Chapter 17
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
Olive’s heart kicked. “Something is going on.”
Jason’s gaze scanned the place. “Whatever it is, I don’t like it.”
She didn’t either.
They checked the small closet. Empty. Under the bed.
Nothing.
What were they missing?
When they turned back to the door, Olive paused.
The faint sound of voices came from downstairs.
They hurried down, their footsteps quick but careful on the steps.
Mara stood in the great room near the fire, her robe pulled tight around her and worry written across her face.
“Is everything all right?” Mara’s voice trembled slightly as she stared at Olive and Jason.
Olive shook her head. “We heard something upstairs.”
Mara pressed a hand to her chest. “Oh, dear. I thought maybe it was Warren.”
Jason’s gaze sharpened. “Warren?”
She nodded. “He said he was going to step outside and check the generator. It’s so cold inside, and he thought maybe he could fix it. He’s pretty handy. I told him not to, that it was too cold and too dangerous outside. But he didn’t listen. That was about twenty minutes ago.”
Olive’s stomach dropped. “He went out in this storm?”
She hadn’t even heard a door open or felt a cold draft from it.
“He snuck out the side door attached to our suite—he didn’t want to wake anyone. He said he’d be right back.” Mara’s eyes darted toward a window. “He’s a hard head. Never wants to listen.”
Jason exchanged a grim look with Olive.
As Olive turned toward the window, a thought chilled her even more than the storm outside.
If Warren had gone out there to fix the generator, then someone might’ve wanted to make sure he didn’t come back.
Everyone except Rachel and Bradford was awake now, gathered in the flickering light of the fire.
Mara wrung her hands, pacing near the door. “Warren shouldn’t be gone this long.”
Rex’s jaw was tight, his eyes unreadable as he turned to Olive and Jason. “You two gear up. Check the generator and the surrounding area. Don’t go any farther than you have to.”
Olive nodded. Jason already reached for his coat. Trick opened his mouth as if about to offer to go also. Then he closed it again, no doubt realizing that everyone would shoot down the idea.
Mitzi handed Olive her gloves, her gaze more serious than usual. “Be careful.”
“We will be.”
“Everyone else needs to stay inside,” Jason told the crew in the great room.
“We will.” Rex met Olive’s gaze. “If Warren’s out there, find him. But if you can’t—don’t risk yourselves. It’s too dangerous right now, and I don’t want any more casualties.”
His voice was calm, but Olive saw the flicker of unease.
“I mean it.” Rex gave her a pointed look. “Don’t try to be heroes. Don’t go the extra mile. Check and come back inside.”
Rex really felt strongly about this. It actually surprised Olive.
The people who worked for Aegis weren’t the type to back down. They went above and beyond.
But Rex waited until they both agreed before breaking his gaze.
He was dead serious.
She zipped her coat, pulled her knit cap down over her ears, and followed Jason to the door.
The cold hit like a slap the moment they stepped outside.
The wind howled across the ridge, whipping snow into their faces. Visibility was almost nothing—white in every direction, swirling, shifting, erasing the world.
Jason raised his flashlight, the beam barely cutting through the wall of snow. “Stay close.”
They trudged toward the outbuilding, their boots sinking deep with every step. The snow came up to Olive’s calves, and drifts along the side of the lodge reached even higher.
The generator shed loomed ahead like a shadow. Its door banged weakly against the frame.
They’d closed it earlier. Olive remembered doing so.
“Warren?” Jason’s voice was instantly swallowed.
No answer.
Olive reached the shed first and yanked the door open.
The dim beam of her flashlight swept the interior—tools, fuel cans, the hulking outline of the generator.
Then her light caught something on the floor.
“Jason.”
He followed her beam as it illuminated a footprint in the dirt. “What about it?”
“This wasn’t here before. It has to be Warren’s—and it matches the print I saw beside JJ when we found him out here. It’s the same tread with the same wear marks.”
Jason crouched for a better look before slowly nodding. “You’re right. It does. But we agreed those prints were too large to be Warren’s, right?”
“I did think that initially, but I did notice he has surprisingly large feet for a man of his size.”
“And when he walks, he does favor his right side,” Jason said. “That would explain the wear mark. I didn’t want to believe it . . .”
“Me neither. But if this truly is Warren’s footprint—and I’m nearly positive it is—then that means he was near JJ when he died.”
Jason stood. “His footprints could have been left there earlier. It doesn’t necessarily mean Warren killed JJ.”
“I know,” Olive murmured. “But it doesn’t mean he didn’t either.”