Deadly Evidence

by Elizabeth Goddard

  “Would you look at this view.” She moved the visor so she could see better out the window. “Okay, now I really do think you’re trying to impress me.”

  He parked the vehicle in front of the sprawling log cabin. “Now why would I want to do that?”

  Tori said nothing to his question. It was only light banter, so she shouldn’t be offended. Impressing Tori hadn’t been his intention. All he’d wanted to do was to keep her safe.

  Hopping out, he jogged around to open the door for her, but she had already climbed out.

  Hands on her hips, she stared at the mountain as though she hadn’t grown up in the shadow of Mount Shasta. Still, unless you hiked to the summit or lived in a place like this, this view wasn’t something you saw every day.

  “The Karuk tribe call it White Mountain,” she said. “Did you know that it’s the second highest peak in the whole Cascade range?” She turned to look at him and laughed.

  “I didn’t realize you were so fascinated with it,” he replied.

  “So there are still a few things you don’t know about me. I’m glad I can still surprise you.”

  She was glad about that? He tried not to consider the implications.

  “And now, I have a surprise for you.” He smiled.

  “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

  He opened the back of the vehicle. “Your stuff’s in the back.”

  Tori pressed a hand to her forehead. “I’m so relieved, Ryan. Thank you!”

  She strode over to the back of the vehicle to stand next to him.

  He handed off her laptop, a duffel bag of newly purchased clothes—since her others had been destroyed—and her purse that seemed to survive everything. “We’ve taken the liberty of going through your belongings in search of listening, visual or tracking devices.”

  “Of course. I’m glad you did.” She shouldered her purse and held the laptop under her arm.

  When she reached for her duffel bag, he snatched it. “I’ve got this.”

  “Thanks.” She waited for him to shut the back. “Well, are you going to give me the grand tour of this place?”

  “You and I will get the grand tour together. I don’t know my way around, either. We’ll have to go exploring. I hear it has two ponds and a creek. But, of course, I’ll need to make sure the area is safe. No going off the property. Understood?”

  “Understood.”

  Together they hiked to the porch, up the steps and to the door. Ryan fumbled around in his pocket and found a key. Jasper’s mother kept a spare and Jasper had instructed her to hand it off to Ryan for the time being.

  Inside the home, Tori set her things on the floor, her gaze traveling up and over the log walls and ceiling. The home featured a large open kitchen with soapstone counters and stainless steel appliances.

  In the living area they found custom wood-carved furniture to go with the cabin. Tori sighed. “Okay, now this is my dream home. I never had a dream home before. Sarah wanted a house like the bungalow she got.”

  No, you didn’t have a dream house—just a dream job...

  Crossing her arms, Tori strolled through to the great room, where she stood in front of the panoramic window with a view of Mount Shasta. “Yeah. Dream house.”

  Ryan moved to stand next to her and take in the view.

  “Just breathtaking,” she said, then eyed him. “Okay, Ryan. You’ve ruined me. I didn’t know I was missing anything until you brought me to this house.”

  Tori smiled. Her golden hair and green eyes with that mountain in the background... Um... Yeah... Breathtaking. The mountain alone couldn’t do that for him. A knot lodged in his throat.

  Why had he let this woman get away from him? In his heart, he’d known that she had to leave and take the opportunity presented to her, but it made his heart ache to think of how he had let her go and not tried to persuade her to stay. She’d never even asked him to come with her, so he hadn’t presumed she wanted him to.

  There was the old adage—If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it’s yours forever. If it doesn’t, then it was never yours at all.

  Tori obviously hadn’t been his to begin with.

  She’d had to make her dreams come true. So he’d been right to simply let her go, even if he’d been crushed and then allowed anger and resentment to take root.

  But he was done with that, he hoped. He was glad that she’d achieved so much. Not many people had the strength to go after their dreams with such single-minded determination.

  Ryan didn’t trust himself to speak, so he kept quiet.

  Tori angled to look at him and offered a soft smile that did uncontrollable things to his heart.

  “All I know is that I’d better not get used to this place because I’m not going to be here that long and it might be painful to leave if I get too attached.”

  He chuckled. “Sometimes you can’t help getting attached.”

  No matter the effort put in to stay disentangled. Her eyes flashed with emotions, and he sensed that she’d understood his deeper meaning. See, he shouldn’t have trusted himself to speak.

  Her expression turned serious. “You’re going to find the person responsible for Sarah’s death and the attacks on me just like you’ve reassured me repeatedly.”

  She was obviously trying to redirect him. Refocus him back on task. No pressure there. He found himself searching for the right response when the doorbell chimed. Perfect timing.

  “Ah, that must be your protective services,” Ryan said.

  Tori’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you were my protective services.”

  Was she disappointed? He had the strong feeling that she was, and that was too much to process. He had the sudden urge to kiss her, which just told him he needed to step away. “I have to investigate, remember? And find this guy, just like I reassured you.”

