and her co-worker grabbed items from their white SUV, but that was my fatal error.
By pausing at my vehicle to watch them, I gave the lieutenant time to strike up a conversation.
“Hey, man, nice to finally meet you,” he said to me, holding his hand out to shake mine. “Heard a lot about you.”
“Don’t believe everything you hear,” I told him, not sure what kind of stories this man had been told.
He laughed and then spoke again, though his gaze moved to the weather service crew as they walked back down to the water. “So, I couldn’t help but overhear that you know the woman from the weather service we just interviewed with.”
I wasn’t sure where he was going with this, so I just nodded in return.
“You happen to know if she’s single? She’s not my usual type, but I’m thinkin’ maybe I need to open my selection up a little more.”
This was when my agitation picked up. Partly because the man was essentially asking me to help set him up with Iris, and also, I didn’t like the vibes this man was giving off.
First of all, if she’s not your type, then don’t ask her out.
Second…Open my selection up? The hell did that mean? The woman wasn’t a restaurant choice.
Third, I didn’t know if she was single or not, but I sure as hell didn’t want her hooking up with this asshole.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure she’s taken,” I told him, not caring one bit that I might be lying through my teeth.
I had two sisters, and if I thought for one second that some prick was making a move on them, I would do whatever I could to steer that dickwad in the other direction and feel not a single ounce of regret about it.
“Ah, crap. Alright,” he said, though he didn’t seem that torn up about it. “Figures. All the good ones are taken.”
Before I could respond one way or another to his comment, a high-pitched shriek came from the water. My head shot up to see Iris in the water, soaking wet, standing next to her completely dry coworker, Ben. My legs were moving before I knew it, and I was jogging down to the water.
The photographer, Christine, had moved to the water’s edge and was shouting at them, obviously trying to figure out what was going on.
As I made it to the edge of the water, I noticed Patrick arrive at my side, clearly having followed the commotion as well.
Ben was assisting Iris back to the dry ground when I arrived.
“Everyone okay?” I yelled to them.
“I don’t know,” Christine responded next to me. “Iris tripped on something and hurt herself, and then they both looked into the water and freaked out.”
I moved the few steps to where Ben had deposited Iris, and then he turned to me. “There’s…There’s a dead body in there.” His face was pale, and his words were slightly panicked as he pointed out to the water.
What did he just say?
“She tripped over the skull,” he added. “We thought it was a rock until we looked down.”
Not wasting any time, I slipped my socks and shoes off quickly, rolled my pants up a bit, and walked a few steps into the water. Sure enough, about a dozen steps in, I saw what appeared to be a muddy, partially algae-covered skull.
I reached for my cell in my back pocket before turning to Patrick, yelling to him, “Will you call and see if the Coast Guard can send a boat over here to block this area off? I’m going to call in a dive team and the coroner.”
He nodded and jogged back in the direction of his truck. Christine had managed to walk over to where Ben and Iris were.
I knew I needed to call this in right away, but the urge to check on Iris felt more vital.
I walked back out of the water and made my way to Iris. “You alright?”
“She fell pretty hard and complained her back hurt,” Ben mentioned to me. “She also looks really pale—like she might vomit.”
“She isn’t dead and can answer for herself, thank you very much,” Iris responded, wiping a wet, curly strand of hair from her forehead.
I crouched down to get to her level since she was still sitting on the ground. “You need me to call an ambulance?”
“Yes,” Christine answered behind me. “We’re required to if someone gets injured on the job.”
“I’m not at the office, Christine,” Iris shot back before turning to face me. “I’m okay. I think I just landed funny on my back and tailbone when I hit the…the s-skull.”
She stuttered saying that last word, and I wasn’t sure if it was because she was chilly from being wet or if the thought of seeing the skull itself freaked her out.
“You landed on the skull?” I asked.
“I’m not sure if I tripped over it and landed on a rock or tripped over a rock and landed on the skull.”
I mentally catalogued that possibility to mention to the coroner since it could affect the autopsy.
“A boat’s on the way,” Patrick said to me as he walked back up to our area.
Then he glanced down at Iris. “Are you okay? I’m a trained EMT. I can help look you over if you need someone to.”
I knew he was offering to help, but I did not want that man touching her, especially knowing he’d already asked if she was single. I had no claim on her, and I knew I never would, but that didn’t mean I had to help another man out.
“Why don’t you call in an ambulance just in case it’s bad and she needs transported,” I told him but turned immediately to Iris, knowing she’d heard me and would fight me on it.
“Hector,” she said, but I held up my hand and spoke quickly.
“If he doesn’t, it appears Christine will,” I told her, which Christine confirmed. “But if we call, it’ll get here faster since we know this area and can direct them to exactly where we are.”
She sighed in exasperation. I knew she wasn’t happy, but I would take the win.
I began walking back to my vehicle, making the necessary calls on the way.
Lake Echo technically fell under National Park Service jurisdiction.
We handled law enforcement, search and rescue, and body recovery.
Many people didn’t know, but rangers were fully commissioned federal law enforcement officers.
We had boats, dive teams, and recovery training, but in instances like these, we still needed to go through the proper channels.
This skull could be from an accidental death, but it could also be from a murder.
Lake Echo was so large that it spanned nearly two full counties. This made it a bit more complicated because you had to know which county to call for the medical examiner’s office to assist.
