Chapter 1 On the Run #2
He held out his arms, and Kaya flew his way to hug him.
She rested her cheek against his chest. “Thanks. I needed this.”
We both did, kid. When she didn’t immediately spill her troubles, he started talking. Though he hated rushing her, he was on the clock. “You probably saw the dozen fellows waiting for me outside.” They’d paid an arm and a leg for the next three days of his time.
“I did more than see them.” Her voice was bleak. “I spoke with their vice president of marketing. Nice guy. Nice enough, in fact, to accept a hefty discount for rescheduling their wilderness outing a month from now.”
An oomph of protest rose in his chest, but she was still talking. “Don’t worry. Your calendar was free. I stopped by the grill on my way here to take a snapshot of your signup sheet, and I’ve already called in the change.”
Bear dropped his arms and jolted a step back to get a better look at her. “You did what?”
She met his gaze levelly, looking so miserable that he held in the blistering retort threatening to spill from his mouth. “I told him it was an emergency, that you’ve been asked to assist with a manhunt.”
His insides grew cold. “Have I?”
“You have.” She dropped her arms and took a step back. “Right this second. I’m the one doing the asking.” She drew a ragged breath, visibly fighting tears. “My research partner, Tiffany, has gone missing, and it’s all my fault.”
“Missing?” The roar of truck engines filled Bear’s ears, making him hurry to the front window.
He was just in time to watch several extended-cab pickup trucks drive off.
Presumably his clients. He whirled back in his niece’s direction.
“Still listening,” he grated out. “I know you’re no longer on Spring Break, if that has anything to do with what you’re trying to spit out.
” It hadn’t been her place to butt her head into his wilderness adventures business, but they would establish those boundaries later.
Their uncle-niece relationship was still in its fledgling stage.
“It does.” Remorse rolled off her in waves. “Listen, I know you didn’t like what I told you about my academic advisor, which is why I didn’t tell you what I was working on sooner.”
The very mention of the guy set Bear’s teeth on edge.
He disliked everything she’d told him about Dr. Cooper on principle.
Dr. Cooper seemed more bent on making a name for himself than on doing any meaningful mentoring.
He drove a flashy sports car, had written a book, and was constantly soliciting interviews to discuss the book. People like him craved the spotlight.
Color me unimpressed. “What has he done now?” Bear trained his sternest uncle look on Kaya.
Her chin came up. “Nothing bad. He pushes me to do my best and be my best. To think outside the box. To make every day count.”
“What has he done?” Bear repeated the question icily. If it’s anything inappropriate—
“He approved my request to investigate a cold case for my thesis project,” she admitted in a rush. “It didn’t take much to convince him. He’s never been a fan of rusticating inside dusty old classrooms. He believes everything we do as law students should have real-world impact.”
Bear held up a hand to halt her gushing endorsement of the overly ambitious professor.
“Your visit to the rez last week had nothing to do with Spring Break, did it?” His heart pounded with dread as his brain filled in the possibilities.
“So, help me, Kaya, if that’s the only reason you looked me up last summer—”
“It’s not!” Her voice rose to an indignant high note. “How could you even say something like that? You’re the only family I have left. Well, the only family that wants to be my family,” she amended in a deflated voice.
“Okay.” He wanted to believe her. “I’m glad we got that out of the way.”
She shook her head at him, looking genuinely hurt. “I still can’t believe you said that.”
Yeah, she was telling the truth. He hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings to verify it, though. “Put yourself in my shoes, and tell me it wasn’t a fair question, Miss Future Attorney,” he shot back in a gentler voice.
She stuck her tongue out at him instead, which told him she’d forgiven him. “Can we please get back to discussing Tiffany’s disappearing act?”
“Yep.” He pressed two fingers to each of his temples. “Using my Jedi powers, I’d say she’s working on the same thesis project you are. How am I doing?” She and Tiffany Masterson attended the same law school, so it made sense. They were also roommates and best friends.
“So far, so good.” Kaya’s voice trembled. “And now she’s missing because I was foolish enough to drag her into this particular cold case.”
Her words had an ominous ring to them. Bear knew of only two outstanding cold cases in Heart Lake — one involving a house fire that had nearly claimed the sheriff’s life and one involving the disappearance of Bear’s sister, Tiana.
