Unstoppable

by Laura Griffin

  “Seco County doesn’t have a medical examiner. Not big enough. Our justice of the peace serves as coroner around here.”

  “Your JP, then.”

  He nodded. “Fella by the name of Sam Niederhauser, ’bout seventy years old. Not much on death investigating.”

  Kelsey stared at him, pretty sure she knew where this was going.

  “Fact, that shooting we had last week pretty much wore him out.” Sattler plucked the toothpick out and looked her in the eye. “I hear when you’re not digging up old skeletons, you work at that crime lab in San Marcos. The Delphi Center.”

  “That’s right. I’m scheduled to go back there in less than a week, in fact.”

  “You’re a forensic anthropologist. An expert on bones.” He nodded in the direction of the campsite. “You’re already out here with all your equipment, why don’t you take a crack at it? See what you come up with.”

  “I’ve got a field school to run. And I don’t have jurisdiction.”

  “I’m giving you jurisdiction. Thing like this, we have to get outside help anyway. You’re here already, I’d just as soon get it from you.”

  She gritted her teeth, irritated at being steamrolled yet again today. And the look on Sattler’s face told her he knew he’d won.

  Actually, he’d won even before he pitched her. Kelsey had never turned down a request for help, and she wasn’t about to start now, in front of her students. Some of them could be headed for jobs like hers, and the reality was when a call came you went. Police work didn’t always adhere to a convenient schedule. In Kelsey’s experience, it never did.

  “We sure appreciate it.” Sattler nodded. “Tomorrow I’ll send out one of my deputies to give you a hand with the search.”

  “I’d rather have a cadaver dog.”

  He smiled slightly. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  It was after dusk when Gage returned from town, and he wasn’t happy to see the sheriff had already left. Speedy investigation. Gage pulled up to the campsite just as Kelsey stepped out of her door, keys in hand.

  He parked his truck and climbed out. “Where you headed?”

  “Nowhere.”

  He walked over to the steps of the camper, and they stood there, staring at each other.

  She’d cleaned up while he’d been gone. Her damp hair hung loose around her shoulders, and she wore a snug-fitting black T-shirt and brown cargo pants that hit her mid-calf. Something black and bulky stuck out of her pocket.

  “You got a minute?” he asked. “I need to show you something.”

  She darted a glance over his shoulder, clearly worried about Robles seeing him go into her place. Evidently satisfied that the guy had turned in for the night, she opened the door behind her.

  “I’m making dinner,” she said without enthusiasm. “You’re welcome to have some.”

  “I’m good, thanks.” Gage ducked his head and walked through the door, then instantly regretted his words as the spicy aroma of whatever she had cooking hit him full force. He hadn’t eaten all day, and the dinner he had waiting for him tonight was a cold MRE.

  “It’s a mess,” she said, squeezing around him.

  Mess was an understatement. The camper was small and chock-full of clutter. Beside him was an eating alcove with a Formica table that had a notebook computer on top and books stacked beneath. Gage put his plastic shopping bag on the table as his gaze skimmed over the minuscule kitchen and a door that probably led to a bathroom. Beyond the kitchen, he caught sight of what looked like a fold-out bed with a sleeping bag on top. Something red and lacy was strewn across it.

  Holy God.

  “What’s in the bag?”

  His attention snapped back to Kelsey. “Huh?”

  “The bag?”

  “It’s for you,” he said. “Your com setup here sucks.”

  She peeked inside. Then she gazed up at him with those big brown eyes, and he had a flash of her in that red bra. “My com?”

  “Communications. You’ve got one sat phone for the entire group.”

  “We’re in the middle of nowhere,” she said defensively. “The cell service is extremely patchy. That’s why we have the sat phone.”

  “You need something for you. On your person. I need to be able to reach you at all times.” He took out one of the radios and turned it on to demonstrate. “See? Just press this button here when you want to talk. It’s got a long-life battery and a range of about five miles, which should be plenty.” He paused and waited for her to look up at him. “Were you going to wait for me to go with you?”

