by Forsaken
“You’re cold,” he said. “Looks like you’ve got things taken care of here. Why don’t we go to camp? I’ll cook.”
Her stomach growled in response, and she realized she hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
He didn’t give her a chance to turn down his offer as he reined his horse around and headed for the tent.
“Stay,” she said to Lucy then rode after him.
When they reached the tent she couldn’t wait any longer. He wouldn’t have been gone so long unless he’d found something. She was sure of it. He just didn’t want to break the news to her. It made her angry with him. She didn’t need him protecting her.
“What did you find?” she demanded as she dismounted and stalked toward him. “Tell me.”
“I didn’t find Branch.”
Her heart squeezed, and she had to swallow. “That’s good, I guess,” she managed to say. But his face said something else. “What’s wrong, then?”
“I found his horse’s tracks much farther away than you and I went earlier today.”
She was already shaking her head. “Branch didn’t leave.”
“Maybe not, but his horse went southwest back into the mountains. Where would that come out if a man kept going in that direction?”
Maddie looked away. Her mouth felt dry as cotton. “You already know. If you keep going in that direction, you’d end up in Gardiner.”
“The northern Yellowstone Park border town.”
She met his gaze in the dying light. “Branch didn’t just ride off into the sunset. He wouldn’t do that to me.”
The words sounded hollow even to her ears. Something had happened up here. Jamison had said that from the start. She was the only one who kept hoping he was wrong. He must think her a complete fool.
She headed for her horse.
“Wait. I’m going to cook—”
“I’m not hungry.” She swung up into the saddle and reined her horse around. “I need to check the sheep.”
“Maddie—”
“Not now,” she said and rode off into the growing darkness, needing to be alone with her foolish hopes.
CHAPTER TWELVE
CLETE MADE CAMP out of the wind in a stand of pines. He had the other three set up the pup tents. He couldn’t believe college graduates, some of them with master’s degrees, couldn’t put up a pup tent. There was a lot of bickering as if they were kids.
By the time they’d finished, he had the fire going and dinner almost done. They’d erected the tents, three in a row, and put his off a ways from theirs. He tried not to take offense at that since there was no way he had forgotten his role in this trip.
“So I’m thinking we must be here,” Alex said after dinner as he brought out his map again. Geoff had gone to his tent the moment he finished eating. Tony had poured himself a drink and sat on a log, scowling into the fire.
Clete glanced at the map. “More like here,” he said, pointing at a spot along the trail.
Alex grunted. “We didn’t get far today.”
Again Clete was struck by this need of Alex’s to make good time. “What’s the hurry?”
“I told you,” Alex said as he folded up the map. “I can’t wait to get to the high country.”
He’d noticed that none of the three had apparently brought a camera. That seemed more odd than their behavior. This was beautiful pristine country that few people got to see.
“I’m surprised you wouldn’t have a camera to photograph this,” he said, voicing his thoughts.
Alex looked taken aback. “Buddy, why bring a camera when we have modern technology right at our fingertips.” He pulled out his cell phone.
“Modern technology, huh? You’ll be damned lucky to get any kind of service up here with that.”
“But it has a camera.” He grinned as if he’d bested Clete yet again.
“I guess it does,” he admitted as Alex put the phone back into his pocket. But he hadn’t seen any of them take a photo with their phones. Nor had they commented on the scenery, the weather or the smell of spring and pines that permeated the air.
“I think I’ll climb up the side of that mountain to see the view before it gets any darker,” Alex said.
“I’d be careful. It’s pretty dark already.” Clete watched him work his way up to the high ridge. He figured Alex was hoping to get cell-phone service. Sure enough, when he reached the ridge, Alex tried a number. Clete saw the dial on the phone light up like a firefly moving along the ridge.
A moment later Alex was talking to someone, his back to the camp below him. Clete couldn’t hear what was being said—no doubt Alex’s intent.
As he watched him up on the dark ridge, the same question kept coming back. What was this trip really about? Knowing Alex, it could be just a case of being able to say he’d done it. Or something else entirely.
* * *
ALEX GLANCED BACK at the camp. He was tired and more irritable than he’d let on to the others. Tony and Geoff had complained enough for all of them. He was relieved when the number he’d called answered.
“How did it go?”
“Fine,” Alex said into the phone. “We got the horses and should make the cabin by early afternoon tomorrow.”
“Your guide doing all right?”
Alex glanced back down the mountainside at the camp. Clete was watching him and had been most of the trip. “So far, so good,” he said, turning his back again.
He didn’t doubt that Clete was suspicious. But with the money dangling like a carrot out in front of him, he wouldn’t balk. Once they reached the cabin...well, then Alex wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore.
“You said you might be able to bring him in on things.”
“That’s not an option.” When Alex had suggested Clete, he’d hoped the cowboy had changed since their college days. “He’s a bigger Goody Two-shoes than he was in college.”
“You’re sure he doesn’t have any idea what you’re up to?”
“Not a clue.”
“Are you sure about the way you plan to handle this?”
