by Nora Roberts
out a breath, rubbed his face. “Okay. We were following the creek,” he began.
Coop kept quiet, letting Willy ask the questions when they needed to be asked. He drank cowboy coffee while Gull purged himself of the details.
“You know how clear that water is. Even after the storm, it’s good and clear. I went under, because I couldn’t get a good look with the way the falls were beating down, foaming up. I got a good look then. His one leg had come up, you know. I guess the rain, the churning, worked it up. He didn’t have a shirt on, just his pants and his boots. And the fish had been at him. His face . . .”
Gull’s eyes watered up as he looked back at Coop. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s not like the movies. It’s not like anything else. I couldn’t even say, for certain, it was him—the one we were looking for. Not from the picture we had. Because of the fish. I came up, but I swallowed a bunch of water. I guess I screamed like a girl under there and took a bunch in. I couldn’t get my legs to move. Jesse and Cy had to pull me in with the rope.”
He gave his brother a weak smile. “I got sick as two dogs—maybe not as sick as you did on a chaw, boss, but pretty damn sick. I guess I was pitiful enough Jesse didn’t even rag me about it.”
“I wanted to turn around,” Jesse said. “Bitching and complaining. I said how that guy, the one Gull found dead, was an asshole. I’m sorry for it.”
Outside, Willy puffed out his cheeks. “There’s some distance between the trail and where Tyler ended up. A lot of area where he could’ve run into his killer.”
“Do you think he got that far off the trail?”
“No, I don’t. Not on his own if that’s your meaning. Some, sure, but he had a map, he had his phone. I think he was driven that far, that’s what I think.”
“I’d agree with you. He didn’t want the body found too soon, and he didn’t want it found near his own territory. Drive the quarry away from your . . . habitat,” he said, thinking of Lil. “Do the kill, the disposal, then go back to your own area.”
“It would’ve taken time. Hours probably. The bastard got lucky with the rain.”
“He can’t stay lucky.”
“Right now, we’re looking for an unidentified subject. We can’t tie Tyler’s murder to what’s happened at Lil’s, or with the other murders you dug up. What I’m going to do is get Ethan Howe’s picture out, as a Person of Interest. My boy Cy kept that scene preserved as best he could. He’s green as a leaf of iceberg, but he’s not stupid. We got pictures, and I don’t think you’ll squawk if I happen to slip you copies.”
“I won’t.”
“Criminal Investigation Division’s combing that scene now. They’re not stupid either. If that bastard dropped so much as a toothpick, they’ll find it. When we get a ballpark on the time of death, that’ll help. We can do a couple of reconstruct scenarios. I’ll listen to any thoughts you’ve got on it. I’m damned if somebody’s going to get away with terrorizing one of my friends, and killing tourists.”
“Then I’ll give you a couple now. He’s holed up. He’s got a place, probably more than one, but one where he keeps the bulk of his supplies. He won’t have much. He needs to travel light and often. When he needs something, or wants something, he steals it. Campers, vacation homes, empty houses. We know he’s got at least one gun, so he needs ammo. He hunts for food, or pilfers campsites. And I think he keeps his ear to the ground. He’s going to find out you found the body. The sensible thing to do would be to pull up stakes, head over into Wyoming, get lost for a while. But I don’t think he’s going to do that. He’s got an agenda, and he isn’t finished.”
“We’ll be searching, ground and air. If he shows the tip of his dick, we’ll pull him in.”
“Have you had any reports of anything stolen from campers, hikers, houses, stores?”
“There’s always some. I’ll look over everything for the last six months. Maybe you’d let me deputize you, for the short term.”
“No. I don’t want a badge again.”
“One of these days, Coop, you and I are going to have to sit down over a beer so you can tell me why that is.”
“Maybe. I need to get to Lil’s.”
“You swing by, pick up those pictures. Badge or not, I’m going to use you.”
This time when Coop arrived at Lil’s he wore his 9mm under his jacket. He carted his laptop, the files Willy had given him, and three spare clips into her cabin. After some debate, he shoved one of the clips into his pocket and stowed the other two in one of her dresser drawers.
And with an eyebrow cocked, drew out a short, silky black gown with very sheer lace in interesting places.
He wondered why she always seemed to wear flannel.
He poked at something red and virtually transparent, shook his head, and dropped the black number back into the drawer.
In the kitchen he set up his laptop on her table, dug a couple of bottles of water out of her supply, then went out to take a look at the progress on her security system.
