Chapter 17
Cara slipped out the front door while Tom was explaining shelf load capacity to Piper.
Cold salt air hit her face. She leaned against the exterior wall and let her lungs fill with something other than flour dust and the weight of gratitude she didn't know how to carry.
Footsteps crossed the wooden deck. Gabe settled against the wall beside her. Close enough to reach. Far enough to give her space.
Always watching. Always protecting.
She hated how much she needed it.
"Ruiz's notes reference coordinates," he said without preamble. "A bluff overlook north of town. I'm heading there in ten minutes."
She pushed off the wall. "I'm coming with you."
"No."
The word came out flat. Final. The voice of someone used to giving orders and having them followed.
She turned to face him. "What do you mean, no?"
"I mean you're a civilian who took evidence from a crime scene." His voice stayed level, but his eyes were hard. "You're staying here where it's safe."
She let out a bitter laugh. "My bakery just got torn apart. You really think leaving me here makes me safe?"
"I think bringing you to an active investigation site makes you a liability."
The word hit harder than it should have.
Her chest tightened. "Then I'll go on my own."
His jaw clenched. "Not happening."
"You can't stop me." She held his gaze. "I read the man’s notes. You think I can't find a bluff overlook north of town on my own?"
"Cara—"
"I'm already in this, Gabe. Whether you want me to be or not." She crossed her arms. "You leave me behind, I follow anyway. Without backup. Without someone watching my six. Is that really what you want?"
He swore under his breath. Looked away. Looked back.
"You stay in the vehicle. You don't touch anything. You don't interfere with my investigation." His tone left no room for negotiation. "And the second I say we're leaving, we're gone. No questions. No arguments. Clear?"
"Crystal."
"I'm serious, Cara. This isn't a game."
"I know exactly what this is." She met his eyes. Let him see she understood the stakes. "Do we have a deal or not?"
Another beat of silence. "Fine. Let’s hit it."
She pushed off from the wall. "Let me tell them."
Inside, Reagan glanced up from her list. "You leaving?"
"Following a lead." Cara kept her voice light. "Gabe found something in the PI's notes."
"Take your time." Reagan's eyes held questions she wasn't asking. "We've got this."
Tom looked up from his shelf repair. "I'll text if we hit structural problems."
Wade straightened from the deadbolt. "Perimeter's covered."
Piper lowered her phone. "If you see anything sketchy, film it horizontally. Vertical video is a crime against humanity."
Cara's chest squeezed tight. Lord, please keep them safe. Whatever happens to me, keep them safe.
Gabe's rental SUV sat at the curb. She climbed into the passenger seat and buckled in without comment. He started the engine and pulled onto Main Street, heading north.
She watched him check the mirrors. Once. Twice. Three times in the first minute.
His eyes flicked to her. Reading her tells the way he'd been doing since they met.
She stared out the window and tried not to think about Seafoam Lodge. The closet. His hand clamped over her mouth. The solid warmth of his chest against her back.
The silence between them wasn't awkward. It was charged. Like a wire humming with current, waiting to spark.
Gabe broke it first. "The overlook entry matches the timeline for the night David went dark."
Something twisted in her chest. Guilt, maybe. Or sympathy. Or something she couldn't name. "You think he was there?"
"Ruiz was tracking him there. Whether David made it..." He didn't finish.
She let the silence settle back over them.
The overlook appeared twenty minutes later. A remote bluff jutting over the Pacific, accessible only by a rutted gravel road winding through dense coastal forest. Mist rolled over the cliffs in slow waves. Wind off the ocean cut straight through her jacket.
Cara stepped out of the SUV.
Her training took over before her brain could stop it.
Footprints in soft ground near the overlook's edge. Multiple sets. Different sizes. Some fresh, some older.
Disturbed undergrowth along the tree line. Broken branches at waist height. Someone had pushed through recently.
Cigarette ash scattered near a flat rock. Not washed away yet. Less than a week old.
She moved toward the edge, scanning the ground. Looking for anything Ruiz or David might have left behind.
"Cara."
Gabe's voice carried a warning she ignored.
She crouched near a cluster of broken ferns, studying the pattern of disturbance. Two people had stood here. Maybe three. The impressions overlapped in ways that suggested multiple visits over time.
Stop being good at this. Stop letting him see you.
Too late.
She could feel him watching her, taking in every detail she spotted without thinking.
Movement in the trees beyond stilled her breath.
A figure stood at the edge of the forest. Still. Silent. Watching. Not close enough her to discern features. Just a presence, wrong in a way that made her skin crawl.
"Gabe." She kept her voice low. "We're not alone."
He rose slowly beside her. His hand drifted toward his weapon as his eyes swept the tree line.
The figure vanished.
"Stay here." Gabe headed toward the trees.
She followed. Of course she followed.
Underbrush crackled under their feet. Broken branches marked a path through the dense growth.
Gabe swore softly and scanned the forest one more time.
Cara's pulse hammered. She knew what a watcher looked like. Her father had trained her to spot surveillance.
Gabe's jaw worked. "I can’t believe I never saw the tail."
"There wasn’t one." She shook her head. "They were already here. Waiting."
She tried to mask the fear crawling up her spine, but clearly, not well enough.
Gabe caught her eye. "You're safe with me."
The words came out quiet. Simple. A promise he had no right to make.
She hated how much she wanted to believe it.
"We should go." Her voice came out steadier than she felt. "Before they circle back."
They ran back to the SUV in silence. Cara checked the tree line one last time. Nothing moved. No shapes out of place. Just mist and forest and the distant crash of waves against rock.
Gabe unlocked the doors and waited until she was inside before rounding to the driver's side. The locks clicked the moment his door closed. He cranked the engine and pulled back onto the gravel road. Forest pressed close on both sides, branches scraping the windows like fingers trying to get in.
Cara watched the mirrors. Nothing followed them––at least nothing she could see.