  “Go where?” She was doe-eyed now, innocent as hell.

  “Wherever you were going when I pulled up.”

  She hesitated. “I need to check something at the recovery site.”

  He stepped closer until he was invading her personal space. “Lemme explain how this works, Kelsey. You set foot off this dig site, I’m coming with you. That’s a dangerous highway and I don’t want you driving around alone, especially at night.”

  She crossed her arms. “What happened to ‘hand me a shovel and pretend I’m not here’?”

  “That was before I knew you were camped out within spitting distance of a homicide scene.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re jumping to conclusions. I’ve hardly had a chance to examine the bone, much less determine the manner of death.”

  “Oh, yeah? What do you think your uncle would say if I called him and told him about your little find today? I bet you a thousand dollars he’d say ‘tell her to pack up camp and hightail it home.’”

  “That’s ridiculous. I have a job to do here.”

  “Yeah, and although this might come as a surprise to you, I get that. Which is why we aren’t packing. But I don’t plan to go back to my CO and tell him I let his niece get carjacked or killed or so much as breathed on wrong under my watch. So until your work’s done here I’m your shadow. Get used to it. Now, where are we going?”

  She gazed up at him, and he could see the frustration simmering in her eyes. He could understand it, too. She had a job to do, and she wasn’t used to people standing in her way. But Gage had a job to do also, and this was one job he didn’t plan to fuck up.

  “All right, fine,” she said. “Let’s get going. You can help.”

  She took the black thing out of her pocket and handed it to him. It was lightweight and slender and looked like some sort of high-tech Maglite.

  He glanced up at her. “Help with what?”

  “The search,” she said. “I want the rest of those bones.”

  Kelsey waved her UV lamp over a pile of rocks. She took a few more paces and did another scan. Another few paces until she was at the very edge of the area she’d mapped out for tonight.

  She shoved her orange-tinted glasses up on top of her head and glanced around at the blackness. “You finding anything?”

  “No,” came Gage’s faraway response.

  Kelsey sighed and switched off the blue light. They’d been out here nearly two hours and had netted nothing more than a few pieces of trash, a broken eggshell, and some miscellaneous long bones, all easily identifiable as belonging to small mammals. Each time she’d spotted the faint bluish glow, she’d felt a surge of excitement, only to be disappointed by an up-close inspection.

  “This what you do back in San Marcos? Tromp around crime scenes looking for skeletons in the dark?”

  “No,” she admitted. “We work by day, usually, and usually with cadaver dogs. But you never know what you might see with an alternative light source. Teeth. Clothing. Lots of dyes contain chemicals that fluoresce. I was hoping we’d find something out here that could lead us to the rest of him.”

  She let her gaze scan the area again, without any luck. She glanced at her watch and saw that it was nearly midnight.

  Kelsey tipped her head back to look at the stars. It was amazing how many you could see out here. It was something she forgot during the rest of the year, then reminded herself of every summer.
/>   “You hear that?”

  She jumped and whirled around. “Omigod, you scared me!”

  Gage was a giant shadow right beside her—so close, she now felt his body heat. And yet she hadn’t heard a sound.

  “Hear what?” she asked.

  “Just listen.”

  She listened, but all she heard was the whisper of wind through the scrub brush and the quiet hum of crickets.

  “I don’t hear—”

  “Shh.”

  And then she did hear it, a faint engine noise, growing nearer by the second.

  “It’s coming this way.” Gage scaled the side of the creek bed with one big step, then turned and gazed north. The engine noise grew louder.

  He dropped back down into the dried creek. “Come on,” he said, taking her arm.

  “Where are we going?”

  “The mine shaft. It’s this way.” His hand was firm on her arm as he pulled her toward the entrance to the mine, which she couldn’t even see in this darkness.

  “Why are we hiding?”

