Sealed with Justice, page 4
“My swim buddy, Kaleb, prays often.” Hudson reached for his fork. “I just didn’t expect you to do the same.”
“I lost my daughter, Olivia, to cancer two years ago.” The words tumbled out before she could stop them. “I was so angry after she was diagnosed, but the hospital chaplain visited with me every day. I’d seen him do that in the ICU, of course, but being on the other end was—humbling to say the least.”
“I’m so sorry, Kendra.”
Hudson’s sympathy almost brought a fresh spurt of tears. She did her best to hold them back. “Thanks. Anyway, it was the most difficult thing I’d been through, and in hindsight, I wouldn’t have survived without the chaplain’s support.”
“What about your ex-husband?”
She let out a harsh laugh. “Don was too busy sleeping with his latest girlfriend to answer my call about Olivia taking a turn for the worst. She died before he showed up reeking of the woman’s perfume.”
“Jerk.”
“Yep.” She took a bite of her yogurt topped with blueberries and strawberries. “Enough about me. We all have been through difficulties in our lives. I know you’ve been through a rough time too.”
He paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. Then he nodded slowly. “As a nurse, I’m sure it’s easy for you to tell I lost my left eye.”
“You’ve adapted extremely well,” she said. “I honestly didn’t notice until we were at my dad’s house.”
“I misjudged how close the car was,” he said. “I keep Echo on my left to help compensate for the lack of peripheral vision.”
“You’re incredible, Hudson.” Looking at him now, she knew she’d been crazy to ever suspect him of killing Zoey. And if she were honest, she’d admit that her opinion may have been tainted by Corey Robinson. Which made her wonder, just how many of their former classmates were still living nearby? Andrew Barkley had clearly stuck around, but who else?
She scanned the restaurant, looking for familiar faces. Twenty years was a long time, but she’d recognized Hudson and Andrew easily enough.
Her gaze rested on a man wearing a business suit. One of the few dressed so formally in the casual atmosphere. It only took a second to recognize Corey Robinson. Much like Andrew, the years hadn’t been kind to Corey. He’d put on weight, his hair was thin, and his complexion was pale. Maybe he was a lawyer or banker—some sort of job that kept him from being out in the sun.
“I see him.” Hudson’s soft voice had her turning back to face him.
“We should make a list.” She took another spoonful of parfait. Hudson was eating his meal faster than most nurses did. “It won’t be comprehensive, but a good place to start.”
His jaw tightened, but he didn’t say anything. She caught movement from the corner of her eye and glanced over in time to see Corey get up from the table, holding his phone to his ear. He walked outside to take the call. Less than a minute later, Corey returned and caught her gaze. Recognizing her, he smiled and approached their table.
“Kendra, it’s good to see you.” He gushed as if they’d stayed in touch over the years, when, in fact, Corey had dumped her the moment she’d refused to sleep with him. “You look great.”
“Thanks, nice to see you too.” She gestured toward Hudson. “You remember Hudson Foster.”
“Oh yeah.” His congenial tone vanished. “You have some nerve showing up here, Foster.”
It was almost exactly what Andrew had said, and she found herself wondering if Andrew had called Corey to clue him in. Beneath the table, Echo began to growl.
Corey stumbled back, staring down at Echo in shock. “You can’t have a dog in here!”
“He’s a service animal,” Kendra said when Hudson remained silent. “I’m surprised to see you’re still in the area, Corey. I would have thought you’d have moved on to bigger and better things by now.”
Corey puffed up his chest. “I blew out my knee playing football for Colorado State. Went to law school and worked for a big law firm before deciding to open my own office here in town.” He pulled out a business card and slid it over to her. “Call me, Kendra. It would be great to catch up again.”
She didn’t touch the card. “Take care, Corey.”
Her former high school boyfriend shot one last angry look at Hudson before sauntering back to his table. Kendra pushed her empty dish aside. “Let’s get out of here.”
In answer, Hudson pulled cash from his wallet and set it on the table. She was glad to see he really did have money, but when she reached for her purse, he shook his head. “I’ve got it covered.”
“Thanks.” She rose and waited for Hudson to do the same.
“Come, Echo.” The dog came out from beneath the table as if grateful to get out of there too.
As they walked back out into the sunshine, she glanced back over her shoulder to where Corey was in deep conversation with the others at his table. “I don’t like this,” she said in a low voice. “It’s wrong the way everyone still blames you for Zoey’s death.”
“What did you expect?” Hudson cupped her elbow and steered her toward the Jeep. “All the more reason you need to get back into your cute little red car and return to Portland.”
“I’m not.” She slid into the passenger seat. “You may as well get used to the idea that I’m staying.”
Hudson muttered something under his breath as he opened the back for Echo. She didn’t care.
It was a shock to realize she was more upset on Hudson’s behalf than he was. And if she were being completely honest, she wanted to find the person responsible to clear his name equally as much as she wanted to bring the killer to justice.
Hudson had never been around a more obstinate woman. Kendra was being far too idealistic about all of this. As if they could really figure out who killed Zoey twenty years after the fact.
