Murder on the Mountain: A Marshall Brothers Novel

by Carolyn LaRoche

  As she read it, the color slowly leached from her face leaving Emma pale as a ghost. “Is it from the same person who sent me the one I got this morning?”

  “I’m not sure, but it’s likely.”

  This time Emma got up and paced the small space. “What are you going to do? I know you wanted to hand it over, but you can’t let the case go.”

  As she passed in front of him, Adam caught her wrist. “I’m not going to let them hurt you.”

  She looked down at him, her green eyes full of conviction. “I know. I’m safe here. As long as I’m with you, I’ll be okay. You have to keep working this case.”

  Adam stood and pulled her into an embrace. “I can still pass it off to someone else. ATF and the FBI are both dying to take the lead.”

  She pushed back against his chest. “No! You can’t. You—we—have to solve this case. Together.”

  Adam toyed with a stray curl that had escaped her hair clip. “Like I said before, is the story really worth risking your life for?”

  “It’s not just about the story anymore, Adam. It’s about doing what’s right. They are using our town, our home to spread their evil. Drugs. Death threats. If we don’t take a stand now, who’s to say what they will do next. Steal our children? Sell their drugs in our schools? Staunton is a peaceful place but it won’t be if someone doesn’t put a stop to them. You are that someone. All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”

  “Edmund Burke.” Adam took her hands in his and lifted one, pressing a light kiss to her knuckles. If he did that a hundred times, he’d never tire of it. “Okay. We’ll fight. But you will stay here until it’s all over.”

  A little smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “Fine. I’ll stay here. Unless you do something really cool like stake out the cabin.” She elbowed him lightly in the ribs. “Don’t try to tell me you aren’t planning that. You mentioned it at lunch.”

  “We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.”

  “Oh, we’re coming to it. And I plan to run full speed to the other side, Detective Marshall.”

  Adam walked over to the front window and looked out at the pond. Emma had always been so stubborn. Fighting her on it would go nowhere. “I’ll consider it, okay? I need to run it by my boss—see if I can use you as an eye witness or something.”

  “Fine.” Emma walked over to the little kitchen area. “I’m going to finish cleaning up in here and then take a hot shower. I feel like this day has gone on forever. After last night, I could use about twelve solid hours of sleep.”

  Adam looked at his watch. Only seven thirty. “I’m going to make a couple of calls and send a few emails before I look at those files. Take your time. Uncle Walt had an amazing shower installed. Just remember we’re on a well, so don’t take too much time.”

  “I can’t wait.” Emma made a breathy little sound that wrapped around his heart and squeezed. Now that they’d had the talk he’d been dreading, Adam felt anxious to wrap the whole case up quickly so he and Emma could have another very important conversation. He’d be risking his heart, rather than his life, but it would be worth it. Having Emma in his life the last couple of days had set so many things right inside his head and his heart that losing her again wasn’t an option.

  As he left the cabin to get his laptop from his truck, his phone rang. The number on the screen was for John Burns again. He pushed the call button.

  “Hey, Burns, what’s up?”

  “Pablo Vasquez.”

  Leaning against the truck, he crossed his legs at the ankle. “Who is Pablo Vasquez?”

  He heard some tapping and clicking on John’s end before his friend answered. “Only the man that sent you the email.”

  “How?” Adam asked.

  John tapped and clicked a few more times. “I just sent you an email with his last known address, phone number, and most recent mug shot.”

  Adam looked at his phone screen. The little email icon lit up. “Thanks, man. It just showed up. How did you find him? You said the email address was a fake.”

  “It was. But it kept bugging me, so I followed a trail of breadcrumbs he probably didn’t realize he’d left, and this is what I found.”

  “Thanks, buddy. I appreciate you going above and beyond.” Adam walked around the back of his truck and opened the tailgate. His laptop bag sat next to his go bag. He grabbed both.

  “No problem, Marshall. I love a good rabbit hunt.” John laughed and disconnected.

