Chapter 4 #2
Thank fuck. I slowed, easing into the turnout. When we were parked, I faced Lyla, about to give her one last chance to call this off. But she was already gone, opening the door to step outside.
Beneath my coat, my Glock was in its shoulder holster. I snagged my pack from the back seat, stowing my keys, then I joined Lyla outside.
She stood next to the truck, her eyes aimed at the forest ahead. “My family is protective.”
“They don’t know you’re here with me today.”
“No.” She shook her head.
“Why’d you come?” When she’d left the table at the coffee shop yesterday, I’d expected that to be the last I’d hear from her. But here she was, shoulders pinned, hands fisted.
That bravery I’d seen in her last night shined as bright as the dawn.
“Winn is a good cop.” She looked up at me, waiting until our gazes locked. “I’m not here because I don’t have faith in her. But she has enough to worry about.”
“They are protective of you. And you’re protective of them.”
She gave me a single nod. “I want him to rot in prison for the rest of his life.”
“Are you expecting me to argue?”
“I’m expecting you to do what you came here to do. Find him.”
The ferocity in her voice, the steadiness. There was no rasp. No crack. “Then let’s go.”
She released a breath, then marched into the trees, taking a rough path that hadn’t seen much use. This trail was likely only used by locals. Fishermen. Hunters.
We walked in silence, the only sound coming from the forest itself. Birds chirping. Leaves and boughs rustling in the breeze. A twig snapped beneath Lyla’s boot as she walked. My own thudded on the cool, damp earth.
In the distance, the rippling sound of the river grew louder. The rush and trickle of water over rocks soon overpowered the other noises.
Lyla turned course, stepping off the path to weave past trees. When we emerged from the forest onto the riverbank, she stopped.
Her hand came to her throat as she swallowed.
“You good?”
Lyla’s face whipped to mine. She blinked, like she’d forgotten I was standing at her side.
Damn, but she had beautiful eyes. Blue. Broken.
This hike wasn’t just about saving her sister-in-law some heartache, was it? It was about Lyla facing this place on her own terms.
“You can do this.”
“I can do this,” she whispered, her eyes falling closed. When she opened them again, the fear was gone. In its place was iron.
She walked ahead, following the river’s path.
I stayed close. Alert.
The scent of rot drifted on the wind. The caw of a crow split the air.
Lyla stopped walking and lifted a hand, pointing to where the large black bird jumped from a rock and took flight. “That was where the gut pile was. From the elk he killed.”
Scavengers had picked the area nearly clean. Larger animals, like coyotes or bears, must have dragged the rest of the carcass to a different place to feast. All that remained were a few dried bits of entrails and a circle of black-red dried blood.
“After he let you go, any idea which way he ran?”
“No.” Lyla shook her head. “I was out of it.”
“Do you remember hearing water splash?”
“I don’t think so.”
There was a chance Cormac had crossed the river. Or maybe he’d gone upstream and crossed out of sight.
“They’ve been searching up here for days,” Lyla said. “Winn came to the coffee shop last night. She told me that the dogs lost his trail. Do you think that’s because he went through the water?”
“Dogs can scent through water. But Cormac is very good at covering his tracks.” He knew how search and rescue dogs were trained. And he knew how to avoid detection.
I walked to the remains of the animal Cormac had hunted. It had to be for food. Meaning there was a chance he’d built himself a shelter around here. Possibly a place he’d intended to stay during the winter.
“Did Winn say anything about search and rescue finding the remains of the elk he killed? You said he’d quartered it, right?” I asked Lyla.
“That’s what it looked like. I think I came across him when he was about done. There were game bags strapped to his pack. And his bow.”
An elk was a large animal. If he’d kept most of the meat, he’d have to dry it. Preserve it. Otherwise he would have gone after smaller game. Rabbits or fish were for a single meal. But an elk? That was long-term sustenance.
“How well do you know this area?” I stood, returning to Lyla. “Are there caves anywhere?”
“I don’t know. My brothers might.”
“I doubt they’ll be as willing to talk to me without the police in the room.”
She barked a dry laugh, wincing at the pain it caused. “Probably not.”
“That’s all right.” I turned in a circle, mentally committing a few landmarks to memory so that when the carcass of that elk was well and truly gone, I’d still have a reference point. “This gives me a place to start. Let’s head back.”
Before the local authorities came out exploring on their own today.
Lyla turned, about to lead the way back into the forest, but paused. She spun her own circle, slowly. Deliberately. “This used to be my favorite hiking trail.”
Used to be. Cormac had stolen it from her. “I’m sorry.”
