She and Case made their way through the trees to get a closer look.
“I assume the deputy who called this in had his reasons for relaying that we’re looking for a body rather than someone who was simply injured or unconscious,” Case said. “But how does he know the person is deceased?”
“You want us to check, is that it?” she asked.
Case suddenly stopped, and she nearly bumped into him.
From where they stood, she saw the bent form. “Okay, then.”
“I could still check for a pulse.” He eyed Terra. “Stranger things have happened.”
Terra wasn’t so sure. She removed her sunglasses and took in the broken form. She didn’t want to think too hard about just how broken.
Case crept closer to the body.
Forcing down the rising bile, she kept her composure. “Only one of us needs to check. If this turns out to be part of a crime scene, we want this area protected.”
Soft voices drew her eyes up. A few SAR volunteers approached and then, seeing Terra and Case, stopped as though imaginary crime scene tape blocked their path. Their soft murmurs were the only sounds in the forest. Terra could hardly consider herself fortunate to be one of the first on the scene.
The body of a man lay twisted. Terra was relieved that his face remained turned away from them, but the angle left no doubt that his neck was broken and he had likely fallen from the cliff. “I don’t think we need to get a pulse, after all, Case.”
Case crouched next to the body and angled his head. “His watch is broken too. Eight twenty-five. It probably broke with the fall, but we don’t know if that was this morning or last night. My guess is . . . last night.”
Nausea rippled through her stomach in waves again, but she would hold it together. “Since you’re theorizing, what do you think happened? Did he jump to his death?”
“Or was he taking a selfie and fell? That happens far too often these days.”
She bit back her words. The sheriff’s department would theorize too—they all did—but they wouldn’t say a word until they received the official report on the cause of death.
She spotted no footprints around the body, though pine needles could often hide the evidence. Still, as she observed the area, she couldn’t see signs that the body had been carried or dragged.
She peered up at the cliff through the treetops. Could they find pieces of torn clothing in the trees?
“Here they come,” Case said.
She glanced behind the volunteers and spotted deputies approaching.
A sound drew her attention back to Case and, beyond him, a man emerged from the woods, coming from the direction of the cliff.
Sunglasses sat on his sandy blond hair, and the angles of his face were sharp and jagged like the rock wall he’d descended. His navy-blue Grayback County Search and Rescue T-shirt stretched across his chest and left no doubt of his toned physique.
Familiarity crawled over her. Terra feared everyone could hear her pounding heart. She wanted to turn away, but her gaze was drawn to his piercing forest-green eyes. Recognition slammed into her with full force.
Jack Tanner.
So, he was the deputy who’d spotted the body? He’d been the guy rappelling the ridge? Of course. That made total sense.
Except . . . well . . .
What was he doing here? He’d been FBI, working somewhere else. Gone from her life forever. Now he was a deputy?
Shock ricocheted through her. Calming her breaths, she slid her sunglasses back on. She kept her features straight when Jack stumbled but quickly righted himself as he hiked through brambles, stepping over fallen trees with ease. Was he shocked to see her too? Honestly, he didn’t seem all that surprised.
At about ten yards out, he dropped his pack. Case rose from where he was crouched and waited by the body as Jack approached.
“Deputy Tanner.” Terra kept her tone even.
Jack stared at the body, hands on hips. “It’s Detective Tanner.”
“Detective Tanner.” She wished she’d kept her mouth shut.
He turned his attention to her. “It’s been a long time, Special Agent Connors. It’s good to see you.”
Well, that told her a lot. He wasn’t surprised to see her because he knew she was back in the area and also had a new title as a special agent. She’d changed over from NPS—National Park Service—after her undercover work on a task force investigating pothunters. The rest of it, nobody needed to know.
Jack returned his attention to the body.
He tromped around in a take-charge kind of manner, now in his deputy-detective mode. His deputy buddies started forward, and he held up his hand. “Wait.”
He rubbed his chin, anguish twisting his features. “The deputy coroner’s on the way?”
Deputy Sarnes pushed through the group and approached Jack and the body. “Yep. Emmett Hildebrand.”
The grim set of Jack’s mouth and the deepening furrow between his brows told her he was processing the scene. He peered at her then, and she removed her sunglasses so she could look closely at those dark-green eyes that she remembered so well.
He studied her and appeared to make a decision. Terra would love to know what he was thinking.
“We don’t need an audience,” Jack said. “Sarnes, can you get rid of the sightseers?”
Terra replaced her sunglasses and murmured to Case. “Our cue to head out too. Our assistance is no longer needed.” To the larger group, she said, “Case and I will be happy to hike out with them.”
“I’d like you to stay, Special Agent Connors.” Those intense eyes pinned her again. “Terra . . .”
Oh? She glanced at Case. He shrugged.
“Okay then,” Case said. “I guess I’ve been dismissed.”
As SAR volunteers exited the area, the forest swallowed them up, and Terra turned her attention to Jack.
“I’m happy to assist, Jack.” Since he’d used her first name, she would return the favor. “What do you need?”