He spent a little time with the head installer out of Rapid City, and made his escape after the man figured out he knew something about security—and before he could get roped into helping with the wiring.
The good weather brought people out, he noted. He counted three groups making the rounds of the habitat. And the big yellow school bus indicated there were more on the property. Education center, he surmised.
She was keeping busy, and that was good. It was also too bad, or so she might think. But there were only a few hours of daylight left—and they had an appointment.
He hooked her horse trailer to his truck, loaded the horse he’d sold her onto it. He chose the younger and larger of the horses left in the stable, then secured that one in the trailer.
It amused him that no one questioned him. Either he was too familiar or too forbidding, but the interns went about their business—and from across the compound, Tansy sent him a friendly wave.
A single question to a passing staff member gave him Lil’s location as her office. He drove the trailer over to the cabin, then went in to get her.
“Coop.” Mary gave him an absent nod of greeting from her desk. “She’s on the phone, but I think she’s wrapping it up.” She glanced toward the office, lowered her voice. “Have you heard about the murder? Do you know if it’s true?”
“Yeah, it’s true.”
“That poor man. His poor wife. Come out here for a little holiday, and go home a widow. Every time I think people are basically good and decent, something happens that convinces me too many of them are no damn good.”
“You’re right, both ways.”
“That’s the problem, isn’t it? Oh, your friend—the alarm system man—he’s been in touch.”
“I talked to him. He should have you fully secured in another two days.”
“Glad to hear it, and that’s a shame, too. That we have to go to all this trouble and expense because some people are no damn good.”
“It’s the right investment.”
“Well. There, she’s off the line. Better get in there before she calls somebody else.”
“Mary, do you have any problem with me taking Lil off for a couple hours?”
“Not if it’s somewhere that doesn’t involve work and worry, which is all she’s been doing the last few weeks.”
“That’s a deal.”
“Don’t let her say no,” Mary ordered, as he walked to Lil’s office.
She sat angled toward her monitor, fingers on her keyboard.
He wondered if she had any idea how pale she was, or how shadowed her eyes.
“I’ve got a line on a tiger.”
“Not a sentence you hear every day.”
“Boris is lonely. Strip joint in Sioux City used a Bengal as part of an act.”
“Did she strip?”
“Ha ha. No, they kept her caged, or chained. Finally got shut down for animal abuse. She’s been declawed and drugged, and God knows. We’re going to take her.�
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“Good, go get her.”
“I’m working on having her brought to us. A lot of red tape to wind through. I’m pushing for donations. She’s made some media outlets, and I can use it to beef things up. I just need to—”
“Come with me.”
He watched her tense. “Is something wrong? Something else?”
“For the next hour or two, no. The tiger can wait. Everything can wait. We’ve got daylight.”
“Cooper, I’m working. There’s a busload of middle-schoolers in the ed center, a bunch of people roaming around hooking up alarms. Matt just finished sewing up a fawn that got clipped by a car, and I’m working on getting Delilah here by early next week.”
“I assume Delilah’s the tiger, not one of the dancers. I’ve got work of my own, Lil, and it’ll be here when we get back. Let’s go.”
“Where? God, Coop, some poor man was killed and dumped in the Spearfish. I can’t think about taking a walk with you and discussing . . . whatever.”
“We’re not walking. And I guess we do this the hard way.” He came around the desk, pulled her up out of the chair, and boosted her over his shoulder.
“Oh, for God’s sake.” She gave his back a thump with her fist. “Cut it out. This is ridiculous. Don’t! Don’t you walk out of here with . . .”
He grabbed her hat on the way. “We’ll be a few hours, Mary.”
With her eyes laughing, Mary gave them a sober nod. “All right.”
“You okay to close up if we’re not back?”
“Not a problem.”
“Stop it. This is my place. You don’t tell my staff—Don’t you step outside this building. Cooper, you’re embarrassing both of us.”
“I’m not embarrassed.” He walked outside, continued toward the truck. “But you will be if you don’t sit where I put you, because I’ll just catch you and put you back again.”
“You’re just making me mad.”
“I can live with that.” He pulled open the passenger door, dumped her on the seat. “I mean it, Lil, I’ll just haul you back.” He reached across, hooked her seat belt, then dropped her hat in her lap. Ice-blue eyes met molten brown. “Stay where I put you.”