I was the head of the visitor and resource protection division for the park, but also, my background in law enforcement and the Army Rangers made it hard for me to back away from these kinds of situations entirely.
After making the proper calls, I moved my vehicle closer to the water’s edge so that it would block access on the footpath to the area where Iris and her team were.
Once the sheriff and our team arrived, any tourists nearby would surely take notice, so I wanted to prevent any additional attention if at all possible.
Patrick walked up as I stepped out of my vehicle. “Our crew is here,” he said, nodding behind me to the water.
Damn, that was fast.
“You call the Feds or just the ISB?” he asked.
ISB—or Investigative Services Branch—was a specialized unit of investigators within the National Park Service.
The ISB usually focused on investigations into crimes of violence, property crimes, and homicides.
However, because national parks were federal land, we often had to involve the FBI, especially if the crime somehow crossed state lines.
“Just the ISB for now since I don’t want too many cooks in the kitchen,” I told him honestly.
He lifted his chin in understanding. “I’m gonna walk down to the pier and hop on our boat to give them the heads-up.”
I nodded back and gave him my cell in case they had any questions. I was grabbing some gear from my trunk when the sirens sounded behind me.
The ambulance had arrived, and the cavalry was not far behind, based on the three NPS standard-issued white SUVs pulling in right behind.
I knew I needed to meet with the other rangers to get a perimeter set and secure for when the ISB and coroner arrived, but there was also an overwhelming urge to go check on Iris.
I kept telling myself it was because I knew her—sort of.
Iris’s sister, Anna, was married to a man who’d worked at LVPD with my brother. Last year, I was working an undercover case when the man I was after began targeting Anna and her husband, Archer.
Iris first crossed my line of sight at the hotel where Anna was staying—the same hotel where I was on a stakeout. I had no idea she was Anna’s sister at the time. I only knew that she was gorgeous and that, if I hadn’t been working at the time, I would’ve asked for her number.
Once I realized who she was, I backed off, not needing that kind of complication in my life.
Fast forward a few days later when her sister and brother-in-law found themselves in a dangerous situation, I was fortunate enough to be able to assist.
This was me just assisting again—at least that was how I was justifying it in my head.
The EMT crew hopped out of the bus and headed my way.
“How many patients?” the male EMT asked me.
I pointed toward the water and began to explain.
“Just one. Female. I’ll walk with you. She’s lucid, no issues with vitals.
She fell in the water and tripped over part of a corpse.
She may have injured her tailbone or lower back.
Coworkers are with her and say she is mandated to get checked out since she was on the clock. ”
“Got it,” the female EMT replied.
I took in Iris’s face as we got closer, and I was happy to see she had her full color back.
“Miss, do you mind walking us through how you landed and what areas are uncomfortable?” the female EMT asked her.
I wanted to stay—keep an eye on her—but I knew I needed to do my job.
I walked back up to where the other NPS vehicles had parked.
I gave the full story to the three rangers who’d shown up—Jennings, Lewis, and Diden.
I told them we would need to secure the area so that we could preserve the scene for when the ISB and coroner—or medical examiner—showed up.
“She just fell and landed on the bones?” Diden asked me, the shock and confusion made clear in her voice.
“Yeah,” I confirmed, and she just shook her head in disbelief.
“Just a skull, though?” Jennings asked. “Seems weird. There were no other parts or identifying things like clothes?”
“I’m guessing there will likely be other bones nearby, but not sure,” I told him. “Coast Guard just pulled up and will block off water access so we can get our dive team in there for recovery once the medical examiner arrives.”
“Diden, I’ll have you get Iris’s statement, and Jennings, why don’t you get her colleagues’ statements,” I directed and then had Lewis go and secure the area.
Jennings was a hell of a good ranger, but he didn’t have the best bedside manner. Plus, I felt Iris would do better with a female.
The next hour was only one level slightly below chaos as an epic number of people descended upon the scene—both people who were supposed to be there and ones who were not.
Sure enough, the dive team had, in fact, found additional remains scattered within roughly a hundred feet of where the skull was found. It might not have been that far away from the original skull, but the bottom of the lake dropped off quite quickly, so I was glad we had the dive team to assist.
Assistant Special Agent in Charge Heather Andrews was the agent assigned from the ISB on this case.
I’d worked with her before when we had a car theft ring, but nothing this serious.
She was intelligent, paid attention to small details, and didn’t beat around the bush, so I was happy she was the one leading this case.
She had just finished interviewing the weather service employees—Ben and Christine—and was now walking in Iris’s direction, which brought my thoughts back to Iris.
Despite my initial reaction upon seeing her today, I knew who she was. I’d been keeping an eye on her from a distance for nearly a year now.
When I’d first met Iris, she’d had a riot of curly hair on top of her head and was wearing glasses.
She reminded me of old-school Mariah Carey with her tanned skin, brown hair, and natural curls.
Her hair was on the longer side, and it looked soft as hell.
And I couldn’t forget that body of hers.
She was short, but that body was full of curves.
She had more than a handful up top and bottom, and her hips were nice and full—my dream woman.
Yes, Iris was gorgeous. She was also sweet, kind, and insanely smart—all the things I wasn’t. I was morally gray at best, thanks to my stints in the Army and undercover work at the LVPD. I was also grumpy as hell and had the patience of a gnat.
I was all wrong for her, but that didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy staring at her and checking up on her frequently. But it ultimately meant that was all I would ever be to her—someone who watched over her from afar.