  No answer. He helped her out of the creek, practically lifting her off her feet when she missed a step. He was in a hurry.

  “Gage?”

  “They’re driving blind.”

  “Blind?”

  “No lights.” He towed her into the even darker shadows of the mine shaft that was carved into the hillside. He seemed to know precisely where he was going without the aid of a flashlight.

  She jerked her arm loose and halted. “I still don’t see why—”

  “You know any law-abiding citizens who drive around the border zone at night with their lights off? Either they’re up to no good or they’re looking for people up to no good. Either way, I bet they’re armed, and I don’t want to surprise them.” He took her by the elbow and pulled her into the inky darkness of the mine where the air felt cool and damp. “You got your Ruger?” he asked.

  “Yes, but—”

  “Good. Now stay here.” He reached down and switched on the radio clipped to her belt. “And keep this on. I’ll be right back. Try not to shoot me.”

  Then he disappeared.

  Kelsey huffed out a breath of annoyance. But she stayed put.

  The engine noise drew closer and closer until it was almost on top of them. It sounded like a truck, and it was moving fast. She heard the skid of tires on gravel as it took the bend in the road.

  The noise faded and Kelsey waited for Gage to reappear. Something fluttered behind her. Bats? Oh God, she hated bats. Spiders, snakes, bugs, no problems, but bats she could not abide. She closed her eyes and tried to push away the fear. Whatever bats lived here were probably out feeding. She’d probably just heard a bird. She took a deep, calming breath, which didn’t work because she recognized the pungent smell of guano. And then a high-pitched squeak, like fingernails on a blackboard. She squeezed her eyes shut as she imagined millions of bats lurking behind her in the dark.

  Her radio squawked to life and she snatched it off her belt. “Where are you?” she demanded.

  “I’m almost there. Holster your weapon.”

  She’d never unholstered it. “Hurry. I’m starving and I want to get home.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She detected the sarcasm in his voice. Maybe he thought she was a pain in the butt. It was late, and Joe Quinn’s spoiled niece was getting cranky without her dinner.

  Kelsey didn’t care what he thought. She just wanted out of this damn mine shaft and away from these bats.

  “Hi.”

  His warm, low voice brought a wave of relief.

  “What was it?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure.”

  He took her by the arm and led her into the open air again. It felt dry and warm and smelled like mesquite trees instead of bat droppings.

  “So you didn’t see it?”

  “It was a truck,” he said, releasing her arm. “I saw it and then it disappeared.”

  “What do you mean it disappeared?”

  “One second it was there. Then a cloud passed in front of the moon and poof, nothing.”

  “Poof? You mean like Harry Potter poof or is this some SEAL term I don’t know about?”

  “It was just gone,” he said, and she heard the wonder in his voice. “It was the damndest thing.”

  He got quiet then, and for a few moments all she could hear was his breathing. It had been a long time since she’d been this close to a man in the dark. And then it was back again, the question that had been dogging her since this afternoon. The same question that had been in the back of her mind as she’d directed students and talked to Sattler and sat alone in her camper, hunched over the mandible with a magnifying glass. The question of the decade, or at least of the summer.

  Just where, exactly, was Gage Brewer planning to sleep?

  Four

  Gage awoke with a crick in his neck and a rumble in his gut. He squinted at the light streaming through the windshield and checked his watch. O640. He looked at Kelsey’s camper. If he guessed right, she’d be up shortly, getting ready to crack the whip on her soon-to-arrive students.

  As if on cue the door swung open. She stepped out and scanned the campsite, and her gaze met his across the hood of his truck.

  He pushed open the door and got out. His stomach growled again, reminding him of the bowl of homemade chili he’d refused last night, not just once but twice. He’d needed something to eat, yeah. But what he hadn’t needed was another minute alone with Kelsey Quinn and her strawberry-scented shampoo. He needed that torture like he needed a hole in his head.

  She walked over and planted her hands on her hips. “You slept in your pickup?”