“Oh, I’ll stay. I’ll stay because we’re not having this out here. I’m not having more of a scene here.”
“Good enough.” He slammed the door, skirted the hood of the truck, then got behind the wheel. “We’re going riding. We’re not coming back until you’ve got some color back in your cheeks.” He glanced over. “I’m not talking pissed-off color.”
“Pissed-off is all you’re going to get.”
“We’ll see.” He headed down the road. “We’ll drive to Rimrock. We could consider that neutral ground.” And miles away from where Tyler’s body had been found.
“What’s the point of this?”
“The point is you need a break, and so do I. And Lil, we’ve put this off long enough.”
“I decide when I need a break. Damn it, Coop, I don’t know why you’d want to make me so mad. I’ve got enough going on without working in a fight with you—and we were fine. Just last night we were fine.”
“You were too worn-out to get into this last night. I’d rather have you mad than almost in tears with the idea of talking to me.”
“I’ve been talking to you plenty.” She leaned her head back, shut her eyes. “Jesus Christ, Cooper, a man is dead. Dead. And you’re pushing this? Talking about what? What’s over and done?”
“That’s right, a man’s dead. And the one who did it has you in the crosshairs. You need help, but you don’t trust me.”
With sharp, jerky movements, she plucked the hat off her lap, set it on her head. “That’s not true.”
“You trust me to help you protect your place. You trust me enough to sleep with me. But you don’t trust me down in the deep. We both know that.”
He parked at the campground. Together, in silence, they unloaded the horses. “We can take the lower loop from here. It’s shorter.”
“I don’t like being handled this way.”
“I don’t blame you. And I don’t care.”
She mounted, turned her horse toward the trailhead. “Maybe the women you got used to tolerate this kind of thing. I don’t. I won’t. You’ll get your two hours because you’re bigger and you’re stronger—and because I’m not having this out in front of my staff, my interns, my guests. Then that’s it, Cooper. That’s it between us.”
“You get some color in your cheeks, some worry out of your eyes, and we clear the air between us. After that, if you say that’s it, that’ll be it.” He opened the cattle gate for her to pass through, then closed it behind them.
“You can tell me everything you know about what happened to James Tyler. I can’t think about much else. I don’t know how you could expect me to.”
“Okay, we’ll get that out of the way.”
He laid it out for her, every detail he remembered, as they rode toward the rim of the canyon. He spoke of murder and death as the trail leveled out to wind through pines and quaking aspen where flickers swooped and darted among the trees.
“Is Gull all right?”
“He’s going to see Tyler, the way he found him, every time he closes his eyes for a while. He’ll lose sleep over it, have nightmares when he does sleep. Then it’ll pass.”
“Is that the way it was for you?”
“I saw Melinda Barrett for a long time. The first time I saw a body when I was in uniform, it was just as horrible. And then . . .” He shrugged.
“It becomes routine?”
“No. It becomes the job, but it’s never routine.”
“I still see her sometimes. Even before all this started up. I’d think it had gone away, then I’d wake up, cold and sweating, with her in my head.” Calmer, she turned to look at him, so their eyes met. “We shared a hard thing at an early age. We shared a lot of things. You’re wrong when you say I don’t trust you. And you’re wrong to think manhandling me is the way to get whatever it is you want.”
“You’re what I want, Lil. You’re all I’ve ever wanted.”
Color did indeed rush into her face as she whipped her head toward him. “Go to hell.”
She kicked her horse into a trot.
PART THREE
SPIRIT
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
—PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
21
He thought: Shit. And let her take her distance. Maybe she’d blow off the steam of temper, maybe she wouldn’t, but temper was better than exhaustion. She needed to ride, he thought, needed to just breathe awhile. The air filled with the scents of sage and juniper, while overhead an eagle circled on the hunt. He heard what he thought was the drumming of a grouse from a thicket of buckbrush that looked like it wanted to open its tight buds and bloom.
Mad or not, he knew she’d take it all in and be better for it.
She might not look up and watch the eagle, but she knew it was there.
When she finally slowed, he caught up with her. No, he decided, she hadn’t blown off the steam. She rode on it every bit as much as she rode on Rocky.
“How can you say that to me?” she demanded. “All you’ve ever wanted? You left me. You broke my heart.”
“We’re remembering it differently, because I don’t remember anybody leaving anybody. And you sure didn’t act brokenhearted when we decided the long-distance deal wasn’t working.”
