“I’m serious.”
“Honest, Jo. It’s about three inches below where you got plastered with airsoft pellets.”
“You don’t have a clue where I got hit.”
“I do. It was on the video. The kid who put it up on the Internet had these red arrows point to where you got nailed.”
She sighed. “I’m never living this one down, am I?”
“Probably not.”
“Listen, Elijah.” She was calmer now, not so combative. “I figure you and A.J. aren’t telling me what Devin did or what you suspect him of having done because you want to give him a chance to make good on it. Am I right?”
He didn’t answer.
“I am right,” she said.
“You’re a Harper. You do love being right.”
It wasn’t the nicest thing to say, but she ignored him and put her hands on her slim hips. She was serious now. She looked out at the woods. “Your father knew this mountain better than anyone, except maybe you. He had a full pack. He was prepared-”
“No snowshoes.”
“The snow wasn’t that deep. He managed to get up the mountain in boots. His pack was located a few yards from where he died. That’s significant, Elijah. You know that. People suffering from hypothermia can become disoriented and exercise poor judgment.”
“We don’t know what happened.”
Jo scrutinized him as only she could. Finally, she said, “You don’t believe his death was an accident.”
“Doesn’t matter what I think.”
“Maybe he fell and dropped his pack before he began to suffer the effects of hypothermia,” she said. “He was experienced-he’d rescued enough people off the mountain to know he was at risk under those conditions. At the first sign of trouble, if he were able, he’d have dug into his pack for more clothes, pulled out whatever he had for emergency shelter-”
“Two trash bags.”
She nodded. “That’d work, but he never used them, did he?”
“No.” Elijah slipped his pack off his shoulder, got out his water bottle, uncapped it and took a long drink as he eyed Jo. “Do you want me to throw you over my shoulder and carry you down this mountain, or do you want to keep moving?”
“I don’t know. Throwing me over your shoulder could be fun.”
“Jo.”
She grinned at him, her eyes sparking, but she got moving. He recapped his water bottle and followed her at an easy pace. She put some distance between them, and he lost her on a steep downward turn. When he rounded it, she was there, planted in the middle of the trail with both hands up to block him.
“An ambush,” he said, amused, ignoring her intense look. “I think you tried this when you were twelve and I just picked you up and moved you.”
She was having none of it. “Listen to me, Elijah,” she said, her voice tight, low, as she placed her hands on his chest, pushed him back on his heels. “Even if your father had used everything he had with him, he still might have succumbed to hypothermia eventually. You know that. But whatever happened, he’s gone. Nora and Devin aren’t. If you have information to suggest either of them is in trouble-”
“I don’t. If I did, I’d tell the local police.”
She took his gibe without visible reaction. She nodded. “I believe you.”
“Do you?” As she started to take a step back from him, he caught her hands into his and heard her intake of breath as he drew her closer to him. Her fingers were cold, but there was nothing cold about her expression. Her lips parted, and she didn’t avert her eyes as he stared into them, let himself say what was on his mind. “We could be at the falls in twenty minutes. We could go swimming. The water’s freezing, but we could forget everything for a little while.” He smiled, aching to kiss her, to make love to her again. “Hell of an image, isn’t it?”
“How out of control are you, Elijah?”
He lifted her hands to his lips and kissed her fingertips. “Not out of control at all.” He winked as he released her. “Otherwise, sweet pea, we’d be peeling off our clothes at the falls right now.”
“You would. Not me. My skinny-dipping days are over.” She tucked her hands into fists at her sides and was serious again. “Elijah, Devin isn’t you at eighteen. It’s not your job to save him.”
Her comment rubbed him in all the wrong ways. He eased past her on the trail, then stopped, looking up at her. In the already fading afternoon light, her eyes were dark, her skin pale. “It would be a mistake to think you know me.”
“Is that supposed to make me shake in my boots?” Her reaction wasn’t at all what he’d expected. She walked down to him. “Because it doesn’t. I appreciate your military service, Elijah, and I’m sorry you got shot, and I’m sorry your father died-and I’m sorry he left me the lakefront property instead of you all. But you don’t scare me.”
“Damn, Jo, you’re a pain. No wonder Charlie Neal arranged to have you shot in the ass. For the record, you scare the hell out of me.”
“Will you stop?”
“No, I’m serious. When you were fifteen…holy hell. You were scary even then. I can see those turquoise eyes of yours flashing at me when you wanted to stop me dead in my tracks. By the time you were eighteen, how was I supposed to resist?”
“You didn’t even try, as I recall. You pursued me like there was no tomorrow.”
“Fun, wasn’t it?”
“Memorable.” She shivered against a sudden gust of wind and looked out at the view through the bare trees. “Eighteen didn’t feel as young then as it does now.” She glanced sideways at him and smiled. “No wonder my father looked for ways to arrest you. I’ve often thought it was just as well your father was the one who discovered us.”
“Were you rebelling, falling for me?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Not even a little.” But her federal-agent discipline kicked in as she started back down the trail. “Maybe Devin decided to forget Nora and go home. He could be taking another trail off the mountain. He still lives with his sister, doesn’t he?”
“A.J. lets him stay at the lodge.”
“You mean Lauren does.”
“That would be another way of putting it, yes.”
“Maybe we should knock on his door.”
Elijah nodded. “Fine. We’ll knock on his door.”
Eleven
The wind cut through Jo’s jeans as she crossed the open field and the quiet road to the lodge, picturesque under the lavender-streaked graying sky. It was late afternoon, but already getting dark. She was tempted to head for the stone fireplace and warm up, but Elijah had gone ahead of her and didn’t even pause at the lodge entrance. Without so much as a glance back at her, he walked straight down to the shop, located in a small building tucked among evergreens.
Jo caught up with him. “What if I’d tripped in the field and broken a leg?”
He still didn’t look back at her. “I’d know.”
“Ah. Eyes behind your head. Keen situational awareness. The experienced soldier-”
“Nope.” Now he glanced behind him, his eyes almost navy in the fast-fading light. “I just know you’re not one to go quietly.”
They came to the shop. It was closed, but a sign in the window directed customers to the lodge. An arrangement of cornstalks, pumpkins and vibrant yellow, white and rust-colored mums cheered its front door-undoubtedly Lauren’s doing, Jo thought. Pre-Lauren, A.J. had left the spot bare.
Elijah reached into the mums and produced a key.
“The first place I’d look is the mums,” Jo said behind him.
“Tell A.J.”
He unlocked the door and pushed it open. Some of his intensity had abated since she’d intercepted him on the mountain, but he was still a man with a mission. She could just leave him to it, but she knew she wouldn’t. Her gut as well as the facts told her that whatever was going on between Devin Shay and the Cameron brothers was mixed up somehow with Nora Asher’s sudden decision to bolt for the mountains. She might have been planning a camping trip, and her stepfather’s death might have triggered her decision to leave when she did, but Jo remembered Nora’s tearful departure from the café that morning, Devin following helplessly behind her. Thomas hadn’t reached her at that point to tell her about Alex Bruni’s death.