“National forest is your jurisdiction,” he said.
“Of course, but this, whatever it is, isn’t something I would investigate. What are you getting at?”
Clearing her throat, she grabbed more water from her pack, giving her an excuse to look anywhere except at Jack.
“You know this forest like no one else. You spent your life in these woods.” His professional county-detective tone had shifted to something more familiar and personal.
Chugging her water, she considered her response. When she finished, she capped the bottle and faced him. “You’re talking millions of acres. I didn’t spend my childhood in all of millions of acres.”
“I’m asking for a little assistance, that’s all.” He offered the hint of a smile as he studied her, then his expression turned serious again as he shifted his attention to the body. “What do you think happened here?”
“Are you working a case now? As in, this could be murder?”
“I haven’t been officially assigned, no. But we’re here now. Sheriff Gibson wants me to assess things while we wait for the deputy coroner. I brought up the FBI. This is federal lands, after all.”
“Are they coming?”
“He said they’ve deferred murder investigations to his department in the past, but of course will likely offer assistance if we need it, and he would keep them informed.” Jack rubbed his neck. “They rarely investigate murders unless it involves a serial killer or crosses state lines.”
“They just want to focus on politicians and terrorists?” She sent him a wry grin.
He barely nodded, his lips shifting into a grim line. Terra wondered if he would feel awkward working with the FBI, now as a county detective, if it came to that.
As for awkward, that feeling wrapped around her but for an entirely different reason. That, and well, this felt far too surreal. Why did it have to be Jack Tanner standing there asking her for help? Of all the places she could be right now and of all the people she could be with, why Jack?
And he looked good. Too good. She hadn’t seen him in almost six years. Those years had been good to him in some ways—she hadn’t thought he could be more attractive, but she was wrong on that point. In other ways, he seemed rougher. Like life hadn’t been good to him, when she hadn’t thought his life could get any harder. Terra realized she hadn’t given him an answer.
She dusted off her pants and stared up at the trees. “Case suggested maybe he was taking a selfie. You know how people are doing that and fall these days. Happens too often.”
“I don’t know. This guy was in his fifties, and he’s up there on the cliff, out there alone?”
“Right. He doesn’t seem to be dressed for the hike. No pack, unless it’s up top. Worn cowboy boots, not the best for hiking, though people do often set out for a breath of fresh air, then end up hiking farther than they planned.” And got lost sometimes.
Jack walked around the body. “Pine needles in his hair and clothes. A small black wire protruding from his hand.”
She could almost imagine Jack was the deputy coroner. “A black wire? What do you think it is?”
Jack scratched his chin. “No idea. It’ll be sent to the state lab to see what they make of it.”
Terra approached the body too. She couldn’t very well give Jack her opinion without getting closer, and she kept her features cool and calm.
Jack crouched much like Case had done but touched nothing.
“Terra.” The way he said her name sent alarms through her head. He gestured for her to come to his side of the body.
Dread built in her belly, and she strove to keep it from spilling out and crawling over her. In all her imagining—and, unfortunately, she had spent too long doing just that—she never could have dreamed up meeting Jack again in this moment, under these circumstances.
She marched around the form and forced herself to crouch next to this man from her past, only to peer down at a familiar face.
FOUR
Chance’s eyelids seemed stuck together. He didn’t bother trying to muster the strength to open them. Not yet. Instead, he would be safer if he pretended to sleep while he figured out what he was doing here, wherever here was.
Location, location, location.
Was he in a good, safe place?
Or was he in the lair of a dragon?
Did he need to hightail it out of here?
His pounding heart settled enough so he could listen. Familiar sounds took him back to his mother’s last days on earth in a hospital room. He must be in rough condition. Chance slowly opened his eyes and took in the room he shared with another guy—at least he thought it was a man that was snoring on the other side of the curtain.
His skull ached as though it were cracked. He lifted his arm and pressed his hand to his head. Good, he wasn’t wrapped up like a mummy. He could feel his toes and move his legs. Move his arms. His chest ached. Bruised ribs?
Concussed skull.
Ole Blue. He’d crashed Blue, and now the events came rushing back.
Panic engulfed him.
His belongings. Chance ripped out the IV in his arm and threw off the covers. He ignored the fierce headache and his stiff, aching limbs as he searched under and behind the bed.
Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?
His pounding heart only increased the pain in his head.
He spotted a slim closet.
He took a step toward it, and dizziness swept over him. He steadied himself against the bed until it passed, then focused on the closet. Please, please, please . . .
He eased forward and took one slow step at a time. The fuzziness in his head seemed to clear with each step. Now if only the headache clawing at his skull would let go.
At the closet, he pressed his hand on the small knob, hope and fear lodging in his gut. He opened the door and found a bag with his tattered clothes.
Where was the package that could have meant his freedom?
His throat might just close up and he’d drop right there for lack of oxygen. That would be a better way to die than to face what came next—whoever requested he deliver the package would come looking for it. Come looking for him.
How did he find it and get it back?