  Emotion swirled in Tori’s eyes and she appeared speechless, which might be a first. Wow. Entirely too much chemistry brewed between them. Was it because they had nearly lost their lives multiple times? Traumatic events had a way of pushing people together, making them closer under pressure.

  He opened the door to let in a female deputy who would stay with Tori. Admittedly, he’d brought Deputy Shawna Reiser into this to free himself up not only to investigate, but to put distance between himself and Tori. And now part of him wished he hadn’t, but that was only because his emotions were getting in the way, which should never happen. Tori had to know that his heart was getting involved when it shouldn’t, and as much as he wanted to protect her personally, it was more important that he solve the murders. An emotional involvement on his part would jeopardize the investigation.

  Now he was glad he’d made the decision ahead of time. He found Tori in the kitchen eyeing the bananas. “I thought you said they were on vacation. Why are there fresh bananas on the counter?”

  “Jasper’s mom knew we were coming and stocked a few items.” Ryan hadn’t liked that even one more person knew about their current location but it couldn’t be helped. “I’m heading out. Remember to let me know if you learn anything new.”

  She peeled a banana. “I’d appreciate the same consideration. That will help both our efforts.”

  “Will do.” He left her in the kitchen and headed for the front door. Shawna stood there, waiting. “Don’t forget to lock up. Check all the windows and doors and keep an eye out. I don’t expect any trouble, but this guy is determined and we can’t be too careful.”

  He opened the door to step outside.

  “Detective Bradley,” Shawna spoke in low tones. “Ryan...”

  Shawna and Ryan had some history—a short time of seeing each other before they’d realized that they would make good friends but nothing more. She’d been hurt in the past, as had Ryan, and neither of them had been truly ready to move on.

  Hesitating, he
shut the door. “Is there a problem?”

  “Yes. This house is far too big to adequately protect someone, don’t you think? And the windows? She’s far too exposed here. Whose idea was this?”

  “I understand your concern,” he said. “But it was the only house available and you have to admit that it’s far off the beaten path. She won’t be easy to locate. This will give us some breathing room since we know she can’t stay in Sarah’s home or with her parents. Besides, if someone actually finds her, it’s not going to matter how many windows there are.”

  He opened the door again, though he had more to say. “Don’t worry, I’ll check in on her. But I don’t want a lot of people going back and forth here. Other than Jasper and his mother, only you, me and my captain know that we’re using this location. Let me know about anything suspicious. Anything at all.”

  Frowning, she nodded, clearly not happy with the location. “I’ll do my best, Detective.”

  “That’s all any of us can do,” he said and turned again to leave.

  “Ryan...” she shifted to a more personal tone “...it’s her, isn’t it? This is the woman you hadn’t gotten over yet back when you and I dated.”

  He subtly nodded. He was afraid to ask her what gave him away. Not wanting to get any further into that conversation, he took another step out the door, officially shutting any more questions down. “I’ll check the perimeter before I leave.”

  With that, Ryan finally closed the door behind him. He got a pair of binoculars out of his vehicle and then hiked around the house. The log cabin was positioned on a ridge on the north side, so at least they didn’t have to worry about an intruder from that direction. No one was going to climb the ridge to enter the house. Still, he peered through the binoculars in all directions and saw nothing but nature and wildlife for miles around.

  Satisfied they were utterly alone out here, he marched back to his vehicle and made to open the door.

  “Ryan!” Tori called as she jogged over.

  “Something’s wrong already?” He left the door open but didn’t get inside.

  “No.” She shook her head, then said, “I mean, yes.”

  He crossed his arms and waited.

  “Right before the explosion in the bedroom, I found something. Remember I mentioned looking for a trigger?”

  “I remember.”

  “I found a picture of Sarah and me together in Crescent City. She’d wanted to spend time with me on the coast before I moved.”

  “And that’s the trigger?”

  She nodded vehemently. “I thought it could be her alias.”

  “And you’re just now bringing this up to me, why?” He dropped his arms and fisted his hands.

  Tori blinked. “I couldn’t know for sure.”

  His heart rate jacked up. “And now you do.”

  “Yes.” Her right cheek hitched up with her half grin. “I found her alias, and I think you should stay.”

  ELEVEN

  Tori couldn’t read Ryan’s expression. She had hoped he would be as excited by this breakthrough as she was. Was he disappointed in her for not telling him right away?

  “Look, an explosion got in the way of me telling you right when I noticed the picture. Okay? That and, well, I wanted to make sure. Why waste your time if it was a dead end? You understand, don’t you?” Why was it so important to her that he did?

  He shut the door and locked up his vehicle, then walked with her back to the house. “It’s not important now. But next time, please share anything with me right away, whether you think it has merit or not.”

  Shawna held the door for them, and Tori led Ryan through the house to the spacious breakfast room, which had a view as amazing as the one from the great room. Her laptop sat open on the table.

  At the stern expression remaining on Ryan’s face, Tori tried to lighten his mood. “If only I could have this view every day while I have my morning coffee.” Ugh. She really had to come up with something better to say than going on about the log cabin.

