Murder on the Mountain: A Marshall Brothers Novel

by Carolyn LaRoche

  “It’s really no bother.” Emma put the last salad in the refrigerator and closed the door.

  Walt closed his cooler and walked back over to his discarded duffle bag. “The fish are always bitin’ out here. I’ll be back. Tell my nephew to let me know when he catches the bad guy.”

  Emma smiled at the older man. “I most definitely will. It’s been very nice meeting you, Walt.”

  He reached up and tipped the cap of his baseball hat. “Likewise.”

  As Walt put his hand on the doorknob, footsteps sounded on the porch. “It’s me, Emma!” Adam called through the door.

  Walt pulled it open. “Hello, nephew!”

  “Uncle Walt! I’m so sorry. I forgot to tell you I’d be using the cabin. I remembered as soon as I saw your truck.” Adam motioned to a blue pickup truck parked beside his marked police vehicle.

  “No worries, boy. I was just getting to know your friend. She’s a pro with a broomstick, so you better watch out. She’d make my Stella proud.”

  Adam walked in while Walt talked and put the big paper bag he carried on the little table in the kitchenette. “Do I even want to know what that means?”

  “Probably not. A girl’s gotta have a few tricks up her sleeve.” Emma winked at Walt. “Right, Walt.”

  “Please, call me Walt. A young lady like you callin’ me Mr. Marshall sends my AARP status through the roof.”

  “All right, Walt. It’s been a pleasure meeting you. Thank you for letting me borrow your little hideaway for a few days.” Emma gave him a quick hug. “I’m going to go wash up quick before dinner.”

  Emma stepped into the little bathroom and closed the door. She could hear the muted voices of Adam and his uncle, so she stayed in there until she heard the front door close. The last few days had been a blur. Maybe she could finally sit, eat, and relax with her old friend—pretend for a little while that everything was absolutely normal and they were just two people sharing a meal.

  Fourteen

  Patting her hands and face dry on a towel hanging by the sink, Emma left the bathroom. The entire cabin had filled with the aroma of sauce and cheese while she’d been hiding.

  “That smells so good.” Emma walked over to the kitchenette where Adam had already laid out the spread of food he’d purchased.

  “There’s ziti, meatballs, chicken parm, fettuccine alfredo, and of course garlic bread.” Adam made a sweeping motion in the direction of the food. “You can have whatever you want.”

  Emma picked up a plate. “I think I’m just going to have some of everything.”

  Adam pulled out some serving utensils and they filled their plates to capacity. Once they were settled at the tiny table, Emma dug in. “Mmm… this is so good.”

  “I’m sorry about my uncle showing up like that. I kept meaning to call him and with everything going on, it just slipped my mind.”

  “It’s okay.” Emma pointed to the broom still leaning against the counter in the corner. “I’m a master with a broomstick.”

  Adam frowned. “What exactly happened with that broom anyway?”

  “I don’t swat and tell.” Emma popped a bite of chicken in her mouth and winked at him.

  “How much did you tell Uncle Walt about why you’re here?” Adam twirled spaghetti around his fork.

  “Just enough to explain why I was creeping around his fishing cabin without his knowledge.” Emma got up and went to the fridge. “I need a drink. You want one?”

  “Water would be great, please.”

  She grabbed a couple of cold bottles and put the one she’d opened earlier back inside to get cold again for later. Handing one to Adam, Emma sat back down and cracked hers open.

  “Thank you,” Adam said, also opening his and taking a long drink. “I told Uncle Walt we’d hopefully only be here a couple of days.”

  “Really? What makes you think so?”

  Adam pulled two folded pieces of paper from the pocket of his flannel shirt and handed them to her. The first was a color photo. She dropped them both when she got a look at who was in the picture.

  “That’s the murder I witnessed.”

  Adam nodded. “Yeah.”

  She picked it up again and studied it. “How did you get that?”

