“I’M SURPRISED YOU called me,” Kate said as she settled into the passenger seat of Tucker’s pickup.
He shot her a look. “Why’s that?” She smelled good. Too good. Her hair was still damp. He realized that must have been the shower he’d heard in the background this morning. After he’d called her, he’d taken a shower himself. Only his had been cold.
Turning in her seat to face him, she chuckled. “Given the way we left things last night, I didn’t expect to hear from you again.”
“Because I didn’t ask you to sleep with me?” he joked as he headed north out of town. The drive to Clawson Creek would take just under an hour.
“Very funny. You didn’t even try to kiss me.”
He smiled over at her, unable not to think about his dream. “Maybe I’m not that kind of guy.”
“Oh, and what kind of guy is that?”
“A complete fool. You were pretty clear about your feelings last night.”
She sighed. “I said some things after dinner that I shouldn’t have. I’m so angry with my brother for what he did, and unfortunately, I never got to say those things to him. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
He laughed. “I don’t get my feelings hurt that easily.”
“I’m angry at my brother and I might have taken it out on you last night.”
“You think?” he asked, smiling, glad he’d called her. Not that he thought their search for the Dunn family would lead to anything. His brother had already told him that they’d cleared out nineteen years ago. Maybe they’d managed to disappear like he had.
“You were right about me and your brother being easily manipulated by the woman,” he admitted after a few moments. “I know it’s hard to understand, but you didn’t know Madeline.”
“Apparently neither did you or my brother. Sorry, but if you tell me she put a spell on you...” She sounded angry again. But he could also hear the pain in her voice. Her brother had killed himself because of Madeline.
“You must hate her.”
She stared at him. He could feel her gaze boring into the side of his face like a laser. “Don’t you? You lost nineteen years with your family because of her. She took your life—at least temporarily. She filled you with guilt. She screwed with your mind just like she did my brother. How can you possibly not hate her?”
He shook his head, making her swear.
“If you tell me that you still love her...”
“I did love her. Or at least the person I thought she was. Now I just feel sad for all of us. That she died in the creek that night... What a waste and for what?”
Kate shook her head. “I will never understand men. She deceived you and yet you still care about her.”
“Haven’t you ever had a man deceive you?”
“Not like that!” She whipped a hand through the air. But he saw the anger quickly ebb away as she leaned back in her seat and stared out at the passing scenery.
It was a beautiful Montana spring day, the sky robin’s-egg blue with only a few fluffy white clouds bobbing along on the horizon. The air was crisp and everywhere he looked he saw new green grass and leaves. He loved this time of year. He wondered if Kate could appreciate this day or if her only thought was getting vengeance for her brother.
“If you don’t want justice for what she did, then why are we looking for her family?” Kate finally asked.
“Truthfully, I have no idea what I hope to accomplish by driving up here. We can’t undo anything that’s been done. The statute of limitations has run out even if we could prove that one of them worked with her, let alone hid her body. My brother is dropping the investigation.”
She sat up abruptly to face him. “He can’t do that!”
“I’m afraid he is. Like he said, it’s a waste of manpower since no charges can be filed even if he found the person responsible.”
Kate shifted her purse on her lap. “Well, I’m going to find the people responsible and see that justice is done.”
“Madeline paid with her life. Isn’t that enough?”
Kate scoffed. “No. Yes, she got her just deserts. But there is still at least one of them out there who got away with it.”
“So you want retribution? Anyone ever tell you that it’s never as satisfying as you think it’s going to be?”
“I’ll be the judge of that. Whoever was working with her is just as guilty as she was. She might have done the...hard work, but her accomplice helped her perpetuate a lie that destroyed my brother. You might not acknowledge the damage the woman did, but I live with it every day and have for nineteen years.”
“So have I,” he said, lowering his voice as he heard the raw pain in hers as well as his own. “Don’t think I got away unscathed. I’ve been where your brother was. I just chose a different way of checking out. I came back here filled with guilt and ready to have my brother lock me up.”
