Tracking Secrets

by Heather Woodhaven

  She pointed at the black medical bag in between their seats. “So you’re really a vet?”

  The question made him laugh. “Why is that so hard to believe?”

  She smiled. “I guess it’s not. I just didn’t think our small town could support more than one.”

  He made the final turn toward the trailhead. “That’s because it can’t. I bought the practice from Doc Finn so he could retire. He moved to the Oregon coast when I came here.”

  Her mouth dropped. “He did? But his office is practically across the street from where I live.”

  “My office,” he corrected her.

  She pulled her head back in surprise. “But the logo hasn’t changed! Your name isn’t on the building.”

  He held back a laugh. She must have prided herself on keeping up to date with all new residents if this bothered her so much. “Barings Animal Hospital had a nicer ring to it than Dr. Nick Kendrick’s Animal Hospital, so I kept it the same.”

  She shook her head. “I guess I’ve had tunnel vision.”

  “Your law practice staying busy?”

  She squinted in confusion. “My what?” Her eyebrows rose and she leaned back. “No. I don’t practice law anymore. I came back to spend some time with my parents. I’ve been working for Theresa’s temp agency until I figure out my next step.”

  “Are they ill?”

  “Who? My parents? No, they’re doing great. They actually retired to Arizona last month. I’m sticking around until I sell their house. After that...” She looked down at her clasped hands. “Well, I guess time will tell.”

  In other words, she wouldn’t be around much longer, so it’d probably be smart to forget the dinner invitation he wanted to extend to her. Now, if she was willing to open up a practice in town that would be another story. He was tempted to ask why she no longer practiced law, but it seemed too soon for what could be a personal question.

  The box of Junior Mints he kept in the cup console rattled when he drove over a rock. He spotted her interest. “You want some? I like to have some after work, before I go on a run. It gives me a little extra burst of energy.”

  She smiled and almost seemed to be fighting a laugh. “What brought you to Barings? Are you from Idaho?”

  “No. I was a city boy, but I wanted my practice to be more than just domestic pets. I like variety and enjoy making house calls for cattle and horses. Barings is a long way from Seattle, but I can make the trip home in one day.”

  It could’ve been his imagination, but it seemed she paled. “Seattle, huh?” She pointed to the left. “Turn here.”

  The small, dusty lot sat next to a brown outhouse and a bulletin board covered in trail maps. A beat-up, rusted, baby-blue Honda Accord that had to be circa 1980 sat by its lonesome. He gaped. “I see why your cop friend was surprised.”

  “Not you, too. The whole town gives me a hard time.” She sighed. “No one sees what I see. This beauty has been faithful to me ever since I bought it cheap in high school. It helped me graduate from law school debt-free.” She eyed him. “Not an easy feat.”

  “If it’s anything like veterinary school, I agree.” His current debt load wasn’t as high as that of most members of his graduating class, but it would’ve taken a ridiculous amount of discipline, planning and an overloaded work schedule to graduate without a bill. Her debt-free status only served to intrigue him more. He wondered if she’d be willing to have dinner together, just as friends. Though he’d have to make it clear he wasn’t interested in a relationship. So it’d be wise to let the idea go, especially since she was moving on soon. Besides, she seemed like the type that took a long time to lower her guard.

  He pulled to a stop and stared at the bucket of bolts. “Unfortunately your faithful beauty doesn’t look like it’s going to last much longer. Is it safe?”

  “Absolutely!” Her grin faded. “Probably more than we are, if I understood what you said back there. I hate that it takes a court order to get full-time police protection.”

  “I didn’t mean to scare you, but I believe a healthy dose of caution is necessary.” He almost offered to give her one of his rifles but stopped short. She’d made it clear she wasn’t comfortable with guns. “Keep your eyes open and don’t go places alone.”

  “That’s good advice for any woman on any day.” She stepped out of the truck. “I guess I need to get the dog back home.” She tugged on the leash, and Raven followed her out of the truck.

  The dog turned her head around and flashed Nick a look so pathetic he almost laughed. “Let me know if you need any help with her.”

  “I think I’ve asked enough of you today.” She gave him an awkward wave. “Sorry I got you into this mess in the first place, Nick. Thanks for helping me.”

  “My pleasure, Alexis.”

  “Thompson,” she replied. “Alexis Thompson.”

  Her eyes narrowed as she said it, as if watching him for a reaction. “Nice to meet you, Alexis.”

  She nodded. “I’ll see you around.”

  He searched for the right words to say more, to ease the fear he saw in her eyes. She moved to close the passenger door, and he leaned over to stop her. “The more I think about it, the more I realize they have no reason to go after us. We aren’t going to be any problem to them. It’s going to be fine.”

  The creases in her forehead disappeared as an authentic smile transformed her face. She looked young and energetic and downright beautiful. She closed the door and walked away. As he waited for her to start her car, Nick hoped he had told her the truth. At the very least, he’d drive behind her until she got home, if only to make sure danger didn’t follow.

  * * *

  Alexis placed Raven in the backseat of her car before she got herself situated in the driver’s seat. She refused to look, but she felt Nick’s gaze on her. From what little she’d observed, he seemed like the type of guy who would wait to make sure she got on the road safely.