  Adam took another bite of food and chewed it slowly before answering. “I went back to the cabin after I brought you here and took another look around.”

  She pointed to the photo of the killer. “So, is that how you got this picture?”

  “There was a hidden camera in the cabin. A little statue of a grizzly bear. I popped the memory card out, and a buddy in IT pulled the files for me.”

  This caught her interest. “What else did you see on the camera?”

  Adam shook his head. “Nothing yet. I figured I’d watch the videos tonight.”

  “We can watch them tonight, isn’t that what you meant?”

  “Emma, this is a police investigation. A joint task force of government agencies is in place to take these guys down as soon as I give the go-ahead. This isn’t just about an exciting news story anymore.”

  “I know. It’s just—I need this story. More than you know.” She got up and walked to the sink to rinse her plate.

  Adam rose from his chair and walked over to where she stood. He lifted her chin with his finger so she had to look at him. “This is so much bigger than that now, Em. This investigation is months in the making. As much as I’d want to do anything I could for you, I can’t jeopardize that. You know that.”

  Adam’s touch confused her. Her mind wanted to be angry at him for trying to cut her out of her story but her heart wanted to turn in to his arms and let him hold her until it was all over.

  “I understand, Adam. I really do. But you’d never have known about that cabin unless I told you. I deserve to get the story on this.”

  Adam’s eyes were dark, like a storm brewing over the mountains, as he stared at her. “I will give you everything I can, I promise. As soon as the investigation is over. Right now, though, I have two goals—keep you safe and break up the drug ring. Their use of our town as their transfer station puts a black mark on Staunton I’m not willing to tolerate.”

  Emma reached up and straightened the collar on the flannel shirt he wore. As a kid, he had always been half a mess. One shirttail untucked, unruly hair, a half-popped collar. Emma liked things neat and orderly and had always been the one to keep him straight. It was kind of nice to do it again. She smiled up at him. “I feel the same way. This is our home, and I hate what these criminals are doing to it.”

  He toyed with a strand of her hair. “So, you’ll behave and let me do my job?”

  She pushed him away. “I’m not a child, Adam.”

  Adam put his arms around her and pulled her close. Emma studied the floorboards, hoping Adam didn’t notice the heat in her cheeks. She couldn’t be sure it was from her anger at him rather than his nearness. She chose to believe the former.

  “Look at me, Emma.” He spoke softly, but there was something different in his voice. Something she hadn’t heard there before. Not when they were kids, and definitely not in the last few days. “Emma? Please.”

  Slowly she looked up at him. He had those storm clouds in his eyes again. “What?”

  “You are the farthest thing from a child. When I look at you, I see a woman. A woman I want to know better. A woman I never thought would ever walk into my life again. Fate brought you back to me, and I’m not about to take that lightly.”

  A single tear escaped the corner of her left eye and ran down her cheek. “I don’t want to lose you either. You were the best friend I’ve ever had. We should have supported each other after Miranda’s death, not run away from each other. Maybe if we had, so many things would have been different.”

  So many things would have been different.

  He watched that tear as it traveled over her smooth skin and dripped from h
er chin onto the front of her T-shirt. The anguish in Emma’s eyes told him there was so much more going on than he could ever guess. He’d suspected her sudden return to Staunton meant more than house and dog sitting for her parents.

  “This is not how I wanted to have this conversation but I think we should just do it now. We can’t keep dancing around it.” Adam took her by the hand and led her to the sofa. He waited while she sat down, then settled in next to her.

  Emma moved so that they didn’t touch, sending the world’s sharpest dagger straight through his heart.

  “What do we do now?” She picked at a thread on one of the throw pillows. His whole life, Aunt Stella had always had a thing for pillows. Tonight, Emma clutched one with a rainbow-colored fish embroidered on it to her midsection, letting it distract her gaze from his.

  “We talk. About that night. And everything else that has happened since.”

