Chapter 3
Along knife in a holder that she thought might be a hunting knife was placed on the table, followed by two pistols she couldn’t identify other than to say they looked nothing like the one Mr. Winters used. Finally, a box of ammunition joined the other lethal toys. “Is this a stopgap thing too, like the survival food?”
She was being sarcastic but when he answered her with a simple nod, she realized he didn’t think the same way she did. Her idea of survival was a full tank of gas, a charged phone and a stocked fridge, complete with ice cream. He lived in a world totally different than hers.
“Food’s probably ready,” he said as he replaced the weapons back in the pack and sat it in the floor beside a chair. Why’d he taken it out just to put it back? To intimidate her? Reassure her? Frighten her? Oddly enough, he’d accomplished all three.
She located some bowls and rinsed them out in the sink, then dished up the chili while he poured coffee and found a packet of crackers. As they sat down to eat, Haley eyed the backpack. “I wish the cabin had internet. I’d like to try to find out some things about the murder.”
He dipped his spoon into the chili and held the food in front of him. “I can use the sat phone as a hotspot. What do you want to find out?”
“First of all, who the man was. I thought I recognized his voice, but I can’t place it.”
He started to respond then turned when his phone trilled. He pushed away from the table and retrieved it then answered. “Hello. Yeah, it’s Taylor.” He was silent for a few minutes, during which Haley tried to act normally and stirred the chili, then tried it. It was surprisingly tasty, but she wished for a salad or salsa. When she looked up to reach for some crackers, she noted Nathan’s eyes on her and paused. He stared at her for a second longer then spoke into the phone. “Sorry, man. I’ve gotten another job. Just a tracking one for a deadbeat dad but I don’t know how long it’ll take me to get it done. You might want to check with someone else. Yeah, the guy in Tennessee might be free. Yeah, okay. Will do.”
He laid the phone down on the sofa and returned to the table and sat, his attention seemingly focused on the chili. Haley watched him for a time then turned her attention on her meal as well.
By the end of the meal, she was about to scream from the silence. He didn’t talk. At all. She’d asked him about Sampson and he answered the questions in full sentences but didn’t offer any more information than what she’d requested. Finally, she stood and gathered both bowls and headed to the sink. As she started the dish water, she asked if he needed to fix something for the dog to eat.
“I’ll give him some of the chili,” he said and started dishing up more of the soup in his bowl.
“Wait. Is that going to be his bowl?” she asked, afraid of his answer. When he looked at her blankly, she knew her suspicions were true. “I don’t want to eat in the same bowl as your dog, sorry.”
“I can,” he said, apparently unfazed. He walked over to the edge of the kitchen area and placed the bowl on the floor. The large, hound looking dog sauntered over and started eating.
“And you’ll be able to separate that blue bowl from the other blue bowls in the cabinet how?” She asked with a snide tone. “Never mind. That’s Sampson’s bowl and this one,” she reached up and retrieved another bowl then filled it with water before handing it to him. “Is his water dish. Whoever has dish duty is responsible for washing those bowls after the regular dishes are finished.” She gave what she hoped was a firm look at Nathan and he finally nodded, looking down at his dog. “Never killed me yet.”
“There’s still time,” she muttered back and started the dishes.
As she worked, she was aware of him moving around the room, putting crackers away, wiping the table down, and then carrying the phone and his backpack to the sofa. After finishing with the cleanup, she stood undecided at the sink. All she wanted to do right now was grab one of the blankets and head to the bedroom. Her eyes burned from fatigue and unshed tears, her stomach, full and warm one minute ago, now roiled with anxiety and chili as she thought of her circumstances, and she was as tired as she ever remembered being.
Instead of heading to the bedroom, she walked over to the sofa and sank down, toeing her running shoes off as she did. “Can I get on the computer tonight?”
“Not tonight, it’ll take me some time to get everything set up.” He said as he pulled the laptop out of the pack and placed it on the table. He also extracted the other electronic devices out and set them beside the computer. Each one was a box of some sort and had some ports for hookups but other than that, were simple black boxes, in Haley’s eyes. She leaned back and closed her eyes. “What am I going to do?”
“Answer some questions,” he said, and she sensed him shifting his position. Opening her eyes, she caught him staring at her, his gaze unreadable.
“I told you everything in the truck on the way up here.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Her voice was sharper than she’d intended but she was too tired to care at that point. Sampson, who’d been lying in front of the dying fire, raised his head and woofed gently. Nathan extended his hand, palm down, toward the dog and it laid its head back on his paws, his eyes on the pair on the couch.
