Always Faithful, page 15
The waitress arrived, pouring coffee, dropping a handful of creamers without asking, and pulling out a pad. Her smile appeared forced, her eyes nervous as she turned to Allen. Elle caught her as she gave a side-eyed glance at the two big men seated three booths over. They appeared to be totally engrossed in their meal. Elle knew they weren’t, that they were every bit as aware of them as they were back. “Hi. My name’s Paige. What can I get you?”
Elle jerked her attention to the young server, impatiently waiting with pad and pen in hand. Without looking at the menu, they each ordered. Paige gave an abrupt nod, thrust the pad into her apron, grabbed the coffee pot, and moved on without a backward glance. Elle glanced at Allen, who was busy emptying a creamer into his coffee. “Did you notice her hands?” he murmured, too quiet for their neighbors to hear.
Elle gave an imperceptible nod. “They were shaking. She was scared to death. I didn’t think we were that terrifying.”
“It wasn’t us, and you know it,” he whispered, considering. “Mr. Rock and a Hard Place glaring at us from the counter maybe?”
Elle nodded. “Don’t forget the single in the back corner—hasn’t taken his eyes off us since we came through the door.”
Allen chuckled. “We could try to fool them, you know—act as if we’re in love or something. I could nibble on your neck.”
The very absurdity made her burst out laughing, lightening the mood. It served a purpose, though, to make them both appear harmless travelers just passing through and stopping for lunch. Slowly, the buzz of conversation resumed, and a few minutes later their food came, hot and plentiful, and they concentrated on filling the void in their stomachs.
They were just finishing up when a loud squawk sounded, making them both jump. The man at the counter pulled out his phone and answered, a frown appearing. He said something low to his partner, and they both got up and donned coats on their way out the door. The man in the back booth followed thirty seconds later. Elle noticed that none of them had paid, and she watched as an older woman, thick in the middle but still attractive with dark curly hair, cleared their plates with a frown of disgust.
It was also when Elle noticed another customer that had come in. This one was a young girl who bellied up to the counter with obvious familiarity. Elle guessed her to be in her late teens and remembered that Tessa had mentioned that CeCe was about the same age. She wondered if the adage was true—everyone knows everyone in a small town. Elle turned to look at Allen, still finishing his waffle and coffee. “Give me just a minute, I’ll be right back.”
Allen’s brows rose as he looked up, pausing with a bite halfway to his mouth. “Restroom?”
“Not exactly.” She didn’t explain, grabbing up her cup and standing, sliding onto the stool next to the girl. She smiled at the waitress behind the counter and held out her cup. “Can I get a refill, please, and a couple of creamers?”
She turned to glance at the teenager. She had a huge cinnamon roll and orange juice at her elbow. Her slim fingers were systematically pulling it apart and plopping it into her mouth. She had a pair of earbuds in, and as she watched, the girl tapped her feet in time to whatever was playing that the rest of them couldn’t hear.
When she realized Elle was looking at her, she frowned and looked over, yanking them out. “Do you mind? I’m not bothering you, am I?”
Her obvious attitude said she didn’t much care if she was.
Elle tried an encouraging smile. It fell on blind eyes. She didn’t return it, her eyes hostile with teenage belligerence. Elle sighed. “You live here, right?”
A nod, nothing more.
“Well, maybe you can help me, then. I’m looking for a young lady about your age, CeCe Williams. Do you know her?”
The feet stopped tapping, but she didn’t answer.
“Please, if you do, she may be in trouble. Her father is looking for her,” she added for good measure. She did not know if CeCe even knew hers, but she was betting this girl didn’t know that either.
The girl stared at her hard, her brown eyes distrustful. She looked around as if to confirm in her mind who was—and wasn’t—sitting in the restaurant. Her eyes moved over Allen in the corner with suspicion. She turned back, seeming to chew on something in her mind. Abruptly, she sighed, and opened her mouth to speak.