“You were a victim.”
Tucker laughed at that. “I was a testosterone-filled teenage boy who thought about sex every minute of the day. Yes, I was easy prey, but I can’t put all the blame on Madeline. At any time I could have said no.”
“But you did say no,” Kate pointed out. “Isn’t that when she pulled out all the stops and did her drowning-herself-and-the-baby stunt?”
He nodded. “And that is why I can’t help but feel some guilt in her drowning. I let it go on too long. She might never have done that if I’d handled things differently.”
Kate scoffed. “You think you and my brother were the only ones?” She shook her head. “She used that same drowning stunt on my brother. He thought she’d drowned and killed their baby. Who knows how many more teenage boys she’d pulled that stunt on? Doesn’t feel quite so special anymore, does it?”
Tucker knew she was right. He felt a stab of anger mixed with a healthy dose of bitterness and regret when it came to Madeline. The horror he’d lived with after that night on the bridge was something he’d never forget. It had been beyond cruel. That she’d used it on others like him broke his heart. And that Kate’s brother had killed himself... It was an unspeakable tragedy.
“But you still can’t hate her,” Kate said, shaking her head before turning to look out her side window again. “Well, I hate her enough for both of us. Madeline made a fool out of my brother. Whoever helped her is going to pay, one way or the other.”
Ahead he saw the turnoff for Clawson Creek and slowed the pickup, suddenly worried that bringing Kate along might have been a mistake.
* * *
MADELINE. THE NAME alone set Kate off. Her anger had been like a red-hot poker in her belly for so long... Finding the man who Madeline tricked after her brother... She knew she had no right to take out her rage on Tucker. He was a victim like her brother.
Kate tried to rein in her anger, her regret, her bitterness against a woman she’d never met and now would never get the chance. But maybe with Tucker’s help she would at least find out who had helped the woman deceive her brother.
She glanced over at him. She realized that she’d been sounding like a jealous girlfriend when she talked about Madeline with him. Taking deep breaths, she tried to calm down. But as she looked at him, she realized that it wasn’t just about her brother.
She was furious with Tucker for falling for Madeline, too. What was wrong with these men? To make it worse, she found herself attracted to the handsome cowboy but at the same time wanting to smack him upside the head for being so stupid as to fall for Madeline. Add to that, she thought he was still captivated by a woman she hated—and resented. And envied?
The thought reminded her of this morning in the shower. She felt her cheeks flush and pretended to study the landscape as she tried to extinguish the thought.
After a few miles, she turned to him. “I’m sorry.” But her attention was quickly pulled away as she looked out the windshield and realized they were slowing down. “This is where she lived?”
“Clawson Creek. Looks like there isn’t much here. I would imagine someone knows what happened to the Dunns since it appears they left their mark here.” He pointed to an old faded sign that read Dunn Lumberyard. “Could be a relative.” He shot her a look, his gaze burning into her. “You sure you’re up to this?”
She straightened. “Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you.”
“Seriously?” He laughed. “I’m more worried that you aren’t going to get whatever it is you need from all this.”
“No, you’re not. You’re worried that I’m going to lose it and get us both thrown into jail or worse.”
“It has crossed my mind given your...strong feelings.”
It was her turn to laugh. “We’re just trying to find her kin and figure out if one of them was working with Madeline. For our own satisfaction since legally there is nothing your brother can do. Right?”
“Right.” He sounded as if he didn’t believe she was taking it as well as she pretended. Maybe he was smarter than he looked, she thought uncharitably.
“I can handle myself. I’m a damned good investigative reporter and I can take care of myself.”
“I don’t doubt that...at least when you aren’t personally and emotionally involved.”
“Give me some credit. I can be cool and calm. You’ll see.” She saw he was still having misgivings. The man was no fool. Except when it came to Madeline Dunn. “Thanks for bringing me.”