“That call I just got? It was from the Asheville police department. They wanted me to take a job looking for someone who’d embezzled money from their workplace.”
“I’m sorry I’ve taken you away from the job opportunity.”
“You don’t understand. You’re the one they are looking for.”
Haley staredat him in disbelief. “What? The police think I’ve stolen money?”
He nodded. “Apparently, someone from your office filed a report of missing monies and you being in the office after hours. It was enough for the police to view you as a person of interest.”
“I didn’t. I wouldn’t,” she insisted and stood to pace the small area. “Are they trying to find me to arrest me?” Nathan watched her stride across and back from the room, her sock feet whispering on the wooden floor.
“The officer just said they wanted to talk to you.”
“Why would they call you, though?”
“I’ve done some work for them.”
Sam glanced up at her from his place in front of the fire then raised up and stretched before following her to the other end of the room. Nathan hid a smile at his dog’s natural instinct to protect and sooth the anxious woman.
“Do you think they’ll know I’m here, at Grand Dad’s cabin? Is that why they called you?” Her voice raised a few notes and Sam whimpered. She glanced down at the dog and patted his head awkwardly, her fingers straight and stiff. “I’m okay, Sampson.”
“I’ll know if they’re on your trail,” he said quietly, trying to calm her.
“But if they called you?—”
“I get calls all the time, it’s a coincidence that they called this time.” He paused, trying to find the words to make her understand what he did. “I’m very good at my job and I’m fast. If someone needs to be found, I can find them.”
She sat in a small rocking chair on the other side of the fireplace and Sam plopped down at her feet, his eyes on her. With her hand on the dog’s sleek coat, she cast an imploring gaze on Nathan. “I didn’t steal any money from the company, Nathan. I wouldn’t. I couldn’t.”
He looked at her and knew, somehow in his soot and sand covered soul, she was telling the truth. This woman wouldn’t steal from anyone. Probably didn’t lie, either. So, what was he doing in her life, sullying the very air she breathed?
“Okay,” he leaned forward and booted the laptop up, concentrating on the work instead of the attractive woman sitting across from him. “Let’s go over the night again. I know you’ve told me the story, but we need to get every detail, no matter how small, down so we have something to fight with.”
“You believe me?”
“Yeah, I do. But that phone call complicates things. If your boss is trying to pin stuff on you, he might extend that to the murder. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Her eyes grew large and her fingers folded on Sam’s head, eliciting a yip from him. He shifted and lay his head on her lap. She absently began to pet him, her fingers conforming to the dog’s head. After a second she said, “Okay, what do you need to know?”
They talked for at least an hour about the shooting, her movements before, during and after, the number of shots she remembered being fired in the office and the stairwell, whether Winters fired after she got outside. By the time they were finished talking her voice was husky with fatigue and Nathan glanced at his watch. It was well past midnight, time for them to rest. When she offered him the bedroom he smiled and nodded toward the end of the sofa where his sleeping bag rested. “I’ll be good here. Sam and I are used to roughing it so this is good.”
She stood. “I won’t argue anymore. I’m too tired. I’ll see you in the morning. And Nathan, thank you. You’ve been my angel in disguise.”
He stood and ignored her as she walked from the great room toward the bedroom and bathroom area. Angel indeed.
He stepped outside and let Sam do his business while he stared up into the night sky. Spring in the mountains meant warmish days and crisp, cool nights. Sounds of frogs in creeks and birds settling into new nests and of the constant wind in the trees. He loved these mountains, old and folding into each other like a rumpled quilt. When he’d been in the military, he’d seen places in the world that were full of beauty, architectural marvels, ancient lands filled with golden deserts and crags. And he’d also seen the ruin man’s greed and animosity toward each other did. The smells and sounds still haunted him and it seemed the only thing that could erase the stench and cries were the wind, clean and wild, in the trees.
He shook off his reverie and strode around the cabin, taking in the steep mountain and steel supports at the rear of the house. One good charge could take the whole thing down. As he tramped through the brush and scrambled back up the other side of the mountain, Sampson was ahead of him, sniffing and doing his own version of recon. By the time he was back in the cabin and securing the doors and windows for the night, Nathan had a firm plan of how to make the cabin as secure as possible. Because one way or the other, someone would find the place within the next week or so.