Before she could, a coffee pot slammed down on the counter between them so hard that both of them jumped. Elle was surprised the pot didn’t break. “My daughter knows better than to talk to strangers. If you want more coffee, ask, otherwise go back to where you were sitting. She isn’t going to be answering any questions you have.”
Before Elle could respond to the hard-eyed older woman she’d seen earlier, a voice from across the restaurant yelled her name, asking for her to bring the pot and creamer. When she heard the name, her eyes flew to the name tag before she turned away. Deb was her name, and the same as on the sign out front. Elle put two and two together. She wasn’t just a server, she was the owner. She watched as Deb moved away, irritation in every step. Sighing, she got up, pausing when a cool hand landed atop hers. She glanced down sharply, meeting eyes that held a worried expression. “I think Cady Burrows took her. He isn’t in town right now. His brother’s running things. But that’s who you need to find.”
Abruptly, she picked up her juice, turned her back to Elle, and reached for her ear buds. Elle got the message and returned to her seat and asked for the bill.
Outside, the storm continued unabated and Allen offered to drive back. In the rear-view mirror as they left the town behind, Elle noticed a cop car trailing them. No lights lit the top, and it kept its distance, but they were several miles down the road towards Veil Falls before it fell off and turned back around.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Elle reclined back on the porch swing, her legs resting atop a small plastic table. Wrapped in a thick blanket, boots loose on her feet and a coffee mug clutched in her hands, she observed the first tendrils of dawn breaking past the tree line on the far side of the lake. She gave a sniffle, reaching up and brushing the back of her hand over her cold pink nose. People told her she was nuts, venturing out when the weatherman said the temperature was in the twenties and more snow was predicted to join the six inches from the day before. But the loveliness of the snow-dotted landscape, and the unfrozen waters of Ghost Lake, steam twisting above the surface, made it worth the risk, in her opinion. A rare moment of peace descended, where she forgot about what she’d lost—what had been taken from her before she was ready.
It was broken seconds later, just as she was admiring the bright pink and orange of the sunrise, by the sound of an approaching motor. It wasn’t a car or a truck. This was different. It took her a couple of seconds to realize it was a snowmobile.
Mia was already on her feet, staring towards the trails that led out of the woods and from the direction of the road. A dark figure popped free a few seconds later and pulled into the yard and stopped a few feet from the bottom of the porch steps.
Miles Porter shut the engine down and got off, removing his helmet and placing it on the seat. He was the chief conservation officer for the Hat Creek Preserve. He was a good guy, and he’d gained her respect in her first months at the camp when he’d found a set of bones and later helped track down and capture a serial killer. A visit from him was no surprise. He checked on her from time to time to make sure she was all right, and to make sure no disaster had befallen any of them.
But when he approached the steps and looked up, he wasn’t smiling. This was no social call. Elle sat up straighter as he came up the steps. “Is everything okay, Miles?” Elle asked.
He shook his head, looking grim. “No. Afraid not.” Elle’s gut lurched. Had he tangled with Cady Burrows or one of his associates? Was Tessa right, and Cady was circling the camp even as they spoke?
“What’s going on?” She got to her feet, wrapping the blanket tighter.
“There’s been an attack on a hiker.”
Her stomach took a dive. “Who was it? Did you catch them?”
He gave her an odd look. “Not them—it. A bear attack. Very rare here near Veil Falls. Black bear aren’t usually a threat.”
“How is the hiker?”
“He got mauled pretty good, cut up and needed a few stitches. Could have been a lot worse. His dogs chased it off.”
“Malamute, shepherd—have to be sizable to tangle with a full-grown bear.”
He gave her a quizzical look. “Well, poodles, actually.”
Elle blinked, struggling not to giggle despite the gravity of the situation.
“If you tell me they were toys, I’ll call you a liar.”
