by Vella, Wendy
Joe moved closer and pulled up his jacket to breathe through.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Fin added as his friend dropped down beside him and looked into the shallow grave.
“Well, hell.” Joe crawled back and away from the hole. He then staggered to his feet and backed up a few steps.
Fin watched him suck in a few shallow breaths. “You didn’t have to look.”
“I was trying to be brave. Turns out I’m not.” He looked green. “I don’t know much about decomposition, Fin, but I think someone somewhere told me it takes at least eight-plus years to complete if the body is not embalmed.”
“When in hell would you have had a conversation like that?”
“I dated that funeral director lady, remember?”
“No.” Fin looked around them.
“Do you think this could be the femur’s owner? I mean, he’s not a skeleton, but I’m hoping there are not two dead people to think about,” Joe said.
“Likely it is. Hard to say, as everything is such a mess down there, with the earth piled all over the body. Looks like an animal dug it up, then possibly ran off with the femur to have a gnaw. Hence it not looking like this.”
“Well, hell.” Joe looked greener. “What do you want to do now?”
“We need to get whoever this is back down to Chief Blake.”
Joe exhaled slowly. “Why did I know those words were coming out of your mouth.”
“Get Luke, he has a strong stomach, and Lint. For all his bellyaching, he can handle this too,” Fin said, opening his backpack. “You go on and wait with the others.”
“Does it make me less of a man that I’m happy you said that?”
“Hell yes, and I’m telling everyone who will listen when we get down from here.”
He shrugged out of his jacket as he listened to the thud of Joe’s feet running back to the others, then pulled on his disposable gloves, grabbed the thick plastic bag he’d packed, and lowered himself into the grave gingerly.
When Luke and Lint arrived, he was bagging the body.
“What do you want us to do?” Lint said, all business now.
“I’m down here, so I’ll bag up, then we’ll lift the body out and carry it down.”
The process was slow, but eventually they got everything ready and were soon heading to where the others waited. They all then began the long, silent journey down carrying the body.
Arriving at the ranger station, Fin signaled the men to carry the body to the small building on the side where they kept supplies, opening it with his keys. They placed it inside, and he locked it.
“Now I need you boys to keep this to yourself for now. I’ll call Chief Blake, and then he’ll do what he can to get an ID on whoever this is as soon as he can.”
“My money’s on Simon Linbar,” Lint said. “Been missing about two years now.”
“Speculating is not helping,” Fin said. “Now you head off, and thanks for your efforts today.”
“Hell of a thing,” Joe said. “Want us to stick around?”
“No point. Besides, I’ll be getting that body out again soon.” The color that had only just found its way back into Joe’s face started to drain away again.
Luke grabbed his brother’s arm as he stumbled. “You always had a weak stomach.”
There was only him in the station on Saturday, so Fin made coffee, then headed to his office, where Chief Blake found him writing a report on everything that had happened and eating a stale donut he’d found in his desk.
“Do you think it’s the femur’s owner?”
“Yeah. I looked at the legs, and there was one missing, but then the body was in a bad way, so I’d need that confirmed. My guess is an animal dug up the grave and took the leg.”
“Glad you found it and not me,” Chief Blake said, going to Fin’s coffeepot and pouring himself a cup. He then sat across the desk. “Who the hell would have murdered someone and buried them on Phil, and why?”
“It wasn’t somewhere a day hiker would find it, and off the trail. My guess is that whoever buried that body believed it was buried for good,” Fin said.
“So it’s likely murder,” Chief Blake said. “Unless someone wanted to be buried up there and a relative promised they’d see it done.”
“I doubt they’d have put them in a shallow grave, and this is not the Wild West, Chief. We embalm and put our dead in coffins if we don’t cremate them.”
“I know it, but I have to look at all sides. Plus, there is plenty of crazy in this town.”
“Amen.”
Chief Blake drank his coffee and talked while Fin finished typing up the report.
He got up when he heard noises outside his door. Mrs. Linbar was there at the reception desk, looking pale and desperate when he arrived
“Is it him?” she said. “You have to tell me if it’s him, my son. You have to know by now, Findlay.”
Letitia Linbar and her husband owned a large house on two sites in the residential part of town. They had money, and while nothing like Mrs. Howard and her belief she was better than just about anyone, they were fairly vocal on their own importance. Until the day their youngest son had disappeared, the town had tolerated them, and maybe whispered a few things behind hands about them. After that, they were left alone to live the hell they’d been plunged into.
“Now, Mrs. Linbar, we can’t know that yet,” Fin said.
He wasn’t sure how she knew he’d brought a body down the mountain, but when he found out who had given her that information, there would be hell to pay. She had run out of the house in her slippers, white and fluffy, and black trousers and a white shirt. No, sweater or hat, no gloves.
Shrugging out of his jacket, he wrapped it around her shivering shoulders.
“There’s a process to finding out who Fin brought down, Letitia,” Chief Blake said. “If it’s Simon, we’ll let you know immediately when the identity is given to us.”
Her face seemed to collapse. Fin grabbed her hands as she stumbled back. He lowered her to a waiting room chair.
