Midnight Reckoning (Leave No Trace Book 1)

by Jannine Gallant

  “That’s certainly helpful of her.” He couldn’t pry his gaze away from her naked body as she gathered up her clothes and walked toward the bathroom.

  “Willow is the best. I’ll take a quick shower and be out in a few minutes.”

  “Okay.” After the door shut behind her, he finally let out a breath. “Jesus.” Raine was smoking hot, and he couldn’t seem to get his mind out of the gutter.

  The shower was running, and he’d pulled on his clothes when her phone rang again. Wondering if Willow had changed her plans, he picked it up. But the number on the screen wasn’t their friend’s. The area code was a local one, and after hesitating while it rang a second time, he swiped to answer.

  “Hello.”

  “Did I reach Raine Endicott?” The voice was deep and gravely.

  Levi recognized it immediately. “This is Levi Hill, Detective Gilbert. I answered Raine’s phone since she . . . uh . . . stepped out. Can I help you?”

  “I had a few more questions for Ms. Endicott. Actually, for you, too. Can we meet somewhere before you leave the area?”

  “Sure. We’re at the Ahwahnee and planned to have breakfast shortly.”

  “I’ll meet you in the main lobby in an hour if that’s convenient.”

  The detective’s tone was polite to a fault but with an underlying edge that set off warning alarms in Levi’s gut. “Sure.”

  “See you both then.”

  When Gilbert disconnected, Levi set down the phone. Wondering what the hell was going on, he walked over to stand at the window as his mind ran through a few possibilities. Hands clenched on his hips, he turned when Raine exited the bathroom.

  She stopped halfway across the room and frowned. “Is something wrong?”

  “Detective Gilbert called on your phone, and I answered. He wants to meet with us after breakfast.”

  “Did he say why?” She pushed her damp hair over her shoulder.

  “Nope. Just that he had more questions. He hung up before I could ask.”

  “Kind of weird. Maybe Ava said something on the way down the mountain yesterday.”

  “Like how I was pretty damned pissed that Cooper was hitting on you? Promise you’ll bail me out of jail if he arrests me.”

  Raine smiled slightly. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.” She scooped all her scattered clothes back into the bag with the trackers. “Let’s go meet Willow. If Ava talked to her last night, she might be able to clue us in on the situation.”

  “Okay. As soon as I shave, I’ll be ready to go.”

  Ten minutes later, they left the room with their bags, stopped at the front desk to check out, and headed outside.

  Raine pulled out her phone when it beeped and rapidly texted before glancing up. “Willow just pulled into the parking lot. I said we’d meet her there, and we can leave our stuff in the cars.”

  “Sounds good.” Taking her hand, he squeezed it. “Our morning isn’t turning out quite the way I’d hoped.”

  “No kidding.” She let out a sigh. “A rushed breakfast before getting interrogated again wasn’t how I envisioned spending our last couple of hours together. Maybe the detective suspects one of the others was with Cooper when he died and thinks we know more than we told him.”

  “I suppose that could be—” He broke off and stared at the shattered glass littering the ground beside her Jeep. “No, way! Look at that.”

  “Oh, my God!” Raine jerked her hand from his and ran toward her Cherokee. “Someone broke my window! Or a bear did.” She closed her eyes and swore softly before opening them again. “I can’t believe this. I didn’t have any food in my car.”

  Willow got out of a rental car parked two rows over and walked toward them, her eyes wide. “Did a bear trash your car?”

  Levi surveyed the door with the broken window. Still firmly shut, no scratches or dirt marred the paint. On the rear seat, everything had been pulled out of Raine’s backpack, yet the camping gear, including a cooler covered by a blanket, was apparently untouched.

  “A bear would have left a far bigger mess. A person did this.”

  “Why?” Raine’s voice broke.

  “I have no idea.” He slid an arm around her waist and glanced over as an NPS vehicle pulled into the lot. “Looks like Detective Gilbert is early. Maybe he knows what the hell happened.”