He shrugged, his lips twitching before he sobered again and grew serious. “He was lucky, and both dogs survived the experience somehow. Still, this is no laughing matter. We’ve called the State Park Office out of Munising. They’re sending a couple more officers over to assist us. It looks as if we’re going to have to go hunting. For whatever reason, this bear isn’t hibernating, and especially with this recent attack, he definitely poses a danger to the civilian population. I hate to do it, but I think we’re going to be tracking him and either tranquilizing him for relocation or putting him down.”
Again, Elle thought about the bear the night they rescued the boy. She brought it back up. Miles hadn’t been there, but since it happened on state property, he’d been made aware of it when he came back from vacation with his brothers in Georgia.
Miles wondered aloud, “It’s possible. But why would he attack the hiker, and leave the kid, who was more vulnerable, alone?”
“Good question. Maybe he didn’t see the kid as a threat,” Elle guessed.
Miles looked doubtful. “Well, that’s not the only reason I’m here, to tell you about the attack. I want to make sure you, and everyone else here, take the necessary precautions and don’t go out alone. And pay attention to the signs.” He looked down at Mia, her tongue lolling happily, probably hoping for a treat from one of her favorite humans. “Watch the dog, Elle. Don’t let her off by herself, and if she acts odd, pay attention, and get inside, lock up. Call me immediately if you spot him. They should all be in full hibernation by now. That he isn’t makes him deadly dangerous.”
“The other day, Mia saw something down by the lake. Jacob and I went to check it out, and there were bear tracks leading back towards the road. It came as close as the tree line, Miles.”
He frowned. “Why didn’t you inform me then?”
Elle sighed, glancing towards Tessa’s small cabin, plumes of foggy smoke twirling from the chimney. It looked as if she was up and about.
“Because there may be something worse than a bear roaming the woods. We believe Tessa’s former boyfriend may be stalking her. He’s a big guy, broad at the shoulders, sporting a buzzcut, likely ex-military. There were footprints, big ones, under the bear prints. Maybe just a hiker, maybe not. If you come across this guy, Miles, don’t engage him, promise me. He could be more dangerous than the bear.”
He puffed himself up and looked as if he was getting ready to argue.
“Think of your mother. Don’t be a hero,” Elle reminded him.
Miles expelled a long breath. “You are seriously no fun, Elle Adams. And who is going to help you if you need it? You aren’t in the bureau anymore, Elle.”
“No, but some lessons die hard. Besides, I have Allen, Jerry, and Anna helping. And Jacob,” she added grudgingly.
Miles glanced towards August’s cabin. “Don’t leave the big guy out. I heard he had some special training while he was in the Army.”
“I won’t, I promise.”
DYLAN PULLED INTO THE gas station with a sigh of relief, the odometer reading a cool twenty-five miles—closer to being stranded in a snowstorm than he wanted to be. He used his card and filled the tank and capped it. His hand was on the handle of the truck when he reconsidered and headed for the little gas station. Inside, his sunglasses fogged up, and he removed them, stuffing them into his pocket. The cash register was manned by a young woman who was still in her teens. He checked out the cooler, grabbing a couple of energy drinks and a bag of chips before stepping up to the counter. The last customer was just finishing up, took his change and left. Dylan waited for the attendant to ring up his purchases. He paid again with his card and then hesitated, pulling out the picture of him and Danny, taken right before he left on his last tour the summer before.
“Hey, I don’t suppose you might help me? I’m looking for my brother. He went missing a few weeks back and I’m trying to locate him.”
Sympathy moved through her youthful face. “Oh no, that’s awful.” She looked closely at the picture. With a sigh, she shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t know him.”
Dylan chewed his lip, and then pulled out another picture, not as good as the first. It was a print he’d made from the picture his brother had sent him several weeks earlier of him, the young lady he was seeing, CeCe, and her older sister, Tessa. “How about these two girls? See either of them?”
Again, the girl bent forward, dark hair falling over her forehead and hiding her features. She leaned closer and all at once gasped and pointed. His heart fell when she didn’t point to his brother or CeCe. Her finger landed with a plop on the figure of Tessa Williams.