“I just want to know where he is,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry.” He crouched before her. “And I know those words don’t help, but I truly am for how you’ve suffered… are still suffering.”
Behind him, he heard the low rumble of Chief Blake talking on the phone.
“H-he just disappeared. One day he was there, and the next not,” she whispered. “It’s been torture not knowing what happened.” Her eyes told him how she’d suffered. “I need to know where he is, Fin. I need to find some peace for all of us.”
He knew what the death of someone before their time could do to a family. Knew the far-reaching effects that blew people’s lives apart.
“Mrs. Linbar…” Fin didn’t finish his sentence, because Maggie was walking into the station. He’d never been happier to see anyone.
“What’s wrong?” She lowered the big box she carried to the floor and dropped down beside him.
“We brought a body down from the mountains today, Maggie,” Fin said. “Mrs. Linbar heard and came to see if it was Simon.”
Her eyes went from him to the woman who was sobbing softly. She moved to take the seat beside her.
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Linbar.” She waved him away. “Coffee, Fin, now.”
Fin didn’t exactly leap to his feet, but it was a near thing. He then hurried to his office.
“I called her son; he’ll come and get her. Her husband is away on business,” Chief Blake said. “The body transportation is arriving, so I’ll go and see to that.”
“Maggie is here and with her,” Fin said, heading for the coffee. He poured two mugs and added sugar and cream. “I’ll drop by the station later and discuss a few things with you.”
“I’ll need your help on this, Fin. That mountain is your territory.”
“You have it.”
Maggs had her arm around Mrs. Linbar when he arrived. She took one of the mugs from him and pressed it
into the woman’s hands. “Now you drink some of this, Mrs. Linbar.”
She took a few sips at Maggie’s gentle urging. Fin knew she was a good person. You didn’t have the friends she had not being that. But it made his chest warm to watch her look after Mrs. Linbar. It came naturally to her.
“Mother.” Noel Linbar walked in dressed like he’d stepped out of a men’s fashion magazine. “Why are you here in your slippers?” He looked horrified.
“Your mother has had a shock, Noel.” Maggie got to her feet and stood before him, hands on hips. He wished he could see her expression. “She’d needs your support at the moment, and what she has on her feet has no bearing on that.”
Fin had nothing to smile about—his morning at best could be termed hell—but seeing Maggs face off with Noel Linbar had him wanting to.
“Now, you need to take her home and sit with her. You know by now what has happened, and that your mother is suffering. Look after her.” The last was said with a definite snap. “I’ll call round later to check on her.”
“Of course.” Noel hurried to help his mother rise. “Do we know—”
“Not yet,” Fin said as the man threw him a look. “But we’ll let you know when we do.”
“Thank you. Let’s go, Mother.”
“You stay with her now, Noel, or call one of her friends to do so,” Maggie said with a steely tone.
“I will.”
“Thanks,” Fin said when the door closed behind them.
“No worries.” She turned to face him. “I know he’s suffering right along with his mother and father, and I’m sorry for it, but that Noel’s a cold fish, always has been. He thinks he’s special, which I assure you he’s not. He and my oldest brother, Ford, got into it a bit in school.”
“Into it?”
“Ford bloodied his nose a few times for being, and I quote, an arrogant asshole.”
“Gotcha. Why are you here, Maggs?”
“I brought that statue you ordered. It came in yesterday, but I just unpacked it. There was a note in the file that said it was for you.”
He felt a flash of excitement. Fin collected art, and he’d been waiting for this to arrive for weeks.
“You didn’t have to deliver it, but thanks.”
“It’s a great piece. I would have bought it if I’d seen it first.”
“Do you want some coffee?”
“No, thanks. I know what that stuff you make is like.”
“Real coffee.” He thumped his chest.
“You were the one to find the body?”
“I was.”
“I’m so sorry, Fin, that must have been horrible.” She stepped closer and touched his hand.
Fin turned his hand over and held hers.
“Horrible is a good word.”
“Do you think it’s Simon Linbar?”
“We can’t know that until they do some tests.”
“Was the body missing a femur?”
“From what I could gather, yes.”
“I can’t imagine what that was like to see.” She looked soft, sweet, and Fin felt that surge of heat he always got when she was near. He was sick of ignoring it, so he tugged her closer, needing her sweetness to remove the ugly he’d encountered today from his head, and Christ, she was sweet.
“What are you doing?” She braced a hand on his chest but didn’t push him away.
“I call it giving in to the inevitable.”
“Fin, this is wrong.”
“I don’t think so. Nothing this good could be wrong.”
“We never wanted this before.”
“Oh, we did, we just didn’t act on it.”
The kiss was deep and demanding. He wanted something from this woman, he just wasn’t sure what that was yet. It was niggling in the back of his head and deep inside his chest. It would make itself known soon, he was sure of that. Especially if he kept touching her.
Easing her closer, her slid his hand inside her open jacket and stroked her back through the wool of her sweater.
He’d kissed her before, but not like this. The total consuming need to have her lips beneath his. He wanted to strip her, lose himself in all those lush curves. Needed it like his next breath.