  Chapter Seven

  Raine sat on one of the couches in the lounge. Alone, and doing her best not to fall apart.

  Detective Gilbert stood across the room, talking on his phone. Willow had given her Ava’s tracker and left with a promise to stay in touch, and Levi was currently taping plastic across her broken window. A move the detective had approved after photographing the damage. Since nothing had been stolen from her vehicle, he hadn’t seemed overly optimistic they would find the vandal who’d done the damage.

  Not that a broken car window was a huge problem. She had insurance to pay for it, after all. But seeing all that shattered glass had been a tipping point, the proverbial last straw following the tragedy of finding Cooper’s body. She clenched her fists at her sides until her knuckles ached. The only bright spot in this whole nightmare was Levi.

  When he entered the lobby a few minutes later and headed in her direction, she raised a hand to wave. But the detective pocketed his phone and cut him off before he could reach her. With a quick backward glance, Levi accompanied the cop out the way he’d come in. Obviously, Gilbert intended to question them each separately.

  Before the detective had taken a call, he’d asked her about her relationship with Cooper. More specifically, his renewed interest in her and how the others had responded. Ava and Levi in particular. When she’d assured him neither party had displayed much jealousy, and that she’d shut Cooper’s advances down hard, he’d asked if she’d ever invested money with her old boyfriend.

  “Not in this lifetime.” She muttered the same words she’d told Gilbert as she rose to walk over to the window. The last thing she would have wanted was more ties to Cooper.

  Still, she’d gotten the feeling some of the others had used his financial planning services. Resting her palms on the sill, she wondered if that’s what Bobby B and Camille had been angry about the night before he died.

  A shiver slid through her, and Raine rubbed her arms where goosebumps pebbled her skin. Not my business. Detective Gilbert was shrewd, experienced, and persistent. She had no doubt he would figure out exactly what had happened to Cooper.

  Levi and the detective had been gone about twenty minutes before Levi reappeared, alone this time. As he approached, she met him halfway across the room.

  “I guess I don’t need to round up bail money.”

  “Apparently not.” He took her hands and held on tight. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “I’m keeping it together. For now, I consider that a success. Do you still want to eat before we take off?”

  “God, yes. I’m starving.” Releasing one of her hands, he grasped the other as they walked toward the restaurant. “Aren’t you hungry?”

  “I’ll force down a muffin or something. I don’t want to be lightheaded driving home.”

  They approached the hostess, and a short time later, sat at a table by the window with steaming cups of coffee while they waited for their food.

  Levi wrapped his fingers around the mug, took a swallow, and then relaxed back in his chair. “That’s what I needed after the detective’s inquisition.”

  “What did he ask you?”

  “A lot of the same questions he asked before, but a few new ones. Like if Cooper had been bothering you during the hike. I can only assume Ava said something. I told him you were perfectly capable of giving the man the cold shoulder without any interference on my part.”

  “I said basically the same thing.” She sipped her coffee and frowned. “I felt like that line of questioning was just a formality, that he was after something else.”

  “He wanted to know if I had invested money with Cooper.” Levi’s eyes
narrowed. “Since he’ll undoubtedly get access to Cooper’s business files, I imagine he wanted to see if I would lie.”

  “Did you? Invest, I mean.”

  “Hell, no. What about you?”

  She shook her head, then moved her mug when the server returned with their food. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” The woman topped off their coffees. “Enjoy your breakfast.”

  After she walked away, Levi dug into his stack of pancakes. “I did learn one important fact.”

  Raine broke off a piece of her croissant. “What’s that.”

  “Cooper’s death has officially been classified as a homicide, not an accident.”

  She sucked in a breath. “Detective Gilbert told you that?”

  “Yep. Preliminary findings suggest someone grabbed him around the neck. Maybe whoever it was didn’t intend to shove him over the cliff, but he wasn’t out there alone that night.”

  “Night?” She dropped the pastry on her plate and wiped her fingers.