“That’s Tessa, I remember her. My mom owns a secondhand baby store. I run the register for her when they are shorthanded, which we have been lately. She came in the other day, bought a changing table. I helped her load it in the car.”
A tingle of excitement buzzed through him. “The vehicle, do you remember the make and model?”
She stood up straight, and her eyes narrowed suddenly. “Say, you aren’t any relation to that other fella that was waving a picture of Tessa in my face, are you? He came by yesterday, and I’ll tell you, he kinda gave me the creeps.”
Dylan felt the color drain from his cheeks. “This other guy—big? Buzz cut?”
“Cold-eyed jerk-face is what he was.” She shivered.
“Then it’s important you tell me what you know. That guy is no friend of mine, and that girl, Tessa—she’s pregnant, isn’t she? Well, let’s just call that guy the angry husband she ran away from. You don’t want him to catch her, do you?”
Her eyes grew round, and she shook her head. “The car was an Outback. But I can do you one better. The woman with her was Elle Adams. She bought a rundown camp outside of town in the Little Hat Creek Wilderness Preserve a few months back.”
THE TRUCK SLID SIDEWAYS a few feet before gaining traction at the last light leaving Veil Falls. Dylan steered into the swerve to compensate, settling it back on the road, but slowing down.
He looked at the directions he’d scribbled down on the back of an envelope in the passenger seat. Outside, snow was falling once more. He made a note to take a closer look at his weather app, to see if it was planning on stopping soon. The girl from the station had mentioned to the customer before him that they’d already had a good six inches overnight.
The road out of town moved along the bay, and he admired the collection of shanties that were dotting the surface. A bit early, in his opinion, since the ice couldn’t be more than a few inches thick at this point on the mighty Superior. But it made for a picturesque view, had he been in the mood to enjoy it. He turned his attention back to the road, going around an elderly couple in a white sedan, putzing along and taking it slow, pushing a steady twenty-five miles an hour.
Despite the icy roads, Dylan felt compelled to hurry.
The road entered the woods, tall pines and a collection of different hardwoods, too, naked limbs stretching towards the turbulent sky. Ahead of him, right on the curve, a doe ran out in front of him, startling him and making him jerk the wheel before he straightened it. It sent him into a brief skid, but he kept control, swearing to himself as he pulled away from the turn. Visibility was down to less than fifty yards ahead, which complicated things. His low beams cut through the near whiteout conditions better than the brights would have, but it still seemed more like a suicide mission than a leisurely drive along the winter countryside.
In his rear-view mirror, just rounding the same curve he had, another pair of headlights pierced the blanket of white, visible for just a second before the swirling snow ate them up. Frowning, he faced his eyes forward, concentrating on his own driving. Any fool on the road in these conditions was responsible for themselves as far as he was concerned.
His jaw tightened as he entered a long downhill grade. He slowed to a crawl, going into the tight turn at the bottom. An icy pond beckoned through a guardrail that looked as if it had been taken out in the past and hadn’t yet been repaired.
A matter of seconds after he made the turn and started up an incline, the lights appeared again behind him. He frowned, his eyes narrowing. Did they seem closer? The idiot behind the wheel was driving faster than he should be, recklessly in fact, to have caught him that quickly.
He looked at his own speedometer, edging just past forty, and probably ten more than he should have been doing. He bit his lip, glanced once more at the directions, and maintained his speed. If the asshole was in that big a hurry, he’d just have to go around him. The lights continued to creep up until the entire back of his windshield glowed, even through the storm. Was the driver out of his mind? The big vehicle couldn’t be more than a car’s length off his rear bumper.
He looked ahead. Maybe he should pull off and let them pass. But there was no shoulder, only a sharp dip into a short ravine on both sides. If he went into that, he wouldn’t be coming out without a tow truck. He faced forward, muttering beneath his breath, trying to keep one eye in front on the road, the other on the glowing beams glaring through the back and straight into his eyeballs, reflecting off the rear-view mirror.