Chance yanked the torn, bloody clothes out of the closet. He tossed his bomber jacket on the bed. He dug around in another bag and pulled out his wallet and flipped it open to see his ID. Chance Carter. Except that wasn’t his birth name. He’d been forced to change it all and build a new life. He never should have left the armed forces of the United States of God Bless America. Crashing Ole Blue had caused all this garbage to resurface, and he pushed it back down to be dealt with another day.
He also found credit cards and some cash. Relieved, he exhaled. But no cell phone. Probably destroyed in the crash. He needed to disappear until he figured things out. He’d get a new cell and call the NTSB about the crash and put them off for a few days. In the meantime, he needed clothes.
Chance peeked around the curtain and found the nameless patient still snoring. He crept over to the other small closet and found a few belongings inside.
Sorry, buddy. Then he quickly changed into the man’s newer, fresh clothes. He looked through his wallet to find his driver’s license. Ron Howell. Chance hoped the sick guy had someone who cared and would bring him more clothes. Chance couldn’t know if and when he’d be in a position to replace what he’d taken.
Despite a rip in the arm, Chance donned his beloved bomber jacket on the way out of the hospital.
FIVE
Jim Raymond had sold insurance, and his face was on billboards all over the county.
Stunned, Jack stared down at Jim’s lifeless body. A few nuances caught his attention and spiked his suspicions. The man had taken a fatal fall. Had he been pushed or had he been murdered and then his body dumped here, of all places? In millions of acres of national forest, some designated wilderness regions, Jim’s body might never have been found if a SAR team hadn’t been dispersed to find those twins.
Jack hated the way his thoughts automatically went to the worst-case scenario, but his experience in law enforcement had paved the way for a thousand possible circumstances surrounding Jim’s demise to rush through Jack’s mind. He wanted the truth about what happened.
He moved back to his pack to grab water. Where was the deputy coroner anyway? While he drank, he reined in his chaotic thoughts. Seeing Terra for the first time in years had affected him in ways he hadn’t expected. Even after a haggard day of searching, the woman could turn heads. Her dark hair was pinned up under a blue Grayback County SAR cap. Her blue eyes shone bright in her beautiful, tanned face. He’d seen in her gaze almost immediately that she’d lost her innocent, hopeful look and now instead held the sober air of experience. The harsh realities of life and time in law enforcement would do that.
Shoving aside the unbidden thoughts about Terra, Jack followed her when she joined the deputies who stood by the trees a few yards away from the body. At the same moment, Case Haymaker returned, emerging from the woods.
“What are you doing back?” Terra asked.
He shrugged. “The others took off at the trailhead. I figured you’d still be here. And besides, a body found in the national forest in my area, I want to know what’s going on. The last thing we need in this county, in this national forest, is a murder.”
Jack stiffened his back. “No one said anything about murder.”
“We’re all thinking it looks like foul play, though,” Case said. “Be honest about it, at least.”
“Falls can happen for any number of reasons. The deputy coroner will tell us the cause of death. In the meantime, we don’t need more people stomping around the—”
“Crime scene.” Haymaker again.
What’s your problem? Jack bit back his retort and said nothing. The sheriff’s department would investigate, but they also worked with other agencies. Let Haymaker think what he wanted for now. Jack wasn’t in the mood to get into it with him.
“And in that case, you might need our help to search for a killer,” Haymaker continued.
“Case, please.” Terra’s expression remained guarded. “We’re all uptight right now. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
Haymaker opened his mouth as if to protest her simple plea. Jack stared at the man, and fortunately, the officer appeared to think better of a retort in front of witnesses.
Jack needed space and would normally walk away, but no way was he leaving. Was that how Haymaker felt? The way the man kept close to Terra and frequently glanced her way, Jack got the feeling Haymaker’s presence had more to do with her.
“There’s no need for so many of us to wait here with the body,” Jack said. “I’ll stick around. You guys have been out all day searching for the twins. You probably ran out of water long ago. Head home. The coroner will be here soon with his own contingency to assist him.”
“What about you?” Haymaker asked. “One of us could stay and you could go back.”
“I want to get the coroner’s initial reaction.” Jack could be the detective assigned to investigate.
Haymaker shared a look with Terra. “Come on, let’s go.”
“I’m staying,” she said. “But you should go.”
“You sure?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He frowned and shook his head as he turned to leave. The two other deputies were already heading out.
Though Jack had asked her to remain behind earlier, he’d simply wanted her assessment. And okay, maybe if he was being honest with himself, he’d wanted a few moments alone with Terra Connors, the woman he’d once loved. He shouldn’t allow his personal thoughts and actions to overlap with his professional world. But he had a strong feeling that would be a struggle, and in that case, Jack should encourage Terra to go too. He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to face more time alone with her, considering their shared past. Still, that had been years ago, and he hoped she had moved on and let go. Maybe he was asking too much to think she hadn’t held a grudge, because he certainly still held one against himself and his actions. Nor could he ever tell her the reasons for his actions—that would hurt her too much.
Present Danger Page 2