  She looked up at him then, tears streaming from both eyes. “Aside from you, Miranda was my best friend in the world. Losing her was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through. Second only to losing your friendship at the same time.”

  Her words widened the crack in his already damaged heart. “I’m so sorry, Emma. I just didn’t know what to do. We were kids and I couldn’t figure out how to handle the guilt.”

  She shrugged. “So you cut me out of your life?”

  “I thought it was my fault. I knew Miranda liked me. I shouldn’t have kissed you when I knew she’d come there expecting me to ask her to dance, to kiss her. I felt like I’d not only taken her life but ruined yours.”

  “We both were there. You kissed me, but I wanted it as much, if not more, than you.”

  Confusion filled his head. “You wanted me to kiss you? Even knowing how Miranda felt?”

  She tossed one of the throw pillows at him. “Of course, I did. You were my first love, you silly boy.”

  “Miranda didn’t know either, did she?”

  Emma shook her head slowly. “I never told anyone until just now. You talked about us being friends so much, I figured I was permanently friend zoned.”

  Her words swam in circles in his mind. She’d wanted him to kiss her. Her first love. It was all becoming so surreal. “I thought if you knew I wanted to be more than your friend, I’d lose you completely. You never showed interest in anything other than friendship.”

  “Adam, you were the star athlete. Girls loved you, and you definitely seemed to love their attention. I wore thick glasses and carried a notebook with me everywhere hoping for a big story for the school paper. We really weren’t well matched.”

  Adam shrugged. “That’s where you’re wrong. We were perfectly matched. Opposites that complemented each other exactly. You kept me balanced. Plus, your glasses were pretty adorable.”

  Emma felt her cheeks flaming again. “I thought that night, once you kissed me, maybe we had a chance. Then, after Miranda’s accident—” She picked at a loose thread on the rainbow fish. “You wouldn’t talk to me.”

  “So that’s why you left town the second we graduated?”

  “I was so embarrassed. And lonely. I didn’t have Miranda, and I didn’t have you. I couldn’t even go to church. I felt like everyone there blamed me for being a bad friend. I blamed God for letting her die. It was all so overwhelming.”

  “I could never go back there either, much to my mother’s chagrin. She still claims that no one blames me, but I don’t believe her. Miranda’s parents definitely did.”

  Emma tossed the pillow aside and looked Adam in the eye. “Miranda made a choice that night too, you know. It’s taken a lot of years for me to come to terms with it, but she is the one who chose to speed on that road in bad weather. She knew how icy it got on that curve, yet the police said she never even tried to slow down. There were no skid marks or anything.”

  Adam sighed. “I know. I read all the police reports too.”

  “Miranda always thought she was invincible. And she loved drama. Her huge dramatic exit was probably just for attention.” Emma wiped the tears from her eyes with the backs of her hands. She picked the pillow up again and hugged it, not saying anything for a long while. Finally, she set the pillow on the coffee table and reached out for his hand, giving it a squeeze. “She also changed her crush more often than I check my phone messages. If she hadn’t overreacted like that, she’d have moved on to the next guy by the following week. Maybe even by the next day.”

  The tears seemed to have washed away most of the pain. Emma’s green eyes were bright and clear once more as she looked at him. He wanted nothing more than to pull her to him and kiss away the rest. But he still had something to say. Something he’d held on to for almost his entire lifetime.

  He ran his thumb lightly across her palm, liking the way his large hand fit so perfectly with her more slender one. He chuckled. “Friend zone, huh?”

  Emma laughed. “Well, yeah.”

  “I never, ever wanted you in the friend zone. I fell in love with you the first day we met.”

  She laughed again and tried to pull her hand away, but Adam held tight. “We were in second grade.”

  “And you were the prettiest second grader I’d ever met with one heck of a mean right hook. The way you knocked Russel Brooks to the ground when he stole my lunch box—well, you stole my heart.” Adam knew his skin had taken on a deep crimson blush but he didn’t look away. “Losing you was the hardest thing I’ve ever dealt with. Worse in some ways than losing my dad or Leslie. The day you left Staunton, you took a huge piece of my heart with you.”