He was more concerned with the recent attempts against her, which were likely related to the past. He’d been an idiot to have had breakfast with her at the Corner Café, where the whole world could see them together. He should have stuck to his original plan to keep out of sight.
Too late now.
He started the Jeep and prepared to back out of the spot when Kendra gripped his arm. “Look over there, is that Joe Jamison? He was one of the football players too.”
“Yeah.” He was a bit surprised so many of the so-called popular guys were still in the area. Twenty years ago, Hudd couldn’t wait to get out of Dodge. “Why?”
“Like I said, we need to make a list.” She was craning her neck to see Joe, her slender fingers still resting on his arm. Healing hands, he thought, and he had to fight the urge to cover them with his own.
“You want me to follow him?” He’d been joking, but she nodded.
“I’d like to know where he works.”
He grimaced and shifted the Jeep into gear. Joe headed to a large delivery truck, stepping up behind the wheel. It wasn’t a semitruck, but there were soft drink logos stenciled along the side. “He’s a truck driver.”
“I see that,” Kendra said with a frown. She finally removed her hand. “Hudson, is it just me, or do you also find it strange that so many of our classmates are still living here?”
“I do, yes. But then again, most of them didn’t have a reason to leave town, the way I did.”
“I left too, you know.” She sat back in her seat watching as Joe’s truck disappeared around a corner. “Where are you going?”
“You left your car at the shack,” he pointed out.
“Please don’t stay there tonight. There’s a perfectly good motel right there.” She gestured out her window. “And there are others if you don’t like that one.”
It was too early for him to think about where he’d spend the night. For the past few months, he’d taken his life hour by hour, one day at a time, working with Echo to keep him focused. It was only during his extreme migraines coupled with nightmares that he lost track of time. He’d lost twelve hours after one particularly bad episode.
He continued driving back to the old shack where he’d grown up. Kendra had pulled some paper and a pen from her purse and was jotting notes. Easy to imagine her doing the same thing as she worked as a critical care nurse.
Thinking about how she’d lost her daughter and her jerk of a husband put his own injuries in perspective. She’d grown stronger for the adversity, something he needed to focus on as well.
“Did you see anyone else you recognized in the café?” she asked.
He thought for a moment. He’d instinctively taken the seat with his back to the wall, facing the door to watch for threats. But that meant his left eye was facing the main dining room. He’d glanced around, but only to look for signs of anyone carrying a weapon. Then he remembered the young woman sitting near the front with two small kids. “Alyssa Stone and her two kids.”
“I didn’t notice,” Kendra admitted, but she added her name to the list. “Wonder who she’s married to.”
“No clue.” He turned away from the main subdivision and headed toward the dirt road leading to the shack. When he pulled in behind Kendra’s red sedan, he threw the gearshift into park and turned in his seat to face her. “Is there anything I can say to convince you to head back to Portland?”
“Nope.” She lifted her chin, the same way she had last night. He didn’t remember her being this stubborn back in high school. “We should think about where to start looking for clues.”
He swallowed a sigh. “We’re not detectives working the case.”
“So what? No one else is,” she shot back. “Besides, you were the one who pointed out that I poked the sleeping bear.” She hesitated, then added, “We need to go to the cave.”
“No way.” He’d already decided to go there, but he didn’t want Kendra anywhere near the place.
“I think Zoey had a diary.”
He blinked, then stared. “A diary?”
“Yes.” She gestured with one hand. “I saw her writing in a small red notebook, but she closed it when she noticed me looking. I asked her about it, and she claimed she was writing poetry.”
“Maybe she was.”
“No, that’s just it. When we were in Ms. Tobin’s English class, Zoey kept muttering about how the woman expected us to be future authors the way she kept making us do writing assignments. I think she complained about the short stories too. I should have considered it sooner, but I don’t think Zoey was writing poetry. I think she kept a diary.”
“Even if she did, it’s likely gone now. I’m sure her father and brother would have found it years ago.”
“But what if they didn’t?” She put her hand on his arm again. “What if Zoey hid the diary somewhere else? Like maybe in the cave?”
He hated to rain on her excitement. “Think about it, Kendra. The cave is cold and damp. Even if she had hidden a diary in there, it’s probably nothing but a pile of mold by now.”
“We can’t know that for sure,” she protested. “And even if it does have some mold, we still may be able to read parts of what she’d written.”
“If there’s a diary at all.”
“Do you have a better idea?” she demanded with annoyance. “If so, I’d love to hear it.”
Hudd sighed. “Okay, fine. We’ll hike to the cave.”
“Thank you.” She frowned at him. “Are you always a Debbie Downer?”
The question almost made him smile. His teammates had teased him at times, calling him Hudson the Grouch. “Not always.” He shut down the Jeep, reached over and grabbed a flashlight from the arm rest compartment, and handed it to Kendra. He shoved his driver’s side door open. “Let’s do this.”
Kendra jumped down from the passenger seat as he let Echo out of the back. Then he went around to pull his Sig Sauer and MK 3 knife from the glove box where he’d stored them before going into the police station.
“You don’t need those,” Kendra protested.
He didn’t bother to respond. Not only did he have no idea who or what they’d find in the cave, it wasn’t that long ago that someone had tried to shoot her. Good thing Idaho was an open carry state. One less reason for Barkley and his officers to haul him in.