He grunted. Ahead she could see what was left of Clawson Creek. Like so many Montana towns, it had shrunk to a minimum of businesses. Old abandoned buildings told of another more prosperous time for this small ranching community.
The lumberyard was a big barn of a building with a small office attached to one side. Behind it was a sawmill. Several loads of logs lay on the ground next to a huge pile of sawdust. Next to that was the apparatus that held the saw blade. The huge jagged-toothed blade gleamed dully in the sunlight as Tucker parked out front.
“Might as well start here. Looks like there isn’t much going on, though,” he said. There was only one other vehicle parked in front of the lumberyard, an old faded red pickup.
Kate let out a breath as she looked toward the office. The windows were so dirty she couldn’t see much of anything inside. But there was a faded open sign in the corner of the dusty window in the door.
The rest of the town appeared abandoned except for a couple of trucks in front of a café down the short main drag and a few more in front of the bar across from it.
“If you want to wait here until—”
Kate was already out of his truck before he could finish.
He was shaking his head as he joined her on the sidewalk out front. She stared at the warbled office windows, seeing only her own dull reflection in them, and thought of her brother.
Tucker was wrong. She’d waited years for this. She would get satisfaction.
A bell tinkled as Tucker pulled the office door open and let her lead the way inside. She was hit with a disagreeable smell that didn’t improve as they moved toward the counter. The place reeked of burned coffee, years of cigarette smoke and recent body odor.
“Hello?” Tucker called and glanced in the back.
From where she stood, Kate could see that there were few supplies to be had behind the counter. She turned and headed for the door, saying over her shoulder, “I’ll go look in the big building.”
As she exited, she heard the sound of an engine running somewhere deep in the back of the barnlike structure.
She’d only taken a few steps when Tucker fell in beside her. Clearly he didn’t think she could take care of herself. A small part of her was touched at his protective behavior.
“You might want to let me do the talking,” he said.
Kate smiled over at him. “Still worried about jail, huh?”
* * *
TUCKER SAW THE smile and heard the words, but it was the determination he glimpsed in her gaze that worried him.
He followed the sound of what appeared to be lumber being unloaded with a forklift into the cavernous building. It was cool and dark inside the structure. The air smelled of fresh-cut pine. He breathed it in as they walked toward the sounds of life.
When he was a boy, he always loved going to the Gilt Edge Lumberyard with his father. It was usually summer when they were building something on the ranch, so the cool darkness of the big building filled with lumber was always a treat. But he loved the smell, as well. He still equated the scent of fresh-cut pine with his father and wondered when he would see him again. Ely had apparently gone back up into the mountains after he’d seen him in passing yesterday.
He’d barely seen Hawk and Cyrus. Both had already gone to bed when he came in last night after his date. He’d only gotten a chance to visit with them for a few minutes this morning on his way out.
Spotting him, Hawk had said, “I see you found your room again.”
“Thanks for making it up for me,” Tucker had said as he shook each of their hands and then on impulse pulled them into a hug. Lillie had told him yesterday at the saloon that they were both confirmed bachelors, but she was determined they weren’t going to stay that way.
To him, they’d both looked like young ranchers, serious, hardworking and content in the lifestyle they loved. He probably understood that better than his sister did, he’d thought.
“Where have you been?” Cyrus had asked.
“Where haven’t I been?”
Hawk had frowned at him. “We thought we’d never see you again. Why would you leave the way you did?”
“It’s a long story, but suffice it to say a woman was involved,” he’d told them. “In fact, there is another woman waiting for me so I need to run, but I’ll see you later.”
He still felt badly about running out on them like he had nineteen years ago—and again this morning. At some point, he would have to face them all with the whole story.
They were deep in the building when Tucker spotted the forklift operator hunched over the controls. As they neared, the forklift engine shut off. The operator jumped down off the rig, clad in canvas pants and jacket, heavy gloves and a baseball cap. It wasn’t until the person looked up that he realized he was looking at a woman. Until that moment, he hadn’t admitted that he’d come here looking for something of Madeline.