“Why did he let me go?”
It was the second time she’d asked that question. The second time I couldn’t give her an answer.
One moment, she was staring forward, the next she whirled so quickly that her boot caught on a rock.
My arms shot out, catching her at the waist before she could fall.
Her hands gripped my biceps as she righted her feet. But she didn’t step away once she had her balance.
And I didn’t let her go.
Our eyes clashed, and for a moment, I let myself drown in those sapphire irises. The inner circle was a blue, bright and striated with white. The outer ring was dark, almost navy, like the sky before a thunderstorm.
My God, she had stunning eyes. I leaned in closer, drawn to that blue. Then my gaze shifted to that rosy pink mouth.
Lyla blinked and broke away. Her breath hitched and she ducked her chin, moving past me for the trees.
Fuck. What the hell was I doing? I scrubbed a hand over my face, clearing the fog, then turned away from the river.
Lyla led the way to the Dodge without a backward glance. She climbed inside as soon as I hit the locks.
I rounded the hood, stowing my pack in the rear seat. Then I took a deep breath, ready to apologize the moment I was behind the wheel. But just as I hopped inside, a sniffle filled the cab.
A tear fell down Lyla’s cheek. Without thinking, I reached out and caught it.
Her blue eyes snapped to mine.
Instead of taking my hand away, instead of obeying that invisible boundary across the console that marked her half of the truck from mine, I skimmed her smooth cheek. My fingertips forged the trail that tear would have taken. All while I let myself get sucked in by those cobalt pools once more.
What was it about this woman? What was it about those eyes I found so entirely tempting?
My heart pounded, skipping every other beat. I couldn’t seem to take my hand away from her face. My God, she was beautiful.
Her skin was impossibly smooth. She had a perfect nose, straight and pretty. Her chin came to a soft point. She smelled incredible, like sugar and vanilla and cinnamon.
Her mouth parted. And this time, it was her gaze that shifted first, dropping to my mouth.
I leaned closer, drawn by the magnet that was Lyla Eden, and a hard edge dug into my rib.
The Glock.
I was wearing my gun. Because I’d brought Lyla up here to track a murderer. Her attempted murderer. And for fuck’s sake, I was acting like I’d kiss her. Again.
I dropped my hand, shifting both palms to the steering wheel.
“I, um . . .” I hit the ignition. “I’ll drive you home.”
“The coffee shop. Please.”
“Sure.”
The silence on the drive to town was miserable. Neither of us spoke, about Cormac or the river or whatever the hell had happened between us.
Something. Chemistry maybe? I’d never felt anything like that in my life. Whatever it was, one thing was certain, I didn’t trust myself to stare into her blue eyes. So I kept my gaze fixed on the road, and Lyla studied whatever streaked past her passenger window.
When I parked in front of Eden Coffee, I expected her to fly out the door.
Instead, she twisted to face me. “I won’t tell Winn what you’re doing. Or anyone.”
“I’m not asking you to keep a secret from your family.” I couldn’t ask that.
“We all have secrets.”
Truer words had never been spoken. “Thank you.”
“What will you do?”
“Spend some time scouting the area. Start with maps. Make a grid. Check the boxes, one by one.”
“What makes you think he’s still around?”
“He might not be,” I told her, wanting to set her expectations for failure rather than success.
“But you’ll look anyway?”
I nodded. “I’ll look anyway.”
She gave me a sad smile. “Want some breakfast?”
Breakfast. She was inviting me to breakfast, even after I’d acted like a dipshit. The tension crept from my shoulders. My spine relaxed. “Yeah. I’d like breakfast.”
“Come on in.”
With my backpack over a shoulder, I followed her into the coffee shop. Gone was the quiet, still café from earlier. Customers occupied over half the tables. A line three-deep had formed at the counter.
Lyla headed that direction to help out while I took a chair at the same table I’d eaten at yesterday, the one closest to the window, so I could watch out across Main. Then I dug through my bag, pulling out the area maps I’d bought yesterday at the hardware store.
Twenty minutes later, a plate appeared in front of me. On it was what looked like a cherry turnover. Next to it, a breakfast sandwich. Lyla set down a steaming mug of fresh, black coffee.
We didn’t speak. To anyone else in the room, I was just another patron.
But those blue eyes found mine throughout the morning.
And in them, a flicker of hope.
Hope in me.
It had been a long time since someone had given me blind faith.
My resolve to find Cormac turned to steel. He’d pay for hurting her.
Tomorrow, I’d begin my search.
For Norah. For the girls.
For Lyla.