NINE
Mattie was tired enough that she felt grateful to have the gentle giant, Mountaineer, carry her down the trail. Four posse members had arrived, all rigged out for the night, which eased her mind about leaving Brody at the gravesite.
There’d been nothing to see on the other side of the meadow except for a few ground depressions, which Cole thought might have been made by elk bedding down. If she hadn’t viewed the area from up above, she wouldn’t have even noticed them. Still, she couldn’t dismiss them and thought they warranted further investigation when the team arrived to excavate the gravesite.
She and Cole rode home in shadow. The sun set early behind the mountain peaks in the high country, but its subdued light still spread throughout the sky. The chill evening breeze lifted her jacket, generating a shiver, and she released one hand from the saddle horn to tug it closed.
Cole rode ahead. When they neared the bottom part of the trail and the steepness of the grade lessened, he turned, balancing halfway in the saddle on one hip. “Come over and grab a bite to eat at our house. The kids were hoping to see you.”
It would be good to visit with the girls, and see how they were doing after their terrible experience this morning. “Do you think it’s okay without asking Mrs. Gibbs first? I mean, she’s the one doing the cooking.”
“She was expecting you to come before all this happened. Besides, you should know she doesn’t care when you show up. She’s always glad to see you.”
“All right, but I have to go home and clean up first.”
And get rid of the stench of death.
“Sounds good. I have to do the same thing.”
With Cole riding sideways, they gazed at each other a moment. “I worried about you today, Mattie,” he said. “It’s made me realize how dangerous your work is.”
His words surprised her. “I wasn’t in any danger today. Not real danger anyway.”
“The threat is still there … in just about everything you and Robo do.”
“It’s the nature of the job. But maybe no more so than when you work on these big horses.”
Cole looked skeptical. “Can’t recall a horse ever taking a shot at me.”
“You know what I mean.”
He shook his head, giving her a look as he turned in the saddle, returning to his seat while his horse started down a rough patch on the trail. As they approached the trailhead and civilization, her cell phone came alive in her pocket, signaling voicemails and texts. Her messages would have to wait until she was sitting inside the safety of her SUV, because there was no way she could free up her hands to check them now.
Cole didn’t seem to have that problem. He’d fished his phone from his pocket and checked messages while he rode. “Here’s a text from Mrs. Gibbs,” he said, turning his head to speak over his shoulder. “ ‘Tell Miss Mattie to come to dinner when she gets down from the mountain. We have plenty of food.’ There, that takes care of that.”
“It does.”
Mrs. Gibbs was a gem, an Irish lady in her sixties who loved Cole’s daughters, cooking, and—believe it or not—house cleaning. As the Walkers’ housekeeper, she seemed to have taken over the much-needed role of mothering Sophie and Angela without overstepping boundaries set by their father, and much to Mattie’s surprise, Mrs. Gibbs even seemed to be extending that mothering role to include her.
And it felt good.
They reached the end of the trail and rode into the parking lot, Cole leading her toward his trailer where Stella and the sheriff had tied their horses.
Cole dismounted and hurried to help Mattie. After she slipped from the saddle, he turned her so that she was facing him, and he held her close. “I know you’re perfectly capable of handling yourself on the job,” he said. “I worry about you because I care.”
Mattie melted into the warmth of his embrace, savoring it. He’d begun to show that he cared in many ways—the depth of his gaze, his touch, low-toned quips meant only for her that made her laugh. She could feel herself beginning to respond as she opened to the idea of loving him, and she desperately wanted to trust that he would love her in return.
One more squeeze, and then he released her to take Mountaineer’s reins. “You did a great job on your first trail ride today. You looked more relaxed when we were coming down.”
Mattie couldn’t think of a way to reply. She’d recently become an expert at projecting relaxation in the face of anxiety.
Cole unhooked the trailer’s back gate and began loading the horses. “I’ll have to unsaddle and feed these guys and get them set up for the night, so you don’t have to rush to get over to the house. Maybe shoot for an hour after we get back to town?”
“Sounds good.”
As she walked toward the Explorer, Mattie stretched her sore legs. She loaded Robo into his compartment and then stifled a groan as she grabbed the steering wheel to pull herself up into the driver’s seat. Cole waved as he steered his rig out of the parking lot and drove away.
She noticed a call from Riley and several missed calls from an unknown number. She dialed into voice messaging. Riley’s message came up first, saying hello and asking where she was. Mattie frowned, realizing the girl’s father must be working again, even though it was Sunday. She needed to find a place for Riley to hang out, because obviously, she herself couldn’t be counted on as a reliable companion for the teen.
The second message, left by an unfamiliar female voice, came as a surprise. “Hey … uh … Deputy Cobb? Mattie? This is Tamara Bennett. I’m your brother’s friend. Could you call me back as soon as you can? I need to talk to you.” She left a number, which matched the calls from the unknown number listed in her call log. Evidently she’d tried to reach Mattie several times that day.
Thinking it strange to hear from Willie’s girlfriend, Mattie went ahead and checked her text messages. She recognized Tamara Bennett’s name from listening to her brother. He was crazy about her. But Tamara had sounded stressed in her message, and Mattie guessed that she wasn’t making a social call. Tamara wanted to talk to her about something gone wrong. And when you made the choice to live with an addict, that something was most likely him falling off the wagon.
Damn it. She didn’t feel prepared to deal with addiction issues. All she wanted was to reconnect with her brother and see if they could establish some type of relationship. That’s it.
Pulling out of the parking lot, she mulled things over and decided to return Tamara’s call after she checked in with Stella.
The detective answered on the first ring. “Are you back in town, Mattie?”
“On my way.”
“Things are going well here. I reached a CBI agent and he’s pulling together a team of specialists to bring with him, a forensic anthropologist and assistants. They’ll arrive later tonight. I reserved rooms at the Big Sky Motel, and they’ll be ready to roll out of here with us by seven tomorrow morning.”
“And the transport up the mountain?”
“Garrett Hartman has it under control. He has some volunteers from the search and rescue team lined up to go with us. We should have plenty of people-power. How was your ride down?”
“Uneventful. Yours?”
“I’m getting used to it.”
“Someone shot and killed a ram up on the ridge,” Mattie said. “Left the carcass and then disappeared.”