  Adam took his bags inside the cabin and set them down on the floor inside the door. He tapped the email icon and opened John’s message. Clicking the attachment, he watched as it opened.

  The screen filled with a familiar face.

  Adam walked over to the table and picked up the photo John had printed for him earlier. Just as he thought—they were the same man. He’d have to send a team over to check out the address.

  Dialing the number for the front desk on his phone, he waited for the desk sergeant to answer the call.

  “Staunton police, non-emergency number,” his brother Jacob answered.

  “Hey, little brother.”

  “Adam! I heard you’ve been busy. Is it true? You’ve got the love of your life in protective custody? That’s one way to make sure she stays this time!” Jacob chuckled.

  “This is official police business, Jake.”

  “Sure it is.” Jacob laughed again. “You alone with Emma… totally business.”

  “Jacob.” Sometimes working at the same place as your siblings could be a real pain.

  “Sorry, big brother. What can I do for you?”

  “Can you have a car drive by an address and see if it’s legit for me?”

  “Sure thing. Give me the address.”

  Adam read him the information John Burns had provided. “I just need to know if it’s a real address, and if it is, is anyone there.”

  “Gotcha,” Jacob replied. “I’ll let you know.”

  “Thanks.”

  They ended the call. Adam turned on his laptop and waited for it to boot up, then pulled out the flash drive John had loaded for him. “You’ve been a bad boy, Mr. Vazquez. Let’s see what else you’ve been up to.”

  He clicked on the yellow file icon and waited for it to open. Once it did, he clicked on the top file and waited for it to load. Two men he hadn’t seen before appeared on the screen, both carrying boxes. He watched as they set the two boxes down in the center of the room. The clip ended there. The next one showed the same two guys each carrying another box and adding them to the pile. One of the men then walked over to the kitchen area and reached into the cabinet and pulled out a thick package. He looked straight at the camera. It was the man who had been looking for the ring Emma had found.

  His phone rang. He answered the call without looking at the screen. “Marshall.”

  “Hey, it’s Jacob. That address you called about? Empty lot. Used to be a fast-food restaurant that burned down a couple of years ago.”

  Adam leaned back and rubbed his chin. “Okay, thanks for having someone check it out. I thought it might be fake.”

  “Sure thing. Stay safe, brother. Oh, and Mom wants you to bring Emma by for dinner this week.”

  Adam groaned. “You already called Mom?”

  “The second after I dispatched that address. Didn’t matter though, Carter had already told her.”

  “I just love having the entire family involved in my business.”

  Jacob chuckled. “It’s the price you gotta pay.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” He ended the call and tossed his phone on the table. He had several more videos to watch and really wanted to be done before Emma returned.

  There were several more similar videos. Drug and money drops appeared to happen nearly every day, with a continuous supply train coming and going. Near the end of the list, he saw the murder again. The next one showed Emma poking
around the cabin’s kitchen area. He knew the very last clip would be him, finding the bear. The videos proved he needed to set up that surveillance and quickly.

  With a half dozen phone calls, he secured the people, equipment, and permission he needed to set up watch on that cabin, beginning in the morning.

  The water turned off in the bathroom. Emma would be done soon. Shutting off the laptop, he returned it to its bag, then walked around the small space, double checking that the windows and doors were locked tight. The window in the bedroom sat up high in the wall. Long and narrow, it would be impossible for anyone to crawl through. The main space, though, had large windows that looked out over the lake. A beautiful view to most, easy access to an assassin on a mission.

  Emma wrapped her hair turban style in a towel and used a second towel to dry her aching body. Adam had been spot-on about the amazing shower system Walt Marshall had installed. She’d hated to get out but heeded the warning about the well. Pulling on some leggings and a long-sleeved T-shirt, she shook her hair free of the towel, using it to lightly rub the ends. Emma grabbed her hairbrush and headed to the main room.

  Adam leaned against a massive bookshelf, pushing his body weight against it.