Not that Hudd really thought the law would stop the cops from doing whatever they wanted. He took a moment to remove Echo’s leash. He didn’t want the shepherd to be restricted when entering a potentially dangerous situation.
As they crossed the hilly terrain, Kendra massaged her shoulder. When she noticed his gaze, she quickly stopped. “I’m fine. I did my exercises this morning.”
“Good.” He knew from Kaleb how important it was to rehab an injured joint properly. As a nurse, he figured she understood that better than most. “I’m sorry if I made it worse.”
“You didn’t.”
The cave was on the other side of the creek. He scanned the ribbon of water, looking for a good place to cross.
Kendra tugged on his arm. “This way. There used to be a few rocks to use as stepping-stones.”
“You and Zoey went to the cave often?”
She nodded. “I haven’t been there since that night, though.”
He felt a little sick at the thought that Kendra could have just as easily been the one who was strangled rather than Zoey. Unless the girl had been targeted for a specific reason? Even so, he had no idea why someone would have wanted Zoey dead.
And he’d thought about nothing but that during the night he’d spent in jail.
The rocks were still there, appearing smaller than they had been. Or maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He crossed the creek first, then waited for Echo to nimbly follow. After his dog reached the other side, he went back to hold out his hand for Kendra.
She took his hand but didn’t seem to need his support as she lightly moved from one rock to the next. Seconds later, she stood beside him. “If I’m remembering correctly, the cave isn’t far.” She gestured with the flashlight toward the larger hill looming ahead.
“Lead on.” He gestured for her to go first, mostly so he could cover her six. Not that he could allow himself to notice her sweet curvy backside.
No, sirree. Uh-huh. Off-limits.
Echo lifted his nose to the air, his large ears swiveling from side to side as he picked up on various sounds. He needed to take the dog for a run later; the animal was used to being active. And normally, he ran with Echo to help himself sleep better.
Kendra’s steps slowed as they grew closer to the cave. “It doesn’t look any different,” she said in a whisper.
He hadn’t spent much time there, working two jobs had kept him busy. “Maybe you should let me go first—”
The echo of gunfire cut him off. Hudd pushed Kendra toward the cave entrance as the shot had come from behind them. Then he spun and dropped to his knee and fired a warning round before seeking coverage near a tree.
If this guy wanted a fight, then fine. Hudson had never shied away from a threat.
And Navy SEALs always came out on top.
Chapter Four
Heart thundering in her chest, Kendra landed hard on the cave floor, pain stinging up her arm. She had the fleeting thought as she scrambled deeper into the cave that if this kept up, she’d need more surgery on her injured joint before being able to return to work.
“Hudson!” she called in an urgent whisper. “Are you okay?”
No response.
She drew a deep breath and reminded herself that Hudson had returned fire and was likely hunkered down, watching for more. He was a highly trained Navy SEAL and better at evading bad guys than anyone she’d ever known.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t be injured. He’d lost his left eye during his last mission. She’d feel awful if he was hurt again because of her.
Echo trotted over to sniff at her. For some reason, the dog being there was alarming. She’d feel better if the dog stayed close to Hudson.
“Is he okay?” she whispered against Echo’s fur.
The dog didn’t answer.
Reining in her panic, she crawled toward the opening, feeling along the ground for the flashlight she’d dropped. She found it but didn’t turn it on as she huddled close to the side of the cave. In the back of her mind, she knew there could be snakes, bats, mice, or other vermin hiding in the depths, but she tried not to think about it. She focused her attention on listening for sounds of Hudson being out there.
There was nothing but silence.
Easing closer, she risked a quick peek. No sign of Hudson. Her heart thudded painfully, and she swallowed hard. If Hudson wasn’t there, it meant he wasn’t injured, at least not too badly. The bitter taste of fear coated her tongue.
She knew with every fiber of her being that Hudson had gone after the gunman. Last night he’d done the same, leaving her with Echo. On one hand, it was sweet the way he was so determined to protect her, but she hated the idea of something happening to him.
Please, Lord, keep Hudson safe in Your care!
Kendra watched the surroundings for several minutes, wondering if she dared to use the flashlight or if that would only draw the gunman’s attention. She could almost hear Hudson’s voice in her head, telling her to stay down and well hidden.
No flashlight.
Echo nudged her with his nose. She rested her hand on his back, grateful she wasn’t alone. Her younger self hadn’t been frightened of the cave. She and Zoey had come here often, treating it as an adventure.
Being shot at twice and nearly run over by a car was more than enough adventure. All this because she’d mentioned searching for the truth behind Zoey’s murder. It hardly seemed possible.
She sat beside Echo for what seemed like forever. Finally, Echo’s ears perked forward, and the dog rose to his feet. Seconds later, Hudson appeared in the cave opening. He’d been so silent she hadn’t heard him. But Echo had.
“How do you do that?” she asked.
“Practice.” He knelt beside her. “Are you okay? Did I hurt your shoulder again?”
“I’ll survive.” She didn’t want to whine about how much it hurt, especially since coming here was her idea. “Did you find him?”