  Her hands shook as she inserted her keys into the ignition. What a day. If she stopped and reflected on it now, she might never get home. Death was something far in the future. When she read her Bible and spent time in prayer, she had peace that when it was her time, she’d be ready. Her throat tightened. But she wasn’t ready for it to be time yet. There was so much more in her life she wanted to do, wanted to be.

  Fear must have had an unusual effect on her, since she’d practically gushed her life story to Nick in the course of five minutes. Thankfully she hadn’t had much experience with being scared to death before, but she was still surprised at her reaction to Nick.

  It would be interesting to see if their dangerous game of hide-and-seek would make the Barings Herald. She didn’t want to tell her parents and cause them worry if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Her mom had struggled with insomnia enough as it was since Alexis had left Seattle.

  The engine struggled to turn over. She groaned, and her cheeks heated. She resisted the urge to look at Nick’s reaction. The motor gave another hearty try and hummed to life. She let out a breath, shifted into Reverse and drove out of the lot. Her finances couldn’t support a car payment at the moment.

  While she was grateful that eight years of ramen noodles, part-time jobs, thrift-store clothes and little sleep had allowed her to graduate debt-free, there weren’t too many well-paid jobs available for a disbarred lawyer.

  Her stomach turned at the thought. It’d been almost a year, and the shame still washed over her like it was yesterday.

  She’d chosen patent law as her specialty because she’d known that she couldn’t compartmentalize enough to be a defense lawyer. Never in her wildest dreams had she suspected her client would want to unburden himself and tell her the story of how he murdered his partner. He’d practically gloated over the fact no one had found out. Everyone had assumed the partner had taken some money and left th
e country.

  After two weeks of sleepless nights, she thought she’d found a loophole for attorney-client privilege and submitted to the police what he’d told her. The Washington State Bar Association didn’t agree with her conclusions. The confession her client had made to her was inadmissible, and the state of Washington issued the verdict that she would no longer be practicing there.

  But it did no good to rehash the past continually.

  Alexis clicked on the radio to drown out her thoughts. There would be no more processing of the day, or the past, or even Nick until she reached the safety of her bathtub. And she’d most definitely earned scented bubbles. Lots of them.

  She focused on the road. The sun dipped below the horizon and outlined the mountains and trees with pastel colors. She pressed the brakes at the stop sign, but it took some extra force on the pedal to get it to slow down. Her car really was on its last leg. The pedal had never felt this mushy before.

  She took the left turn to head back into town. Her rearview mirror showed Nick right behind her. Either he had business in town that he hadn’t mentioned, or he was following her all the way home. She smiled into the rearview mirror and hated to admit that it felt good to have someone care like that.

  Relationship goals had never been part of her five-year plan, but chatting with Nick had unleashed a sudden, intense longing to have someone to share her life. It was probably past time. But what did a disbarred lawyer have to offer?

  The terrain began to change. On the right, the road butted against a foothill. The side was covered with chains to help prevent rockslides. To the left, the evergreens blocked a lot of the light. The road changed into curves, taking her down to the heart of Barings.

  In a short while, there would be the sharpest curve, a breathtaking viewpoint where you could look over the cliff at the entire valley. If it weren’t for Raven, she’d be tempted to pull into the small parking lot to sit and process the last few hours. The downgrade steepened, and she pressed her brakes on the curve.

  The car slowed slightly before it lurched forward. Her head flew backward at the sudden momentum. The resistance on the brake pedal had completely disappeared. She shoved her foot hard on the brake three times. “Come on!”

  Her grasp on the steering wheel tightened as she fought to stay within her lane and lost. Thankfully no one else was on the road. The needle on the speedometer rose to fifty. The speed limit on the curves was thirty-five. The bend straightened a bit, but the downgrade would continue for the next three miles.

  In roughly two miles, the viewpoint would appear. The trees would disappear, but the rock wall and a ninety-degree turn would mean that if she couldn’t slow the car down, she would likely get the best view of all before plunging to her death.

  She stomped on the brake pedal over and over. Her stomach threatened to lose her lunch. “What do I do? What do I do?” Her mind raced, frantic to find a solution.

  Raven whimpered in the backseat and stuck her nose over the console between the seats. “Oh, not now, dog, please,” Alexis cried. “I’m trying to save our lives!” She needed to get her head on straight. “Lord, we need help!”

  The parking brake line was separate from the other brakes. She gasped. Yes, that would stop them. She’d walk home after that, never to drive the bucket of bolts again. She shoved the car into Neutral.

  The speedometer rose to sixty, matching the pace of her heart.

  She yanked on the parking brake, but it flung upward without resistance. Useless. Her breathing grew erratic. It should’ve worked.

  The likelihood of all the brakes going out at once was...

  Her insides shook. At this rate, she’d hyperventilate. Her car had been the only one in the trail parking lot. Everyone in town knew she drove it.

  This was no accident.

  Another curve approached fast. Too fast. She could drive into the trees, but the only way that would slow her down was if she steered directly into a tree trunk. It’d have been a worthwhile option if the car weren’t traveling over sixty miles per hour. Her 1982 beauty didn’t come equipped with airbags, so the outcome of that scenario was certain death.