He’d known it was a long shot that they would find any of her relatives since who knew how many times Dunn Lumberyard could have changed hands over the years.
But all his illusions were dashed as the forklift operator turned. He wasn’t going to find Madeline in this woman. Even from a distance, he could see that she was shorter, stockier and definitely not anywhere near as attractive.
When she looked up, he saw her eyes. They were dark as obsidian. Nothing like the startling blue of Madeline’s.
* * *
DEPUTY HARPER COLE knew shit duty only too well. When was the sheriff going to quit giving him busywork? He’d thought they were getting along so much better now that he was settled down, married and expecting his first child.
Apparently Flint still didn’t trust him with anything important. But he knew that was only one reason he didn’t like this assignment the sheriff had sent him on. He knew for a fact that the other deputies had brought back a load of dirt from the so-called grave site to the coroner’s office and had sifted through it. So why would Flint ask for more?
It made no sense. To simply find a few finger bones?
He looked across the creek to the dark, dense pines and felt a shiver. Most crime scenes didn’t bother him. He’d seen his share of dead people. But he’d never been a fan of cemeteries. His grandmother used to say that she could see and feel the dead. It was why, she said, she never went to the cemetery to visit her dead husband. “It’s all those other dead people I don’t want to see.” His father, though, was fond of saying that the old woman was nuttier than Christmas fruitcake.
Harp remembered the feel of her bony fingers digging into his arm as she leaned toward him and whispered, “Your father doesn’t know his head from his butt. I was cursed with the gift. Dead people never really die. Some of their spirit always hangs around the spot where they died. I’ve seen your grandfather sitting in that chair over there, snoring, since that’s what he did most of the time.”
He’d glanced over at his grandfather’s recliner and had been relieved not to see any old man snoring there. “Don’t believe me?” she’d prodded. “You ever feel the hair rise on the back of your neck? That’s when they brush against you to let you know they’re still here.”
Now, standing at the edge of the creek, Harp rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. The bucket with the spade he’d brought tapped against his leg, making him jump. Shadows had settled in the pines and he could hear the wind in the tops letting out a low moan.
Pulling out his cell phone, he called his wife. Vicki answered on the fourth ring, right before he was starting to get worried. “Why didn’t you answer sooner?” he demanded.
“I was in the bathroom. You know I have to pee a lot. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He looked toward the pines and grave site where he needed to dig a bucketful of dirt for the coroner. “Just working. I wanted to make sure you were doing okay.”
“Harp, you don’t have to worry so much. I’m fine. The baby is fine. Are you sure you’re fine, though?”
“Don’t worry about me. The doctor said you could have that baby any day. You’re keeping your phone on you, right?”
“Yes, Harp,” she said with a chuckle. “I go into labor, I call you. I promise.”
“Okay, I should get back to work. Glad I have cell service out here. In case I need to check on you.” He disconnected, not wanting to waste his battery, and started across the creek.
The water was so low this time of year the creek appeared to be dry because of all the boulders. Soon all those rocks would be under a rushing roar of spring runoff water. But right now he was able to step from one to the next without getting his feet wet.
Cold clear creek water ran between the rocks. He looked from it to the pines and back down, his apprehension growing. Why hadn’t he just filled the bucket on the other side? The coroner wouldn’t be any the wiser.
He misstepped, his boot sliding off a rock and into the water. He dropped the bucket and spade to catch himself and almost lost both. One boot already wet, he said what the hell and waded after the bucket, catching up with it when it caught in the slow current downstream.
Icy cold water filled both boots. He waded across to shore, cursing under his breath. He would make this quick. Shouldn’t take any time to scoop up a bucketful of dirt and get out of here.