  “Time of death was around midnight, give or take.” Levi ate another bite before continuing. “I think Gilbert was looking for a reaction from me when he dropped that nugget of information. I assured him that after talking to you, I was in my tent, alone. More’s the pity.”

  Her stomach churned as he ate, remembering the footsteps outside her tent. “That night, after we kissed, did you change your mind about taking things further?”

  “Huh?” He paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. “What are you talking about?”

  “Did you come over to my tent and then think better of it?”

  “No. I went straight to bed.” His brows lowered. “I respect that when a woman says no, she means no. Why would you even ask?”

  “Not long after we went to bed, I heard steps pause close by before moving on. I poked my head out of my tent but only saw a shadow in the dark. A door zipped closed a minute later.”

  “Well, it wasn’t me.” He laid down his fork. “I suppose it could have been whoever was out with Cooper, returning to the campsite.”

  “Which would mean whoever killed him was definitely one of our group. Someone from our club. A person we’ve known and liked for years is a murderer.”

  He reached across the table to grip her hand. “They could have been arguing, maybe getting a little physical when Cooper fell. It might not have been intentional.”

  “I hope not.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

  “Don’t speculate, Raine. The detective will do his job, and the truth will come out.”

  Her chest rose and fell on a shuddering breath. “Maybe that’s what I’m afraid of.”

  * * * *

  It was well after noon when Raine found a spot not horribly far from her apartment and parallel parked in the tight space with the precision of a true city dweller. After getting stuck in unusually heavy midday traffic on the way into San Francisco, she was already missing Yosemite’s majestic wilderness.

  And Levi.

  After stepping out of her Jeep and grabbing everything she could carry, she hit the remote to lock the doors and headed up the steep sidewalk. Not that locks did much good with plastic wrap covering one window. Straining beneath her load, she entered the old Victorian house and climbed the stairs to her apartment on the third floor. Juggling the keys, she finally got the right one into the lock and turned the knob. Heaving a sigh of relief, she pushed the door open and dropped the cooler with a thump. Her backpack followed.

  Rushing down the stairs a moment later, she collected the rest of her gear and returned to her home, kicking the door shut behind her. The glass repair company was scheduled to arrive in an hour. She thought about sitting guard in her car, then shrugged and walked over to the window. Since there wasn’t anything valuable in the Jeep to steal, she’d take her chances.

  From atop the hill where she lived, a view of the bay stretched in the distance. She and Grant had been thrilled to find this place. But since their split, paying for the amazing view was eating up her entire paycheck, even with all her overtime. She rubbed the back of her neck, knowing she had to make some decisions soon if she didn’t want to totally deplete her savings.

  But right now, she wanted to unpack, throw in a load of laundry, actually eat something, and deal with her broken window. Then she would head over to the office and attempt to catch up on everything that had been left hanging in her absence. And after that, she’d fall into bed, too exhausted to worry about where her life was leading. Too numb to acknowledge just how much she already missed Levi.

  Several hours later, she sat alone at her desk in the Affair to Remember back office as the hour crept toward nine. After dealing with a million emails, meeting with her boss about the new parties on the schedule, and talking next weekend’s bride out of changing the reception menu for the third time, she’d pulled out the bag of trackers and sat down to record the mileage.

  Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes and rubbed them. Nine trackers were lined up in front of her, which meant she still needed Cooper’s. Picking up her cell, she scrolled through recent calls and tapped Detective Gilbert’s number, wishing she’d remembered to ask him about the tracker sooner. But the broken car window had dominated her thoughts that morning.

  “Gilbert here.” The man answered on the second ring. “What can I do for you, Ms. Endicott.”

  “I’m sorry to call so late. I expected to get your voice mail.”

  “I keep some odd hours. Did you remember something that might be helpful to my investigation?”