He could handle Clete. The man had a pregnant wife and a son on the way. That alone would keep him in line. “Trust me. Clete isn’t going to be a problem.”
“If you say so. How’s Geoff?”
“Cranky. He’s limping pretty badly and complaining a lot.”
“And Tony?”
“Hungry and whiny, but if I can keep him in food and drink, he’ll be fine. I need them both.” At least for the time being.
“You’re making me nervous, Alex. You’re making some other people nervous, as well.”
It was those other people that had Alex sweating even though it was cold up here on this mountain.
“No reason to worry. I have everything under control.” At least he thought he had had—before everything had gone to hell, but he wasn’t about to admit that. He excelled at solving problems on the fly as they came up. He’d solve this one, as well.
“That’s good because I heard some news that you aren’t going to like. That kid who was with the sheepherder up there? He came out of the mountains all messed up, talking crazy, apparently. Had blood all over him. Some former New York City homicide detective who is now working as a sheriff’s deputy has gone up there with the rancher looking for the sheepherder. The rancher is a woman, but if you cross paths with her, from what I’ve heard, I wouldn’t underestimate her.”
Alex swore under his breath. Just when he thought things couldn’t get any worse. For just a moment, he considered cutting his losses and getting the hell out of Dodge. But he was too smart to think there was anywhere in the world he could hide. He had no choice. He was in this up to his neck.
* * *
IT WAS LATE by the time Jamison heard Maddie return to the tent. He’d made them both something to eat since that was something he could do to help her. She was right—he didn’t know anything about sheepherding. But he could keep the two of them fed.
He tried to call the sheriff�
�s department but couldn’t get cell-phone service. He told himself he would try again tomorrow from up on one of the higher ridges.
He’d hoped to wait and call when he knew something. But unfortunately, he hadn’t considered that he’d be up here this long. His phone would need recharging soon.
By tomorrow, I should know something. He’d found an old map in the tent and was pretty sure he knew where they were. He’d been right about which direction the tracks had headed. The closest way to civilization other than the way Dewey had gone was to the southwest—the way Branch’s horse had gone. On the map, just as Maddie had said, the trail ended in Gardiner, the north entrance to Yellowstone Park.
But there were no close trails near where they were right now, which made him wonder again about who’d been in this camp besides Dewey and Branch.
As he heard Maddie dismount, he put the map away. He didn’t want to upset her any more than he had. It was looking more and more like Branch Murdock had ridden out of here.
She came into the tent, stopping just inside the entrance. “Something smells good,” she said, seeing that he’d left hers on the stove. “Thank you.” Her gaze met his and held for a long moment. “Thank you for earlier, too.” She looked away.
“Sit down. Let me get that for you,” he said, but she waved him off.
“You’ve done enough.”
He wasn’t sure that was a compliment.
“Anyway, I’ve been doing for myself for quite a while now,” she added.
As he sat down on the far cot, she helped herself to the pan on the stove, standing as she ate. He got the feeling that she wasn’t staying long. Either that or she just didn’t want to sit in the confined space with him. He was a little surprised she’d come back at all.
“I’m going with you in the morning.” She said it as if she’d expected him to argue the point. He didn’t. She took another bite of the food he’d prepared. “It’s good.”
He simply nodded his thanks, and she finally sat down on the far end of the opposite cot but didn’t look at him. He let her eat in peace. He’d already shared too many of his suspicions with her. She was angry with him, desperate to believe that the sheepherder she had known all of her life wouldn’t have just ridden off and left her and her sheep.
Maddie was strong, but she’d already had some tremendous loss in her life. He hated to see her hurt again. Unfortunately, he feared heartbreak was on its way and there was nothing he could do about it.
* * *
MADDIE ATE BECAUSE she knew she needed to if she hoped to keep it together. Also, she couldn’t help but be touched that Jamison kept cooking for her. Had she been up here alone, she hated to think of how she would have managed. She felt as if she’d been battered, not just by the wind and this life, but by whatever had happened up on this mountain. She could feel it. As much as she tried to convince the deputy otherwise, she’d known when they didn’t find Branch right away that this would end badly.
Now it was just a case of how bad it would get before it was over.
She glanced at him as the wind billowed the tent sides in and out, shaking it wildly with each new gust. A chill moved through the tent in spite of the fire crackling in the woodstove. She felt chilled to the bone, furious to find herself here, especially with Deputy Sheriff Jamison.
He was so damned determined that something bad had happened up here. But what if Branch had just ridden his horse out of here, gone to Gardiner and then taken off to parts unknown? Wasn’t that better than the alternative?
She stared at the deputy, wishing Branch really had just ridden into the sunset. Unfortunately, she knew the man, and the deputy didn’t. That was why she was terrified of what had really happened to him.
What would she do? Her secret fear was that she would fall apart and Deputy Jamison would be there to witness it. The thought infuriated her.
“When was your breakup?”
Jamison looked up in surprise.
