Chapter One – Avery

“Hi there, I’m Avery Cooper, I work with the police department over in Holloway County.” Avery flashed her badge at the sheriff, and hoped he wouldn’t ask too many questions. Get the information she needed and get out. That was her plan.

“Hello, Avery Cooper.” The sheriff smiled. The lips said howdy, the eyes said wary. He wasn’t going to be the backwater sheriff she’d hoped he’d be. “I’m Brad, the sheriff around here. What can I do for you?”

“I am looking for two men. I have reason to believe they are in Bear Creek.” Avery took out a printout that showed the faces of two men she’d been tracking. “Manny Maxwell and Joe Hislop.”

Sheriff Brad took a close look at the photos and nodded. “Sure, I’ve seen them.”

“You have?” Avery had come to Bear Creek expecting to hit blank walls and blank expressions. At last, she might have a breakthrough, something she desperately needed.

“Yes. They visit Bear Creek every couple of months. Sometimes more often. They were in the bar night before last.” Brad walked over to the coffee pot, and lifted it up. “Coffee? Then we can sit down, and you can tell me why you are looking for these two fellas.”

Avery didn’t have time for coffee. And she certainly didn’t want to share any more information with Brad. “Sure, coffee would be great.” She smiled sweetly, sat down across the desk from Brad, and breathed away the tension building in her shoulder blades.

Brad sat down and leaned back in his seat while he assessed her. Men always assessed Avery, trying to see if she was worth their time, if she had the mettle to do her job. It irritated the hell out of her, but she kept her sweet smile on her face. Brad’s eyes narrowed.

“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” It wasn’t a suggestion.

Avery tried to control her rising need to get out of there and chase her quarry down. “Look, I don’t need to trouble you with this. All I need is to know where these two guys are.”

“That’s where we have our first problem,” Brad said easily. “I don’t exactly know where they are.”

“I thought you said they were here.”

“The night before last.” Brad nodded. “Now they are somewhere on that mountain, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Any idea which trail they took?” Avery sipped her too-hot coffee. Manny Maxwell and Joe Hislop already had a head start; she was going to have to move fast if she didn’t want to lose them.

His eyes appraised her again. “I can ask around.”

“Thanks.” She shifted in her seat, preparing to leave.

Brad wasn’t finished with her yet. “Listen, Avery, I can’t just let you go running up into the mountains. You might be an exemplary police officer in Holloway County, but this is Bear Creek, and that mountain is likely to get you killed if you don’t know what you are doing.”

“Brad, I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.” Avery let her smile drop.

“I’m sure you can, Avery. However, I am not willing to let you leave here and go after two men alone without knowing exactly why. If something happens on that mountain, it is my men, and the men of the mountain rescue team, that will be putting their lives in danger to rescue you.”

“I appreciate your concern.” She was losing this. She knew it. He was right, of course. She didn’t want any more lives ruined by those two men. “I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted.” He nodded and sipped his coffee, then he reached into his drawer and took out a Tupperware tub and opened it up. “Here, my wife makes the best chocolate muffins this side of the mountain.”

“Thanks.” It was an icebreaker, and Avery appreciated the gesture.

“Now, from the beginning.” He leaned forward. “This isn’t personal,” Brad added. “But when a police officer comes into my station with a look of vengeance in their eyes, I need to do my job. Which means protect him, or her, from themselves if I have to.”

Avery relaxed. “I thought it was because I am a woman.”

“I know you did.” Brad chuckled. “But here in Bear Creek, the women are as strong as the men.” His grin widened. “And if you met Mrs. Sheriff Brad, you would know I am more than well versed in the equality of the species.”

“Sounds like a great place to live.” Avery ate her muffin. “Oh, this is good, compliments to Mrs. Sheriff Brad.”

“Well, we’d best not let my wife hear me calling her that.” He winked, setting her at ease. Damn, he was good: he’d shared a secret and asked her to keep it. He’d placed his trust in her. Now he expected the same.

“Our secret.” Avery played along. “So, the beginning. Not too much to tell. These two,” She jabbed her finger at the photo, “are known drug dealers. A friend of mine has been tracking them for months. But he was never able to figure out where they meet with their suppliers.”