  She abandoned the pedals on the floor and placed her feet on either side to use as leverage while she took the second curve. She released a guttural cry as she did so.

  Please let Nick see what’s going on, Lord. She didn’t know how he could possibly help, but she didn’t think she could take even one hand off the steering wheel to reach for her cell phone.

  The moment the road straightened, she looked in the rearview mirror and then ahead. Nothing in either direction but a sheer rock wall, trees and an upcoming deadly curve.

  FOUR

  Nick cringed at the sound of branches hitting the side of his truck. He’d jogged through this area of the forest before so he could sit at his favorite bench overlooking the farmlands in the valley, but driving through the forest was another matter. He swerved and barely missed a thin aspen that seemed to come out of nowhere.

  It was hard enough to motor through the foliage without the additional challenge of doing it at high speeds, downhill, as the sun dipped below the horizon. The perspiration dripped down his neck as he second-guessed the possibility his plan would work.

  The stakes were high, though. At first he’d laughed when he realized how fast Alexis was going. Maybe she was an adrenaline junkie out to prove that her bucket of bolts had plenty of life left in it. But when her car swerved wildly and barely made it past the last curve, he knew she had to be in trouble.

  He could’ve tried to overtake her on the road, but he was so far behind it seemed unlikely. The curve would take her far to the right before bringing her back to the left, while the forest next to the road was on a separate sharp incline. It seemed like the only way to catch up to her.

  Another tree seemingly jumped out of nowhere into his path. He missed it, but an outstretched branch made contact. A sickening crack of metal preceded the side mirror flying off into the distance. Something in his peripheral vision begged his attention. He couldn’t afford to take the time to look, but if he was right, he’d caught up to Alexis. In an instant, the car was gone again which likely meant she’d had to take another curve.

  He was running out of forest. The curve she was on would buy him some time, but if he didn’t beat her to the drop-off, it would be too late. He stomped the pedal to the floor. His truck bounced over a fallen log. The terrain dipped. His torso lurched forward as he fought gravity to remain upright.

  A crunch echoed through the forest. He didn’t even want to think about the condition of his axles after this.

  A strong beam of light illuminated the trees a mere hundred feet ahead. He veered to the right as far as he could manage. Fifty feet later, he spotted the edge of the road. He just needed enough space between the trees to sneak through.

  The truck nose pitched, and his head bounced off the steering wheel. The ground was about to disappear. The throbbing in his head threatened to slow him down. He squinted through the pain and yanked the wheel to the right. Another screech of metal confirmed his fears: he’d lost the left side mirror as well.

  He couldn’t think about anything but keeping his speed high. He was running out of time to save her.

  The truck bounced as he bounded over the rough rock bordering the road. Except the road ended in just a few feet. Nick slammed on his brakes. He fought back nausea as he stared at the open sky. If he’d waited thirty seconds more before turning onto the road, he’d have driven off the cliff. Some hero he would’ve been.

  He turned his head in the direction she’d be coming. A flash of light reflecting off metal came from just past the rock wall. Alexis would fly around that curve any second and face the ninety-degree turn. He shoved the truck into Park and looked out the passenger window to see the baby-blue Honda barreling toward him at an unimag
inable speed.

  If she didn’t make the sharp curve, the mass of his truck would slow her down for about ten—maybe fifteen—feet, if he chose to be optimistic. He pulled up the parking brake and braced for impact.

  The Honda hugged the rock wall. She was trying her best to make the turn, but the laws of physics would work against her. His heart pumped fast against his rib cage. Instead of seeming like the wisest move to help her, he found himself in a one-sided game of chicken. He couldn’t take the chance that the truck would succeed and keep him on solid ground.

  He flung off his seat belt, hopped out and sprinted toward the front of the truck as he heard the screech of her tires skidding out of control. The shriek of metal against metal filled the valley.

  He pressed off the balls of his feet, diving to get out of the way, and strained his arms forward while airborne. A searing pain ripped through his hip as the corner of her car’s front bumper scraped past him. The force of it twisted his body so that he was facing the sky as his back hit the ground and he slid toward the cliff.

  Dirt and gravel flew up around him, pressing through his clothes, poking every inch of his back. He reached his hands out blindly. His fingertips found a branch, and as he slid past, he tightened his grip until he came to a stop.

  He panted, trying to catch his breath while ignoring the pain in every part of his body. His elbows had escaped unscathed thanks to his flailing arms. Alexis! Had it worked?

  He propped himself up on his elbows as he watched the Honda come to a standstill. His truck had moved to the very edge of the cliff. Maybe he could’ve remained inside after all and avoided the massive amounts of pain currently begging for his attention.

  The truck groaned, teetered, tipped...and fell.

  An unearthly groan escaped his lips. Crunching metal and booms rivaling thunder echoed throughout the valley. His mouth went dry.

  The Honda door flung open, and a cry reached his ears before he could utter one himself. She was safe...unlike his gorgeous truck, but she was more important. Obviously. His head fell backward, his body and emotional energy utterly spent.