  Emma reached up and pressed her palm to his cheek. “I missed you so much. Everyone I dated I compared to you and no one ever stacked up. Not even—”

  Adam wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “Not even who, Emma?”

  She looked away. “There’s a reason I left Richmond, and it had nothing to do with my parents’ trip. That was just a convenient excuse.”

  “What happened?” Adam asked, concern thick in his voice.

  “I made the biggest mistake a reporter can make. It cost me my job and my reputation.”

  Adam slid from the couch to the floor and knelt in front of her. “Tell me.”

  Emma shook her head, eyes closed and tears leaking from under her lashes. “I let my heart take over my head. I got involved with my boss. I had no idea he was married or that I was only one in a long line of young reporters he’d preyed on. When I got a big promotion, someone found out about our relationship and spread it all over that I’d slept my way to the top. Basically, I was just a big office joke.”

  “Oh, Emma. I’m so sorry.”

  She held up a hand. “Wait. There’s more. Human resources found out. There was a policy, and I knew. My heart just didn’t care. I got fired. And so, here I am.”

  “But the big story?” Adam looked confused.

  “Freelance. All of this happened well over a year ago. My reputation has been in the toilet. I thought a huge exposé like this would offer me redemption in the reporting world. And now I’ve gone and messed that up too.”

  “You haven’t messed anything up.”

  Emma sighed and leaned back into the cushions. “You don’t understand how it works.”

  “One thing I have always held on to that has gotten me through the worst is that everything happens for a reason. I have no idea why a serial killer murdered Leslie or your boss cost you your job, but in the end, all those things brought us to this point.” He leaned forward a little bit, grasping both her hands in his and lightly tugging her in. Emma didn’t resist, and that made his heart sing. “When you walked into my precinct, a tree branch stuck in your hair and dirt smudged on your nose, I’d never seen anything more beautiful. I’ve missed you so much, Emma.”

  “I’ve missed you too.” She leaned in a little more. The light feather of her breath against his skin set his heart beating in double t
ime.

  Adam closed the tiny space between them, pressing his lips to hers. Emma slid her hands up over his chest and wrapped them around his neck, pulling him in closer. Adam moaned against her lips, prompting Emma to part them and allow him to deepen the kiss. His blood roared and his heart soared.

  He’d waited so long to tell her how he felt, never imagining she felt the same. Nor did he expect to confess his love under these circumstances but if life had taught him anything, it was that tomorrow was never guaranteed.

  His phone chose that moment to sound off, bouncing around on the table where he’d left it.

  “You better answer that,” Emma murmured, sitting back into the corner of the sofa, smiling softly at him.

  “Yeah.” He knew he should but answering that phone was the absolute last thing he wanted to do.

  Fifteen

  He picked up the phone and hit the answer button. “Marshall.”

  “It’s Burns. I took a look at that email you forwarded to me.”

  He’d totally forgotten about that email. Emma watched him quietly, questions in her eyes. He held up a finger, indicating he’d explain in a minute. “Find anything I can use?”

  “Unfortunately, probably not. The IP address tracks back to the open computers at the public library. I already called over there and they don’t keep any records of who uses which machine when.”

  Adam got up and paced the small space. This was not the news he wanted. “What about the email account? Could you get anything from that? Even the tiniest detail could help me find this guy.”

  “Sorry, Marshall. The name, address, and phone number were all fake.”

  He dropped down on the couch next to Emma again. “Thanks for checking it out for me.”

  “Anytime, buddy. Hope you get your guy.” John disconnected the call before he could say anything else.

  “What did I miss?” Emma asked.

  Adam stood and walked over to the table, where he grabbed the printout of the email. He handed it to Emma. “I got this today.”