But first he had to move deeper into the pines. He stepped into the shadowy darkness, his boots making squishy sounds with each step. The body had been found in an old creek channel buried under some driftwood. Now, though, the wood had been moved to the side, leaving a gaping hole where the woman had rotted to nothing but bones.
Harp felt the hair rise on the back of his neck. He let out a curse as he pulled the spade from the bucket. He was a few yards away from where the other digging had taken place, but he didn’t care. He began to fill the bucket as fast as he could. The pines continued to moan over his head. He shuddered as something seemed to brush against him. He shoveled faster and faster, so fast he almost missed it.
He stared down at the object that had caught the dim light and blinked. His heart began to race. For a moment, he didn’t believe what he was seeing.
* * *
FLINT HAD BEEN uneasy all morning. At noon, he went home. Maggie was making them sandwiches in the kitchen when he walked in. They’d had a home built for them on the ranch after their marriage last year. Maggie had designed the kitchen so it faced the southeast and caught the morning sun and stayed bright and airy the rest of the day.
“It won’t be hot in the summer,” she’d said. “That’s why we have the deck off the kitchen, so we can eat out there on nice days.”
He’d kissed her, thankful that he still had her. Last year, he’d thought for sure that they would never be together again. But here they were, happily married, and his ex-wife, Celeste, was happily long gone. He always felt like knocking on wood when he thought of his ex. Gone but not forgotten.
Maggie looked up as he came into the kitchen. “Something wrong?”
“I feel like I shouldn’t have told Tucker where to find Madeline’s family.” He’d told her why Tucker had left right after high school and she’d been so sympathetic. Having had a bad relationship before she’d met him, Maggie could relate.
“Why would you keep it from him? The investigation is over, right?”
He nodded. “It looks like whatever happened to the woman was an unfortunate accident that she brought on herself. Whoever hid her body... Well, the statute of limitations has run out so there is no reason to pursue it.”
“You think he’s looking for some kind of payback?” Maggie asked.
“I suspect he’s just trying to make some sense out of all of it. If anything, I think he needs closure. He’s lived with guilt for so many years.” Flint shook his head. “It makes me so angry with myself. If I had pressed him for what was going on all those years ago...”
“Flint, don’t do that to yourself. You know you tried to talk to him.”
He took the plate she offered him and followed her out to the deck that overlooked Gilt Edge in the distance. They’d built on the side of a mountain on the ranch where they had a view of all four mountain ranges that surrounded the lush valley.
“I know you’re right. Tucker has always done things on his own.”
“Like every other man in your family,” she said with a laugh as she sat down across from him.
His cell phone rang. “It’s Sonny.” The bad feeling was there before he accepted the call.
“I finished my heart attack corpse and was looking again at young woman from the creek. I found something you need to see,” the coroner said.
“I’m just about to have lunch with my wife. Can it wait?”
“It isn’t like Madeline Dunn is going anywhere.”
He disconnected and looked at his sandwich. Sonny had just ruined his appetite.
“Trouble?”
“Always.”
Maggie sighed. “I can wrap up your sandwich so you can eat it later,” she said with a laugh since this happened more often than not.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I have this book I started reading last night. I’m dying to get back to it.” Maggie owned a hair salon in town but she’d taken time off to oversee the construction of the house and furnishing it. Now that she was pregnant, she was talking about not going back. She had two stylists working at the shop, so there was no need to do more than stop in and see how things were going.
Flint was glad to see her taking it easy. This was the first break from work that she’d had since she was a teenager, he thought as he followed her back into the kitchen. “How are you feeling?”
“Wonderful,” she said, smiling, her hand going to her slight baby bump.
“If you’re worried about your brother...” she said as she wrapped up his sandwich and put it in a small brown bag.
“I’m always worried about one of them,” he said with a nervous laugh. “It’s just me being silly. I’m sure everything is fine.” But he wasn’t sure at all as he kissed his wife, holding her tightly for a moment before he headed for the coroner’s office.