  He shifted a bit to look her full in the face, and then offered a weak grin. “I couldn’t agree more.”

  His words pushed into her and through her, along with certainty that he wasn’t talking about the view through the window. Her pulse kicked up. This isn’t happening. This can’t happen between us.

  Tori forced her eyes to her laptop while she calmed her heart. She pulled out a chair at the table to sit in front of the computer so she could show him what she’d found. But Ryan remained standing.

  “Well, are you going to sit down?” she asked.

  “I’m fine here, thank you.”

  And she had the distinct impression he was working hard to keep space between them. She understood completely.

  She awakened the laptop and showed Ryan the webmail screen. “She used the server she was familiar with, only she probably always logged in from a public computer when she was using this email. Like I said, she always used the same password. And if she was using an alias that no one should associate with her, why come up with a new password?”

  “I think it would have been better to give the tech guy the alias, Tori. You’re stepping onto shaky ground here since we have the warrant for digital evidence. We want things processed correctly.”

  “You said you wanted my help.”

  “I do.”

  She could feel his warmth, his breath against her face as he leaned close to peer at the screen.

  “Do you want to look at her emails or not?” Her voice sounded too tremulous.

  “Let’s see them.” Ryan’s voice, however, was firm and confident.

  Still, she sensed that her nearness affected him the same way his impacted her. Time to focus on the task. She blew out a breath.

  Together, they opened and read several emails.

  “I can’t believe this,” Tori said. “It sounds like she was digging around in the environmental group. Like she was involved as an activist to find out about their ecoterrorism activities.” Tori let out a sigh. “Honestly, that sounds more like Sarah. I can’t believe she would ever be involved in illegal activities even for a cause she believed in, or threaten anyone, like Dee James suggested.”

  Ryan finally pulled up a chair to sit next to Tori. “I don’t understand why Dee told you he was the one to suggest she use an alias for an email, since she was looking into his group and activities. But it looks like he told the truth when he said she never contacted him from this account. She was emailing someone else, though. We need to know who this person is.”

  “He also said she thought someone was following her,” Tori said. “Could it have been someone with the environmental group? Except that doesn’t make sense—Dee was scared himself. Obviously for good reason because someone killed him.” Maybe Dee had turned against the more violent extremists in the group after they killed Sarah? Maybe that was why he was willing to talk to Tori—and why he was killed?

  She scratched her head, wishing she could figure this out.

  “Right. There’s that, but let’s focus on these emails. Who is she talking to here?”

  “Ned Hundley. We can’t know if that’s also an alias, though,” Tori said. “Wait a minute.”

  She turned to look at Ryan, realization reflecting in his gaze.

  “She was an informant,” they said simultaneously.

  Tori shoved from the table.

  “And who investigates ecoterrorist groups?” Ryan asked, though he already knew.

  “The FBI.” Fury boiled through her veins. “I can’t believe this!”

  She rushed from the breakfast room to the living area with the panoramic view of Mount Shasta and then finally settled to stare out the window.

  Ryan approached from behind, then stood next to her. “You think both of them should have told you.”

  “Whatever my employer did or
didn’t do, whatever the Bureau’s involvement, I think she should have told me.” Grief and anger twisted inside.

  What was the purpose in working for the FBI if she couldn’t keep her own family safe? How had Sarah ended up working with the FBI as an informant? Had she been caught for being involved in something illegal and then forced into becoming an informant to clear her own record? That was how it often went down. Nausea swirled in Tori’s gut and she pressed her hands against her midsection.

  Knowing her sister, Tori felt it was more likely they somehow convinced Sarah that she was going to help them to prevent something terrible from happening. That would be very in character for Sarah. The queasiness eased up a bit.

  Still next to her, Ryan sighed. “Maybe she was approached and then once she agreed, she was instructed not to share the information with anyone. Not even you.”

  “I need to contact this Ned Hundley. If that’s even his name,” Tori said.

  Ryan started pacing along the large, panoramic window. “This has shifted into a new investigation. If she was killed because of her informant status, the FBI should be investigating her death. They would also be investigating Dee James if he’s tied into this, too. So why aren’t they?”

  Tori pulled out her cell. “I’m going to find out.”

  Ryan urged her hand down. “You’re on bereavement leave, remember? You’re not supposed to be working a case. Let me reach out. In fact, I need to send what we’ve learned over to computer forensics techs working on Sarah’s digital evidence. Maybe they can also find out more about Ned Hundley, if that is his real name. Let’s work this through the proper channels so we can build our case.”

  Reluctantly she put her cell away. He was right. She turned to face him and looked into his intense blue-green gaze. She’d been such an idiot to leave him behind to pursue her dream job. The FBI might have resources that took her work to a higher level...but the Maynor County Sheriff’s Department had a degree of trust and respect among colleagues that the Bureau was clearly lacking, especially since it looked like someone within the ranks of that organization had used her sister and gotten her killed. The bitter truth of it stung.