It was the wrong answer. He grinned at her. “Even better.”
“Go drink a gallon of coffee, Elijah. You need it.”
But his grin faded, and he said seriously, “Put a pot on. I’ll be back in ten. I need to talk to you about your new best friend in Washington.”
“My new…” Jo took a breath. “Charlie Neal? Elijah-”
“He’s fine. Has a hell of an imagination. Coffee, okay?”
He headed back through the trees to his house, and she shut the door hard behind her, wishing she weren’t even a little attracted to him. But she was a lot attracted, not so much a shock as a pointed reminder of why she should have resisted coming back to Black Falls.
Assassins.
Only Charlie.
Jo shook her head over coffee with Elijah in her cabin. They sat at the table with the vase of lilies Charlie had sent her. “He has an active imagination. He reads, plays video games and has fantasy airsoft firefights. He doesn’t sit in on White House briefings.”
Elijah gave her a steady, measured look that reminded her he was an experienced Special Forces soldier. “So, you don’t know anything about assassins?”
“If I knew anything about an assassination team at work in Washington or Black Falls or anywhere else, I wouldn’t be sitting here having coffee with you and talking about a sixteen-year-old kid-even if he is the son of the vice president. Charlie doesn’t believe his father or any of his father’s friends are targets, does he?”
“We didn’t get into it.”
“Elijah…” She got up with her coffee mug. The cabin felt warmer, but she doubted it was. “Does he think I’m here undercover?”
“He didn’t say.”
“Anything’s possible with Charlie. He’s manipulative and very smart.”
“He’s not so smart that he didn’t talk himself out of that airsoft prank, but he’s smart enough to have sent you flowers.”
“It’ll take more than flowers for me to warm back up to him.”
“Nah. You like that kid. You’re a soft touch, Agent Harper.” But as he rose to his feet, Elijah’s tight expression suggested that Charlie Neal had gotten to him, too. “Thanks for the coffee.”
“Where are you going?”
“Out the front door. The only door, I should say.”
“You’re familiar with search-and-rescue protocols. If you plan to find Nora and Devin, the best starting point is to figure out where they were last seen and to interview the people who’ve talked to them most recently-friends, family, coworkers. Charging into the mountains willy-nilly by yourself isn’t the smartest course of action.”
“Willy-nilly?” He grinned as he headed for the door. “I don’t know as I’ve ever heard anyone use willy-nilly in a sentence. See you, Jo.”
After he left, Jo waited until his truck passed by her cabin before she put on her fleece jacket over her sweater and headed outside. The sun sparkled on the lake and frosty grass, a picturesque scene, if different from the blazing colors of early October or the rich greens of summer. She did a quick check of the cabins in daylight, but they all looked fine-no sign of intruders, campers, picnickers or even wild turkeys.
She thrashed through the woods over to the trail up to the lodge and dialed Mark Francona from a rock with a particularly beautiful view of the lake. He picked up on the first ring. “Too cold this morning for canoeing?”
“I can see the breath in front of my face, if you consider that cold.”
“I do.” He gave an audible sigh. There was no humor in his voice now. “Washington PD got an anonymous tip about a possible eyewitness yesterday. A bicycle messenger. Woman.”
“That’s a solid lead, then. Mark…” Jo hesitated, then plunged in. “Is it possible that an assassination team targeted Ambassador Bruni?”
A half beat’s pause. “Who’ve you been talking to?”
“Just overheard idle talk at the watercooler.”
“I’ve heard about your place in Vermont, Harper.” The Francona wit had returned. “You’re lucky to have flush toilets, let alone watercoolers.”
“Does that mean there are no assassins on the loose?”
“There are always assassins on the loose,” he said and hung up.
Jo dialed him again and got his voice mail. She didn’t leave a message. She could call Charlie out of class at his private school in northern Virginia and ask him to clarify what he’d said to Elijah, but Charlie would have covered his tracks and would deny the conversation-he was resourceful, intelligent, bored and under the close watch of her colleagues in the Secret Service.
So it was drama, and Charlie manipulating her, and she shouldn’t bite and end up the victim of another of his pranks.
She continued up the three-quarter-mile trail to Black Falls Lodge, but there was no marker-no fence, no mean dogs-that indicated when she’d crossed onto Cameron land. The trail ended at the far corner of the meadow below the lodge. Out in the open, the air was even colder. She slipped as she crossed the frost-dampened grass to the walk, following it up to the stone terrace.
She found A.J. taking down umbrellas at the tables, hatless, working without gloves. He acknowledged her presence with a curt nod. “Cold morning for a hike,” he said.
Jo couldn’t argue. “I thought I might find Nora and Devin sitting by the fire. I was hoping they’d come down off the mountain looking for pancakes and hot maple syrup.”
“No such luck.”
She looked out at the wide sloping meadow from which she’d just come, the mountains blue and gray out across from the ridge. “It’s a beautiful spot. Easy to forget when you’re not here.”
“It’s easy for some people never to notice even when they are here.”
Jo thought he might be making a gibe at her youthful self but let it pass. “A.J., did your father have much to do with Ambassador Bruni when he was up here?”
“It’s possible. Pop did his own thing.” A.J. laid a tall, rust-colored umbrella against a table with three others. He stood up straight, the wind catching the ends of his hair as he studied her. “Where are you going with this, Jo?”
“Nowhere. I’m just spitting in the ocean. It’s not the best way to do things, I know, but-”
“You’re at a loose end right now. Don’t go looking for things that aren’t there just because you’re bored or need a distraction.” He turned abruptly and tackled another umbrella. “Elijah’s had a rough year. You might keep that in mind.”
Her breath caught at his words, but she tried to smile. “Since when have you started looking after your baby brother? You used to have apple fights-didn’t one of you end up with stitches?”
“Sean did. Third man in.” A.J. abandoned his umbrella and gave her a faint smile, his blue eyes unreadable in the bright morning light. “You were one of us growing up, Jo, whether you want to admit it or not.”
“Just don’t say that where my father can hear you. What did you plan to do with the lakefront property?”
“Doesn’t matter now.”
“It belonged to a Harper for most of the past century-”
“Lauren says maybe that land wasn’t meant for us. People don’t really come here for the lake. They can rent a kayak, but they want the mountains. Hiking, biking, skiing, the views, the quiet, the waterfall. We’re doing fine.”
“I’m glad, A.J.”
But he looked troubled as he squinted out toward the mountains. “People get lost out here from time to time, but it’s rare for someone to actually die. Pop…” He trailed off, then seemed to make an effort to be conversational. “How’s the cabin?”
“It has bats. Don’t tell Elijah. I think he’s afraid of bats.”
A.J. gave her one of his glimmers of a smile. “Stay here and look at the view to your heart’s content.”
“You wouldn’t be trying to stall me again, would you, A.J.?”
“I’d never stall the law two days in a row.”
Wishing she had Kyle Rigby’s parka, Jo left A.J. to his work and walked out to the topographical-map sign on the edge of the parking lot, which, she hoped, would help jog her memory. She was rusty. She’d repressed a lot of memories of hiking in the area, since most of them involved Elijah. With the impressive network of recreational trails, Nora could go for miles-days-if she had the supplies, the energy, the will. Assuming she had, in fact, started up the east trail at midday yesterday, she could be almost anywhere by now.