She'd certainly forgotten about him, until now.
He'd tried to forget her but had failed. So he'd tried to honor their history instead. A history that included Cia, who'd disappeared without a trace that afternoon so long ago. A brash young group of kids who'd gone for a weekend fun trip and came home a group of ravaged adults, forever changed.
Being older, more responsible, and with a prior relationship with Cia, he'd felt connected in a bigger way. He also felt guilty. He should have tried to track whatever he'd heard in the woods that afternoon. That he hadn't, had eaten away at him for years. In his nightmares, there was always someone spiriting an unconscious Cia through the woods while he'd hidden away like a coward.
That guilt had sat permanently on his shoulder, breathing with him as he went on about his day, waiting for something, anything, to blow the case open.
And now it had.
Going to see Cia's parents back then, and trying to explain, had been the hardest thing he'd ever done. The two of them hadn't been able to handle the loss of their only child. The mother had died of an overdose of prescription drugs not long after. And the father, well, he'd called Chad almost monthly after finding out Chad had been accepted into the police force, asking if he'd found anything out new. Then, he'd had a heart attack a few years back, still not knowing what had happened to his daughter.
Chad didn't want the same sad end for himself. Until now he'd been afraid that that was where he was heading.
How could Meg send him that little bit of information and leave him hanging?
He returned to his computer to dig for more information on the location, on any missing persons, and on Meg herself. He'd kept an eye on her progress over the years. As if unable not to, he'd watch her grow into a stunning woman and a highly respected anthropologist in her field. He'd taken a secret joy in finding out that she'd stayed single but it wasn't something he wanted to examine closer. He also knew she had a long-term relationship.
What the hell had she been up to lately?
And who else had she told about her find?
***
Mack picked up his cards and took a look; a pair of kings to start. Not bad, not great but enough to put him in the game. As he tossed in his ante, his cell phone buzzed.
Damn thing.
"Hey Mack, you gonna play or talk to the little wife all night?" Frank smirked.
Mack snorted. "Ain't her." No way would she interrupt his poker night unless the house was burning down and she'd called everyone else already.
"It's probably work."
"You're not on call, are you?" Joe asked tossing his cards down on the table in disgust.
"I'm always on call." Mack growled. "I'm getting out next year."
"Ha, you say that every year," one of the guys said.
Mack was used to the ribbing. The group had been meeting for over a decade now. He knew them better than his own brother at this point. He pulled out his cell phone. His gaze had locked on the text message. His mood dropped rapidly. Shit.
He'd known this day would come. He just didn't know about the days after this one. In the beginning, he'd burrowed into this case like a bulldog, determined to prove one of the kids a killer and, therefore, to find the others innocent. But he hadn't been able to. He'd crossed a lot of lines back then and had been slapped back. He shouldn't have been on the case in the first place. He should have handed it off. Only he hadn't been able to. Not when his family had been involved.
But there'd been no answers. No closure – for anyone. For a long time, the worry and frustration had eaten at him. Then, with the passing of the years, it had slipped to the back of his mind. Until now...
"Is it really possible?" he murmured, shock rippling through his beer gut. A deep sense of inevitability gathered underneath. Could they finally have found her? Cia Barnes's disappearance was one of the most frustrating, perplexing cases of his career and the most personally unnerving.
Chad's message included the coordinates in a link. He clicked it, his lips twisting at the technology Chad had used. It was typical of the younger generation and always made him feel like a dinosaur.
His stomach rolled as he recognized the area. Of course he did. He owned a cabin up there, like a lot of other people he knew.
And he'd spent weeks searching for the missing girl. His nephews, three of them, had been part of that group. Idiots. He stared off into space doing the math. It had to be close to fifteen years now. Or maybe even more. And every time he'd seen his nephews, he'd been reminded of it. Bruce had been badly affected by Cia's disappearance. The other two had been less so, but still disturbed enough. The youngest boy had died in a car accident five years later. He'd always wanted to clear his name. The older one, now mostly alone, had gone quiet and he'd changed. He had nothing to do with Mack's family any more.
They'd all been badly affected back then. Lives had changed and not necessarily for the better.
As Mack stared at the map, a sense of certainty, readiness, settled into his gut. Maybe now, he could find out the truth and close a chapter in his own life.
***
The next morning, Meg woke feeling unrested. An early morning chill had her pulling the covers up to her chin. The old blanket had seen better days, kind of like the cabin. She lay quiet staring at the open timber frame ceiling over the bed waiting for the unpleasant memories to slip back into place. Hidden away with the pain and the sense of loss she'd experienced so long ago.
Maybe Cia had drowned and her body had sunk to the bottom of the lake? That had certainly been a popular theory at the time. But the divers couldn't find any sign of her. Then it was a deep mountain lake, spring fed and apparently bodies often sank and stayed down. There were other possibilities, but there was never any proof for them.