“And you think it’s here in Bear Creek?” Brad shook his head. “Drugs are not a problem in this town.”

“You have several young offenders living in the area…” She’d done her homework while eating a burger in a roadhouse. You had to love the internet.

“Who are here to make a fresh start.” Brad’s voice held a low-level warning. “Avery, unless you have any kind of proof one of them is involved, they are going to be kept out of this. I personally know the guys who run the projects employing these people. They would vouch for the employees and I would vouch for my friends. The sheriff’s office is supportive of anything that helps offenders turn their lives around.”

“A little hostile there, Brad,” Avery pointed out.

“With good reason. It’s easy to point a finger at an obvious target. These kids are not it. As I said, we do not have a drug problem in Bear Creek.” He shook his head, his forehead creased. “It’s not our style.”

Avery arched her eyebrows and rocked back on her chair. “Not. Our. Style. That doesn’t mean the problem isn’t there.” Maybe Brad was a small-town cop, after all. He was burying his head in the sand if he figured that his town was unique in any way.

“Let’s get back to the facts.” Brad drank his coffee and got up for a refill. “More?”

“No, thanks.” She didn’t need any more of a buzz in her brain. “So the facts are, these two are known dealers. What I am trying to do is track their suppliers. And that led me here.”

“Do they have records?” Brad settled back down in his chair.

“Yes, but not for drug dealing. Small-time thieves, that kind of thing. To anyone looking in, they are clean. But they are dealers. Again, small-time, not worth the cost of a formal investigation.” She breathed out the building tension once more.

That was what Lonnie Parnell, her dad’s old partner on the police force, had been told when he asked for a small task force to investigate Manny Maxwell and Joe Hislop. Just before he’d been suspended from duty. Avery was here to clear his name. However, it was quickly becoming obvious she was in danger of ruining her own career if word of her unauthorized investigation got out. Officially, Avery was on a week’s leave. Unofficially, Avery had possibly gotten herself into some kind of conspiracy that went all the way up the chain of command.

“But here you are.”

“Here I am.”

“OK, so you tracked them to Bear Creek, and I admit they do come here regularly. But all they do is hike into the mountains.” Brad’s frown deepened. “Are you suggesting their dealer meets them in the mountains?”

“I wasn’t until now.” Avery leaned forward. “Think about it. It is the ideal place for a deal to go down. They hike up there with backpacks, no one checks them, we have no idea what they come back down with. And no one sees them. No one takes any notice, they just blend in.”

This was sounding more plausible by the second. Even Brad looked halfway to being convinced. He got up and walked to the window facing the mountain. “Do you have backup?”

Avery winced. “No, I was hoping we could join forces.” She kept her voice even and calm.

“Join forces?” Brad looked thoughtful as he turned back to face her. “I don’t have the manpower to send someone up there with you. Not without something more concrete. My deputy is on maternity leave, and we run on a skeleton crew as it is.”

“Let me guess, crime isn’t your style?” Avery only just stopped herself from rolling her eyes. This guy must have blinkers on; there was always crime. You just had to know where to look for it.

“Correct. Look, we are a close-knit community. Everyone knows everyone. We respect each other. Sure, the kids get up to stuff, but nothing bad. Just letting off steam.” Brad came and sat down opposite her. “How dangerous are these men?”

Avery shrugged. “Honestly, bar brawls and bullying. But the people supplying them? That I don’t know. Your mountain could be the tip of a large smuggling ring.”

“Let me think about it,” Brad said, getting up, making sure she knew the conversation was over.

“Thank you.” Should she risk telling him she was here unofficially? No, Brad had already warned her not to go onto the mountain. If he had an excuse to stop her, then he would.

She was on her own. He was going to make some phone calls, and she was going to be heading back to Holloway County. Unless she got out of town fast. If she was going to go after her quarry, she was going to have to get herself kitted out with hiking gear, and up on that mountain before nightfall.

What she needed was a guide, someone who could track.

“And, Avery? Don’t do anything stupid.” Brad’s words made her falter. His words about other people risking their lives came back to her.

“I never do.” She smiled and left his office, her conscience nagging at her. Was she letting her personal feelings cloud her judgment?

As she walked along the street, she gazed at the mountain. She was so close. So damn close.

She couldn’t let this go.