  He shook out his stiff legs and stretched his arms over his head.

  “Don’t you at least have a tent or something? You weren’t even lying down!”

  Gage didn’t bother to explain. He was a SEAL. He could sleep anywhere.

  He nodded at the purse slung over her shoulder. “Where’re we going?”

  “I’ve got some errands in town.”

  “Okay. Mind if I borrow your shower?” He glanced over her shoulder at the camper. He could have sworn he smelled coffee, and his nose was usually pretty accurate.

  “Help yourself,” she said. “There’s coffee in there, too. I won’t be long. I just have to meet with Sattler and get this bone sent off to the Delphi Center for testing.”

  He reached into the truck and grabbed his seabag off the floor. “Gimme five minutes.”

  “You really don’t need to come. Why don’t you just take your time showering and help out around the dig until I get back?”

  He gazed down at her and for the first time he noticed the freckles dotting her nose. They’d been hidden yesterday underneath all the dust. Besides the same khaki shorts she’d worn yesterday, she had on a thin white T-shirt that was definitely going to mess with his head all day.

  “I’m not here to guard the dig,” he said. “I’m here to guard you.”

  “It’s broad daylight, and I’m going to a police station, for heaven’s sake. What could possibly happen?”

  “Nothing,” he said. “Because I’m coming with you.”

  Gage double-timed it in the shower, and they made the forty-mile journey into Madrone in half an hour. Kelsey wanted to get there bright and early for some reason, and he was happy to oblige her. But once in town his morning turned into an endless wait in the parking lot of the Seco County sheriff’s office. Gage wasn’t patient by nature and got especially antsy waiting around for women to do things. He minimized the boredom by people watching and adding to the intel he had on the area.

  Madrone occupied a semiarid patch of land about a hundred miles west of the Pecos River. This was cattle country—hard, dry, rugged—and the people he saw in town seemed to mirror the land they worked. Despite being the county seat, Madrone was barely a spec on the map. It had three stoplights, two gas stations, and one bar, and the only motel looked to be a run-down hunting lodge on the
south end of Main Street. The entire place had a parched feel to it, as if the blazing west Texas sun had sucked out all its energy.

  Whatever Kelsey had wanted at this cow town sheriff’s office, Gage doubted she was going to get it.

  Finally, she exited the little building, looking frustrated. It seemed to be her default expression, and he wondered if she was always this way or if it had been a rough summer.

  She yanked open the passenger door and slid in.

  “Where to?” he asked, firing up the engine. Hot air shot from the vents as he pulled onto Main. He glanced at the woman beside him. “Kelsey?”

  She blinked at him, as if surprised by the question. “What?”

  “Where to?”

  Her eyes searched his, and he got the impression she still hadn’t processed his words. “Does it seem reasonable to you that in all of west Texas there isn’t one available cadaver dog?”

  He gave up on getting any direction.

  “I mean, how can that be possible?”

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  “It isn’t possible. It’s crap. Sattler’s just too lazy or too stubborn to get me someone, even after I showed him evidence we’re probably dealing with a murder here. I get a deputy. That’s it. A few hours of unskilled labor from one of his rednecks, then I’m done.”

  Gage pulled into a space in front of the town’s only restaurant, and Kelsey’s brow furrowed as she looked around.

  “What are we doing?”

  “Getting some lunch.” He pushed open his door.

  “But I need to get back. Dr. Robles—”

  “Can manage fine without you. Come on, I’m starved.”

  She joined him on the sidewalk and glanced at the sign in front of them, then shot him a look. “You know this place is a grease pit, right? I think everything on the menu comes with a side of eggs.”

  “Sounds perfect.” He pulled open the door to the diner and enjoyed the rush of cool air.

  A waitress with big blond hair seated them at a booth near the window and handed them some menus. Kelsey tucked hers behind the napkin dispenser without looking at it, then proceeded to order the tuna melt. Gage scanned the menu and ordered the Cowboy Breakfast Platter.