Page 83 of Critical Alliance (Rocky Mountain Courage 3)

“Come on. You’re helping me. I’m helping you. You can tell me about the memorial on the way.” She moved to the door and turned back around to face him. “Are you coming or what?”

“I don’t know what I’ll find there. It could be dangerous.”

“I’ll be safer with you there than here alone at the cabin. And if you set up cameras, then I figure it’s important to you. Let’s do this.”

He followed her out and locked the door behind him. Once inside the vehicle, he called Terra to let her know what was happening and left a voice mail when she didn’t answer. Then he did the same with Jack, who’d been working the case.

He handed off his cell to Mackenzie as he sped out of the drive and onto the highway. “Even though we’re close, I doubt we’ll make it there in time. It could be nothing.”

“What’s going on with the memorial? I saw that it had been damaged. But I don’t know what happened.”

Alex filled her in on the facts, then added, “Now I’m looking into the past.”

“The past?”

“I talked to my mother and asked about the past. Fifteen years ago. She got upset and wouldn’t tell me anything, claiming it wasn’t related. Maybe it’s not, but she clammed up when my stepfather showed up.”

Mackenzie didn’t respond but stared at the live camera footage on his cell.

“We’re almost there. What do you see?”

“Nothing. It’s dark and quiet.”

After a few more minutes, he finally steered into the trailhead parking lot. “You should wait in the car.”

“Not happening. I need the distraction, so don’t waste your time trying to stop me.”

He hopped out, and she joined him. Moonlight dappled through the damp forest. “The path is slippery.”

When they were up the trail a ways, he thought he heard the sound of a vehicle by the trailhead. Someone escaping? Someone approaching?

They continued up, slowly and quietly.

“Alex.” The hissed whisper drew his attention from behind.

Palm to his gun, he turned to see a figure coming up the trail behind them.

“I got your message,” Terra whispered. “Let’s go.”

When they could see the memorial through the trees, Alex stopped. He motioned for them to wait. Terra stepped off trail behind a tree to watch, and Alex did the same, Mackenzie at his side. The cameras didn’t alert him on his cell to any movement.

Stepping back on the trail, Terra started toward the memorial, Alex and Mackenzie on her heels. She shined her flashlight into the woods, then around the memorial. “What did you see?” Terra asked.

“We got movement on my camera. Jack might have a better look on the cameras he set up.”

“I don’t see any new damage here. Honestly, I don’t know why someone would bother with this. Or how someone intent on vandalizing a memorial in the woods could be caught.”

“Maybe I should camp out.” Alex laughed.

“For months at a time?”

Mackenzie wandered over to Alex’s father’s plaque. “I have an idea.”

Alex moved to stand next to her, and Terra followed.

“I’m listening,” he said.

“Why not hold a special ceremony to rededicate the memorial? That could draw out this unstable person. Around that time, someone could be out here hiding and watching.”