  “No, I’m afraid not.” She hesitated. “I hate to bother you, but I was wondering about the tracker Cooper was wearing. Under the circumstances, this may seem petty, but I was hoping I could get the mileage off it. Since the backpacking trip was for charity, I want to report an accurate total for our group so the Wildlife Rehabilitation Foundation can earn the maximum benefit.”

  “You all were wearing those trackers?” His tone was sharp.

  “Yes. It’s how we recorded our miles for the hike-a-thon.”

  “Did they register your location, elevation gained and lost, that sort of thing?”

  Leaning forward, she planted her elbows on the desk. “They aren’t equipped with GPS, so they only recorded steps that equate to mileage. Everyone participating received one from the event organizer. I handed them out to my group on day one and collected them when we finished.”

  “That’s unfortunate.” He paused before speaking again. “Did you mark each tracker so you’d know which one belonged to whom?”

  “They’re numbered, and I made a list before handing them out.”

  “Excellent. I’d like to collect those trackers from you, along with that information. They could be useful.”

  She stared at the row of devices and shivered. “Fine. I’ll report back to the organizer that I turned them all over to you when I call in our total mileage. About Cooper’s—”

  “I’ll get the information off his tracker. It’ll be with his other possessions in the evidence locker.”

  “Thank you, detective. Would you like me to mail the nine I have to you?”

  “No, I’ll pick them up.” His tone was distracted, and he spoke in a rush. “I’ll be in touch tomorrow to set up a meeting. Thanks for your help.”

  He disconnected before she could respond, and she set down her phone. “Alrighty then. At least he doesn’t expect me to come to him.”

  Opening her notebook for the hike-a-thon, she flipped to the page with the tracker ID numbers. Picking up the first one, she recorded the mileage next to the designated recipient. As she jotted down numbers, her brows rose. She’d expected similar results but several had extra miles. Some fewer. Which sort of made sense since everyone hadn’t climbed to the top of Half Dome, but the numbers still didn’t jibe.

  Her total matched Jake’s, but Willow’s was nearly a mile more. After a moment, she snapped her fingers. Hadn’t Willow and Bobby B gone back to get his camera at the v
ery beginning of the hike? Yet Bobby had tacked on two additional miles. Matt and Camille had turned around together on the subdome, but his number was substantially higher than hers. And Levi had far more miles than anyone. Apparently, he’d been out running on his own on more than one occasion.

  “Whatever.” She closed the notebook and shoved it into her purse. At this point, she was too tired to figure it out and wasn’t sure she needed to. If Detective Gilbert had questions, he could ask each member of the group for clarification.

  After putting the trackers back into the bag, she stuck them in her desk drawer and rose to her feet. Her only goal right now was to catch the bus that stopped at the corner in five minutes. Turning off the office light, she hurried past the storage room stacked with tables, chairs, and other event props, out through the conference room where they met with clients, to the front entrance. She set the alarm and locked the door before skipping around an oily puddle to dash up the sidewalk just as the bus rolled to a stop at the corner. Climbing onboard, she pulled out the Clipper card she always carried in her jacket pocket and scanned it before flopping onto an empty seat.

  When her cell rang as the bus accelerated up the hill, she almost ignored it, wanting only to lean against the seatback and close her eyes. Almost. With a sigh, she pulled it from her purse, just to make sure it wasn’t a real emergency . . .

  Levi.

  A smile curled her lips as she swiped to connect. “Hey.”

  “Hey, yourself. I hope you’re lounging on the couch, watching something mindless on TV, and wishing I was sitting next to you so we could fight over the remote.”

  A laugh slipped out. “I’m afraid not. I’m on a bus heading home from work.”

  “Are you kidding? It’s nine-thirty. Wait a minute. Why are you on a bus? Didn’t the glass company fix your car window?”

  “Yes, they did, but I always take the bus to work. Have you ever tried to park in San Francisco?

  “Thankfully, no.” His tone was filled with humor. “Parking in the woods is a breeze.”

  “I’m sure it is. Anyway, I was lucky to finish before ten. What are you doing?”