The guilt was bad, but not knowing was... the worst. Had Cia wandered off to go join the hikers as a last minute thought? And had she fallen and hurt herself so severely that she'd died? Or had someone forced her into the woods? Meg knew Chad blamed himself, but he hadn't been there at the time. He'd come back to find Cia gone but she'd disappeared while Meg and Stephanie were swimming in the lake. Sure, they'd been deep in discussion about their respective boyfriends at the time, but surely they would have heard a scream, a struggle, any outcry at all, if there had been one. They'd certainly heard Chad's cry.
But they'd heard nothing from Cia. It was that dark silence that had persisted through her nightmares. The boogie man had nothing on Cia's attacker.
And that just led her back around to the situation again. They'd assumed that Cia had been kidnapped, stolen away in broad daylight. But they'd never had any proof. And just because she'd found a set of remains close to where Cia had gone missing, it did not mean that these were hers. But she couldn't stop thinking they might be.
It would be a relief if they were. She needed closure on a most difficult time in her life. It was too late for Cia's parents, but there were others who needed to know what had happened. Like the eight who'd survived the weekend. Not just Meg. She just hoped that there'd finally be answers and not more questions.
"Go back to sleep. Sleeping in late is one of the good things about a holiday." Pete's sleepy voice drifted up from under the covers where he was buried. The country air held a chill that had her snuggling under and closer to him. Thankfully, Janelle still slept.
Then she didn't have Meg's nightmares.
"You can't do anything about it right now, so sleep."
Meg rolled over and tried to do just that. And couldn't. She pretended to sleep. She did need rest, but inside, tension coiled tighter and tighter.
A storm was breaking in her world. She knew it and couldn't prepare for it. But it was coming, regardless.
Then she heard it.
A truck was driving up the road toward the cabin. Would it turn in? The main road went on up and past the cabin turnoff.
Beside her Pete stiffened, and the room chilled instantly. An eerie stillness took over. Her stomach
knotted. Please not yet. Please not now.
She held her breath listening, and sure enough the engine shifted and the growl changed as it slowed down and even from inside the bedroom, she could hear as the truck bounced over the ruts.
Her eyes closed. Shit.
CHAPTER 4
Meg slipped out from under the covers, gave a slight shudder at the chill and dressed quickly. It would take a few minutes for the truck to get to the GPS coordinates. She had no idea how long it would be before the driver would continue the drive to the cabin. If they even knew about this cabin…
She hadn't called Chad back last night. She'd tried, but hadn't been able to get any reception.
Maybe he'd come to check out the location alone.
What she knew for sure was that if Chad had gotten the message, he'd come. There was no way he could ignore a body found in this area, any more than she could.
She hoped he didn't ask the one question she didn't have an answer for, where had she gotten his phone number. In truth, she didn't remember the origin but she'd kept it close for many years. As if waiting for this moment…
She should have told Pete about this part of her past a long time ago. It was going to be a little rough doing it now. Yet, it was another thing she needed to do. Should have already done so, in fact. So why hadn't she? She mulled it over as she made coffee. There'd been a lot she hadn't shared with Pete, too much really.
Had she just shoved it deep inside, never wanting to touch such a painful topic again? No one would blame her for that, except Pete. And he'd have a point. Partners shared their feelings, their fears, their lives. She'd travelled so much that every time she'd returned home there'd been almost a honeymoon air to their relationship. Then she'd picked up and taken off again. Why? And was she done with that aspect of her life now? She wanted it to be done with. She wanted that vagabond part of her to be settled enough to stay home and raise Janelle. And be happy with that life.
It needed to be or Janelle would suffer. She winced as another truth hit home. Janelle would suffer – like Pete had suffered.
Moodily, she stared out the window. Life had been good to her, but had she been good to life? She hadn't been all that concerned with Pete's feelings every time she packed up and took off. She'd been a willing participant in a job that took her anywhere and everywhere. Her last job in Haiti was a prime example. She'd gone over to retrieve a man's family who had been killed in the massive earthquake over a year ago and buried in a mass grave. That the job started out simple said nothing about the horrifying twists that she and her team had experienced in the meantime. Poor Jade and Dane, the two of them had gone through hell, but, like the phoenix, they'd risen stronger and happier than ever.
She was jealous. And that was just stupid. She had Pete. They'd been together for years and years. They knew each other inside and out. And that's where she stalled. Because the truth was, she hadn't shared with him that defining moment that had sent her on the path around the world and away from him. So just how honest had she really been? How well did he know her? And if she hadn't shared – had he?
So how well did she really know him?
Her interior foundation, that of knowing she had been on the right path with the right person, cracked a little more. She bowed her head, struggling to breathe. Dear God, this hurt.
And it was far from over. This crack was just the top leading to the crevasse below.
Her life was splitting apart – all she could do was grab on to it and try her best to survive. It was now. It was here. It was time.
"Is the coffee ready?" Pete's heavy voice growled from the bedroom. "Sounds like that's the end of the sleep we're going to get this night."
She caught back a sob, rubbed her cheeks and answered in a somewhat casual voice. "Yes, it's almost done." Walking back to the coffee pot, she heard the bubbles furiously working away inside the pot. She turned off the burner, threw a cup of cold water inside to calm the grounds, waited a moment, and then poured two cups.