  “What are you doing?”

  He looked over at her, his face red with exertion. “Moving this in front of the windows for a little extra protection.”

  Emma narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. “Um, I thought you were certain we are safe out here.”

  Adam gave the shelves one more hard shove. The tendons on his forearm popped out with the exertion. “I’m fairly certain we’re safe but it never hurts to err on the side of caution.”

  “True.” Emma walked over and stood next to Adam, hands on the large piece of furniture. “I’ll help.”

  He nodded. “On my count. One, two… three!”

  Together they shoved the heavy shelves the rest of the way, so it nearly covered both windows.

  Emma bent over, her hands resting on her hips. She took several deep breaths. “Someone’s going to have to put that back when this is over, aren’t they?”

  “Yeah.” Adam took several deep breaths. “Maybe I’ll let Uncle Walt worry about that though. He’s the one that bought furniture made of solid rock or something.”

  She plopped down on the sofa. “So, what’s next? Pushing a tank up a mountain?”

  “Not exactly.” Adam sat down in the recliner and pulled the handle to put his feet up. “Ah, this is nice. I may just sleep right here. How was your shower?”

  Emma stretched out on the sofa. “You were right about that setup. I plan to build a bathroom just like that in my next home. All those different sprays coming at me at once—perfect medicine for sore muscles. I just don’t understand why he went to so much detail out here in this place.”

  “Uncle Walt’s a general contractor. You should see his home. Absolutely gorgeous. The master bathroom there makes this one feel like a high school gym locker room.”

  Emma sat up and looked at Adam. “Seriously?”

  Adam laughed. “Yeah. Like I said earlier, he just likes things a certain way.”

  She picked up the brush and started working it through her wet hair. Adam stood up and walked over to where she sat, settling in beside her.

  Emma yawned. And then yawned again. “I can’t believe how tired I am.”

  Adam reached over and took the brush. “Let me. Turn around.”

  Emma did as she was told, shifting so she sat cross-legged on the couch with her back to Adam. He ran the brush slowly from the crown of her head to the ends of her hair, midback.

  Adam ran his fingers through her hair, following the path of the brush. “Just like strands of silk.”

  Emma giggled. “It’s just hair. Some days I love it and some days I hate it.”

  “I have always loved it.” Adam stroked the brush softly through her hair again. “When you sat in front of me in math class in eleventh grade, the sunlight would hit it in such a way it looked like honey.”

  With each pull of the brush through her hair, Emma’s nerve endings sizzled. She’d never had anyone else do the mundane chore, and with Adam it had become anything but mundane. They sat in silence, the tension between them building. Emma found herself leaning into Adam’s touch as he ran his fingers through her now untangled hair.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered, leaning in close to her ear and kissing the softness of her earlobe.

  Emma sucked in a breath as her heart skipped a beat. If teen Adam had given her butterflies with his smile, adult Adam had stepped up his game tenfold with his lips. She leaned into the contact, turning her head so that their cheeks touched. “I’ve missed you too.”

  Shifting on the sofa, Adam pulled her onto his lap. Wrapping his arms around her, he slid one hand up to the base of her neck. Emma shivered as his fingers brushed lightly along her hairline.

  “Emma,” he murmured against her lips. She nodded slightly, running her fingers through his hair, mimicking his movements. Adam groaned, pulling back a little. “That’s probably not a good idea right now.”

  “So, you can set my entire body on fire with your touch but I can’t return the favor? I don’t think so.” Emma leaned in and pressed a kiss to the side of his neck, running her tongue lightly over his heated skin.

  “Oh, you’re a tease, then?” Adam moved suddenly, shifting her onto her back on the couch. “Two can play that game.” Pulling on the collar of her shirt, Adam bared her shoulder to his kisses.