Tiana had been in college herself, studying pre-law of all things.
Thirty years ago, however, she’d gone missing, putting an end to her dream of landing a scholarship to law school.
Bear was betting he knew which one Kaya was poking her nose into.
“Please tell me you’re not dredging up your aunt’s case.
” It was a bad idea. He faced her, both puzzled and concerned about what she and her roommate were up to.
If Kaya was trying to get in touch with her roots, there were better ways to do it.
“I can’t,” she muttered, glancing away from him.
“Your Aunt Tiana isn’t coming back, hon.” He’d come to grips with that dismal truth a long, long time ago. There was no point in Kaya getting her hopes up in that direction.
She whipped her head back in his direction. “As a law student, I understand the odds, but—”
“Then let it go,” he cut in. “There’s no point in ripping off old scabs this late in the game.
” It wouldn’t change a thing. Missing persons cases were relegated to the cold pile for a reason.
Over time, eyewitnesses died and memories faded.
Unless, of course, his brilliant niece had identified a new suspect or unearthed a fresh lead, which he wouldn’t put past her.
She grimaced. “It might be too late for that, Uncle Uri.”
He narrowed his gaze at her. “Have you called the police to report Tiffany missing?”
“Not yet. Just hear me out.” Her eyes begged him to understand. “Tiff’s only been missing for a couple of hours, so I doubt anyone at the police station will take me seriously yet. Especially after that college girl who made national news a few weeks ago with the stunt she pulled.”
Bear didn’t watch the news, but he’d overheard people talking about how the young culinary student had run away with her chef boyfriend to Vegas, scaring the bejeebers out of both their families.
He agreed that being unreachable for a couple of hours might not be enough to organize a search party, but what did he know? “What makes you so sure she’s even missing?”
“This.” Kaya glanced furtively over her shoulder as she dug her phone from the back pocket of her jeans. She tapped some buttons and held it up for him to see.
He squinted at the screen, not entirely sure what he was looking at.
She sighed. “It’s a tracking feature. I have it turned on for Tiff, and she has it turned on for me.
We’ve been doing it, well…for a long time.
” She bit her lower lip, making him wonder if there was something else she wasn’t telling him.
“Anyhow, we thought it made sense to keep close tabs on each other while we’re investigating this cold case together. ”
“Investigating,” he repeated, less than thrilled about her choice of words. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t thesis projects normally involve research?”
“They do,” she said quickly. “Mostly.” She glanced away from him again.
“We’ve been analyzing how advancements in forensics might affect the evidence that was gathered thirty years ago.
We’re also getting some solid hands-on experience with reading police reports and wading through crime scene evidence, that sort of thing.
But…” She paused and drew a deep breath.
His shoulders tensed. There was that word again.
“Oh, come on,” she wailed. “Quit looking at me like that! You know as well as I do that examining every shred of evidence surrounding Aunt Tiana’s disappearance could lead to…” She paused and waved her hands expressively.
“Well, don’t stop there.” He wanted her to spell out what she was thinking.
“I want to know what happened to her, okay?” Kaya sputtered out the words.
“I have a right to know,” she added fiercely.
“After everything I’ve been through and all the family I lost before I ever got to know them…
” Her voice cracked. “You don’t know what it’s like to live off the rez.
I get that my dad was trying to pull us out of poverty, but he also raised me away from our people.
It made it harder for me to figure out who I am. Who I’m supposed to be!”
Bear’s irritation vanished. “Okay,” he sighed, unable to argue with anything she’d said.
It was kind of admirable, actually, that Kaya was spending her thesis project time and effort on something so impactful.
It still didn’t make him feel any better about the danger it might put her and Tiffany in.
She darted a distressed look at him from beneath her lashes. “You’re not mad at me, are you?”
“I’m concerned,” he hedged, pointing at her cell phone. He still wasn’t sure what he was looking at. “Tell me more about the tracking feature.”
She swallowed. “The red pin tells me Tiff’s location. Or did,” she corrected worriedly. “The tracking feature went dark a couple of hours ago. I keep refreshing my screen; but it says she’s out of range or has her phone turned off. Every time I call her, it goes straight to voicemail.”