Picking hers up, she then walked outside to the low hanging verandah. The cool air bit her cheeks. It was the dead of summer but up here and with so many trees blocking the sunlight as well as the winds, before the heat of the sun hit, it might as well be autumn.
Across the water, the sun had already crested the hills on the other side, but the long warming fingers hadn't reached her yet. Too bad, she was cold inside and out. A buzz in her pocket had her reaching for her cell phone to read the incoming text. Where are you?
She stared down at her phone, then out in the direction of the trees where she'd sent him. There really was no option.
She quickly answered. Coming.
"Are you going to meet them?" Pete's voice spoke from the other side of the screen door. A barrier she couldn't miss.
With a quick nod, she said, "It will be easiest this way and the fastest."
"I'll stay with Janelle."
She turned to give him a thankful smile, didn't detect a response, sighed again and put down her empty cup on the railing and walked away.
It took ten minutes for Chad's truck to come into view. At least she hoped it was his truck. She'd only caught sight of him a handful of times in the intervening years. They had a lot of history and it didn't help that she'd loved him for a long time. She'd gone camping that fateful weekend knowing he was the man for her and knowing that their relationship was strong enough to survive the upcoming college year apart. Knowing, no matter what, they could make it through the worst life could throw at them.
And, as if challenged, Cia had then disappeared, and that disastrous weekend had split them apart almost instantly. And it had kept them apart for years. So much for forever... So much for knowing anything…
She had to admit to being excited about seeing who he was now. He'd been tall and rangy as a young adult, not yet fully grown into his height. He'd had promise though, and she hadn't been alone in seeing it. Chad had always been popular with the girls. Dark hair, dark eyes and with that whole bad boy thing going on, he'd been the love of her life – until her life as she had known it had come to an end. They'd never officially broken up, but everything had come to a paralyzing halt.
She'd gone on to college alone. There'd been the odd phone call, the odd unexpected awkward meeting, and the reviews of the case for a few months, then less and less as time had marched on.
Until now.
Her footsteps slowed as she approached the single vehicle. Was it him?
She took a deep breath, wiped her hands on her jeans and stepped around the truck.
Only she couldn't see anyone.
She checked the coordinates on her cell phone and realized he'd likely parked and walked from here to the site. She followed.
"Mags?"
It was Chad. That same deep voice she remembered so well, that same old nickname. A surprising warmth washed through her, filling her heart. He'd been such a special friend. She turned slowly and saw him.
"Chad." Her smile was tremulous but real. "And it's Meg now."
Older now, and more filled out, but still with that same charming grin splitting his face, giving her a glimpse of the young man she'd once known and loved.
In two strides he was at her side. His arms opened. She stepped inside, instinctively loving the way his arms closed tightly around her. For just a moment, she relaxed into his comforting embrace. For just a moment, she let herself slide back in time – and enjoyed the closeness. He squeezed her gently before stepping back, his hands on her upper arms and holding her still so he could look down at her. His gaze warmed as he stared down at her. "Damn, you look good."
So did he. She couldn't believe the heat churning up her insides. She hadn't had anything to do with him in so long, and it was as if they were back at the beginning of that fateful summer when they'd been so in love.
She opened her mouth to speak but he snatched her up again and squeezed her tight. When she was freed this time, the words exploded from his mouth. "I couldn't believe
it when I saw your text. Nothing like spiking my attention with the one hope I'd lived with all my life." He stopped, then corrected himself quietly, "We've all lived with."
Tears came unbidden to her eyes. She sniffled slightly. "So true, that nightmare has haunted my days and nights and colored my actions even when I wasn't aware of it."
He shoved his fists into his jean pockets. "I hear you." He stared off into the trees, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down several times. "When I think back to all the times when I wondered, worried and felt that there was more I could/should have done..." He ran a hand through his hair. "I just hope this is her."
"There is no way to tell yet." Meg walked closer to the site. "Did you see it?"
"No. I was just searching the area, taking pictures before entering the scene." He glanced at her. "You're the expert in this field."
Her smile slipped. "I had to do something." She glanced at him. "Like you."
Their gazes met in understanding, and on that note, they approached the area cautiously.
Standing on the one side of the moss-covered tree lying in front of them, she pointed out the white gleaming in the half light. "That's the skull showing."
"And you've checked it?" he called back as he took several large strides forward, and then squatted down. "Sorry. Of course you have."
She approached but stayed off to one side. She allowed her eyes to roam the area slowly as she searched for more bones, clothing, items...anything to identify the body and understand what had happened. The ground was a muted display of greens and browns, and in the dim light they blended together, making everything hard to see.
"What can you tell me from the little bit you've seen?"
Taking a deep breath, she verbalized her instant cataloguing of the scene. She waited a beat. "You know this is likely to be a crime scene."
He shot her a direct look. She nodded. "We're all expecting that Cia died by someone else's hand."
"And yet, we don't know for sure that this is her." He studied the ground around the skull as Meg watched. What appeared to be years' worth of organic matter decomposing to rich humus hid most of the evidence. "And it could be a dumping ground or even an accidental death."
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