  “That’s not nice! I am not a tease.” Emma’s chest rose and fell rapidly with her racing pulse. Pressing her hands to his cheeks, she pulled his lips to hers. Her whole life, Emma had always loved romantic movies and books. She’d longed for that fireworks-in-the-sky moment that she’d always thought to be made up. The instant Adam kissed her, she felt it all. The fireworks, the flying-in-the-sky-and-dancing-through-the-stars moment.

  It was over much too quickly. Adam reached up and pushed her hair back from her forehead. “We need to stop.”

  “No, we don’t.” She tried to pull him back down, but he resisted.

  “I want to find the killer before we go any further with this. When I make love with you, I want it to be something we both want and something that we’ll never forget.”

  He said when. Emma’s heart soared. “I want it. I swear I do.”

  Adam smiled down at her. “So do I. Just not like this.”

  Emma sat up and moved over, putting a little space between them. “I’m sorry. I got caught up in the moment. I guess it’s time for me to call it a night. Thanks for bringing me dinner, Adam.”

  He was right, they needed to take a step back. Her head knew it, but her body didn’t want to listen.

  “There’s nothing to be sorry about.” Adam rose and walked to the kitchen area, putting even more space between them. “I’ll be up early. Setting up surveillance at the mountain cabin tomorrow morning. Do you want me to wake you when I am leaving or let you sleep?”

  “Neither. I want to go with you. Just tell me what time and I’ll be ready.”

  He frowned and shook his head. “No. You just stay here where I know you’ll be safe, and I’ll take care of this. You wanted me to stay on the case, so I am, but I need to know you aren’t in danger while I do it.”

  So much for avoiding any more emotional conversations. “I’ll be safer if I’m with you.”

  “Emma.” Adam walked toward her.

  She held up a hand to stop him. He stayed where he was. “I want to help. I can identify the shooter.”

  He ran a hand down his face, pausing to rub the light stubble that had begun to fill in on his chin. She could hear the light scratching noise it made against his palm; the only sound in the cabin, aside from the tension pulsing in the air around them.

  “Can we talk about this in the morning?”

  Emma tossed her hair
over her shoulder so the long, silky strands ran down her back. “Same old Adam. Avoiding conflict with diversion.”

  “Cut me a little slack, Emma. This is my career at stake. Taking you to an active crime scene and letting you hang out on a multiagency operation pushes a lot of boundaries and crosses even more lines.”

  She frowned. “I just want to help.”

  “I know you do. But there’s policies and procedures I have to follow. Let me think on it for the night.”

  “Okay. Then I’m going to quit while I am ahead and get some sleep.” She yawned. “I’m too tired to argue about it anyway.” She walked to the bedroom and opened the door, then turned back to look at him. “Good night, Adam.”

  Sixteen

  “Good night, Emma. Sleep tight and don’t let the bedbugs bite.” Adam’s words followed her into the ridiculously lavish bedroom. The softness to his tone was reminiscent of days gone by. The last time he’d whispered those exact words, they’d spent half the night wandering the quiet streets of Staunton talking about what they wanted to do after graduation. As she’d climbed in through her bedroom window that night, like she had so many times in their friendship, Adam had whispered goodnight and blown her a little kiss.

  Emma turned off the lamps and dropped onto the lush bed. Memories mixed with wishes that things had somehow turned out differently. As sleep moved in and pushed the memories and wishes away, dreams took over. Dreams of a long-ago kiss followed by the vision of a man with a gun to his head. As she tossed and turned that gun somehow turned on her. The leering grin of ponytail man taunting her as he aimed the weapon at her forehead and—

  Emma screamed. She kicked and punched and screamed again. Her body felt tight, bound in place. She couldn’t lash out or get away from the man, no matter how hard she tried.

  A loud crash sounded, followed by Adam’s voice wrapping around her. “Emma! Emma!”

  “Adam! I’m here! Help me! Please!” She tried to cry out. The words echoed in her head but made no contact with her ears.

  Her body shook as the bonds around her tightened. The man with the gun morphed into empty space all around her.