“Fin?”
Pulling his mouth from Maggie’s, he looked to the doorway and at who now stood there. If he’d been doused in icy water, the shock would have been no more severe.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Chapter Fourteen
Wowsers! was Maggie’s first clear thought. The man could kiss. His hand on her back had felt pretty special too. Looking at his face, she saw his jaw was clenched and anger radiated off him. Looking over her shoulder, she found the reason for his change in mood.
A tall man with graying hair stood there. Behind him were a woman and girl. She knew who the man was with just a look and why Fin was bristling. Stepping forward, she smiled when Fin didn’t introduce her.
“Hello, I’m Maggie Winter.”
“Jonathan Hudson. I’m Fin’s father.” He shook her hand, and the smile on his face was like his son’s. “This is my wife, Ellen.” He stepped inside, and the women followed. “And daughter Mallory.”
The woman shot Fin a nervous look.
“Hello.” Maggs shook her hand, then turned to the girl who was hanging back. “It’s nice to meet you, Mallory.”
She had Fin’s eyes and hair color. It was long, and she wore it in two braids. On her head was a red wooden hat. She would be tall too, like the rest of her family. She was nervous, also like her mother. Her eyes shot to Fin, then away.
“Why are you here?” Fin growled to his father.
“We’re staying at the lodge. We thought to spend a few weeks here and Christmas with you,” Jonathan Hudson said.
The tension was thick in the air and Maggie wasn’t sure what to say or do to break it.
“W-we’ve heard there is a great deal to do here in Ryker Falls at Christmas,” Ellen Hudson said. The smile on her face strained. “We thought we’d see Fin before we settle in there.”
“Yes, it’s a lovely place to visit this time of year,” Maggie added. Fin remained silent.
“Well then, we will go and settle ourselves in now. But we’d like to have dinner with you tonight, Fin,” Jonathan Hudson said with sad eyes.
“I’m busy,” Fin’s tone was cold.
“That went well,” Maggie said, after the door closed behind his family.
“Why the hell did he come here?” The words were shot at her like hail stones.
She faced him. Maggs had never been frightened of this man. Aware, nervous, but never scared, even considering the thunderous look in his eyes.
“I don’t know, but on a wild guess, to see you. Did Mallory do something to you, Fin?”
“What?” Her question surprised him.
“Mallory, what did she do to you?”
“This hass nothing to do with you.”
“Possibly not, but answer the question. Because the man you just became is not the man I know. I don’t know what’s between you and your father—and his wife, for that matter—but clearly it’s not pretty. But I’d never have believed you’d ignore a young girl who clearly has nothing to do with what happened before you came to Ryker Falls, as you were here before she was born.”
“It’s complicated.” He looked uncomfortable now. “And you have no idea the cause of it or my family dynamics.”
“Most families are complicated, but she’s your blood.”
“How do you know she is?”
“I see you in her. The shape of her eyes and chin, and the hair color. Am I wrong, is she not your sister?”
“She’s my half sister, and I don’t even know her.” He blew out a loud breath. “My father and I don’t get on, Maggs. Don’t try and get in the middle of that. He makes me act ugly. That’s not an excuse but the simple truth.”
“Is it fair to take out whatever this stuff with your father is on Mallory if she’s not the
cause of it?”
He raised his eyes to the ceiling. “I don’t want them here, and just because you have a good relationship with your siblings doesn’t mean everyone else does.”
“I understand that, and I think you made it pretty clear you didn’t want them here.”
“We can’t all live life as happy families,” he snapped.
Maggie fought to remain calm. “You know nothing about the life I’ve lived.”
“Jack told me you were raised with money and love.”
She wasn’t sure what he was accusing her of, but it was there in his tone. He was striking at her because he was angry and off-balance, she knew that too, but she didn’t have to like it or, for that matter, take it.
“I was not spoiled and worked hard all my life.”
“And I’m sure your big strong brothers let you,” he scoffed.
Maggie didn’t like people scoffing at her; it made her unreasonably angry. Which meant both of them were currently in that state.
“You’re being an asshole, and even though I know the reasons why, it’s pissing me off. I have no idea what’s between you and your father, but maybe as he’s come here with his family, your family, FYI, he wants to work it out.”
“There is nothing to work out, so drop it. This is my life, so you can take your do-gooding attitude and leave—unless you want to take up where we left off.”
“What?”
“Sex, Maggs. It would be good, and you know that. So why wait? I could have you naked on my desk in seconds.”
His eyes had a mean glint in them. She’d never seen this side to Fin before and had to say she didn’t like it. He was hitting out at her, he knew it just as she did, but she still hated it. Hated that he was hurting but she couldn’t reach him.
“I’m good with my hands and mouth,” he drawled. “You’ll be whimpering and begging—”
“I know you’re doing this because of your family, Fin.”
“Maybe this is the real me.” He grabbed her, pulling her close. He then very deliberately ran a hand up her body. She couldn’t feel much through her clothes, but her body still responded as he cupped her breast.
“Don’t do this to either of us,” Maggs said quietly. He let her go so quickly, she stumbled back a step.