She hated that she’d struck out at him in the only way she could. But did she really want to hurt him? To make him tell his sad story so she could take some comfort in it? “I’m sorry. Never mind. It’s none of my—”
“It’s been a year since we turned it over to the lawyers to hash out, so I consider that the real divorce. Legally? I got the final papers a month ago.”
She glanced at his left hand and the empty space he was rubbing with the pad of his thumb. The indentation had left the skin white where the ring had been recently. “A month?”
“I only took my wedding band off a week ago.” He met her gaze. “But I guess you could tell that. I’m not used to it being gone. It defined me for too many years. I didn’t want to take it off because it was a sign of my failure.” He shrugged. “I actually liked being married even if I no longer recognized the woman I’d married.”
All the tension she’d felt only moments ago evaporated at his honesty. “I liked marriage, too,” she said and had to swallow around the lump that suddenly formed in her throat.
“Thank you for not thinking I was foolish for hanging on for so long. I think a part of me believed that if I didn’t take the ring off...” He shook his head.
“None of the bad part would have happened,” Maddie finished for him. “I still sometimes think Hank will walk in the door, that none of the other was real.”
“You were married a long time?”
She got up to put the pan into the hot soapy creek water he had going on the stove. “Twenty-two years. We married right after college, but we’d been dating since high school.” She plunged her hands into the water. It was too hot and yet she kept washing the pan.
“High-school sweethearts,” Jamison said. “Lana and I met at college. We both swore we weren’t going to turn into our parents. Maybe she meant it. Maybe she was destined to and couldn’t have changed course even if she’d tried. I just know how relieved she was when our marriage was over. It only took her a few months before she found someone more socially her equal.”
Maddie pulled the clean pan from the water and dried her hands on a hand towel hanging from a hook on the side of the tent. “I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t be. It was the best for both of us. I feel guilty because my inability to admit the marriage failed had little to do with my feelings about the woman I’d found myself married to.”
When she turned she saw that he had a self-deprecating smile on his handsome face. “We lie to ourselves about our lives sometimes.”
“Lana thought the man she married was on his way to somewhere extraordinary. At the very least a partnership in some prestigious law firm or maybe even a role in politics.”
“Is that what you wanted?”
He shook his head. “But she never asked me what I wanted, and I was never honest with her until the end.”
“She didn’t want to be married to a homicide detective?”
He chuckled. “Who would?”
Maddie sat down again, easing herself back onto the cot.
“Lana liked the social circles she’d always traveled in. The up-and-comers. It was a contest with her and her friends. Whose husband was doing better. I felt sorry for her. I’m sure I was an embarrassment.” Jamison got up to stoke the woodstove.
“You don’t like talking about her. You still feel a sense of loyalty.”
He nodded solemnly.
“I feel the same way. I know all Hank’s flaws better than anyone, but I can’t even remind myself of them now without feeling guilty.” Her voice broke. “I’m still angry with him for dying and leaving me.” She turned her face away, fighting tears, and mentally kicked herself for starting this conversation. She’d wanted to strike out at Jamison and had only managed to make herself hurt worse. She was grateful, though, that he pretended not to notice.
“It’s hard to break those old bonds, let alone even think about—” He cleared his throat and reached for his coat. “I’m going to watch the sheep tonight. Get some sleep.”
“Jamison—�
�
“Don’t worry. I won’t let anything get your lambs. I also won’t leave in the morning without you.”
* * *
AFTER DINNER AT the trail camp, Clete got everything cleaned up, stored the food in a tree and made sure the campfire was out before he climbed into his tent.
As night settled over them, Alex went to his tent as well, saying he was tired. Geoff had retired earlier. Only Tony had stayed up drinking by the fire until the chill in the air finally drove him to bed.
Clete heard the three talking softly, but with his tent away from theirs, he couldn’t make out their words over the sound of the wind high in the pines.
He told himself it was just as well. He didn’t want to know what they were talking about. They annoyed him enough as it was. He concentrated on thinking about his wife and their son—the reason he had taken this job. He concentrated on the money and the fact that the job would be over soon.
It just wouldn’t be over soon enough, he thought as he fell into a restless sleep.
He woke to heated voices what seemed like only minutes later. But when he checked his watch several hours had passed.
Looking out the end of his tent, he could see two men silhouetted against the night sky. One was smaller than the other.
Alex and Geoff? They were standing over by the horses where Clete had secured them for the night.
“I’m warning you,” he heard Alex say. “You aren’t going to screw this up for the rest of us, you hear me?”
“Me? You have a lot of gall. I was almost killed because of you. I’m lucky only my leg was injured, but let me tell you, it hurts like hell. I should have gone to a doctor.” His voice broke. “If you had any idea what I’ve been through—”
“I appreciate the sacrifices you’ve made,” Alex said, lowering his voice. “When this is over, I’ll make it up to you. But in the meantime—”
“Shut up and do whatever you say, right?”
“You know I can’t do this without you,” Alex said.
Geoff cursed. “So I keep hearing.”
“Is everything all right?” Clete called.
Both men fell silent.
